WESLEYAN METHODIST SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION, 2, LUDGATE CIRCUS BUILDINGS, E.C.; 2, CASTLE STREET, CITY ROAD, E.C. - 1883. THE TYNDALE MEMORIAL STATUE. Na rugged moss-grown rock in Gloucestershire are the ruins of a fine old Manor House with its goodly dining hall and ancient chapel of St. Adeline. The strong cut arches and pillars are richly draped with ivy and honeysuckle, and patched with slates and whitewash, but sombred by the shade of two noble yews whose roots have grasped the soil for about five hundred years. Lower on the slope of well-kempt grass and garden flowers, is a pretty modern parsonage, where the present Vicar studies and proclaims the doctrines and precepts of that Testament which his venerated martyred predecessor put into English for all our race and for all time. Banished, prisoned, strangled and burned,* this ancient soldier of the Cross in "the noble Army of Martyrs " willingly died when his work was done, and he earnestly prayed for his persecutors; "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!" and now he is before the Throne of the King of Kings. The book he left is a worthy monument in millions of households, more lasting than brass, for its shrine is in the hearts of English Christians all over the world, and it will last till doomsday. Tyndale indeed needs no other monument at all; but generations of British and American Christians, and the countless people of every country, who visit London as the centre of the Christian world, will rejoice to look at a goodly statue on the Thames Embankment, where its granite pedestal will answer the question, "What mean ye by these stones?" (Joshua iv. 6). William Tyndale is to be remembered not less for the merit of his work than for the piety of his heart and bravery of his character, and a most important, convincing, and unique testimony to the value of Tyndale's work has been given to all who read the English Bible. "The Revised New Testament" lately issued to the English-speaking people, was the work of scholars carefully selected, and they were earnestly and prayerfully engaged for more than ten years in their holy labours.† These Revisers, twenty-four in number, repeatedly consulted with other Bible scholars in America, whose comments, suggestions, and proposed emendations were all carefully considered by the Revisers three times over, and at last the invaluable volume was given to our hands. While the duty of the Revisers was to translate the Greek Testament into English as accurately as possible, the "Preface" to the new volume, being the personal composition of the Revisers, is a document of the gravest importance, in which every expression has been carefully selected after prayer and counsel, and every opinion so deliberately adopted has serious import for us to mark. The first ten lines of this "Preface" give us their conclusions distinctly set forth with a united voice, and they are formally published as follows: At Vilvorde in Belgium. The place is now entirely covered with modern buildings. The "Companies" who revised the New Testament in A.D. 1611, finished their labour in less than three years, and gave us the present "Authorized Version. DEC.-JAN, 1883. |