In that light, I ask you, Sir, as an Orthodox Churchman, is it decent to parody and apply to any man, however admirable, that language which the Holy Spirit employed to distinguish our blessed Saviour? Is it consistent with the weakness and ignorance which a man must possess, and with that humility which he ought to possess on such subjects, to pry into the human heart, and pronounce that it is fit for Heaven; or into the secret counsels of God, and affirm who are there admitted? And is it agreeable to sound doctrine, or a due sense of Christ's honour, and of the blessings purchased by his blood, to express a trust with regard to any men, that by their past merits they are saved for ever? Surely, Sir,this passage at least must have escaped you*, when you intimated that the composition which contains it, did not "overstep the sacred boundaries of Religious Faith;" that it did not indulge in "the language of adulation and indefinite praise ;" and did not rank among the reprehensible discourses in which "the enthusiasm of grateful feeling had been carried to a pitch almost bordering on impiety." Having hitherto omitted to notice this passage in a publication which you undertook to review, you are, I apprehend, under an obligation to the public and yourself to repair the omission. Repair it, if you please, in your own name; repair it, if you please, through the medium of this letter; but by all means, as you value your character as an Orthodox Churchman, repair it. The affair itself is not unimportant. The author of the discourse is not an obscure man. He is a dignitary of the Church; and withal, a man in whom we have a right to expect soundness of opinions, inasmuch as in his most momentous office of Examining Chaplain to a Bishop, he has to decide on the opinions of others. I remain, Sir, As long as you act up to your profession, Your well-wisher, AN ORTHODOX CLERGYMAN. PS. I have not thought it necessary to put my name to the above: at the same time, as I would not wish to make an unfair attack on an author, who gives his name to the public, I assure you that if you think pro *The passage certainly did escape us, otherwise we should have passed upon it as strong an animadversion as that of our correspondent, for which we sincerely thank him. ED. per per to insert this letter in your Magazine, I will not conceal my name from the author, provided he expresses a wish to be made acquainted with it. Oxford, September 22, 1806. ON CHAPELS OF EASE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. SIR, HAVE been informed that a Chapel has been recently opened at Islington, capable of containing a numerous congregation, at present in the hands of the Sectaries. It has been long wished by the inhabitants, (for the accommodation of whom, owing to the increased population of the parish, the church is much too small) to have a regular Chapel of Ease; but to which, as I have been informed, the Vicar on what grounds is best known to himself, objects. Some of your Correspondents, versed in ecclesiastical law, will oblige me, as well as many others, by stating whether the inhabitants of Islington, could not, by representation to government, obtain permission to have the above building consecrated as a Chapel of Ease. If this end could be obtained, it would be one means of arresting the progress of Sectarianism in that parish, many persons having been primarily induced to frequent the conventicles on account of not being able to procure seats in the Church. SHEKALIM, OR THE SHEKELS. (Concluded from page 117.) CHAP. 8. Purification of Vessels and Utensils. Texture of the Vail. Position of the Sacrifices. § 1. A LL spittle found in Jerusalem is clean, except that of the upper street. These are the words of R. Meir. R. Jose says, On other days of the year, that which is found in the middle of the road is unclean, but that on the sides is clean. But at the time of the feasts, that in the middle of the road is clean, and that on the sides unclean. Since, because they are but few*, they retire to the sides of the road.. 2. All vessels found at Jerusalem in the way of the descent to the place of washing are unclean; those which are found in the way of the ascent from the place of washing, are cleant; since their ascent is not as their descent. These are the words of R. Meir. R. Jose says, They are all clean, except the basket, and the shovel, and the hammer, which are peculiar to graves. 3. With respect to a knife which is found on the fourteenth day, they kill with it immediately: if it be found on the thirteenth day, the washing must be repeated. But of a hatchet that is found either on the one day or the other, the washing must be repeated. If it happen that the fourteenth day fall on the sabbath, they kill with it immediately. If on the fifteenth, they kill with it immediately. If it be found tied to a knife, behold it is as a knife. 4. As to the vail which is polluted by all son of uncleanness, they wash it within, and immediately carry it in again; but that which is polluted by a father of uncleanness, they wash without, and spread it out in the court. before the walls, that it may be benefited by the evening i.e, The Pharisees, and those who affected to observe the strictest legal purity. Because they were supposed to have been already washed. A father of uncleanness signifies one of the grosser pollutions, by a corpse, or a leper, &c. A son of uncleanness, a slighter pollution. These words to the end of the sentence, Otho has omitted in his translation, though he retains them in the Hebrew text. sup. sun. And if it be new, they spread it on the roof of the porch, that the people might see how beautiful the work of it was. 5. R. Simeon [the son of Gamaliel, says, from the mouth of R. Simeon] the son of the Sagan: The vail is of the thickness of a palm, and is woven with seventytwo skains, each of which contains twenty-four threads. Its length is forty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits, and it consists of eight hundred and twenty thousand threads. They make two of these every year, and three hundred priests wash it. 6. With regard to the flesh of the Holy of Holies, which has been polluted either by a father of uncleanness, or by a son of uncleanness, either within or without, the school of Shammai say, The whole shall be burnt within the Temple, except what has been polluted by a father of uncleanness without. But the school of Hillel say, The whole shall be burnt without the Temple, except what has been polluted by a son of uncleanness within. 7. R. Eliezer says, Whatever has been polluted either within or without, shall be burnt without, and whatsoever has been polluted by the son of uncleanness either within or without, shall be burnt within. R. Akiva says, The place of its uncleanness shall be the place of its burning. 8. The members of the daily sacrifice are placed in the midst of the ascent to the altar, and beneath towards the west. [Another copy, towards the East.] Those of the additional sacrifices are placed in the midst of the ascent, and beneath towards the east. [Another copy, towards the west.] Those of the new moons are placed upon the compass of the altar above. [Another copy, beneath the compass of the altar below] The shekels and first-fruits are not paid but in the face of the Temple; but the tithe of corn, and the tithe of cattle, and the redemption of the first-born, are paid either in the face of the Temple, or not in the face of the Temple. He who sanctifieth shekels and first fruits, behold, they are holy. R. Simeon saith, He who saith the first fruits are holy, they are not holy. * The words within [] in this section are omitted by Otho in his translation, though they appear in the Hebrew, ti. e. The burnt-offerings, the offerings for sin, the trespass-offerings, and the peace-offerings. Literally, the beginnings of months. LETTERS FOR THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. LETTERS OF DR. ISAAC BARROW TO DR. SIR, MAPLETOFT*. LETTER I. HOPE you are not so much mistaken as to suppose you left in my custody that parcell of bookes which I bought of you, and for which I pay'd sixe pounds to Mr. Pulleyn according to your order (the chief of which were Curio his dictionary, a Plato, an imperfect Plutarch of Stephens' print.) Of any other bookes of your's left with me I have neither knowledge, memory, nor footstep, excepting that I doubt of three small bookes, which are a Virgil and a Horace with indexes, and a Greeke testament, Gr. and Lat. in octavo (with some notes of Beza ;) all which being out of keltred, I did cause to be rebinded; and the latter did give away to a friend, who beginning to study Greeke, desired such a one: the two former I have reason to thinke that I payed for, but being not thoroughly sure, I had rather wrong myselfe than you; and therefore if you thinke good, shall be ready to make them good to you, altho' I confesse I am not willing to part with the bookes themselves. The other I find not in the catalogue of my bookes, and therefore believe that either you left it with me, or that it was overseen when you removed your hampires and things from my chamber, and I shall make it good to you in specie or value, as you shall choose, although when I disposed of it, I did not esteeme it worth consideration, I am certaine you left no * Dr. John Mapletoft was born in 1631. He was bred up in the family of his great uncle, the pious Mr. Nicholas Ferrar, and was removed from thence, first to Westminster School, and next to Trinity College, Cam'bridge. In 1658, he became tutor to a grandson of the Earl of Northumberland, with whom he lived two years. He then went to Italy, where he studied physic, which profession he followed in London, and was chosen professor in that faculty at Gresham College: but in 1682, he entered into orders, and obtained successively, the living of Braybrooke in Northamptonshire, and that of St. Lawrence, Jewry. He was also chosen President of Sion College. Dr. Mapletoft died in 1721. His daughter was married to Dr. Gastrel, Bishop of Chester. other |