shall only advert to it) that some, at least, of the advocates of this measure, seem not to have duly considered the dangerous power with which they would invest the American Bible Society. It is maintained that, in the exercise of this power, the society will hinder the circulation of corrupted and mutilated copies of the scriptures. One sect has been particularly alluded to, as in a peculiar sense the "enemies of the cross of Christ." The society, it is thought, will render an important service to the cause of truth by the restraints which it will impose on the operations of that sect. Is this the language of protestants! In a land of religious freedom are we fostering a NATIONAL INSTITUTION, which is to wield this tremendous power over the very sources of the religious faith of mankind; not by arguments addressed to the understanding and conscience, but by the decrees which shall issue from its council chambers! With this exposition of our views of the principles on which the society has resolved to act in an important department of its future labours, we resign the places which we hold in this Board. We believe we have justified to the world the assertion which we now make, that this separation has not been sought by us. We are compelled to withdraw from the society, whose labours we should still have esteemed it a privilege and an honour to share, had it continued faithful to its original principles. Protest presented to the British and Foreign Bible Society, March 6, 1837. The undersigned Ministers of the Baptist denomination, feeling it incumbent upon them, as a solemn matter of conscience and duty, to bear their individual and united testimony against the Resolution of the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, refusing aid to the Bengali translation of the New Testament, executed by the Baptist Missionaries at Calcutta, because "the words for baptize, &c., are rendered by words signifying immersion;" and understanding that grants to several of the versions prepared by the late venerable Dr. Carcy have long been suspended on the same ground; submit the fol. lowing statement to the members of that Society, and deliberately publish it to the world as an act to which they are impelled by a faithful regard for the interests of truth. In common with their fellow Christians, they have been accustomed cheerfully to labour in the ranks of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and will yield to none in sincere and ardent attachment to its catholic constitution and noble design. They have rejoiced in its prosperity with honest delight; have sympathized in its difficulties with unaffected sorrow; and with lively gratitude have glorified God, because he has given it the pre-eminence over all kindred institutions, and crowned its efforts with unexampled success. It is, consequently, with deep regret that they feel themselves called upon to express their conviction of the unsoundness of the principles on which, in the present instance, its Committee has acted. They would gladly have continued in quiet and unobtrusive co-operation with it in their respective circles, each, according to his ability, promoting its object, and all loving its unsectarian spirit. But in the present crisis they cannot be silent. They can be no parties to what appears to them a departure from the original integrity of its proceedings, nor can they witness an attempt to evade translation, and thus to conceal from the heathen a portion of the word of God, without lifting up their solemn remonstrance against it. From the correspondence which has passed on this subject between the Baptist Missionary Committee and the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, they perceive that every proper method has been employed by the former, but employed in vain, to prevent the conclusion which has at length been reached; and no hope being now left of inducing an alteration in this decision, they solemnly enter their PROTEST against it. 1st, Because, in their estimation, it is the primary duty of a translator to ascertain the precise meaning of the original text, and then to express that meaning as exactly as the nature of the language into which he translates it will admit. He is not at liberty to leave untranslated any word, the signification of which he knows, and can render by an equivalent term; and if he should do so, he is thereby guilty of keeping back part of the counsel of God. Two of Archbishop Newcome's rules for the conduct of a translator support this reason: "Rule I. The translator should express every word in the original by a literal rendering, where the English idiom admits of it, and where, not only purity, but perspicuity and dignity of expression can be preserved." "Rule XII. The critical sense of passages should be considered, and not the opinions of any denomination of Christians whatever." "The translators should be philologists, and not controversialists." 2. Because it is the province of the British and Foreign Bible Society to afford impartial aid to all faithful translations of the Holy Scriptures, not erecting itself into a tribunal of biblical criticism, nor taking upon itself, by the suppression of any part of inspired truth, to attempt a compromise between various denominations of Christians. 3. Because, the question being purely philological, a conscientious objection cannot be taken against the rendering given by the Missionaries, unless it be alleged that such rendering is unfaithful, which allegation, so far as the undersigned are aware, is not advanced; but simply that it is "considered objectionable by other denominations of Christians composing the Bible Society." 4. Because, were the principle admitted, that translators are not bound to convey into other tongues the true signification of words which may happen to involve controversies existing among different denominations of Christians, but in deference to the prevailing party may leave such words covered with a convenient, and, to all but learned men, an impenetrable veil, many other words immediately occur which should be thus treated; while truth, conscience, and inspiration would be sacrificed at the shrine of secular expediency, or party discussion. 5. Because the British and Foreign Bible Society circulates on the continent of Europe, and in the eastern parts of the world, several versions of the New Testament, in which the words now proposed to be left untranslated are translated in a similar manner to that adopted by the Baptist Missionaries. 6. Because the Resolution of the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Soicety, while it professes to be founded on a general principle, affects only a particular case, the whole Christian church being on the question at issue divided into two sections, those who do, and those who do not baptize by immersion. By adopting the course of which we complain, the Bible Society descends from its high pre-eminence as a Catholic Institution, ceases to be an incorporation of Christians of every community, and becomes essentially sectarian in its principle and practice. 7. Because those members of the British and Foreign Bible Society who are also members of the Established Church, with singular inconsistency unite in withholding aid for the reason assigned, since their church has expressly enjoined that mode of administering the ordinance of baptism which the terms employed in the Baptist translations describe, and allows no other but as an exception in cases specifically mentioned. 8. Because the principle.-now, it is believed, for the first time laid down, that new versions, in order to obtain the support of the British and Foreign Bible Society, must in disputed points conform "to the practice resorted to in the English and other Versions," is fatal to that moral independence and strict fidelity which are among the primary qualifications of a translator of the Scriptures, and cannot, it is confidently presumed, be acted upon in many other instances, however readily it may be adopted in the present case. 9. Because, although the Vulgate, which is followed in this instance by the English Version and some others in the western parts of Europe, leaves the words in question untranslated, this circumstance is not attributable to any difference of opinion existing at the time in which it first appeared, as to the true meaning of the words themselves, the baptismal rite being then and for many centuries afterwards administered only by immersion; in confirmation of which it may be sufficient here to cite the authority of Bossuet, the Roman Catholic, and of the Protestant Episcopalian, Whitby. The words of the former are as follows: "We are able to make it appear, by the acts of councils and by the ancient rituals, that for THIRTEEN HUNDRED YEARS baptism was thus administered throughout the whole church, as far as was possible." And the following are the words of the latter: "And this immersion being religiously observed by all Christians for THIRTEEN CENTURIES, and approved by our church, and the change of it into sprinkling, even without any allowance from the Author of this institution, or any license from any council of the church, being that which the Romanist still urgeth to justify his refusal of the cup to the laity; it were to be wished that this custom might be again of general use, and aspersion only permitted, as of old, in case of the clinici, or in present danger of death." In putting forth this protest, the undersigned do not intend to convey the idea that each and all of the foregoing reasons were felt with equal force by every individual, some having been influenced in a greater degree by one, and others by another; but they all concur in expressing unfeigned sorrow that the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society has, by this measure, placed that institution on what they deem an unconstitutional and unscriptural ground, and in bearing their deliberate and public testimony against it. In conclusion they state, that they feel, as they trust, in its full weight, the responsibility of the position in which they place themselves by this public act, yet from that responsibility they do not shrink. Having thus discharged a painful but imperative duty, they are satisfied to leave the cause of truth, for which alone they are concerned, in the hands of Him, to whom it emphatically belongs, and who so works out the issues of all things as to promote its ultimate triumph, and therein to secure his own glory. JAS. ACWORTH, A. M., Pres't of Hor ton Coll., Bradford, Yorkshire. W. H. MURCH, Theological Tutor of Stepney College ISAIAH BIRT, Hackney J. M. CRAMP, St. Peters, Sec'y. to the Isle of Thanet Bible Soc'y. F. A. Cox, D. D., L. L. D., Hackney I. G. FULLER, Westb'y, near Bristol THOMAS PRICE, D. D. Devonshire, Square, London THOS. S. CRISP, Theological Tutor CHAS. STOVEL, Prescott-st., London the Baptist College, Pontypool JAMES HOBY, D. D., Birmingham JoSEPH BELCHER, Greenwich. With more than six hundred Baptist Ministers of Great Britian. III. From the London Baptist Magazine of February, 1838. Review of Hinton's Letter to Lord Bexley, President of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and of the Constitution, &c. of the American and Foreign Bible Society. A SOLEMN oath is exacted in our courts of justice from every man who undertakes to interpret a deposition which is made in a foreign language. Whatever may be his reputation for integrity or learning, whatever his experience in the work, the faithfulness of his translation must be attested by a sanction as awful as that which binds the original witness to speak" the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." And if an oath for confirmation is ever desirable, it is in such a case as this; for, supposing the court to be unacquainted with the language in which the testimony is given, the decision which is to take away property, liberty, or life, may be determined by the accuracy or inaccuracy of the translation. The spirit of a transaction is sometimes indicated by a single phrase which was employed by the party to whom the investigation refers; the proof of guilty knowledge on the one hand, or innocence of purpose on the other, may depend on the precise meaning of a word: every thing in such a case is at the mercy of the interpreter. Suppression and interpolation may be equally detrimental. How anxious will a conscientious man be at such a time to make use of terms exactly equivalent to those which the witness has uttered! What irreparable mischiefs might ensue, were the translator to allow himself to be influenced by a pecuniary bribe, or by the partialities of friendship! He is required therefore to swear "to make true interpretation of the evidence, according to the best of his skill and understanding." Indeed, in cases of a less urgent character, the duties of a translator are important and weighty. He is bound in honour to give as just a view as he can of the meaning of a writer, whose opinions he professedly reports. A celebrated author on the continent, whose profound learning and patient industry have been expended in some laborious researches, could not refrain from tears, it is said, when conversing recently with a traveller from this country, while deploring the manner in which one of his principal works had been presented to the British public. He had received, in his own apprehension, an injury of the severest character, from a translator whose sentiments, in some points, differed from his own, in having his opinions incorrectly represented to a nation for whom he entertained a high regard, and among whom, above all others, he wished to be in good repute. No ingenuous mind can contemplate without sorrow the painful emotions of one who, having devoted years of toil to an interesting investigation, regarded himself as deprived of anticipated usefulness and honour by the want of skill or the party spirit of his translator. How solemn, then, is the responsibility which belongs to him who undertakes to translate any portion of the sacred oracles! Especially if the originals be out of the reach of his readers, and his version be the only one from which they can learn what divine mercy has revealed, by how many sanctions is he bound to give a view as accurate and complete as possible of every sentence which resulted from the inspiration of a holy and a jealous God! The prophet himself was not under more awful obligation to portray the vision just as he saw it, without deduction or colouring of his own, or to record the precise language which he heard when the still small voice of Deity fell upon his ear, than is the translator to give, to the best of his ability, the exact image of the thought which the prophet actually expressed in his own mother tongue. "Thou shalt not add thereto or diminish therefrom," is a precept which should ever be present to his mind, and impressed upon his heart. This duty has been recognised and acknowledged by the most eminent cultivators of sacred literature. The translators who have rendered most freely have sought to fulfil it, as well as those who are most literal in their style. "The first and principal business of a translator," says Lowth, "is to give the plain literal and grammatical sense of his author; the obvious meaning of his words, phrases, and sentences; and to express them in the language into which he |