During the captivity, however, and in the times also of wickedness and ignorance immediately preceding that event, that text became subjected to various corruptions,-whether from intention or accident may not now be discoverable, but if from the former cause then most easily, whilst if merely from the latter, then most naturally,-consisting principally of omissions of sentences, words, letters, or parts of letters, from the original text. On the restoration of the Jewish nation, these corruptions of the text would (as may well be supposed) have been attempted to be corrected; tradition, with one voice, attributes the meritorious work to Ezra, the scribe; and hence would have resulted the formation of the Jerusalem Exemplar, as it was used by our Lord and his disciples, and also by Josephus, and as (subject to the errors of transcribers and translators) it is preserved to us at the present day in the Septuagint Greek version; whilst at Babylon would have continued to be retained the corrupted text of the captivity, from which the Chaldee paraphrases were made, which has been perpetuated by the Masorites in their copies, and by them palmed upon the world as the corrected text of Ezra, to the exclusion of the true one; and which, owing to the mistaken belief of the Christian world, that the Jews, since our Lord's coming, have still continued to be the faithful guardians of the words of inspiration, has, unfortunately, been adopted as the basis of the versions in general use at the present day.

That no copies of the Jerusalem Exemplar have been able to resist the hand of time, or the yet more destructive hands of the Babylonian Masoretic reformers, is much to be feared; still, by the blessing of the same Providence which has preserved to us the Septuagint version,which version, in spite of its manifold errors of translation, and, doubtless also of transcription, is most invaluable as being the only means (however imperfect) which we at present possess of judging of the value of the Exemplar formed by the hand of Ezra, and of thence correcting the corruptions of its Babylonian rival,-we may be permitted not entirely to abandon the hope that it is not absolutely and irrecoverably lost to us; although, for the inscrutable purposes of that all wise Providence, it has hitherto remained concealed from mortal sight.

One word more, in conclusion, with respect to the Septuagint Greek version. That the translation of the Pentateuch actually existed in Alexandria in the time of the historian Josephus is proved by his express assertion; and the currency of the fable repeated by him respecting its composition indisputably establishes the fact, also, that that portion of the Greek version was already of such an age as to allow of the promulgation of that fable; although, even in this case, there arises no necessity for conceiving it to have been of much earlier date than the commencement of the Christian era. But that the translation of the remainder of the text was of a date, much (if any) anterior to the time of the Jewish historian, is, however, very much to be doubted, it is important to bear in mind that Josephus mentions the translation of the Pentateuch only, as it seems scarcely possible that literal errors of so gross and manifest a nature as that, for example, in 1 Sam. xix. already instanced, should have continued to

exist undisputed during any considerable period of time; unless, indeed, upon the supposition that the knowledge of the Scriptures, both in the letter and in the spirit, and as well in Jerusalem as in Alexandria, was reduced to a much lower ebb than perhaps we are warranted in believing could well have been the case previously to the coming of our Saviour, and the closely following destruction of Jerusalem. B. E.

Aumund, 11th August, 1836.

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER AND EPISCOPACY.

DEAR SIR, The words of Cranmer, quoted page 310 of your last Number, are to be found in Mr. Jenkyns' edition, vol. ii., p. 102, 103. They are preserved in Burnet's Hist. Reform., vol. ii., p. 344; Oxf. Ed. 1816, among the answers of fifteen bishops and divines to seventeen questions, principally relating to the sacraments, which Mr. Jenkyns supposes-I know not on what grounds-to have been drawn up by Cranmer. The date of these questions and answers being so early as the year 1540, and Cranmer's words on this occasion being very inconsistent with statements at other periods, made or authorized by him, it is reasonable to conclude that this was one of the errors which he afterwards discarded, and which, in his case only, marks more strongly the tendency of the human mind, in emerging from the mazes of fallacy, to start from one extreme to another. In the "Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum," begun in 1551, over which Cranmer presided, the latest public act of the Reformation in which he was concerned, the subjection of the other orders to episcopacy, and the episcopal right of conferring them, as well as the other episcopal rights, are distinctly affirmed as founded on the Word of God. Tit. xx. c. 3, 4. 10-12. There are some good remarks on the subject in Mr. Jenkyns' Pref. p. 32-36.

It must, however, be confessed that Cranmer's answers to four of these queries, (sec. 9, 10, 11, and 12,) are such as may make any friend of apostolic order shudder at the danger of shipwreck to which, by such opinions then persevered in, the church must have been exposed. The total absence of anything like distinction between things sacred and profane is such as we must wonder at in a devout and gentle spirit like Cranmer's. The terms would almost go to sanction any Jeroboam's reformation. Yours faithfully,

E. C.*

[Another correspondent kindly sends the following extract from Mr. Le Bas's "Life of Cranmer," with some valuable remarks of his own.-ED.]

"Certain questions, seventeen in number, had been distributed, by the king's order, among the commissioners, for their leisurely consideration; and the answers both of Cranmer and his colleagues have been preserved.+ The

most remarkable peculiarity of Cranmer's reply to these questions is, the strangeness of the notions inculcated by him relative to ecclesiastical functions. He maintains that the appointment to spiritual offices belongs indifferently to bishops, to princes,

+ See Burnet, Vol. I. b. iii, Rec. 21.

HOOKER.

DEAR SIR,-There is a passage near the beginning of Hooker's Sermon on Justification, the sense of which appears to me to have been lost by an error which is retained even in Professor Keble's invaluable edition; and by the erroneous insertion of a comma in the reading given in the margin as that of the Dublin copy of the Sermon, the learned editor failed to perceive that that reading has preserved the true meaning. The two readings are as follow:

Mr. Keble's text.

"There are wicked, therefore, whom the church may judge, and there are wicked whom God only judgeth; wicked within, and wicked without, the walls of the church. If within the church particular persons be apparently such, as cannot otherwise be reformed, the rule of apostolical judgment is this—' Separate them from among you :' if whole assemblies, this," &c.

The Dublin MS.

"There are wicked, therefore, whom the church may judge, and there are wicked whom God only judgeth; wicked within, and wicked without, the walls of the church. If within the church particular persons, being apparently such cannot otherwise be reformed, the rule of apostolical judgment is this- Separate them from among you:' if whole assemblies, this," &c.

By placing a comma after the word "such" in the reading of the Dublin MS., Mr. Keble, as I have said, failed to perceive its meaning. The sense of the passage is evidently this-"The wicked are either within or without the church; the wicked within the church are either particular persons or whole assemblies: if particular persons, being (i. e., inasmuch as,) such apparently cannot otherwise be reformed, the rule is, Separate them from among you,' &c."

The clause "being apparently such cannot otherwise be reformed,"

He affirms the

or to the people, according to the pressure of existing circumstances. original identity of bishops and presbyters; and contends, that nothing more than mere election, or appointment, is essential to the sacerdotal office, without consecration or any other solemnity. And lastly, he declares that they who are not spiritual persons may, nevertheless, inflict excommunication, if the law of the land authorizes them so to do. It would be difficult fully to account for the entrance of opinions such as these into the mind of Cranmer. But whatever might be the source of the notions here expressed by him, it perfectly clear that he did not long retain this system of opinions. And that he did not, even at this period, repose much confidence in their soundness is evident, from the following pacific declaration, subjoined by him to his answer :-This is mine opinion, which I do not temerariously define, but remit the judgment thereof wholly unto your Majesty.' ”—Vol. I. p. 240, 241.

These answers were given in 1542; but in 1549 a formulary was compiled for conferring holy orders on ministers,-the use of which our church retains at the present day. Cranmer would doubtless be the principal person employed in drawing this up; and we may feel sure that it would contain nothing which did not fully accord with his own sentiments. It was therefore "important," as Mr. Le Bas remarks, "as indicating that the primate had divested himself of certain peculiar notions relative to the dignity of the episcopal function; for it fully recognised the distinction between the three offices of bishop, presbyter, and deacon: it assigned to the bishop the superiority which belonged to him, as one who was charged with the exercise of discipline, and the government of a diocese; and it was framed upon the principles, that no holy office can be duly conferred without the episcopal sanction and ministration.-Vol. II. p. 15. I am, &c. OMEGA,

VOL. X.-Oct. 1836.

3 L

is a parenthesis; and the use of the word being for since, or inaṣmuch as, is very common. The confusion evidently arose from transcribers or editors not perceiving this old signification of the word.

Trinity College, Dublin.

I remain, dear Sir, yours very truly, J. H. T.*

BIBLIOGRAPHY EXTRAORDINARY.

DEAR SIR,-The following article is taken verbatim et literatim. from the "Irish Catholic Magazine" of Feb. 20, 1836. It seems sufficiently amusing. Yours truly, C.

OLD BOOKS.

(We feel great pleasure in submitting to the public the following communication from the learned and respected parish priest of Dromara, county Down):

To the Editor of the Northern Herald.

MY DEAR SIR,-In your last publication I observed the following paragraph, relative to " Old Books:"-" The most ancient printed book, with a date, is a psalter, printed at Metz, 1547, by Fust and Scoffer. It is now in the Royal Library at Paris." I beg to inform you, that this observation, relative to old books, is not altogether accurate; for I have in my library a book, with a date, printed twenty-one years earlier, by Simon Colinous, the date being 1526. It is a comprehensive work on Scholastic Divinity; one half is in print, and the other in manuscript. There is nothing to surpass the beauty, accuracy, and neatness which distinguishes the typography of this book: the clearness of the impression is remarkable; the capitals commencing each chapter are prettily ornamented with vignettes; and the print is margined by two red lines, which contrast well with the black letters. Between the red lines thus margining the books we have the title, the heads of the arguments, and the scriptural reference. The printer's name, and date of the printing, are given at the end of the book, in the following words:" EXEUDEBAT SUIS TYPIS. Simon Colinous, in afficina suo sub sole aures, vici sancti Joannis Bellovacensis, ad sextum celendas, August, 1526." The manuscript at the end is even a greater literary curiosity; and perhaps a more beautiful or more perfect specimen of the penmanship of the able amanuensis, who published every work before the art of printing was discovered, does not exist. Ever truly yours, M. M'CARTAN.

Delaradia Cottage, near Dromara, Sept. 14.

It is certainly rather an Hibernian discovery,† that the date of the first book ever printed with a date should turn out to be in manuscript, and that the manuscript, which completes this printed book, should be a specimen of penmanship before the art of printing was discovered. But this must be left to the bibliographers to settle. The orthography of the Latin title is exactly copied from the "Irish Catholic Magazine." However, we may perhaps find as extraor dinary things on this side of the channel. In the "Catholicon" for April, is an article on Spain, in which is a very pretty specimen of chronology. Having mentioned the murder of the Carlist chief, O'Donnell, the editor adds, "Not satisfied with this violation of their

The writer of this adds, that he has observed some other cases in which the reading of the Dublin MS. is apparently overlooked. If Mr. Keble would wish it, he would, as soon as he could find time, carefully transcribe them all.-ED.

+ The learning displayed, as to the date of the first printed book, by the "Northern Herald," the priest, and the Magazine, is charming. When, in the world, do they think that printing was invented?-or how long was it shut up in a box, and not used, after it was invented.-ED.

faith, they cut off the head of O'Donnell, and gave it to the children to kick about the streets for a foot-ball, as was done in the days of Elizabeth with the head of the martyred missionary Green, at Dor-. chester, in the year 1642."

SACRED POETRY.

A Selection of Psalms and Hymns, chiefly adapted to the Collects, and designed for the use of Congregations of the Established Church. Second Edition, pp. 199. Norwich, 1836. Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity. Morning. 104th. (Portugal New.)

CHRIST A CITY OF REFUGE.

A refuge for sinners the Gospel makes known;
'Tis found in the merits of Jesus alone.
The weary, the tempted, and burden'd by sin,
Were never prevented from entering in.

This refuge for sinners his love did ordain,
In Jesus, the Lamb from eternity slain;
And if God the Spirit reveals it to you,
Take refuge in Jesus, though hell should pursue.

The soul that shall enter in safety shall dwell;
There's no peradventure of sinking to hell.
The oath of the Jehovah secures him from fear;
Nor shall the avenger of blood enter there.

If justice should hail us, and threaten to curse,

We'll point them [quare, then] to Jesus, who suffered for us;
Through him we obtain the remission of sin.

We press to his refuge, and enter therein.

We

The second paragraph of the "Preface to the Second Edition" states, that "An opening in the liturgy of the church of England has been left by our reformers, which has not yet been filled up by parliamentary [!] authority; and those who object to endeavours now making, to supply this deficiency, as unauthorized, ought to remember that both the old and the new version of the psalms have not received the legal sanction, nor are they adopted in either of our universities."

MR. EDITOR,-You will probably agree with me, that the history, the law, the poetry, the rhythm, the rhymes, and the divinity of the preceding extracts from a volume edited by a young clergyman, are perfectly worthy of each other. Nor need I occupy your pages with further specimens.*

ON CONFIRMATION.

F. M.

SIR,-The charge against the church of England, and the whole church of Christ from its foundation, of insisting upon unscriptural terms of communion, which charge is involved in your correspondent " .'s'

These dreadful collections of sacred poems do more to injure the religion, taste, and feelings of the common class of readers, than almost any other of the mischievous books so plentifully poured forth from the press.-ED.