severe beauty of its language. It may be compared with any translation in the world without fear of inferiority; it has not shrunk from the most vigorous examination; it challenges investigation; and in spite of numerous attempts to supersede it; has hitherto remained unrivalled in the affections of the people."

John Taylor of Norwich, the author of an excellent Hebrew and English Concordance, says, "you may rest fully satisfied, that as our translation is in itself by far the most excellent book in our language, so it is a pure and plentiful fountain of divine knowledge, giving a true, clear, and full account of the divine dispensations, and of the gospel of our salvation, insomuch that whoever studies the Bible, the English Bible, is sure of gaining that knowledge and faith, which if duly applied to the heart and conversation, will infallibly guide him to eternal life."

The London Quarterly, speaking of Lowth, Blayney, Horsely, Newcome, says, "That these and other profound scholars have materially assisted the cause, and produced many valuable elucidations of particular passages, is gratefully acknowledged by all who are acquainted with their works. Yet with all the respect which we feel for their labors, we venture to express a doubt whether any new translation of even a single book of Scripture, has appeared since the publication of the authorized version, which taken as a whole has come up to the standard, either for the general fidelity and correctness with which it conveyes the sense of the original, or the dignity, simplicity and propriety of language in which that sense is conveyed."

Such is the testimony of some of the world's best scholars to the great excellence of our present English version. To this we will add, (and hold ourselves responsible for it before the learned world,) that there is not a translation of any of our classical authors, Latin or Greek, equal to it. We have various translations of Cæsar, Sallust, Livy, Ovid, Cicero, Virgil. Horace, Tacitus, Juvenal, &c., and of Xenophon, Thucydides, Euripides, Homer, Plutarch, Josephus, &c., and we assert that among all these not one is equal to the translation of the Bible, taking our common version, notwithstanding the fact, that any one of these is so much. easier translated, for various reasons that might be assigned.

ART. II. ON THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD.

Next to the hope of personal salvation, is the hope of the conversion of the world. No doubt, there will be some wicked men till the end of time; but the time is coming when they will be rare exceptions to the general rule. Piety will be the prevailing character of the population of the world, and of every particular country. Aware that this doctrine is rejected by some wise and good men, we wish to present the evidence by which it is sustained, as fully as our limits will permit.

I. It is plainly taught in many of those passages which relate directly to the Redeemer:

1. Sometimes He is described as the conqueror of Satan, and the destroyer of his works. Three texts may suffice as specimens of this class.

Genesis 3: 14, 15. And the Lord God said unto the serpentI will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

It is surely unnecessary here to offer an argument to prove the reference of this passage to the spiritual interests of men. By serious Chsistians, universally, it is justly regarded as the first intimation of mercy to our fallen race-general indeed; but not obscure.

The phrase, "He shall bruise thy head," is equivalent to, He shall conquer thee. So in Psalms 110: 6., "He shall wound the heads over many countries," evidently means, He shall conquer many countries. Whatever may be thought of this particular criticism, there can be no doubt as to the general meaning of the threatening. It is, that Christ should frustrate the designs of Satan, and repair the mischief which he had done; and in view of the nature of the subject, this is equivalent to what we have stated.

All the predictions of this chapter contemplate man in his mortal state. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” So far as their direct meaning is concerned, none of them go beyond this point. Of the war between Christ and Satan, the consequences are eternal; but the conflict and the victory take place in time. It is here, those who were the slaves of Satan become the citizens of the Redeemer's kingdom. If Satan can retain men

in bondage till their death, his ulterior designs in reference to them will infallibly be effected. Satan, then, had now become the prince of this world; God addresses him in that character, and threatens him with an overthrow. What could be the meaning of such a threatening, uttered in such circumstances, but this-that he should cease to be the prince of this world-should lose his kingdom? We can conceive of no ulterior design, as entertained by him, which was not inseparably linked with the idea of retaining the world in rebellion against God; of course, his defeat must consist, primarily, in the return of the world to its allegiance to its rightful sovereign. And that is the conversion of the world.

Let us now turn to another passage. In anticipation of his crucifixion, and only a few days before it took place, our Redeemer exclaimed, "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." The Evangelist adds, "This he said, signifying what death he should die. (John 12: 31-33.

It will, of course, be admitted that the "prince of this world," here spoken of, is Satan; and after the explanation given by the Evangelist, it seems hardly possible to misunderstand the passage, if we will attend to the connexion between verses 31 and 32. The former tells us that Satan is to be cast out, or to lose his dominion over the world; and the latter, that this is to be effected by Christ drawing all men unto himself, in consequence of his crucifixion. For example: the drawing here mentioned cannot be merely the common strivings of the Holy Spirit. These can never deprive Satan of one of his subjects. It is only by the conversion of men that Satan, as the prince of this world, can be cast out. The only remaining question is, in what sense are we to understand the phrase all men ?" It certainly does not mean, all men of all generations. Our Saviour is evidently looking, exclusively, to future events, which are to take place in this world. The power of Satan, as "prince of this world," would not be affected by the conversion of those whose connexion with this world is already terminated, even were such an event to take place a supposition manifestly inconsistent with the unequivocal teachings of the word of God. Nor can the whole meaning of the phrase all men, as here used, be, some of all classes. We know the phrase is sometimes used in this sense. But if nothing more were meant here, this would neither imply nor secure the casting out of Satan as "the prince of this world." The mere loss of some subjects of all classes falls very far short of the deposition of a monarch. We must conclude, then, that such multitudes of men are to be drawn to Christ, that Satan shall no longer have a kingdom in the world. We are not, indeed, to infer that there will be absolutely no unconverted persons. Such an inference, we think, is forbidden by other

portions of the word of God; certainly it is not required by this. The mere fact of owning some slaves is perfectly distinguishable from the possession of a kingdom. And when great numbers are in question, the use of the word "all" does not necessarily imply that there are absolutely no exceptions; it is enough if the exceptions constitute but an extremely small proportion of the collective body described. No one hesitates to say, "All must die;" but two exceptions have taken place, and more will take place at the second coming of Christ.

In this passage, then, we are unequivocally taught, that the death of Christ secured infallibly the downfall of Satan's kingdom-the conversion of the world. As to the certainty of this result, the case is just the same as if the two events had occurred at the same moment. Then when Christ was lifted up upon the cross-then, Satan, as a prince, was virtually cast out. The process of his actual ejectment commenced soon after, is still progressing, and will be completed in due time. Such is the plain teaching of this passage; and such is precisely the doctrine which we propose to prove.

The last passage of this class which we shall adduce, is in Revelation, 20: 1-3-"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season."

Satan, as we learn from other Scriptures, is a liar—the father of lies. By falsehood he seduced our first parents from their allegiance to their creator, and thus acquired dominion in this world. By falsehood and deceit his kingdom has been upheld ever since. So far as men on earth are concerned, to be freed from the deceits of the Devil, and to be freed from his power, are the same thing; or, at least, inseparably connected. The passage before us points to a time when the nations shall be thus freed. What nations? Manifestly, the nations which he has hitherto deceived. The language will scarcely, if at all, admit of any other construction-he shall deceive the nations no more. If he has hitherto deceived all nations, all nations are to be undeceived. Further confirmation, if any be needed, may be derived from the manner in which this result is said to be attained. He is bound and imprisoned; and his prison is the bottomless pit. Nothing short of the conversion of all nations can correspond with such a representation as this. It is indeed, believed by many, that the globe we now inhabit is to be inhabited by saints after their resurrection, who, of course, will be entirely free from Satanic influence. On the merits of this theory we have no occasion to express an opinion at present. The

reference of this passage is manifestly different. Glorified saints will never more be exposed to the wiles of the Devil; but we are here told that Satan, after his imprisonment, "must be loosed a little season."

Gospel truth, as all Christians are aware, is the opposite of Satan's lies, and the Divinely appointed means of undeceiving his dupes. Through its instrumentality, men are "turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Hence, in predicting the destruction of the influence of the great deceiver, the Revelator, in effect, predicts the universal diffusion and success of the Gospel. But, for the establishment of our position, it is sufficient that the influence of the deceiver is to be destroyed. The implication as to the instrument shows the harmony between this and other portions of the word of God.

The texts on which we have commented differ widely in phraseology, and occur in different parts of the Bible; on comparing them together, we discover a most wonderful correlation, establishing their identity as to subject and general meaning, and precluding, (as far as language can do it,) the possibility of doubt as to what that meaning is. In each, the subject is, the destruction of the power of a certain being; who is that being? In the first of these passages, he is called "the serpent," and the context identifies him with the original tempter of our first parents. In the third, he is called "the dragon," "that old serpent," "the Devil," "Satan ;" and what is said of him identifies him with the great deceiver of the nations. In the second, he is spoken of as "the prince of this world," and the great opposer of Christ. None of our readers will require an argument to prove that all these descriptions relate to the same being. Who is his antagonist? In the first, he is called "the seed of the woman-a title which, we all know, belongs to our Saviour, in a sense in which it is not applicable to any other person. In the second, the antagonist of "the Prince of this world" is the speaker, and the speaker is Jesus. In the third, the nature of the event, as compared with the uniform and acknowledged teachings of Scripture, connects it infallibly with the power of Jesus. Where, and among whom, is the revolution here predicted, to take place? In the first passage, it seems, evidently, to be on earth, and among mortal men. There is nothing to suggest a different idea; nothing is said about any other world, or about the state of man after the death of the body. The bruising of the heel of the seed of the woman, is connected with the bruising of the serpent's head; and there is no more reason for referring one to the eternal world than the other. In the second, these points are quite too clear for controversy; and in fact, have never been disputed. In the third, the manner in which the nations are mentioned naturally suggests the idea of man still in this world and in his mortal state; and the prediction, that Satan is to