184 FEMALE INFLUENCE. It is one of the glories of Biblical translation that it admits of the co-operation of both sexes and of every rank. To a lady we are indebted for one of the most precious Biblical relicsthe Alexandrian Manuscript-and her handwriting may be traced on its page. To the example of the queen of Richard II. Wycliffe appeals, in his "Threefold Bond of Love," in defence of the general study of the Bible; and her influence was repeatedly used in helping to circulate it.* Queen Katherine Parr printed a paraphrase of the New Testament "at her own exceeding cost and charges." To Hedwige, queen of Poland, (A. D. 1384,) the Poles owe their first version of the New Testament; as do the natives of the Spanish Basque provinces to Jane d'Albert, queen of Navarre; and more than one German tribe is indebted to the bounty of the mother of count Zinzendorf. Nor are modern instances wanting. The first portion of the New Testament printed in Siamese, was translated by Mrs. Judson; and to the Jalloofs, a large tribe residing south on the banks of the Senegambia, Hannah Kilham devoted her time and at length her life. She studied and mastered their tongue, and commenced a version of the Scriptures, which, however, she did not live to complete. A slight glance at the table of African tongues will show that as yet Christians have but entered on their work in that continent, and that even of districts within our reach, nearly the whole are without the Bible. * Townley, vol. ii. p. 92. 186 Pawnee. THE BIBLE IN AMERICA. AMERICAN (continued.) PANIS FAMILY. Not pr. Amer. Bd. Pawnees, 9,500. And five others. CARIB-TAMANAGUE FAMILY. Henderson Honduras, etc. Karif, or Carib 1847. 1823...1850. Part pr. Schuman, Surinam. And five others. Brett DISTINCT LANGUAGES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. Not pr. Henderson | Mosq. Shore. And twenty-one others. MAYAN FAMILY. Gospels Kingdon Yuealan, and Acts, Not pr. And six others. MEXICAN FAMILY. 600,000. 1827...1829. 1,000, Lk. Dr. Kanki, Peru, 550,000. B. & F. B. S. PAYAGUA-GUAYCURA AND CHILIAN FAMILIES: Eight in all. Summing up these results, we find that parts of the Bible have been translated into 211 languages and dialects. Of this number, the whole Bible has been translated into 63, and the New Testament into 63 more. Into 85, parts only of the Scripture have been translated. Of the entire number, 150 versions have been printed more or less directly in connexion with the British and Foreign Bible Society-the contribution of the first half of this century to the evangelization of the world. Two or three additional lessons of practical importance may be gathered from the subject of this volume. First of all, it is clear that there is a unity of faith among Protestants as striking, at least, as the unity of the adherents of the papacy. The unity of Popery is submission to the church, that is, to tradition and the teaching of general councils; the unity of Protestantism is submission to the Bible. If, on the first, Roman Catholics are agreed, so are Protestants on the second: the Greek church and the Anglican, the Lutheran and the Calvinist. "Scripture sufficient and final," is the maxim of all sects. Luther proclaimed it at Wittemberg, Farel at Paris, Zwingle at Basle, Calvin at Geneva, and the Greek patriarch at Constantinople. Among Protestants, this is the common faith; nor is our unity in relation to it inferior to that of the church of Rome. It may be said in answer, "This is hardly the question at issue. It may be admitted that Protestants and Roman Catholics are alike in 188 WHAT IS PROTESTANTISM? having each a standard of appeal; but," it is added, "the standard of the church of Rome contains clearer annunciations, is sustained by more decisive authority, and secures greater harmony of belief than the standard of Protestants. Councils and traditions are plainer than the Bible-more full and more authoritative." This assertion has been often made; but it is really without foundation. An assertion of the same kind swayed the mind of Chillingworth. On this very ground he embraced the Romish religion, and hoped to find in it an infallible guide in matters of faith. He soon discovered, however, that no such infallible guide was to be found, honestly avowed his conviction, and returned to the Protestant faith. He declared afterwards that "fathers were set against fathers, and councils against councils," to such an extent that he had discovered nothing in all antiquity to be compared in traditional authority or in clearness and cogency with the Scriptures. "Henceforth," he adds, in a well-known passage, "let the Bible alone be the religion of Protestants." Ten years before, Daillé, (1628) one of the most learned pastors of the French reformed church, had proved by argument and history what Chillingworth was destined to prove by experience. By a careful examination of the traditional authorities of the Romish church, he has shown that on many subjects of theology it is very difficult, if not impossible, to find out what they taught; while on many questions, both of doctrine and of fact, their statements are in the highest degree erroneous |