developed among students, and by its aid men would come to read the sacred literature with larger intelligence and a more discriminating appreciation; social science would have something to say in aid of the statesmen, who would succeed the canonists in the task of regulating what must always be the chief of all contracts, and the most socially important of all institutions; but the New Testament would only become the more evidently supreme in the regard of Christians as time disallowed all rivals.
It appears to be the fact that the morally soundest family life within Christendom is to be found precisely in those classes and sections of society which most cherish and use the New Testament. It is hard to conceive a greater calamity to any Christian community than that, for whatever reason, the New Testament should fall out of the constant use and supreme regard of the people. The Reformation brought with it the translation of the Bible into the vernacular languages of modern
