In that year, an objection was made to this latter practice by some mem bers of the Parent Society, which led the Committee, on the 19th of August, 1822, to pass the following resolution, namely:

"Resolved-That when grants shall be made by any of the [Foreign] Bible Societies, in connexion with this Institution, which are accustomed to circulate the Apocrypha, it be stated to such Societies, that the attention of the Committee having been called to the fundamental rule of the Society, as limiting the application of its funds to the circulation of the Holy Scriptures; and it appearing that this view of the said rule has been taken from the beginning by the great body of its members; the Committee, anxious on the one hand to keep entire good faith with all the members of the Society, and, on the other, to maintain unimpaired the friendship which it has had the happiness so long to hold with Bible Societies, which circulate books esteemed apocryphal in this country, requests of those Societies, that they will appropriate all future grants which they may receive from the British and Foreign Bible Society, exclusively to the printing of the books of the Old and New Testament, as generally received in this country; such Societies remaining at full liberty to apply their own funds in whatever way, as to the printing and circulation of the Apocrypha, it may seem good to them."

By this resolution they refused to sanction the intermixture of the apocryphal books; but by the grant of Dr. L. V. Ess, they returned to that practice, with a reservation, indeed, impossible to be fulfilled, that "the money of the Parent Society should be applied exclusively to the paying for the Canonical books."

On the 20th of December, 1824, the Committee, after having again dis cussed the merits of the question respecting encouraging the circulation of the Apocrypha, they returned again to the principle adopted in August, 1828, and passed the following resolution, viz.: "That no pecuniary grants be made by the British and Foreign Bible So ciety, for the purpose of aiding the printing and publishing any edition of the Bible, in which the Apocrypha

VOL. XVII.

shall be interspersed with the Canonical books of Holy Scripture: and tliat all grants of money to Foreign Societies, which are accustomed to publish Bibles containing the Apocrypha, be made under the express stipulation, and the assurance of the parties receiving the same, that such grants shall be exclusively applied to printing and publishing Canonical books of scripture only,"

The Statement of the Committee of the Edinburgh Bible Society, fully explains the circumstance which led to these different and fluctuating_measures by the Committee of the Parent Society. The knowledge of the vote to assist the Rev. Leander Van Ess, to publish his Old Testament, having been made known to them, produced considerable dissatisfaction in that quarter, and they accordingly opened a correspondence with London. This led, as it should appear, to the alteration made by the resolution of the Parent Committee in December, 1824.

On this resolution being transmitted. to Edinburgh, they were still dissatisfied; and on the 17th of January, 1825, they passed several very strong resolutions: in these they say, “that an adherence, strict, avowed, and unequivocal, to the essential principle of the Society, the circulation of the scriptures without note or comment, is essential to insure its permanent unanimity and success, and even the existence of the Society-that the Society stands pledged by its rules and printed statements, to confine its labours to the circulation of the Holy Scriptures alone ;that they considered the circulation of the apocryphal writings in any way whatever, directly or indirectly, through the › funds of the Bible Society, to be contraż › ry to the original covenants entered into with the religious public, and to the solemn asseverations on the subject of the exclusive distribution of holy scripture in its annual reports;—that in whatever degree the influence of the Bible Society had tended to encourage the circulation of the apocryphal writings, it had gone out of its original course to give its sanction to a human composition replete with error, which wickedly assumes to be a revelation from heaven;-that the resolutions of the 19th of August, 1822, and the 20th of Decomber, 1824, while they appear to: 3 B

be a disclaimer of the practice of circulating the Apocrypha, were held in fact to be the rule;-that permitting the Foreign Protestant Societies the circulation of the Apocrypha, would justify them in printing the Popish notes, so that it was done at their own expense; and that even this would be less injurious, because acknowledged to be human, whereas the Apocrypha was received by the people under the false name of the Word of God;—thrat they were aware of the objection, but did not admit its truth, that to exclude the Apocrypha from the Bibles circulated by the funds of the Bible Society, would be to destroy its connexion with the Foreign Bible Societies, and entirely to prevent the wide circulation of the scriptures on the Continent; but that even if this were to happen, they ought not even tacitly to sanction the false pretensions of an apocryphal book, and to recognize a principle which the inspired word so solemnly condemns:—namely, 'Let us do evil that good may come.'

This firm, but respectful, remonstrance, accompanied with extracts from the corruptions of the apocryphal books, (which are very numerous and pointed,) having been received in London, on the 24th of February, 1825, two meetings of the Committee of the Parent Society were held on the 7th and 21st of March following, at which, after long discussions, it was agreed to pass the following resolution, which was transmitted to Edinburgh: "Resolved, That all the Resolutions of the Committee relative to the Apocrypha be rescinded."

On the 4th of April the Committee of the Edinburgh Bible Society resolved, That as the future proceedings of the Society were uncertain, they simply referred to their resolutions of the 17th of January; that they earnestly pressed upon the Committee of the Parent Society, the importance of speedily considering and determining the question, and transmitting a direct answer, "Whether they consider themselves warranted, by the original and fundamental rule, to aid in any way whatever the circulation of the Apocrypha?" and "that till a satisfactory answer be received from London, on this point, all remittances to the Parent Society be suspended."

By a letter, dated London, April 9, 1825, they were informed, that the General Committee had adopted the resolution of a special Committee, viz. "That it be recommended to the General Committee not to print or cireulate the apocryphal books; and, at the same time, to use their best endeavours to aid the circulation of the inspired volume in all foreign countries, by grants of the canonical books, in whole or in part, without interfering with the future distribution of the same, whether with or without the apocryphal books."

The Edinburgh Committee considered this resolution to be of “ a highly unsatisfactory character;" they say, "Grants of the canonical books are to be made; but no security is taken that these shall not be accompanied, bound up, and even interspersed with the Apocrypha." They consequently, at a meeting held the 16th of May, 1825, confirmed their former resolution to discontinue their remittances to the Parent Society; but expressing an earnest wish, that the friendly intercourse might be restored which had hitherto been maintained, by the removal of those circumstances which had led to its interruption. Their "Statement" was soon after sent to all the Auxiliary Societies, to explain the grounds on which they had acted, and on which they were determined to take their stand.

From the second of these publications under review, it appears that some highly respectable clergymen, members of the Bible Society, and also members of the University of Cambridge, met there on the 11th of February, 1825, for the purpose of counteracting the measures which had been adopted at Edinburgh. Considering the proposals of the Edinburgh Society, and the resolutions of the Committee of the 20th of December, an attempted innovation in the Society's proceedings," they presented what they designate, a protest to the Com mittee: in this, they say, "we wish it to be considered, whether that resolution is not in fact a violation of one of the grand and fundamental principles of the Society; namely, that of uniting in one common work, the efforts of all christian communities; and whether it will not cut off some of the largest and most promising branches of the Socie

ty's labour, by giving up in some quarters, the only way in which any part of the word of God can be circulated, and, in other quarters, the only way in which the Old Testament can be circulated with the New." They consider the rules and regulations of the Society as fully admitting the circulation of the scriptures, as they are received by different established churches throughout the world, and that the spirit of the Society is contravened by the abovementioned resolution of the 20th of December: they also declare they have no wish that the Apocrypha should be any where circulated where the canonical scriptures will be received without them.

The effect of this protest upon the minds of the Commitice may be judged of in some measure, when we are told, “ On the same day the Committee passed the singular resolution before mentioned:-Resolved, That all the resolutions of the Committee, relative to the Apocrypha, be rescinded!" In consequence of this act of the Committee, several members of the Society (opposed to the circulation of INTERSPERSED Apocryphas) met in London, and framed a remonstrance, which was signed by twenty-seven persons (including four members of the Parent Committee), and laid it before the Committee on the 4th of April. On the 22nd of April the resolution was adopt ed by the Parent Committee, mentioned as having been so "highly unsatisfactory" to the Edinburgh Commit

tee.

The "Statement" from Edinburgh appears to have led the Auxiliary Societies of Newcastle, Hereford, Ayrshire, Surry, North-Shields, Haddington, and North Somersetshire, to address the Parent Society in the language of firm remonstrance; and those of Glasgow and Sunderland, have only withheld their sentiments till they shall have received an official reply to some questions from the Parent Society. On the other hand, the Societies of Nottingham, Dorking, and West Essex, have supported an unfettered discretion in the Committee as to the circulation of Bibles with the intermingled, or appended apocryphal books.

The subject has been more than once discussed in the Committee since

the resolution of the 22nd of April was passed, and on "the 2nd of August it was resolved to refer the whole subject of the Apocrypha to a Special Committee, in which it is to undergo a careful and deliberate consideration." An official Circular, dated August 6, signed by the three Secretaries, has been accordingly issued; so that, at present, the various parties are indulging the hope, that some plan will at length be adopted more favourable to their respective views and feelings, than any of the preceding resolutions on the subject.

The parties at Edinburgh and at Cambridge are completely at issue upon this subject: the former objecting to the money of the Society being expended in any way to extend the Apocrypha, because "it is not lawful under any circumstances to do evil that good may come," the latter contending that the Society ought to circulate the popish authorized version, rather thau not supply foreign Roman Catholics with the scriptures. A third party, whom Mr. Gorham represents, will not go the length of either of them, but are willing to render assistance to those Protestant churches who append the Apocrypha to the Bible. Mr. Venn pleads for the second party, that Paul became "all things to all men," &c. and that charity demands that the prejudices of Papists who will not receive the Protestant canon, should be met by their stronger brethren: as if a specious charity, and not the scriptures of truth, were the standard of christian duty. Mr. Simeon contends lustily, we think not scripturally, that because Paul circumcised Timothy to please the Jews, therefore the Bible Society ought to circulate the Popish version to please the Roman Catholics. He forgets how Paul refused to become a Jew to the Jews at Jerusalem in the case of Titus, and at Antioch in that of Peter and Barnabas. He forgets too, that Paul in the former case violated no law, as circumcision had not been actually, though it had been virtually repealed. But surely the Popish canon cannot be circulated by Protestants without gross inconsistency, nor without flatly opposing the spirit of that awful verse at the close of the canon of scripture, "If any man ADD UNTO THESE THINGS God shall add

extract:

"Every christian, whose soul is in a prosperous state, seeks after, and enjoys some communion with God; and is careful to depart from iniquity. But, alas! how many are there, who, on the whole, may be christians, and yet all is languid within them, like the parched ground in the drought of summer. It may be, they retire for private prayer, conform to family religion, attend public ordinances, read the scriptures, and sometimes converse a little on divine subjects; but their tempers and their passions are unsubdued, and their conversation is often vain and light. To see such persons, and observe their manner; to notice their excessive levity, sometimes; and at other times, their paroxysms of rage and anger, one is ready to say, Can these persons be christians ?' The people of God in their intercourse with others, whether they have to rule or to obey, should be very watchful over their tempers and behaviour, lest they should cause the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Let us not be satisfied with just as much religion as will carry us to heaven; or rest contented with what we have already attained. We are planted in a good land; why should we remain as shrubs, that are planted on some barren uncongenial spot, where their growth is stunted, and life can hardly be maintained? They that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God.' P. 94.

We should be exceedingly glad to see the first chapter, “The Immortality of the Soul;" and the "Examples," at the close of chapter the sixth, pub lished as separate tracts.

A Sermon, occasioned by the Death of the Rev. John Ryland, D.D. preached at the Baptist Meeting, Broadmead, Bristol, June 5, 1825. London: Ha milton, Holdsworth, Westley, and Wightman and Cramp. Price 2s.

We are happy to receive another instalment of the debt Mr. Hall owes the public. When will the whole be discharged?-Seriously, is it not matter of lamentation, that the extraordinary powers of this matchless writer should have produced hitherto only a few sermons and tracts, which, though acknowledged to be of unrivalled excellence, can furnish but an imperfect

Of the sermon now before us, there can be but one opinion, It wants, indeed, the glow of some of Mr. Hall's former productions, but it is, nevertheless, distinguished by the chaste elegance and melodious dietion which always characterize his writings, to say nothing of the beauties of thought, and the delicate touches of moral painting, with which it abounds.

read the sermon before these pages So many of our readers will have reach them, that it is needless to extend our remarks further; especially as we shall have occasion, in the Memoir of Dr. Ryland, announced for our next Number, to quote largely from the elegant, accurate, and faithful sketch of his character, which Mr. Hall has drawn.

We cannot, however, deny ourselves the pleasure of transcribing one of the concluding paragraphs:

"If the mere conception of the reunion of good men, in a future state, infused a Tally; if an airy speculation, for there momentary rapture into the mind of is reason to fear it had little hold on his conviction, could inspire him with such delight, what may we be expected to feel, who are assured of such an event by the true sayings of God! How should we rejoice in the prospect, the certainty, rather, of spending a blissful eternity with them emerge from the ruins of the tomb, those whom we loved on earth, of seeing and the deeper ruins of the fall, not only uninjured, but refined and perfected, with every tear wiped from their eyes,' standing before the throne of God and the Lamb, in white robes, and palms in their hands, crying with a loud voice, Saland to the Lamb for ever and ever. What vation to God, that sitteth upon the throne, delight will it afford to renew the sweet counsel we have taken together, to recount the toils of combat, and the labour of the way, and to approach, not the