"Be not Sunday-school teachers, take courage; weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not." In the foregoing we may see how the dear Lord has taken one of His lilies in the bud to bloom in its full glory and beauty in the Paradise above. Oh, give Him all the praise for His wonderful works to the people of His love! MINIMUM. PRINTING. IN 1450 the first book was printed, and it is believed that that book was the Bible. But it was a Bible in Latin, called the "Mazarin Bible." It was beautifully printed, and when offered for sale, no one but the artists themselves could tell how the work had been done. It was in two volumes, and only eighteen copies are known to exist-four on vellum and fourteen on paper. In 1827, one of the vellum copies sold for £500. The Bible being first printed in Latin, was soon followed by other translations. In 1488, the Old Testament was printed in Hebrew, the original language, and thirty years after the New Testament also was printed in its original language, Greek, by Erasmus, of Rotterdam, who, while he was raised up of God for this particular work, would not (as he says) have ventured upon it, had he foreseen the horrible tempest" of conflicting opinions that its publication would raise. It was thus treated by the Papal party; some of the monks were so ignorant as to preach from their pulpits, "that there was a new language, called Greek, and another called Hebrew, and that people must beware of them, since these languages produced all the heresies." A vicar of Croydon, in a sermon which he preached about this time, declared, "We 66 must certainly root out printing, or printing will root out us. As much reference has been made to the corruptions of the system of which monkery forms a part, it is but just to point out what had been through the dark ages the real use of convents, with regard to the preservation of the Scriptures. There lived in the year 927 a Frank, named Odo, abbot of Clugni, who was a reformer in his way; i. e., he introduced among monks in general more rigid discipline; his convent and its rules became so famous, that many other convents followed the same. Hugh, another abbot of Clugni, had 10,000 monks under his superintendence. They set out well by saying the most perfect rule of life is contained in the Old and New Testaments, and, though they invented a great variety of forms, and placed heavy burdens on men's shoulders, which the word of God had not ordered them to bear, still their rule enjoined the assiduous study of the Bible. The monks who could read well were appointed in their turn as readers at meals. They read the writings of the fathers alternately with the Bible. The winter evenings at Clugni, were really spent in listening to large portions of the word of God. The Book of Genesis in the winter nights was read through in a week, Isaiah in six evenings, and the epistle to the Romans at two sittings. The monks laboured with their hands, and great care was taken that no one should be overcome of sleep. Every monk was expected to know the Book of Psalms by heart, and some rules required the learning of the New Testament. Next to the reading we should thankfully notice the writing of the Scriptures, which was carried on in the convents through the dark ages. In most of them a room called the " Scriptorium was set apart for the purpose. Many nuns were remarkable for the legible and beautiful character in which they wrote. One, Disinudis, wrote and ornamented ten missals, besides copying two Bibles and many writings of the fathers. Often this labour cost them the early loss of eyesight. Perhaps during a lifetime, the result of this industry might be forty or fifty folio books. It is deeply interesting to look upon these quiet reSources of the world's literature, whereby the darkness of its night was interspersed with many stars, till the dawning of the day in which arose the printing press, the tongue of nations, the terror of tyrants; and then the full day in which the Bible Society employs this mighty instrumentality to utter to all lands the written voice of God. BOY AND IDOL. AN EAST INDIAN ANECDOTE. THE following interesting incident is from a late report of the Madras Auxiliary Bible Society. It shows the power of the "truth in Jesus" to dispel darkness, and to support under trial and opposition. Children are commanded to obey their parents in the Lord. But when parents command what is contrary to right and truth, then we are. to obey God rather than man. As far as we can learn (says Mr. B- -), the interest in and the desire for the Bible is not losing ground. Many, it is true, read the word with We never see or hear the name of the British and Foreign Bible Society, but we sigh that even that noble Society should circulate translations in continental languages that encourage Popish error, namely, translations from the Latin Vulgate, instead of direct renderings of the original Hebrew and Greek. out finding the treasure; to most it is a sealed book. A very remarkable instance, however, occurred a few months back in a school belonging to the Church Missionary Society, which shows that God does bear testimony to the truth of His word, and that when He pleases He can produce effects the most striking and important. A heathen boy had been some time in the above school, and had read the Gospels as a class-book. He became convinced that his own religion was a fable, and that idolatry was sinful. On his father taking him a short time since to an idol feast, he refused to bow to the idol when his father and others did so. On being asked why he refused, he told them that it was impossible that a wooden image could be God, and that he would not bow to it. His father immediately proceeded to violent measures, and made him bow to it. On their going home, the father renewed the dispute with the boy. Upon which, the latter renewed the argument against idolatry, and said, "You made me bow to that idol before by beating me, but I did not bow in my heart; and if you cut me to pieces, you shall never again make me bow to an idol." His father immediately took the boy from the school; but such is his desire to become better acquainted with the Scriptures, that he steals away whenever he can, and goes to the schoolmaster's house to read them. He, being a good man, lends the boy a light to read by; and, whilst others are at rest, this little fellow often runs away, and sits up at nights to read the Scriptures. It is said that the conduct of this boy so much affected others in the same school, that they were almost induced to follow his example. IRISH CONVICT'S DAUGHTER. AMONG the many female children in the society's schools here that are of great promise, there is one, every circumstance of whose life is such a display of the reign of grace, as it would be unfor her parents and immediate relatives the most pardonable to pass by. The child alluded to had infamous characters. Her father was hanged for robbery and housebreaking; and her brother, I believe, for similar practices. Her grandfather, grandmother, mother, and mother's brother, were confined in prison, under the charge of murdering her mother's other brother. The grandfather died in the prison, before trial; her uncle and mother guilty; the uncle was executed, and the mother respited while on the scaffold, and afterwards transported for life. mained, with other convicts, in the prison, from the time of her being respited until the moment of her departure, she received religious instruction and the most humane attention from some ladies who devote themselves to every good work. On were found her departure, While she re female child, has since clothed and supported her, and, latterly, bound her apprentice to a mantua maker with a fee of twenty pounds. From her becoming the ward of this truly Christian young lady, she received education in the society's school, where she made a rapid proficiency in learning to read and work; but, what was far better, she gave one of them took charge of her evidence, in a and an affectionate attachment to her Testament, that the God of mercy had pitied her forlorn condition, and made her a partaker of His grace. Her Christian benefactress rejoiced daily in the increasing evidence, that her labour of love was not changed demeanour and disposition, |