mind of a Burnouf, from an examination into the Nepal version of the Buddhist Scriptures, conceived the idea of "a fourth digest of the Buddhists, apart from the compilations of the three convocations, the Singhalese Annals, and above all the Dipawansa alone, furnished the proof required for establishing the conjecture.

Such were, as are, the claims of the Pali literature of this island upon the attention of the learned in Europe. Yet it is a melancholy fact that for a very long period of time the greatest indifference was manifested in its study by the savans of Europe.

When more than forty years ago Rask wrote, the greatest misconception prevailed amongst Europeans on all Oriental subjects. Eastern languages were not extensively cultivated. A gloom enveloped the science of Comparative Philology. Inaccessible was the path to Eastern history. Even the Sanskrit, the language in the highest state of cultivation now-a-days was then but imperfectly known to the European world. Some considered it a derivative of the Zend, and others treated it as a creature of the Pali. Little, if anything, was definitely investigated of the latter. The relation which Sanskrit bore to the Prakrit was imperfectly investigated, and was at the time Wilson translated Vickrama and Urvasi far from being understood; and when the researches of Lassen and Burnouf, "with that love of novelty and that honourable ambition which greatly distinguished them," brought to light the Nepal books of Buddhism, even the names of their Pali versions were unknown to Europeans. The distinction between the Arya and the Dekhanese groups of languages was not well ascertained. The Tamil was supposed to have been an offshoot of the Sanskrit. The Andhra merely existed as a book name. Between it and the Dravida no relationship was established, much less was the identity of Dravida and Damila recognized. The Singhalese was not known in Europe.

When, more than thirty years ago, Hodgson announced the discovery of the Nepal Scriptures in a dialect intermediate between the Pali and Sanskrit, and the indefatigable Burnouf commenced their examination eight years afterwards, an impression was formed hostile to the real merits of the Pali or the Magadhi, and this, far from being removed, was indeed confirmed by the unjust opinion of Colebrooke, one of those patriotic followers of Sir William Jones, who devoted his chief attention to the Sanskrit literature-when he pronounced the Pali to be "a dialect used by the vulgar," and identified it with "the Apabhransa, a jargon destitute of regular grammar."

This hasty expression of opinion by one so highly esteemed

for his deep researches in the Indian literature, has not, however, been without its ill effects. It checked, though for a time, the current of inquiry. It discouraged those who might have otherwise successfully pursued their researches in the Pali. It even damped the energies of the nations of continental Europe, who "are the most diligent cultivators of Oriental languages." Notwithstanding the investigations of Weber, Benfey, Tausboll, Kuhun, and others of whose labours, so far as we know them in this remote part of the globe, we cannot speak but with the highest terms of commendation-the study of the Pali is yet, I apprehend, far from being extensively pursued by Europeans; and the full extent of the progress which that language has made in Ceylon, and its refinement and purity are imperfectly appreciated even by those who have made Philology their favourite study. Whilst numerous grammatical works in the Sanskrit and other Indian dialects have been published from time to time both in India and Europe, not a single treatise on Pali grammar has yet appeared, if we except the translation of Balavatara made in Ceylon; and although several Koshas or lexicons have been likewise published of the former, it is indeed a fact that no Dictionary of the latter language has yet made its appearance in any part of the world save Ceylon, where too, from many local disadvantages, nothing has been effected beyond the Abhidhanap Padipika and the Dhatu Manjusa, published by the Rev. B. Clough; and a Pali Dictionary (still in M.S.) compiled by the Rev D. J. Gogerley, the Principal of the Wesleyan Mission in Ceylon. When, again, we perceive that a material advance has been made by Europeans in the study of the Sanskrit; and the historical, doctrinal and metaphysical works perpetuated in that tongue, have been nearly all translated into European languages, it is indeed not a little to be regretted that in those branches of learning no Pali works have been published (if we except the Dhammapadan and Kammawakya) beyond the Mahawansa and various selections from Pali writers, contributed by the Honourable George Turnour, Mr. L. de Zoysa Modliar, and the Rev. D. J. Gogerley.

Amongst all the monuments of Pali literature, the sacred books of Buddha present such a profitable subject of study to the Christian missionary on account of the matters therein. treated of which, when thoroughly examined, cannot fail to produce the most valuable materials for the displacement of Buddhism-that one would have naturally thought it had engaged his most earnest attention both in Ceylon and the Burman empire. It is however not so. If we except the valuable contribution of the Rev. C. Bennet, of the American Baptist Union NEW SERIES.-VOL. III., NO. V.

H

in Burmah, entitled the Malalangara Wattoo, and the Life of Gotama by a Roman Catholic bishop (I believe Brigandet is his name) there is nothing to recount beyond the labours of the Rev. B. Clough, the Rev. D. J. Gogerly of Ceylon, and the Rev. P. D. Silva of the Wesleyan Mission, to whose valuable researches the public are highly indebted for various Buddhistical tracts in the pages of periodical literature.

It will be thus seen that the merit of Pali research belongs to those connected with Ceylon, where the Pali books have been preserved with the reverence accorded to the Buddhist religion. So accurately correct are our books in comparison with the same works on the continent of India, that Mr. Hodgson, who had been long of a different opinion, was latterly compelled to admit "that the honours of Ceylonese literature and of the Pali language were no longer disputable."

Caraïtic MSS.-The Russian Government has purchased, for the sum of 100,000 silver roubles, the celebrated collection of Caraïtic manuscripts of the learned collector, Abraham Firkowitch. After the collection had been duly examined by different savants, and pronounced to be highly important for the criticism of the text of the Holy Scriptures, for palæography and chronology in general, and for the history of Southern Russia in particular, it was delivered as property to the public Imperial Library. The Caraïtic scholar, Abraham Firkowitch, has devoted, we hear, thirty years of his life to the acquisition of these rare manuscripts. As early as 1830, during his stay in Constantinople, he succeeded in finding some valuable Hebrew codices. This seems to have given him the impulse for his untiring exertions in this field. He sacrificed his fortune in the search for rare and old manuscripts; bore without murmuring long separations from his family; subjected himself to all sorts of privations, and often endangered his life. Mr. Firkowitch has travelled through, and explored, the Crimea and the Caucasus in all directions; he has lived for months in churchyards and burial-places to study and copy old inscriptions; he has penetrated into synagogues and other likely places, where the Jews used to hide books on sudden attacks or invasions from the enemy; he never wearied of the struggle with fanaticism and barbarity. Thus he succeeded in collecting one hundred and twenty-four Hebrew original copies of the Old Testament, which are older than all other Hebrew codices in any of the libraries of Europe. Twenty-five of the manuscripts in Mr. Firkowitch's collection were written before the ninth, and twenty before the tenth century. Five of the manuscripts on leather are maintained to be the oldest of all documents on the Scriptures hitherto discovered. The whole collection consists of forty-seven rolls of the Pentateuch, on leather and parchment; seventy-seven codices of the Holy Scriptures; thirty-three translations in different languages; two hundred and seventy-two works of Caraïtic authors; five hundred and twenty-three works of Rabbinist authors; two hundred and fifty miscellaneous letters and articles; seven hundred and twenty-two inscriptions; three hundred documents regarding the history of the Caraïm in Western Russia, and three hundred old plans of different Russian towns.-Athenæum.

THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD.

means

WHAT is the Bible? This has become the question of questions. It is the question of learned and unlearned. All who think at all feel how vital it is. But it is a question by no answered: nor will it be, perhaps, for years. Whoever, therefore, has an answer which gives him rest, if not full satisfaction, has a right to tell it to others.

The common answer, and we believe the true one, is-The Bible is the Word of God. But every one must feel the vagueness of that answer. Men, who by no means agree in their views of the book, agree in giving it this name. Our aim must be to gain a more definite idea of what is meant by the expression, the Word of God.

That the Bible is the Word of God this is not the place to prove. Assuming that the common definition, expressing the common faith, is just, our work is to understand the definition. Every question must be narrowed and dealt with in parts, to be understood. So the reader may consider that the Bible has already been shewn to be the Word of God-which for the majority of thoughtful, earnest readers of the Bible itself, will be no unreasonable demand, and to most a welcome one; for who is not wearied with proofs that it is not the Word of man?or he may lay this paper aside.

The Bible is the Word of God. But what do we mean by the phrase-Word of God.

What is a word? The manifested mind of its speaker. It shews to others the thoughts, the feeling, and the will of its utterer. This, indeed, is not true of all words, but it is the proper meaning of a word. There are lying words and defective words: words which the speaker makes to hide his meaning, and words which will not convey his meaning. But this is only the case with a wicked or a weak speaker. A good man's words never lie, and a great man's words never fail: the good man strives to tell his meaning, and the great man tells his. So if a speaker be both good and great, his words will be his manifested mind. Hence when God speaks His mind is clearly revealed.

But since a word is the name of that in which the mind is manifested, it may pass beyond the verbal utterance, as only one mode of mental manifestation, and become the name of other manifestations not made through words. And since one being can become the most perfect revealer of another, he may be named the expression of that other his word. We have our ideal men-men who actualize our highest thoughts: and we

have our representative men-men who stand for us as a word stands for our thoughts-men who express us. Now God has His personal revealer-Him in whom He sees Himself reflected to Himself and manifested to others. This is His Eternal Son, who, because of His being His Father's manifestation, is called emphatically the Word.

The metaphorical use of the expression word is carried still further. If a man's words manifest his mind, much more do his deeds and his works. "Actions," we say, "speak louder than words." Language is local and changing; action is universal and abiding. The meaning of a tear is known to all, but the meaning of the word that names it is known only to some. So works are made to speak as well as words. "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. Without speech and without words, without their voice being heard, (yet) into all the earth is gone forth their sound, and unto the end of the world their ends."-Psalm xix. 1-4.

Yet in order to define the phrase, the word of God, a remark upon the different kinds of manifestation is needed. Manifestations are either immediate or mediate-without or with means. Almost all human manifestations are made through means; for few men can, if we may so say, flash themselves upon others directly with no instrument; they need the help of their outer nature. And, further, it is evident that of mediate manifestations there must be different degrees. We have need to mention two -immediate-mediate and mediate-mediate. A man's own words and works, coming directly from himself, are his immediatemediate manifestations-there is no interposing medium between the medium he uses to express himself, and us to whom the expression is made. On the other hand, a man's words and works when not heard or seen by us, but made known to us through another, are mediate-mediate manifestations-there is another medium interposed between us and him. A man who knows English but not Greek, can have an immediate-mediate manifestation of Shakespear's mind (supposing the test be faithful), but only a mediate-mediate manifestation of the mind of Homer, for he must depend on another man for his translation.

A word, then, is the manifestation of the mind of its owner, whether the manifestation be through language or through a person, or through works: and manifestations are immediate or mediate, which latter are divided into immediate-mediate and mediate-mediate.