another more humiliating to national vanity; and yet there was one, which must not be suppressed, as it may be of some value even still. During this long period, no other nation in Europe had so treated its vernacular Bible. There never was any monopoly of the Sacred Scriptures, as to printing them, in Germany, similar to that in England; no patents from the beginning, to compare with British policy. And therefore the first Bible in any European language, printed in our own America, was in German. This was in 1743, after having been three years in the press, by Christopher Sauer at Germantown, near Philadelphia. He printed a second edition in 1762, and a third in 1776. It was only her own Bible, as already stated, that England held in chains, thus painfully reminding us of the language of one of her own poets "Oh bright occasions of dispensing good! How seldom used, how little understood ! Still, however, and as if to link the two countries, even then, more closely than ever in Christian bonds, this first American Bible is the more worthy of notice, as not having been the work of a native American. It was a year equally memorable in both countries. Political ties might be snapt asunder; not so those of Christianity; and at the very moment in which American independence was acknowledging by Britain, there had been printed, by a native of Scotland, on the American shore, and in the city of Philadelphia, a practical acknowledgment, that we were still the readers of one common Bible, and equally bound by the same Divine authority. ROBERT AITKEN, born in 1734 at Dalkeith, had served a regular apprenticeship to some bookbinder in Edinburgh, and afterwards perfecting himself in the knowledge of the book trade, at the age of thirty-five he sailed for America. Having seen the country, he came home, and in 1771, with a stock of books, embarked for Philadelphia. Three years after this, having commenced printer, and in 1775, a magazine, it was in 1782 that he published, in small duodecimo, his edition of the Bible in brevier type- " Philadelphia, printed and sold by R. Aitken, &c., MDCCLXXXII.” Mr. Aitken died only in 1802, having survived his son, but he left a daughter, who continued the business; and she has had the honour of printing the only edition of the Septuagint that ever had been translated into English.3 When formerly treating of Scotland, it must have appeared strange, that it should have been so singularly supplied with the Scriptures from without, and for so long a period; but, in point of distance from supply, as well as length of time, here in America had been a course stranger still. Both cases, however, and in succession, thus form essential features in the history of our common version; and it is in perfect keeping with this retrospect, that the first printer of the English Bible openly in America, should be taken away from the mother country, and in that country from Scotland. It was fit that such a man should be the first to do that for his adopted country, which had been so remarkably done for his own. Nor is it less observable that he should do this in such a year, when there came the acknowledgment of that independence by Britain and Holland, to which so soon after Sweden and Denmark, Spain and Russia fully acceded. At the end of the Old Testament, in Aitken's edition, was printed a resolution of Congress, recommending it to the people at large, as a pious and laudable undertaking, in the existing state of the country." Into the history of the printing of the English Scriptures by native Americans, we here enter no farther than to mention, that the first English Bible, in folio, was published at Worcester, Massachusetts, by Isaiah Thomas, in 1791; and the first, in quarto, with a concordance, also that year. At the same period, the first edition of the English version in octavo, was printed at Trenton, in New Jersey, by Isaac Collins. The second, in duodecimo, was not published till 1797, by Thomas at Worcester, Massachusetts, which seems to prove, that Bibles of this size, at least, if not others, were still importing from Britain. Farther than this we need not now proceed, under this head. Thus, as far as we have come, and before we proceed to our final section, we may be permitted to assert, it has been demonstrated, that for more than two hundred and fifty years, or from 1526 to 1782, the Sovereign Disposer of all events had proceeded invariably, and with infinite long-suffering, after the same manner, whether in England or Scotland, or finally in America. The same mysterious and unwearied footsteps, are now visible throughout. First, in braving all the hostility of 3 "The Old Covenant, commonly called the Old Testament, translated from the Septuagint, by Charles Thomson, late Secretary to the Congress of the United States. Philadelphia, printed by Jane Aitken, 71, North Third Street, 1808." Forming, with the New Covenant, or Testament, four volumes 8vo. It is singular, that the Septuagint should never have been translated or printed in BRITAIN till only the other day. We have for years possessed the first translation, but know not as yet the comparative merits of the two versions. the authorities in succession, at home, as in Britain, and then abroad, as in America; thus overruling the narrow policy of England towards her distant colonies, with regard to that blessed book which had been so undeservedly bestowed upon herself. Conveyance from a distance had been adopted, first in the one case, and then in the other. There was printing in one country, and reading in another; first for a hundred, and then for above a hundred and sixty years! Importation was ever and anon pursued, and for so long a period. As if to elevate every mind conversant with this language, to a higher tone of veneration for the Divine will and record, than it has ever yet obtained; it was in this lofty and independent manner, that Divine Providence had now proceeded throughout the space of two centuries and a half! No other nation upon earth had been so visited at first-no other people so favoured and followed ever since-no race of Adam so frequently addressed. III-OR FINAL SECTION. REIGN OF GEORGE III. TO QUEEN VICTORIA. The last Sixty-four Years. THE COMMENCEMENT OF A GREATER MOVEMENT THAN EVER BEFORE-TO BE UNDERSTOOD ONLY BY FIRST LOOKING ABROAD-THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN FRANCE-THE AGITATION EXTENDS-NEITHER BRITAIN NOR HER COLONIES REMAIN UNSCATHED THE SAGACITY OF ENGLISH AUTHORS IN EVERY FORM OF COMPOSITION IS EXHAUSTED, WITHOUT AVERTING OR EVEN ALLAYING THE STORM-ACTION IS CALLED FOR-BUT THE OBSTACLES TO UNITED ACTION APPEAR TO BE INSUPERABLE-THE SOVEREIGN DISPOSER OF ALL EVENTS, AS A SECRET MOVER, UNOBSERVED— IN SECRET HE MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED-THE FIRST FEEBLE MOVEMENT TAKING ITS NAME FROM THE BIBLE-THE SECOND-ITS ENTIRE FAILURE NO GROUND FOR DISCOURAGEMENT-TEN YEARS BEFORE, DIVINE PROVIDENCE HAD FIXED ON ONE YOUNG MAN-READING THE ENGLISH BIBLE IN OBSCURITY, HIS MIND IS RIPE FOR ACTION—A NEW FEELING, OR SPIRIT OF ENLARGED BENIGNITY IS IMBIBED IN MATURER YEARS, HIS HISTORY AND EXERTIONS GRADUALLY INTERPRET THE BENEFICIAL REFLEX INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN OPERATIONS-TWO OTHER MEN GO TO HIS AIDTHESE EFFORTS MUCH IMPRESS A FEW POWERFUL MINDS AT HOMETHE BIBLE WITHOUT EITHER NOTE OR COMMENT DRAWS MORE ATTENTION THE DESTITUTION OF IT IN WALES-THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY WITH ITS AUXILIARIES-THEIR EXERTIONS UP TO THE PRESENT DAY-THE UNITED KINGDOM AND HER COLONIES EMBRACE ABOVE FOUR THOUSAND SIMILAR ASSISTANT OR INDEPENDENT UNIONSTHESE FORM ONLY AN INFERIOR DIVISION OF THE VAST FIELD OF ACTION-AFTER A DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF SO MANY MILLIONS OF THE ENGLISH SCRIPTURES, THERE OCCURS AN EXTRAORDINARY AND UNPRECEDENTED FALL IN THE PRICE OF THE SACRED VOLUME-THUS LENDING TO THE PRESENT HISTORY, ITS LAST PROVIDENTIAL MOVEMENT, OR A CONCLUSION AS CHEERING AS IT WAS UNANTICIPATED. BRITAIN AT THE HEIGHT OF A RESPONSIBILITY NOT EASILY CONCEIVED, AS IT BAFFLES ALL ADEQUATE DESCRIPTION-ON THE SUMMIT OF HER HIGHEST PRIVILEGE THERE IS NO REPOSE-THE PRESENT HISTORY INDICATES A COURSE OF ACTION, IF NOT THE ONLY ONE, WHICH INVOLVES HER FUTURE WELFARE AND STABILITY—A PATH OF DUTY WHICH CANNOT, WITH IMPUNITY, BE EVADED. N the first year of this period, or 1780, we discover the first feeble symptom of a great movement, and one with regard to the Sacred Volume, more especially the English Bible, greater than this nation, or even the world had ever witnessed. But it cannot be duly appreciated, nor its true bearing understood, if we at once begin here. While the Scriptures were in the course of translation into English, when they were first printing abroad, and importing into our native land, the state of the Continent, as well as that of Britain, invited our attention, and that, alternately, for a series of years. And now, in the last division of this history, now that these Scriptures had been read and enjoyed for so many generations; now that they, and they alone, are to be regarded as the means, under God, of having given to Britain her distinguishing character among the European nations, we are constrained to look across the Channel once more, but only It is to France. = once. It is long since we have looked particularly in that direction, and, indeed, since the days of Francis the First, we have had little occasion so to do. But now, and with immediate reference to DIVINE REVELATION, and to that, we hesitate not to say, above every other object whatever, the last sixty years are to be regarded in the light of a critical period or crisis, not even yet exhausted; and without a brief retrospect, the exertions now making, and yet to be made, cannot be properly understood. Speaking generally, for these three hundred years, there has been one feature of distinction between this country and our next neighbour on the Continent. It here invites observation, and the more so, that it scarcely, if ever has been followed out. A marked distinction, confessed by all, has long existed, and it has appeared so palpable, that the British people have been described as "living in a sort of moral separation from the rest of Europe, analogous to their physical insulation." An eminent French writer, M. Guizot, has lately said as much, and then he traces this to "the development of the principles, the different elements of society taking place in some measure at the same time, at least much more simultaneously than upon the Continent." There is much of truth and beauty in his subsequent explanation, but in searching for an adequate cause of distinction, must we not go farther, or deeper than this? Must we not inquire whether there was not some appliance, or powerful agency within this country, which France, as a country, had repudiated, or of which she has been, for ages, comparatively destitute? And if we do find something among the people here, but not there, the operation of which, in its influence on society, may be compared to the irresistible influence of secreted leaven, are we not called to watch and observe it ? To observe it too, in its operation upon every element of society, let that society, as a whole, be found in whatever condition it may? Now it is notorious, that the Sacred Volume has never been received so as to be calmly and deliberately enjoyed in France, as it has been in Britain. Civilization, indeed, in the popular sense of that term, has proceeded in both countries, and so much the better for all the purposes of comparison. There is, indeed, no necessity for our nicely balancing which has been foremost in that race, but we are certainly bound to observe how one people, with the Divine record in their hands, have gone on; and then to observe the other, who have advanced in what is styled civilization, without it. Their respective careers afford one great moral lesson, in which the incidents on the road, and the progress of the journey, become alike impressive, and full of instruction; while, at the same time, it is not to be forgotten that such has been the place which France and Britain have occupied in the eye of the world, that all Europe has looked on-all Europe has been engrossed, and even affected; nay, such is the actual position of these two kingdoms at the present moment. The history of Britain, in connexion with the Scriptures, we have already given; and, in this comparison, let all justice be done to her potent neighbour. There was a time, in the sixteenth century, when France bade fair to have followed in the same career. Like England, and especially Scotland, she was highly favoured from without. In the course of only fifty years, or from 1550 to 1600, there were printed not fewer |