Puslapio vaizdai
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But I have already remarked on the plural form of the word translated "heaven." God is not only in heaven; He is in the heavens. This teaches me (1) His omnipresence, (2) His Royal dignity and power. For what is Heaven? "Heaven is my throne." If then God is on His throne, what may I not ask from Him; for He is also my Father. I would like to commend, if it were possible, the careful study of a most valuable work entitled "Studies of the Divine Master," by Rev. Thos. Griffiths, M.A., Prebendary of St. Paul's, London. It is published by King & Co., but is, I fear, out of print. The published price was 12/6 or $3, but I have seen several remnants in different places selling at 2/6 to 5/, which indicates that it is being sold out. A more careful and suggestive study I have scarcely ever had the good fortune to take up, and the suggestions on the Lord's prayer are not the least valuable.

2. "Hallowed be thy name."

This sentence and the next

3. "Thy kingdom come,"

are almost the only ones which do not demand attention. Griffiths, who aims at giving a free and sometimes paraphrastic translation makes the clauses read-" be Thy name honoured; be Thy rule established."

4. "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

By a reference to the various readings given above it will be seen (1) That this clause is omitted from the N. V. of St. Luke. As it was doubtless borrowed from St. Matthew it requires no discussion. (2.) That in the prayer book and in the A. V. of St. Matthew the word earth is put before heaven, instead of being put as it correctly is in A. V. Luke and N. V. Matthew, afterwards. It will be advisable to dwell on this a moment, to see in what way the N. V. Matthew is an improvement. The petitions of the Lord's prayer are variously reckoned as six or seven in number. Those who make seven read (probably correctly) the last petition (of the other school) as two"Lead us not into temptation" being one, "But deliver us from evil” being the other. Now it will be seen that Christ begins with heaven, comes down gradually through the first half of the prayer to earth, then rises again to heaven. The first part of the prayer is in the descending scale; it begins with the Highest, his attributes, kingdom and will; the second part leaves earth and gradually rises in the ascending scale through the material to the spiritual, and so leaves us at last where it started from at first. If we bear this in mind we shall see the better how in the petition before us the idea Christ had in view is logically carried out by keeping the word earth, as it is in the original at the end of the clause. (3.) It remains to notice one

other point, for the discussion of which it will be necessary to have before us the original words of the sentence: γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. We should naturally expect the words to be translated: "Thy will be done, as in heaven, and upon the earth." But we find xaì translated so instead of and, and if we ask for an explanation it is said that in comparisons xai often takes the meaning of also, even, without being impregnated with the idea of connexion. The examples generally adduced, however, are quite different from that in the text before us, and we naturally look about us for some more natural explanation. And when we observe that we have oupavos 'heaven' here in the singular, the idea seems clearly to be something like this:-" Thy will be done, viz., by thy rational and responsible creatures in this state of probation, by man; as in heaven (not the heavens), viz., by the angels or whatever other intelligent and voluntary agents Thou there employest to do Thy will; and in earth, viz., by the creatures of Thy hand, irrational and involuntary, whether animate or inanimate." Thus the meaning would be-God's will is done by voluntary agents in heaven, it is also done by irrational creatures here, may man be as obedient as these. See in reference to the order of the words Bishop Ellicott On the Revision of the English New Testament, p. 147. I only regret that all the readers of this paper cannot have the addition of the valuable MS. notes with which the margins of my copy are crowded, and which were inserted as independent criticisms by an able English scholar.

Perhaps we may here rest-at the end of the first half-in our study of this sublime prayer, in the hope that in the next number we may be able to finish it and take up some other passages of interest. I must not, however, close this first paper without a word or two in reference to the reception which has been accorded the New Version. Some have strenuously opposed it. When we come to the clause "Deliver us from evil" we shall have cause to dwell somewhat at length on the statements made by various writers, some of whom ascribe to the Revisionists the honour of being the first to introduce the devil into the Lord's prayer, seeing that they read "Deliver us from the evil one," the last word being italicized. If my opinion were asked as to what class of people is likely to be most largely benefitted by the New Version, I should say teachers, educationists, preachers who have no knowledge-or very scanty knowledge—of Greek and other languages. They can use the N. V. as a commentary, reading it with the A. V. and will be surprised what a flood of light will come to them in connexion with many passages which have long been familiar, and about which they had a vague idea that they knew

something. Readers of the N. V. will notice the improvement which results in the arrangement by paragraphs; the introduction of passages quoted from the Old Testament in such a form as to make them easily discernible, and the attempt—not in every case successful, however,—to translate Greek words as often as possible by the same word in English, and not, as in the A. V. using two or three English to translate one Greek word. The names of persons have been revised and made more intelligible in cases where two or three forms originally occurred.

The Bishop of Durham, after the consecration of a new church at Jarrow, where, he said, the Venerable Bede translated one of the Gospels, thus referred to the Revised Version :-" We witness here a phenomenon altogether without parallel in the history of literature. The demand for it far out-strips any experience of the publishers, and far surpasses the most sanguine expectations. It is sold at every railway stall and canvassed in every newspaper, and yet it is not a novel, nor a sensational story, nor a book of travel and adventure; but an old, trite, and well-worn book, on which some time and patience have been bestowed to make it speak more clearly to English readers. What the ultimate view of this revision may be we know not; this is in God's hands; but if nothing else should come of it, was it not worth all the time and all the labour, thus to stimulate, as it has stimulated, the reading of God's word; thus to arouse the attention of the careless and indifferent, thus to gather crowds around this Book of Books, as more than three centuries ago they were gathered at the first appearance of the English Bible around the reader from the first copy chained to a desk in our great churches ?"

REPORT OF THE HANKOW TRACT SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR 1881.
BY REV. J. W. BREWER.

THE
HE Annual Meeting of the Hankow Tract Society was held on
Tuesday, January 17th, 1882, when the following Report was
presented by the Secretary and adopted by the Meeting :-

-

"Our last year's Report spoke of an unprecedented increase in the circulation of the tracts and sheet tracts published in Hankow, and it was feared by some that there might have been a serious falling off in the past year. We are happy however to report a year's work on the whole far surpassing that of the year previous.

"Circulation.-During the year now closed 71,895 tracts and 59,500 sheet tracts have been issued to purchasers. Reckoned by

pages this shows a total circulation of 2,525,000 pages, being an increase of 98,910 pages.

"About half of these tracts have been supplied to Agents of the China Inland Mission, with whom we rejoice thus to co-operate in their widely extended work. Upwards of 24,000 have been sold to the Agents of the National Bible Society of Scotland, who have Hankow as their head centre for this part of China. Enterprising and arduous journeys have been made by these brethren during the past year in the Provinces of Hupeh, Hunan, Honan and Shensi. 30,000 tracts have been sent to other parts of China. Since the state of our finances has compelled us to charge full price for these tracts, this large outside circulation is all the more gratifying as a sign that our publications are appreciated and selected for use over such a wide area. The remaining 16,000 have been supplied to various members of our Society for local distribution, and used by us in the various departments of our varied work.

"Whatever we do and wherever we go the tract in China is our unfailing companion and much valued helper. Preaching in the chapel or on the street, whether on long occupied stations where the missionary and his message are so well known that they are too often. lightly esteemed, or in places visited for the first time where mere curiosity brings thronging crowds; whether among Christians or among heathens; whether dealing with the Confucianist strong in the pride of learning, or with the many blinded ones around us groping and grovelling in ignorance and superstition; whether conversing with enquirers or instructing learners and even in training native assistants, we at all times and in all places avail ourselves of the help of the tracts large and small published by this Society, and lengthened experience of their usefulness leads us year by year to rejoice in the development of its operations.

"Publication Department.-The examination of the thirty-three MSS. submitted to this Society for publication during the past year has made official connection with it no sinecure. Much thought, time and energy have of necessity been devoted to the task, first in examining the tracts privately, and then in more than usually frequent meetings of the Examining Committee for discussion, criticism and decision It is encouraging however to report that the nine tracts and fifteen sheet tracts mentioned last year have this year been increased to twenty-three tracts and sixteen sheet tracts, while four others already approved for publication remain in the printer's hands.

"One of these new tracts is a reprint or rather a revised edition of a widely known and much esteemed tract entitled the "Mirror

of Conscience," written many years ago by a native Christian in Shanghai. 5000 copies of this tract were in September last distributed with good effect at a literary examination in a neighbouring prefectural city. Its style, both of language and thought, has made it a favourite for use on such occasions in other parts of the Empire. We anticipate for it in its new form as wide a sphere of usefulness as it has had in older Missions where it has been known and used for many years.

"Four numbers of the Illustrated Parable Series alluded to in the last year's Report have been examined and approved for publication. It was found however that such work was beyond the native printer we employ. It has therefore been decided to ask the Parent Society kindly to bring out an edition for us in England.

"For most of the new tracts published this year we are indebted to a special effort initiated by the Rev. David Hill, who offered prizes for the best tracts on twelve subjects selected by himself so as to form a graduated series of tracts suitable for regular seriatim distribution. "These tracts are intended to present the great and cardinal truths of revelation from the Creation of the world to the manifestation of God in Christ, step by step to the minds of the people, and by this means to do something towards the fulfillment of our Lord's command to disciple the nations." As might have been expected the essays sent in were of a very mixed and varied character and from a wide circle of writers. Protestants, Roman Catholics and even Confucianists joined in the competition. The prizes were however I believe in every case taken by mature Christians employed by various Missions as native helpers. We regret that the series is not complete. On one subject no award was made by the Adjudicators; on two others the essays were deemed by the Examining Committee not quite up to the mark for publication. We have however reaped good fruit from this special effort in the possession of thirteen tracts of more than average merit and some of them of much excellence on nine different subjects, viz:-The Unity and Sovereignty of God as displayed in Creation; The Law of God, Comments on and Summary of the Ten Commandments; The Worship due to and ordained by God; The Moral Government of God; The Mysteries of Divine Providence; The Vanity of the World; Repentance and Renewal-Nature and Duty; Prophecies fulfilled in the Life of Christ; Jesus, the Saviour of the World, The Holy Ghost the Sanctifier.

"Systematic Tract Distribution.-Many missionaries have from time to time talked of attempting regular tract distribution by native Christians much as it is done at home. Some who have attempted

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