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such as are clear and express in their import. For it has been our principle not to leave any translation, or any arrangement of words, which could adapt itself to one or other of two interpretations, but rather to express as plainly as was possible that interpretation which seemed best to deserve a place in the text, and to put the other in the margin."

"The subject of the marginal notes deserves special attention. They represent the results of a large amount of careful and elaborate discussion, and will, perhaps, by their very presence, indicate to some extent the intricacy of many of the questions that have almost daily come before us for decision. These notes fall into four groups: first, notes specifying such differences of reading as were judged to be of sufficient importance to require a particular notice; secondly, notes indicating the exact rendering of words to which, for the sake of English idiom, we were obliged to give a less exact rendering in the text; thirdly, notes, very few in number, affording some explanation which the original seemed to require; fourthly, alternative renderings in difficult or debateable passages. The notes of this last group are numerous, and largely in excess of those which were admitted by our predecessors. In the two hundred and seventy years that have passed away since their labours were concluded, the Sacred Text has been minutely examined, discussed in every detail, and analysed with a grammatical precision unknown in the days of the last Revision. There has thus been accumulated a large amount of materials that have prepared the way for different renderings, which necessarily came under discussion. We have, therefore, placed before the reader in the margin other renderings than those which were adopted in the text, wherever such renderings seemed to deserve consideration. The rendering in the text, where it agrees with the Authorised Version, was supported by, at least, one-third; and where it differs from the Authorised Version, by, at least, two-thirds of those who were present at the second revision of the passage in question." We have quoted enough and said enough to convey a sufficient idea of the work done by the Revisers of the New Testament. We do not suppose that this new version will, for a long time to come, supersede the Authorised Version. Probably it may yet be itself revised. It certainly will if sound criticism show that it ought to be. In any case, it will be highly valued by students. It will gradually work its way into favour and confidence. It will eventually become the standard version of English-speaking peoples over the whole earth. Romanists, of course, will reject it, as they will any version done by those whom they brand as heretics. Other sects there are, no doubt, who will regard it with distrust: but after it has been stigmatised by some, and battered by others, it will stand until two or three more centuries have passed, when, possibly, the mutation of language may necessitate another revision.

The Bishops of the Established Church in Wales have appointed

a committee to consider the expediency of undertaking the revision of the Welsh version of the New Testament. The Annual Assembly of the Calvinistic Methodists of Wales, also, have passed a Resolution for the same object. It is evident, therefore, that Biblical scholars in the Principality see the need of giving Welsh speakers the benefit of a revised Bible in their own tongue, that they may not be behind their English brethren in so important a matter. The Lord prosper their endeavours, say we. And may He graciously accept and greatly bless the labours of the united Companies of Great Britain and America.

GOOD WOMEN OF SCRIPTURE MISUNDERSTOOD AND MISJUDGED.

us.

No. VIII.-QUEEN ESTHER.

ONE more portrait from the ancient gallery of noble women is set before She is strikingly beautiful; and she wears the diadem of a Persian queen. She is clothed, of course, in magnificent apparel; and she appears to move in her court like the bright evening star in the firmament hence her Persian name, Esther, a star. She had been called Hadassah, a myrtle, when she was young; living comparatively unknown with her relative, Mordecai. But her pre-eminent beauty having won the heart of Ahasuerus (or Artaxerxes), who had begun to mourn for his lost Vashti, henceforth she shone as the brightest star of the Persian Court.

It is pleasant to think of her (as Dr. Prideaux does) as the queen who was sitting by King Artaxerxes when Nehemiah asked for leave to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah ii. 6); for she would back such a petition with all the force of her eloquence, and all the power of her sweetest smiles. Nor is it at all unlikely that it was greatly owing to her influence that Nehemiah retained for so many years the high favour of that despotic king. It is pleasant, too, to think that the queen herself retained her power and dignity so many years after the events recorded in the Book of Esther.

But what a sea of troubles had she to struggle through in her youth! An orphan child (are not such the special care of the Almighty Father?) her near relative became to her a second father. Living with him in peace, she was just bursting into the bloom of youthful beauty, like a modest myrtle-tree with its star-like blossoms, when the imperious mandate of the king snatched her from her chaste and gentle home to the palace of a haughty and licentious monarch. No modest heart can fail to sympathise with the anguish she must have felt during the twelvemonths of her probation there. And when chosen to be queen instead of

Vashti, although surrounding circumstances were such as to satisfy most female hearts, yet the knowledge of what had happened to her predecessor, and the uncertain character of the king's mind, would make her tremble on her throne of gold and ivory; and would make her sigh for the days when the daughters of Zion used to draw, with joy, water from the wells of salvation.

We can see how such thoughts troubled her when Haman had designed the destruction of the Jews, and her relative Mordecai sent to her a second time to chide her for her inaction in this threatened calamity. Here is her reply: "All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live; but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law and if I perish I perish" (Esther iv. 11).

On the third day Esther put on her royal apparel, and went into the inner court of the palace, opposite to the king's throne; and she obtained favour in his sight; and the king held out to her the golden sceptre. So Esther drew near and touched the top of the sceptre. On this, the king affected to feel all his tenderness revived, and promised to grant whatever her request might be, to the half of his kingdom.

But the queen knew him too well to tell him yet the dreadful secret ; and so she again, and again, invited him and his chief minister, Haman, to a banquet of wine. On the night between the banquets, the king could not sleep; and so he called for the chronicles of his reign to be read before him, wherein he found that Mordecai had discovered a conspiracy against his person, and had not yet been rewarded. With characteristic impulsiveness, the king instantly determined to do Mordecai honour; and, having heard from Haman what he considered an ostentatious reward, made him the doer of it; who had come thus early to ask that Mordecai might be hanged!

At the second banquet of wine, Esther boldly presented her petition, and denounced the enemy and adversary of herself and her race, “this wicked Haman." Then rose up the king in a great rage, and down fell Haman grovelling at the feet of Esther. One of the chamberlains said, "Behold the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai." Then the king said, " Hang him thereon." And in that way the king's favourite received his last exaltation.

After this Esther and Mordecai ruled the king's counsels; and the Book of Esther ends happily for the Jews; but singularly enough, without a word of praise to the King of kings, and without the mention of

Jehovah's name from the beginning to the end! Did some courtly scribe in the palace of long-handed Artaxerxes write the book? and was he afraid for his head, if the heathen king should call for this chronicle some sleepless night, and find in it an intimation that "The Lord He is the God," "and beside Him there is none else?" T. C.

THE LAW OF IMMORTALITY.

A Fragment of a Sermon.

BY HENRY M. CROSS.

We may

BELIEF in the doctrine of immortality is the most powerful feeling that takes possession of the human mind. The atoms which compose the human body enter into other forms. The soul acts with, but is distinct from, the body. It is therefore quite reasonable to suppose that the spirit-life will exist apart from the body in our future life. dwell in another body differently constituted. "For that which is sown is natural, but that which is raised will be spiritual." Think for å moment of thought. How it springs from the mind! We give utterance to our thoughts in words. These words are separate from, yet they form a part of ourselves. They influence other men; they inspire, stimulate, even create thoughts in the brain of other fellow-thinkers. Thoughts thus become our second selves. So the soul is my second self- -a neverending existence, living for all eternity. "It is an high, solemn, almost awful thought for every individual man, that his earthly influence, which has a commencement, will never, through all ages, were he the very meanest of us, have an end." The source of the Nile has been discovered, but who can trace the end of the eternal waters which wind along its banks into the fathomless sea. So we each have had a beginning, but who can say where the end will be? Does death end all? There is no such thing as death. "For though dead he yet speaketh."

"For though life darken and death be fleet
There is a heaven for hearts that meet,
A heaven of passion wildly sweet.

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Time cannot make me wholly nought!

What tho' I faint and perish, I

Have that within me which is high

As God, and infinite as the sky."

No! thou earnest, conscientious, yet misguided freethinker. Do not

"Man has no

Is this

mock the strongest instincts of my inmost nature, and say, soul; no spirit which links him with the ever-glorious future." longing, thirsting desire after a spiritual life a mirage which disappears when the shadows of death close around us? Has God our Divine Father implanted within us the desire for another and better life, and then said, "Thou shalt die and not live?" If reason cannot solve the problem, Revelation is certainly the key to this great mystery. "Though after death worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."

Is there a thinker bold enough to stand before God and say that the end of this life is the end of our being? Will you dogmatically assert that those who "fall asleep" shall rise no more for ever? that thought, memory, conscience, hope, immortality, are for ever annihilated when the breath leaves the body? If so, then we must part company. We cannot walk together along the same road any longer. As men of the world we may act in partnership, but here our fellowship must end. You are content with this life; I am not. You say, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die;" I do not so interpret the book of God's Revelation. You say, "Man may have a soul, but I have no proof of it;" say, the evidence of our future existence lies all around me- -In myself in nature, in the laws of the universe, in the teachings of analogy, and, above all, in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

I

Follow out this train of thought, and let us see if we cannot find some satisfaction in the teaching around us. This longing after immortality, which lives and dwells in my soul-how did it arise? Is it the result of education; the fruit of superstitious fear; the mere sentimental feeling produced by my early religious training; the desire for historical remembrance and continuity; or is it part of my nature to think thusimplanted in my heart by God my Father and Creator? I cannot answer these abstruse questions. One thing is clear to me, the feeling is ever present with me. Why have I been created, if this life ends all? Does this deep inner consciousness mean nothing at all beyond the passing thought of a day, or a lifetime? Do the aspirations of the poet, the historian, the prophet, and the man of God belong only to the domain of dreamland ? Have we no abiding city whose builder and maker is God? Surely it cannot be so.

"And though they take our life,
Goods, honour, children, wife,
Yet is their profit small,

These things shall vanish all.

The city of God remaineth."

And in nature, too, we read many lessons which teach us that, though all things change, yet are we immortal. I cannot look at the clear, bright star without feeling that it was made for something more than to

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