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regulations the practice is highly laudable. I add these qualifying terms for reasons which will be obvious to every person who has had occasion to observe the evil tendencies of the human heart, and to witness the obliquity and deterioration which are too apt to occur in the best designs.

There are, however, two or three points on which Quærens appears to labour under some misapprehension. He seems, in the first place, to take it for granted, that it is nearly immaterial, as respects ecclesiastical law and usage, whether the attendants on this extra service are convened in the church or elsewhere. I believe the law, strictly interpreted, is against him, and that the church or chapel is the only place legally recognized for such purposes. But the nature of the case has, in numerous instances, carried its own apology with it; and very few prelates, I imagine, would wish to interfere with a prudent clergyman for assembling twenty or thirty of his parishioners, for the purpose of fainiliar instruction and exhortation, in the course of the week, where the church is too distant to be reasonably accessible, or under other eircumstances of urgency. Indeed, I have reason to believe that many of our prelates have not only sanctioned but applauded the diligence of those of their clergy who have thus sought out the poor of their flock, and have endeavoured to allure them to the fold of their Saviour. In preparing them for confirmation, and instructing them previously to the reception of the holy eucharist, the practice has often been found as beneficial as it is pastoral and primitive.

But Quærens asks whether, when this expository lecture is conducted in the church, it is allowable to abridge the usual service. Here, I think, no churchman can avoid deciding in the negative. The Act of Uniformity, and the whole spirit of our laws and ritual, are quite deci

sive upon the subject. I could have wished that Quærens had been more explicit upon the nature of the alleged curtailments made in the service at the ordination to which be alludes; though, even if they were unauthorized, which, perbaps, on further inspection, it would appear they were not, the circumstance would not afford a sufficient plea for a private clergyman adopting a similar practice. The injunetion of Queen Elizabeth, prefixed to the Second Book of Homilies, which Quærens mentions as a sanction for changing the appointed lesson, is wholly superseded by the Act of Uniformity. If your correspondent think otherwise, let him take counsel's opinion* at Doctors' Commons, as many persons have done before him on this very question.

I am far from wishing to oppose the object of your correspondent's paper; but it is always most conducive to public benefit to place subjects of this kind in their true light. I have myself both experienced as an auditor, and witnessed as a pastor, the beneficial tendency of the practice in question, in my own and other country parishes: and it were much to be wished that some of the objections which at present exist upon the subject were removed.

RESPONDENS.

*Strype, whose authority will not easily be controverted, says on this very subject: "Before this reformation of the lessons (Archbishop Parker's), it was recommended to the discretion of the ministers to change the chapters for some others more proper. For so it is in the Admonition to the ecclesiastical Ministers, set before the Second Book of Homilies..... But when the abovementioned commissioners had altered the lessons, and made a new calendar and tables, directing the chapters to be read, this liberty was no longer indulged to

every private minister.”

I only wish to set Quærens right as to the matter of fact; for I fully concur with him that it might possibly, on some occasions, be desirable to change a leson, at least in the case of the Apocry phal ones, which it were, perhaps, well if we were rid of altogether.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. AMONG the difficulties which present themselves in the application of unfulfilled prophecy to contemporary or future events, may be mentioned the great uncertainty attending such conjectures. I call them conjectures, since, however probable they may appear, they are not among the things revealed for our guidance, and can only be inferred by a variety of remote deductions. In proof of this remark, permit me to present your readers with two modern interpretations of the celebrated prophecy in the 18th chapter of Isaiah. The first is one which is very frequently referred to in this country. The following passage from Dr. Buchanan's sermon before the Church Missionary Society, will place it in a clear light:

"This prophecy," remarks that pious and learned divine, "which had been considered by some of the learned in this country, and first, I believe, by the late Bishop Horsley, as referring to these times, I proposed to the Jews in the East; who, after some deliberation, gave me the following explanation :"That the prophecy in this chapter relates to the restoration of the Jews to their own country. That the nation here addressed, by a kind compellation, 'O thou land,' was to send a message to the Jewish people, and this was to be a message of kindness.

"Inquiry was then made concerning the character and description of the nation which was to send a message of kindness to the Jewish people. The Jews stated these four particulars of its description :

"1. That the place of the nation was beyond the rivers of Cush; that is, to the west of the Nile; for the prophet was on the east of the Nile when he delivered his prophecy.

"2. That it was a land shadowing with wings;' which signifies that it should be of great extent

and power, and capable of giving protection.

"3. That it was a maritime nation-sending ambassadors by sea in vessels of bulrushes;' a figure for light ships, not burdened with commerce, but light for dispatch; carrying merely the tidings of gladness and that the ambassadors sent in them were messengers of peace. When I expressed some doubt as to the character of these ambassadors, we referred to the old Arabic translation of Isaiah, which happened to be at hand; where the word for ambassadors is rendered prophets or preachers.

4. That the issue of this embassy would be the restoration of the people scattered and peeled to the Lord of Hosts in Zion:' and that, at the period when this should take place, there would be a shaking of the nations; for it is said, in the third verse, that God would lift up his ensign on the mountains, that all might see; and blow his trumpet, that all the inhabitants of the earth might hear.'

"When I endeavoured to shew that all these characters centered in GREAT BRITAIN, and that she was actually sending forth messengers at this time to all nations, the Jews were alarmed at their own interpretation."

Several other authors have insisted upon this application of the passage to Great Britain; and among others, Mr. Custance, in his "Popular Survey of the Reformation."

But what say our transatlantic friends? Will they willingly yield so high an honour to Great Britain?-In reply, I would refer to an ingenious pamphlet, some time since published at Albany, in America, and very little, if at all, known in this country. The work is entitled, "Isaiah's Message to the American Nation. A new translation of Isaiah, chap. xviii. with Notes critical and explanatory; a remarkable Prophecy respecting the Restoration of theJews, aided by the

American Nation. By J.M'Donald,
A. M."

The following syllabus of contents will shew the nature of Mr. McDonald's argument:

either literal or metaphorical. Persons and places, are frequently represented in Scripture by some of their appropriate qualities. Pharoab, in allusion to the crocodile of "1. God calls aloud on the Ame his Nile is called the Dragon of the rican nation: her situation and na- River. The princes of Moab are tional characteristics described called Bulls of Bashan, on account sheltered under the out-spread of the distinguished breed of cattle wings of her own eagle-placed that were reared in that noble disbeyond the rivers of Cush, at that trict. Alexander of Macedon, from time the western boundary of Jewish his nerve in exertion, from his cageographical knowledge- sending price, and from the rapidity of his ambassadors by sea and in vessels motions, guided more by love of of reeds on the face of her own wa- fame than by thirst of blood, is ters. 2. A commission given to her stiled by Daniel, the He-Goat of gospel-messengers, represented as Macedonia. Our Saviour describes qualified and prepared to carry her the Roman armies, by Eagles, from message to the dispersed of Jacob: the figure of that bird which decohis description of this people-rated their marching legions, their scattered-plundered-subjected battles, and their camp. Rome, beto terror in the extreme- of mar- cause built on seven celebrated vellous expectation-in deep op- hills, is named the Beast with pression, whose country is in com- Seven Heads. Guided by these plete desolation. 3. A summons analogies we may fairly infer, that to all the inhabitants of the world, the country addressed will probably on seeing the standard unfurled, and be distinguished, by a bird with hearing the sound of the trumpet to wide spreading wings painted on her prepare and hasten to the battle of national standards, or by the feaGod. 4. Jehovah's private message tures of the country, which in the to the prophet, stating the nature of vision met the prophet's eye and his providential dispensation till the awakened his poetic imagination. time of the battle. 5. A prophetic vision of the battle under the similitude of the destruction of a vineyard on the very eve of vintage. 6. A view of the field of battle, with the armies and their principal leader, abandoned unburied, to birds and beasts of prey. 7. The American nation, uniting with the friends of Christ of all nations, in presenting the Jews wonderfully changed, as an oblation to God of the first fruits of men, iu Mount Sion."

I will not intrude on your pages with many extracts, to illustrate the mode in which Mr. M'Donald at tempts to substantiate the various points of this resemblance. A few lines from his exposition of the first verse may suffice.

"Land of the overshadowing wings.] This is evidently designed, to point out a country, distinguished by the appendage of wings,

"Near the close of the eighteenth century, a nation emerged on the eastern shore of the American continent, that chose an eagle with expanded wings for her national ensign. The Persian Conqueror and the Roman Republic, adopted the same bird to distinguish their respective standards. But their eagles represented that winged bird in hostile attitude, and eager for the prey. The American eagle, without one unfriendly feature, extends her wings for the protection of her own nation, and offers a shelter for the persecuted of all the nations of the earth. Armed on one side with the branch of peace extended, and on the other with the weapons of her aborigines, she is prepared for defence, and not aggression. Happy nation, didst thou understand the language of this emblem, and didst thou follow its instruction!"

In speaking of " the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,"or Cush, Mr. M'Donald thus continues to apply the prophecy :

"On passing these rivers, (the waters of the Nile,) the most extensive and frightful desart in the world commences, and continues without intermission for nearly three thousand miles, till it reaches the shores of the Atlantic. In that immense ocean of sand, no civilized nation, no commercial streams, ever did, or can exist. Beyond this, in the same direction then, this winged nation must be sought. Guided by the prospective view of the prophet, we pass the wide Atlantic wave. On reaching its western shore, a new and then unknown world is discovered! From each side of a narrow isthmus, resembling a neck, two vast continents stretch, to the frozen regions of the south and the north. They resemble the wings of a bird. Ridges of central mountains, covered with lofty forests, like variegated plumage, extend almost to their extremities. In front, and almost connected with the continent, the West-India islands, decked in all their tropic-colours, like the decorated head of a bird, project and meet the eye. Sheltered under the northern, and most expansive wing of this gigantic bird, the American Nation bursts on the view, bearing on her standard, her eagle, emblem of the profile of her hemisphere, and of the genius of her government. "On a slight inspection of a common map of America, without much aid from fancy, the resemblance will appear. But when God drew the landscape, with all its features, and in all the glowing tints of light and shade, and presented it to the vivid imagination of the sacred poet, must he not have re-echoed, Land of the overshadowing wings! Can we, on listening to the description and comparing it with America, withold exclaiming, It is the pic ture of our own country, painted by our own God!"

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 219.

Again: "The nation addressed MUST be America. The proof which it furnishes for the truth of prophecy is new and beautiful. The prescience of God, in events and circumstances the most minute and apparently the most fortuitous, ought to appal the heart of the most obstinate infidel, and dispose him to yield to evidence so clear;-it ought to confirm the confidence and faith of every pious believer !"

My object in adducing these two opposing interpretations, is to assist in moderating the too confident tone which many expositors of prophecy are apt to assume, by shewing how widely men of piety and learning may differ in their interpretations according to their peculiar circumstances and prejudices. I believe, that among the designs of God in unexplained prophecy, one may be to teach us humility and diffidence. There is, however, a benefit of some importance incidentally arising from the mistakes and contracted views of expositors; namely, that they sometimes tend, as in the present instance, to excite Christians to greater exertion, from an idea, even though a mistaken one, that their particular sect or party, or country, is to become the prominent instrument of effecting the designs of God. In the present case, it is satisfactory to find, that, whoever is to be the instrument, all parties are agreed as to the great features of the prediction; namely, that the Jews are to be converted to the faith of Christ, and to become part of the universal fold under one Shepherd. S. P. H.

* It is, however, but justice to add, that Mr. M'Donald allows us a share with his own country in the conversion of the Jews, for he says: "But America shall not be alone in this arduous, in this honourable employment. Every ful to their Lord, shall send their sons, nation, whose churches continue faithand employ their substance in this heaven-planned expedition. Britain and Denmark have already united in this laudable enterprize."

Y

MISCELLANEOUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. YOURSELF, and many of your readers, will be interested in the late discoveries at Rome. You will recollect, that for the sake of saving the expense of parchment, the monks erased the writing of many of the MSS. of the Classics, and substituted their own compoșitions, missals, legends, &c. In one monastery, that of St. Columba no, in the town of Bobbio, on the Trebia, perhaps in others, [but the later instances have all been found in the MSS. of that one monastery], they seem to have effaced, rather than to have erased, the original writing; and when that writing was but faintly visible, and did not in

terfere with their purpose, they interlined the spaces with their new compositions. Angelo Mai, the keeper of the Ambrosian Library, at Milan, recovered, under these circumstances, in that collection,

many of the MSS. which he has since published: and his success induced the pope to invite him to Rome, where he now calls himself prelato domestico to his holiness, and primo custode of the Vatican Library. The first and hitherto greatest fruits of his appointment have been, nearly in their entirety,

the books of the lost work of Cicero

de Republica, in a MS. of 300 pages of two columns; which is, perhaps, the richest literary discovery of the last two centuries. One

MS. had been known to exist in

Literary Intelligence most humbly presented to his Holiness, on the 23d Dec. 1819, by Angelo Mai, his private Chaplain, and first Librarian at the Vatican.

"Having kissed the sacred foot, of informing your holiness, that, in I have the honour and the pleasure the prosecution of my investigations in the library of the Vatican, (over which, by your sovereign goodness, I preside), I have been encouraged by great success.

found some of the first-rate Latin "In two MSS. I have recently

I have discovered the lost books of Cicero de Republica, written in magnificent uncial letters of the best age, in 300 pages, each of two columns, and all happily legible. of the several books, appear in the The titles of this noble work, and margin; and the name of Cicero, as the author, is perfectly legible. (Other productions, of a later age are written on this parchment, between the lines of the Ciceronian MS. which, for the sake of keeping the writing of its new possessors

classics. In the first of these MSS.

more distinct from the remains of was also, for the convenience of the the old, was inverted; and which was also, for the convenience of the same parties, curtailed; the original parchment being larger than was required for the new work, and being, therefore, cut off, and applied to some other purpose.) Nevertheless, a great part mains; that is, as much as can be contained in this one great MS.

re

morals, to jurisprudence, to his"A great addition to politics, to

England, but was destroyed by fire at Canterbury. No portion of this great work had been in the possession of the world, except a few fragments preserved as quotations tory, to antiquity, and to the stores in Saint Augustine, Lactantius, and of pure Latinity, may be expected, a few others; and the aggregate of from the publication of this imporall these scattered portions did not tant and highly finished work of amount to more than eight pages Cicero, which I shall immediately in Ernesti's edition. I annex a trans- put in the press, and which will be lation of the letter of Angelo Mai in a state worthy to appear before to the pope. your holiness, sovereign and protector of the Roman states.

T. Y. S.

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