that the text of my manuscript 58*; through all the books, if I mistake not, of the Pentateuch, as also of my manuscript 724, through the first three books, seems to have been hitherto entirely unknown; and that there are many things which almost induce me to believe, that in these two manuscripts, together with the three, 19, 108, 1181, not to say in others also, through some of the books of the Mosaic text, copies of both the texts of which we are now treat. ing are preserved. It is my sole wish that those points which I myself have briefly noticed, may be turned in the minds of the learned while they peruse this collation; as, unless I am mistaken, they will afford no slight assistance towards distinguishing the characters of particuJar manuscripts, and ascertaining the text of the LXX.-May some one arise whose mind may be earnestly devoted to the study of these matters, which have not yet, as it appears to me, been sufficiently explored; and who may thoroughly scrutinize the whole subject. To him I furnish these aids; and I shall sincerely congratulate myself, if, under the unprecedented commotion of affairs in Europe during these last fifteen years, I shall have satis fied the expectations of the learned. Concerning the design of my own edition, a very few words only need be said. I considered that the authority which the Septuagint Version enjoyed in the primitive church of Christ, and the advantage which would result to sacred criticism from a collation of the Greek text with the Hebrew, were powerful motives for effecting in behalf of the LXX. what had already been prosperously executed in favour of almost every 58 Cod. Vatic. x. § xiii. + 72 Cod. Venet. Can. Abb. § xiii. 19 Cod. Chigian. § x.- -108 Cod. Vet. 330 xiv.-118 Cod. Par; Reg. vi. §.xiv, other author; I mean, searching out their genuine text from amongst all the relics that remain of them. Which being done, I hoped that the inquiry, how the Septuagint Version stood in respect of the Hebrew, might hereafter be more successfully engaged in. My aim, therefore, has been to publish an edition of the Kown, or Vulgate, furnished with every apparatus which I could supply for explaining the text of the LXX. And as I perceived that the peculiar character of individual manuscripts is every where indicated by the various readings, I have been desirous, in my enumeration of such variations, rather to do too much than too little. But I shall not commit myself so far as to act the part of a judge or an umpire. I consign the various readings into the hands of the learned; but as to the opinion to be given upon them, and the text of the LXX. to be decided upon, let every one enjoy his own right of judgment. It remains for me to specify severally the MSS. from which the various readings have been collected in the Pentateuch. Having thus concluded the translation of the first book of Dr. Holmes's Preface, which was the task I proposed to myself, I do not think it necessary to go through the same process for the remaining three books, which less require it. As, however, a general summary of their contents may not be unacceptable to your readers, I propose occupying not more than three or four columns of your next Number, if agreeable, with such a brief epitome. I am, &c. Φ τῶν . To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I SEND you a short extract from a scarce and curious little tract published by Bishop Burnet, entitled, 1821.] On the Declaration prefixed to the Thirty-nine Articles. 751 scarcely ever to have read them, or This was felt by several of the bi to know any thing concerning them. shops, who thought themselves bound to examine their clergy with some care, and did not know how to admit them to subscribe Articles to which they were such strangers. "Remarks on the Examination of the Exposition of the Seventeenth Article of our Church." London. 1702. The tract is referred to by Dr. Maclaine, in a note to his translation of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History. (vol. V. p. 395.) The object of this note is, to shew that no change was effected in the doctrines of the Church of England by the attempts of Archbishop Laud, through whose instigation the Declaration was drawn up that now stands at the head of our Thirty-nine Articles. I will not transcribe this note, which must be well known to most of your readers, or, if not, is well worth their turning to. In reference to the tract in question, Maclaine says-" Certainly if the Seventeenth Article has a plain, literal, and cal meaning, it is a meaning ungrammatifavourable to Arminianism; and Bishop Burnet was obliged afterwards to acknowledge, that without enlarging the sense of the Articles, the Arminians could not subscribe them consistently with their opinions, nor without violating the demands of common ingenuity [ingenuousness]. See Burnet's Remarks,' p. 3." Independently, however, of all private opinions as to the interpretation of the Seventeenth, Article, the extract which I am about to give forms an interesting document, not generally known to the world, and for this reason, perhaps, deserving a place in your publication. W. Articles seemed to lean so entirely "Besides all this, some of the to an absolute predestination, that the subscribing them; and others some upon that account scrupled reproached our church with thisThat though our Articles looked most part, went the other way. one way, yet our doctors, for the It was fit that such a point should order to that, that the late blessed be well cleared; and it was in Queen did command me to explain enlarged to all the Thirty-nine. those first, which she afterwards Extract from Burnet's "Remarks on the Examination of his Exposition." must be set up to keep up a cla"When one thing fails, another in what latitude the Articles may, mour; and therefore my shewing be signed, is made a subject of much censure; and my asserting that the taking them in the literal and grammatical sense' is enough, is made a matter of declamation. Rogers's book had its use and its course, and stood long without censure, notwithstanding his partiality to one side. Yet of late opinions different from his prevailing, his book wore out of use, while no other came in its stead. This occasioned such an ignorance of our Articles, that some of those who were to subscribe them seemed words? Was it not from a Declara"But whence did I take these tion of King Charles I.? and little doubt can be made, but that it was prepared by Archbishop Laud: so that I have an authority on my side, which is generally sacred with some people; though, perhaps, for my sake they will pay less respect to it in this case. And this will be yet more evident, if the occasion of pubed. The Arminian party, as they lishing that Declaration is considerwere called, were then favoured. To these it was objected, that they departed from the true sense of the Articles; but it was answered by them, that since they took the Articles in their literal and grammatical sense,' they did not prevaricate; and to support this, that Declaration was set forth, "I do not deny, but that many of the Calvinist persuasion may think they have cause given them to complain of my leaving the Articles open to those of another persuasion: but those of the Arminian side must be men of a peculiar tincture, who except to it on that account; though, without such enlargement of sense, their subscribing them does not appear to agree so well with their opinions, aud with common ingenuity. Some men will choose to strike at one, whom without cause they make or account an enemy, though they themselves are wounded by it. "It has been an opinion very much entertained among us, and plainly insinuated by the two great primates of England and Ireland, Laud and Bramhall, to which Bishop Stillingfleet was very favourable, that these were Articles of communion,' and intended for a • peaceable consent' to an established doctrine. If I had designed any such latitude as is charged on me, I must have tried what could be made of this, and how far it might be carried; yet I not only rejected this notion in my Exposition, but even in my History of the Reformation, when I gave an account of the Articles, which shews how settled I have ever been in the persuasion, though Bishop Stillingfleet objected to the passage, and thought that at least I might leave it out." To the Editor of the Christian Observer, IT is my lot to officiate as a minister of the Church of England in a large manufacturing town, where I generally have the pleasure of seeing the church crowded with persons of various conditions in life. Of these there are some re markably attentive, and steady in their profession and practice of religion; but there are many others in the parish who statedly attend at no place of worship whatever: they ramble from place to place; they hear many sermons, but they belong to no communion, On a Sunday morning they attend, perhaps, at the parish church; in the afternoon, they go to a Chapel of Ease; in the evening, they frequent a Methodist Meeting-house. The next Sunday they prefer an Independent Chapel in the forenoon; and before they close their eyes, they shall perhaps have heard a Baptist, a Socinian, a Quaker, a Moravian, or a Roman Catholic. Thus, when their caprice or any other propensity inclines them, they will resort to almost every place of worship in the town ; and yet, as I just remarked, they are members of no Christian communion among us. Now, Mr. Editor, I will not detain you and your readers with any observations to prove that such conduct is wrong in itself and injurious in its effects; because I conceive that no conscientious Christian of any persuasion will deny this. But I am anxious to call the attention of your readers and correspondents to the subject, and should be glad to see in your publication some suitable arguments, popularly stated, for the purpose of shewing that it is a duty to become members of some Christian church; and that, when we have conscientiously fixed our choice, we should guard against wandering and unsettled habits. I could also wish to see stated, what grounds will justify a person in separating from a congregation in whose ranks he has once enrolled himself. Not having met with any plain, familiar tract on this subject, I should be glad, in case any suitable paper shall appear in your pages, for permission to be given for its adoption by itself for distribution. Many other clergymen feel with myself, that something of the kind is wanting to arrest the ramblers of whom I complain, in their career of religious dissipation, and by the blessing of God to bring their wandering feet to remain within their fold. AMICUS. 753 MISCELLANEOUS. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. IN your last Number one of your correspondents has presented your readers with some interesting notices relative to the creed and practice of James II.; in reading which, I have been particularly struck with the unscriptural reliance placed by him upon his deeds of penance and charity. I am grieved to say, that this feature of the theological character of Popery has not been at all changed during more than a century which has elapsed since the date of that unhappy Monarch's career; in proof of which, I shall request your permission to adduce the following curious article of eloquence and divinity which occurs in a discourse delivered at St. Augustine's Chapel, Manchester, as recently as Oct. 18, 1820, at the funeral of the Rev. Rowland Broomhead, by the Rev. Joseph Curr, and since published by J. Robinson, Deansgate, Manchester. "But, my afflicted brethren, if I have excited your sensibility, have I not also administered consolation to your sorrow? Do you not feel within your hearts a faint pulse of joy? Do not your eyes, though obscured with tears, discern some glimmerings of a re splendent beam which mingles gladness to your grief? Is any thing wanting to justify the bope that God has not excluded from his eternal inheritance, the man whom he has made the means of bringing so many others to it, and the instrument whereby he has conferred innumerable blessings on his creatures? Can he, on that dreadful day which shall witness the final separation of justice and iniquity, be stationed among those to whom it shall be said, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire; because CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 240. I was hungry and ye gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me not to drink; I was naked, and you covered me not? No, no: he will then be stationed at his if there be a just God in heaven, right hand to hear that happy invitation which shall call him to the eternal recompense of his charity: Come and possess the kingdom prepared for you; for I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink. I was naked, and you covered me. Oh! I seem to hear him, at the waiting before the tremendous trimoment of his departure, while bunal the decision of eternity, thus pleading his own cause: Perhaps, O Lord, you do not find my works complete. Dust and ashes as I am, I pretend not to justify myself in God; and perhaps the cares and your sight. You are a jealous solicitudes of the world have a little too much divided my heart between yourself and creatures. But regard, O God, in your clemency, the labours and fatigues I have undergone for forty years, in order to promote the glory of your name, and the welfare of those you entrusted to me. Cast your eyes have left almost inconsolable for on the vast congregation which I the loss they have sustained. offer to you the fervent supplication of so many innocent souls whom I have formed to virtue; the ardent piety of so many saints whom I have encouraged to perseverance; and the precious tears of compunction of so many sinners whom I have reclaimed from their evil ways. I present at the throne of your mercy the abundant fruits of which I have helped to support, so many charitable establishments the hunger that I have satisfied, the thirst that I have quenched, and the nakedness of so many of 5 G I The poor members of Jesus Christ that I have covered. I know your judgments seldom accord with the judgments of men; but these are the works in which I have spent my days, and on which I now rest my claims to the inheritance of your heavenly kingdom.' In terms like these, my brethren, might your departed pastor plead his cause; and I trust you need not apprehend an unfavourable issue. No: he loved you during life; he loved you in death: his last breath was drawn in pronouncing a blessing upon you; and I confidently hope he is not consigned to that darksome abode where no charity can reign, but that he is admitted into those celestial mansions where his love has received its last perfection, and is exercised in making intercession for you. "Return, then, O priest of God, to the altar! resume the tremen dous mysteries: and since it is not given to us to fathom the depths of Infinite Wisdom, if any remains of human frailty-if any negligences in the endless duties of a long and laborious ministry-should detain our departed brother in a temporary seclusion from the abodes of bliss, hasten to put into his hands the blood of the Lamb, that with it he may, now at least, enter into the eternal sanctuary, and present himself with confidence before the throne of God." This passage cannot be read without painful emotion by any Protestant; yet, having been passed by without any public notice or reprehension, the author, encouraged by this forbearance, and emboldened by the rapidly increasing strength of Popery in Manchester, has since made a public attack on the Bible Society and its agents, and, indeed, on the Bible itself, and the whole Protestant Church. This attack has given rise to some controversy; and earnestly do I hope that in a neighbourhood in which Popery has made such fearful inroads, it may now, at length receive some effectual check, not only by the public light which such a controversy, if well conducted, will throw on this important question, but also by the increasingly assiduous labours, scriptural instructions, sound doctrines, and holy lives of all who minister at the altars of the national church in this populous and important county. MANCESTRIENSIS. Tothe Editor of the Christian Observer. YOUR correspondent MARINUS, in your September Number, has asked whether any of your readers are in the habit of buying smuggled goods; and whether they think there is any harm in cheating goverument? I should wish to add another question: Are any of them in the habit of sending packets of letters in parcels to evade the postage; of passing double letters for single ones at the Post-office, &c.? and, addressing myself more particularly to your readers of the commercial world, are there any among them who are in the habit of concealing their accounts current, invoices, bills of lading, &c. written upon the same sheet with their letters, in order to evade the double charge of postage? And if there are, are they well aware of the sinfulness of such practices? If they would seriously consider the obligations which as Christians they owe to government, they would perceive that it is not a slight offence to practise any fraud upon it. It is however, if possible, a still more serious consideration, what injury they may do to those of their servants whose assistance they require in such actions. The office of marking the letters, and carrying them to the Post-office, is generally the first business assigued to young persons at their entrance into counting-houses. If they have left home with pure and strict morals, what must they think |