pressions in the narration of the same event, they do not contradict or correct each other. This easy method of cutting the Gordian knot would have saved at once the labours of West on the Resurrection, and other authors who have endeavoured to reconcile apparent discrepancies; and I have yet to learn the proof of the charge here brought against St. Matthew. The writer must allow that himself " has written down his discourse without duly weighing the force and position" of the sentence he controverts; for he makes me say, "that yevεà, in scriptural Greek, has only these two meanings, viz. (1) an account, (2) tradition, (3) genealogy, (4) a generation of contemporary men, (5) the manner of life in that generation. Of these five meanings, γενεὰ can lay claim only to the last two; γένεσις appropriates to itself the first and largest share. Now, after this proof of inadvertency in himself, he cannot be offended if I should require stronger proof than his bare assertion, to credit the charge of inadvertency which he has brought against St. Matthew. Bishop Newton, supported by some great names, faces the difficulties into which the writer fears that the literal translation, "this generation," would replunge the question. As Schleusner is the authority which he has brought against me, I cannot do better than conclude with the serious admonition of Bishop Jebb: "I would earnestly exhort those biblical students who may happen to use (as, with proper caution, all advanced students will find it their advantage to use) the Lexicons of Spohn and Schleusner for the New Testament, and those of Schleusner and Bretschneider for the Septuagint, to be particularly on their guard against alleged identity of meaning, in words whose ordinary acceptation is any thing but synonymous. I had selected many examples of erroneous, and, as I think, dangerous interpretation, from Schleusner and Bretschneider, &c. There is reason for serious apprehension, that, from those philological works which students are more and more taught to respect as guides to the critical knowledge of scripture, much confusion, much obscurity, repeated contradictions, and a fatal habit of explaining away the most pregnant truths of Christianity, may be superinduced upon, or rather substitu'ed for, our manly, sound, and unsophisticated English theology.”—Sacr. Literature, p. 51. 2nd edit. Keysoe Vicarage, Beds, Jan. 4th, 1833. W. B. WINNING. SOCINIAN TESTIMONY TO THE USEFULNESS OF AN ESTABLISHMENT. To the Editor of the British Magazine. SIR,-I have much pleasure in extracting the following passage from a sermon preached and published by Mr. Charles Berry, a Socinian, or Humanitarian teacher, at Leicester. "It is often said, that, as a sect, we are dwindling away from the public observation, which is not true. We make progress in our own country, though it is but slow, because we have to contend against a host of prejudices, and the enormous influence of a wealthy and corrupt establishment. But in the east, the cause is advancing; and in the United States, where there are no obstructions to the progress of knowledge and truth, the spread of liberal doctrines has exceeded our most sanguine expectations."-P.7. To the railing of my author I say nothing; for the illiberal epithet which he applies to the church, and his still more illiberal insinuations, I forgive him; for the fact he states, I thank him. The fact is, that, on the admission of our adversaries, the great impediment to the spread of the Socinian, or Humanitarian heresy, in this country is the ESTABLISHMENT. In America, where no establishment exists, this sect, which denies the Saviour who bought us, is found to flourish, though not to the extent our author would imply. If such be the case,—and such, I apprehend, it will be found to be,-I conceive that no honest Dissenter, who sincerely professes what he believes to be evangelical principles, will gainsay the assertion, that an Ecclesiastical establishment must be an useful institution, and that the peculiar claims of the Church of England to the gratitude of every one who bows the knee at the name of Jesus, are such as to merit the support of all, except those, who, in seceding from its pale, are actuated by motives purely factious. I will only add to the statement of the preacher, that the progress of Socinianism in England is so very "slow" as to be quite imperceptible. B. DEAR SIR,-If any of your readers can, on scriptural grounds, prove me to be wrong in the view which I take of the Temperance Societies, I shall be much obliged to them; for, in these times of gloom and anxiety, one can ill afford to lose even the slightest glimmerings that might serve to encourage us. But if I am right, the consideration of it will not be unprofitable, however painful it may be. It seems to me, that the Temperance Societies afford a great and fearful triumph to the enemy of mankind, assisting him to further that species of assault against religion, to which, as the most subtle of all, he has in these last times betaken himself, namely, that of endeavouring to persuade men that the world would be as well, or better than it is, without any aid from Christianity. In these societies he is able to shew, that men, out of a feeling of worldly honour, in adhering to their word towards one another, will do that which neither the fear of God, nor the hope of salvation, nor the love of Christ, nor a regard to the Holy Spirit, nor their solemn religious vows, could lead them to do,-will, from earthly feelings and regards, be at pains and self-denial in giving up their darling sins, which no Heaven-derived motives or teaching could influence them to. Thus is his purpose answered: he is wise in his generation, and will make a show of giving up a part, if he may thereby effectually secure the whole,-will abandon his conquests by drunkenness, if, by so doing, he may aim a more artful stab at religion itself. Instead, therefore, of hailing the establishment of these societies as a matter of triumph and satisfaction, the feelings with which I regard them are those of shame and fear;-of shame, at the thought to how low an ebb Christian faith is brought in a Christian land, when human pride can effect that upon thousands, which faith has failed to do with hundreds;-of fear, for the members of these societies, on account of the delusion they are labouring under, when they fancy that they are more acceptable to God, and nearer Heaven, by forsaking certain vices, which neither the fear nor love of Him have led them to forsake. I may add of awe, also, when I think of the Saviour's mournful, and reproachful question, “When the Son of man cometh, will he find faith on the earth?" and consider this avowed proof of the absence of faith from among the motives to good conduct, in the most Christian nation in the world, as an additional warning to prepare for the time of His coming. "Would you, then," it may be asked, "discourage the formation of these societies?" By no means. If Christianity is sunk so low, that those who profess it are dead to Christian motives, it is fair to act upon them by others; and, by low and inferior means, rather than by none at all, to diminish the amount of present human misery. Besides, I deny not, that there is hope, that, indirectly, even Christian good may result from them. When the world affixes, from whatever motives, its powerful stigma to any vice, the danger arising from it is materially lessened. Thus the rising generation, abundantly trained in the knowledge of the truth, will find the force of temptation weakened, to suit the weakened state of Christian faith, and a hope will be thus afforded, that more may be enabled to reach the end of their pilgrimage without being led aside from the right path. I am, dear Sir, MY DEAR SIR,-In your last number, DEFENSOR accuses me of unfairness, in applying the term "unqualified" to Lord Henley's praise of Mr. Riland's publication, as well as for styling Mr. R. his lordship's "guide and coadjutor.' The best reply that I can make is, to request you to insert Lord Henley's own words, that your readers may judge how far DEFENSOR is warranted in his accusation. "I should not be doing justice to a most ingenious, learned, and pious work, if I did not acknowledge the very great obligations I have been under, particularly in the letter here prefixed, to the very valuable volume of the Rev. John Riland, A. M., Curate of Yoxall, on Church Reform. It is written in a large and Catholic spirit, with great fervour, and great spirituality."*—P. 84. I certainly have formed an incorrect estimate of the force of the English language, if the "approbation" here expressed be other than “unqualified;" and if the passage does not contain a direct acknowledgment on Lord Henley's part, that he has been guided and assisted in the composition of his own work, by studying that of Mr. Riland. I am, my dear Sir, East Horsley, Jan. 3, 1833. Very faithfully your's, ARTHUR PERCEVAL. MY DEAR SIR,—Allow me to attempt, in some degree, to remove from your mind, and those of your readers, an objection to the abolition of pluralities which has been put prominently forward in the British Magazine,† and which (p. 69, No. 12) you say no one has attempted to answer. I mean that arising from the difficulty in obtaining admission to orders, and "getting a succession," which you think there would be, if every benefice were supplied with a resident incumbent, the difficulty being caused by the diminution of the number of curates which you apprehend would be the result of such an arrangement. I should be sorry to think that any thing which we all admit to be right in principle should by any means be unattainable in practice. It would imply that there was some evil in our system of greater importance, and more deeply seated, than any which the argus eyes of our enemies have yet been able to detect. In the present instance, I am so far from anticipating the result which you have contemplated, that I entertain a confident hope that the abolition of all pluralities (if in other respects attainable) would have a directly contrary effect; that the number of employed curates would be increased instead of diminished, and the access to the ministry be at once as easy and perhaps more satisfactory than at present. When our blessed Lord sent forth the seventy, he sent them not The Editor may take this opportunity of expressing his surprise how any one still calling himself a churchman can entertain or express any but one feeling at Mr. Riland's outrageous abuse of the church, (for milder terms do not describe his work,) or refrain from wonder that a person who entertains such opinions as are there exprest, should remain even an hour in an institution so injurious to Christianity as the church must be if it answered Mr. Riland's description. Surely it could be no penalty, nor even a source of regret to any man, to be restrained from officiating in a church which is in his judgment so full of abominations. The several clergy who have lately left the church have, in almost every instance, spoken of it less acrimoniously and more decently than Mr. Riland. + Vol. i. p. 356, ii. p. 289. singly, but two and two. This order the Apostles appear in general to have observed.+ St. Paul was, for the most part, accompanied by Barnabas, or Silas, or Timotheus: it was only on pressing emergencies that we find him occasionally alone. The forms of the oriental liturgies | require the presence of more than one officiating minister. The subsedilia for the priest, deacon, and subdeacon, to be found in the remotest of our parish churches, shew that while we were in communion with Rome the same plan was pursued among us; while the rubrics of the English prayer-book, especially in the communionservice,§ shew that our reformers, treading i the ancient footsteps, did not intend that the services should be engaged in single-handed. That the presence of more than one clergyman would be desirable, in a vast number of cases where it is not now to be met with, both for the more efficient discharge of the public duties, and still more for pastoral purposes, will, I suppose, be admitted by all. Indeed, it may be questioned how far any man, let his zeal and activity be never so great, can adequately discharge all that belongs to the clerical office, where the population exceeds a thousand souls. To speak of minor points, all who reside in the country must have experienced the extreme inconvenience arising from the paucity of clergymen. If one of the number be taken ill, or be called away by some urgent cause which will not admit of delay, how difficult, nay sometimes how impossible is it for him to procure assistance. Generally speaking, the matter can only be arranged by depriving two congregations of half their accustomed service. If on all these different grounds the employment of assistant curates would be so desirable, why, it will naturally be asked, are they so seldom to be met with? This arises partly from the obstacles which some of the bishops unaccountably (if I may use the word without disrespect) throw in the way of their appointment, but chiefly from the amount of the salary which, I believe, is generally (but I think it will appear unreasonable) expected to be nearly equal to that which is given to one who has the sole charge of the parish. Remove these two causes of difficulty, and can any man doubt but that the number of assistant curates would be increased tenfold, and that as ample a means of entrance to the ministry as could be desired would be thus afforded? But now, if the other means of entrance were for the most part closed, the bishops, instead of discouraging would promote the appointment of assistant curates; and if this employment were looked upon, as it should be, in the light of an apprenticeship, (if the word is not unseemly,) the difficulty on the score of salary would likewise be removed. For as in our public offices the clerks receive no salary for the year in which they learn their business, and in all trades the friends of a young man are content to give a premium to him who receives him as an apprentice, the clerical neophyte could not com * Luke x. 1. Acts viii. 14, xii. xiii. &c. Compare 1 Thess. iii. 1, and Acts xvii. 15. See that which directs the deacon to receive the alms of the faithful. |