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question of abstinence from intoxicating liquors that we inquire, Is all this consistent with the example of Him who" went about doing good," it is true, but who did not " strive nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets?" Is there not something in the excitement, the display, the " contests for the mastery,' so intimately interwoven with these immense gatherings of the benevolent and religious world, peculiarly ungenial to the maintenance of communion with God, and the production of the fruits of the Spirit? We shall be told that times are altered, and the precepts of the New Testament are no longer a full guide to the Christian. He must step out of the pathway marked out by the

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MISCELLANIES.

HON. AND REV. B. NOEL ON THE PRIZE ESSAY ON SCHISM. (To the Editor of the Christian Observer,) "MY DEAR SIR,-I have just seen. your remarks (Feb. 8. pp. 113-116) upon the Essay on Schism, and beg to say that I cannot be in the least responsible for the expressions of the author. I agreed with my friend, Mr. Sherman, in preferring the work very much on account of its moderation. Although I have not read it through since it has been printed, I perceive that, in revising it, the author has added many sentences to which I could not have consented.

If I remember right, no part of the paragraph to which you reasonably object, was in the manuscript as it left my hands; and I much regret to find, that in other places, too, the author has introduced expressions which, in my opinion, detract from the general merit of the work. I remain, dear Sir, yours very truly," Baptist W. Noel.

To this, at the end of the Christian Observer for April, the editor adds,

Mr. Noel sends the following postscript to his note on the Essay on Schism, "I do not wish to charge the estimable author with the least unfairness towards myself; he repeatedly offered to submit the proof-sheets to my inspection after its revisal. All that he has done has been to use, in some instances, severer expressions towards the Establishment than were in the original manuscript; for which therefore the adjudicators obviously cannot be responsible."

any

If Mr. Noel does not charge Professor Hoppus with "the least unfairness" to himself as an adjudicator, it is not necessary to make further remarks on this view of the subject, provided that Mr. Sherman the other adjudicator coincides with the sentiment of Mr. Noel; but, as far as the other writers for the prize Essay are concerned, the transaction is of that nature as to render it questionable whether Professor Hoppus fully claim the prize; for it is obvious that his published Essay is not the one to which the prize was adjudicated; and it is equally obvious, that if Professor Hoppus had sent his essa

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to the adjudicators with those new passages to which Mr. Noel objects, the prize would not have been awarded to him, but to some other person.

The essay therefore that appeared in print is not the prize essay; a fact which should be generally known.

A COMELY monument is now in the course of erection in Trinity Church, Cambridge, to the memory of the late Rev. C. Simeon. It is decorated with symbolical figures of Religion and Piety, and bears the following inscription :

IN MEMORY OF

THE REV. CHARLES SIMEON, M. A SENIOR FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE,

AND

FORTY-FOUR YEARS VICAR OF THIS PARISH,

WHO,

WHETHER AS THE GROUND OF

HIS OWN HOPES,

OR AS THE SUBJECT OF ALL

HIS MINISTRATIONS,

DETERMINED TO KNOW NOTHING BUT
JESUS CHRIST,
AND HIM CRUCIFIED.

DR. ARNOLD, Head Master of Rugby School, has been preaching to his boys a series of sermons exposing the dangerous doctrines contained in the Oxford Tracts.

ROMAN CATHOLIC AFFAIRS. ENGLISH Ecclesiastical affairs have lately occupied considerable attention at Rome; and the result of these deliberations, has been a recommendation to increase the number of Roman Catholic Bishops from four to eight. It is proposed to appoint a Bishop for. the four Northern counties, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland and Durham. The pope is to appoint another Bishop for Yorkshire : Lancashire and Cheshire are to be united into one vicariate.

Roman Catholic Convert Club."It is intended to establish a Club in the West end of London, the members of which are to consist of "Converts to the Catholic faith."

Bazaar for the Trappists.-It was intended to hold a Bazaar on the 29th of May, for the completion of the monastery belonging to the Trappist monks in Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire. The Duchess of Leeds, Marchioness of Wellesley, Countess of Shrewsbury, and other great ladies of the aristocracy are the patronesses.

Lady Mary Talbot, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, was married with great pomp at Rome on April 6th, to Prince Doria Pamphili. The ceremony was performed by Cardinal Giustiniani, the bride and bridegroom repaired in a state coach, followed by a brilliant cavalcade, to return thanks at St. Peter's. Several Cardinals and Prelates assisted at the ceremony.

Popery in the United States.-In the United States there are 16 Episcopal sees of the Roman Catholic religion, 17 Bishops, 498 Priests, 418 churches. The Jesuits have colleges at George Town, near Washington, at St. Mary's, Kentucky, St. Louis Missouri, Grand Coteau, in Louisiana; Frederick Town, Maryland, and Florissant, in the Diocese of St. Louis. The Dominicans, the Fathers of St. Sulpice, the Sulpicians, the Lazarists, the Carmelites, the Ursulines, the Sisters of Charity, Sisters of St. Clare, the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, the Sisters of Loretto, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and the Sisters of Mercy, have their separate establishments in various parts of the United States.

There are six Catholic Journals.

POETRY.

PARAPHRASE OF ISAIAH LV. 6-13.

SEEK ye the Lord your God While yet he may be found; And call upon Him while His ear Is open to the sound.

Let wicked men forsake
The devious paths of sin,

The unrighteous leave his sinful thoughts,
And penitence begin.

O let him turn to God,
Mercy will bid him live;

And pard'ning love his deepest guilt
Abundantly forgive.

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For," saith the Lord, "my thoughts
And ways are not as yours;

Sure is my promise, and my grace
Unchangeable endures.

"And high as lofty heaven
Above the lowly earth;
So high my holy motives are,
O'er those of mortal birth.

"And as from heaven descend
Soft rain and fleecy snow,
Nor back return, but feed the soil,
And make it bud and blow;

"That he who sows may see,
The fruitful harvest spread;
And weary, faint, and hungry souls,
Be satisfied with bread.

"So shall my word come down,
With renovating power,

And on the sterile hearts of men,
Fall with refreshing shower.

"Void it shall not return,
But all I please fulfil;

Shall

prosper all my purposes, And work my sovereign will.

"In gladness shall ye walk,
And peace your minds employ,
The hills before burst in songs,
The forests wave with joy.

you

"And where the tangling thorn Of sin o'erspread the ground, The upright fir of truth shall throw A holy shade around.

"Where pleasure's piercing briar
'Neath roses hid its sting,

With healing balm the myrtle flower
Of Love divine shall spring.

"Together shall they live

An everlasting sign,

That fadeth not, but still shall prove
The heavenly gifts as mine."

L.

THE INQUIRER.

JULY, 1839.

What saith the Scripture?-Rom. iv. 3.

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER III.

THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS.

WHEN the Canon of Scripture closes on the Church, and when, from the inspired writers of the New Testament we turn to the Apostolical Fathers, the next writers in order of time, we perceive at the first glance that man, and not God, has become the teacher of the Churches. The voice of the Spirit is silent: a new era characterised by instructors of another order has suddenly, and with scarcely any signs of preparation, made its appearance in ecclesiastical history. The scene is changed: the pure water of the river of life, clear as crystal, which proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb no longer imparts a living green to the pastures of the Church. The pastures become a wilderness; and a miserable aridity succeeds to that plenteousness of irrigation with which the faithful were refreshed and sustained in the days of their primal felicity.

The Apostolical Fathers have every claim to our veneration and respect with which antiquity can invest them. They were the cotemporaries of the Apostles, and though their juniors, they enjoyed the privilege of hearing their instruction, or participating in their labours or conversing with their associates. From such monitors we should naturally expect to hear divine instructions-the faithful repetition of the doctrines which were delivered to them by the Apostles and preserved by the superintendance of that Spirit which led the Apostles into all truth: but such is not the case; and the word of God, the canon of scripture, stands alone in majestic isolation preeminent in instruction, and separated by unapproachable excellence from every thing contiguous to it; so that those who follow close to the Apostles have left us writings which are more for our warning than our edification; as we think will be made apparent by a full and faithful analysis of these writings.

The Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers are those of Barnabas, Ignatius, Clement, Polycarp and Hermas: of these, the Epistle of Barnabas will first come under consideration, as being most worthy of attention; if indeed it can be established that Barnabas, the companion of Paul, is the author of that strange epistle which goes under his name. Let us first gather from Scripture the records of this holy man. The original name of Barsabas was Joses, he was of the tribe of Levi, of the Island of Cyprus. The Apostles gave him the name of Barnabas, which means, "the son of consolation." He was possessed of lands, which he sold; and the money raised by the sale of them he brought to the Apostles for the benefit of the Church (Acts iv. 36). Most of the ancients have asserted that he was one of the Seventy; but it is not a fact that can be gathered from Scripture: indeed, it may be almost gathered from Scripture that he was not. When Paul had become a convert to the Christian faith, and had gone in the character of a Christian to Jerusalem, he endeavoured to enter into communion with the Christians there; but they were all afraid of him, and kept aloof: on this Barnabas took him and introduced him to the Apostles (Acts ix. 27). Some time afterwards, we find that the Church of Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch, for the purpose of making inquiry into the conversions to the faith which had lately taken place at Antioch; and "when he came, and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord." On this occasion, the sacred historian describes Barnabas as 66 a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and faith." From Antioch, Barnabas went to Tarsus to seek Paul, and brought him back with him to Antioch. The Christians of that city, not

VOL. II.

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long after, made a subscription for the relief of the brethren in Judæa, and sent their collection by Barnabas and Paul (Acts xi. 22--30). When these associates in the labours of the gospel had fulfilled their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, bringing with them John whose surname was Mark, and who probably was the Mark named by Paul, as the nephew of Barnabas (Col. iv. 10). After they had been occupied in the ministry some time in Antioch, certain prophets and teachers, speaking by the Holy Ghost, commanded that Paul and Barnabas should be separated, or consecrated for the work for which God designed to appoint them; " and when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away" (Acts xiii. 1-3). In obedience to the divine command, they sailed to Cyprus, taking John Mark with them. Afterwards, at the isle of Paphos, they appeared before Sergius Paulus, the deputy of the country, and resisted Elymas the sorcerer. They then went through many cities, and preached together in Synagogues and other places. From Antioch in Pisidia they were driven with violence; and there" they shook off the dust of their feet against the city." They were obliged to flee from Iconium, from which city they went to Lystra; and there the people, amazed at a miracle which they saw them perform on a lame man, wished to worship them, declaring that Barnabas was Jupiter and Paul Mercury. But afterwards, in this place, Paul was stoned by the people and left for dead; but, recovering from his wounds, he rose up and went to Derbe with Barnabas. Then, after a diligent course of itinerant ministry in various cities, they returned to Antioch, whence they had been sent forth by the Church, to give an account of all that they had seen, done, or suffered (Acts xiii. xiv).

When the Jewish questions, and more particularly the controversy about circumċision, were agitated, the Church at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to consult the Apostles and Elders of the Church: and there these two eminent servants of the Lord "declared what miracles and wonders God had wrought among Gentiles by them." Having received the decrees of the Church at Jerusalem, they returned to Antioch, and there taught and preached with many others (Acts xv. 36).

the

After awhile, Paul proposed to Barnabas that they should go through the cities of Asia, where they had preached the Gospel and founded Churches: but in making their arrangements for carrying this plan into execution, a division arose between these good men; for Barnabas insisted on taking with him his nephew John Mark, to whom Paul objected as a companion, because" he had departed from them from Pamphylia," and had withdrawn from the work in which they were engaged. the contention was so sharp between them," that they separated, for Barnabas went on his journey with Mark, and Paul with Silas (Acts xv. 36).

'And

And here the Scripture ceases to give us any further information of Barnabas: but by this information we learn, that "the son of consolation" sustained a very important part in the apostolical era, and that scarcely any of the Apostles were more distinguished than he in the labour of preaching the Gospel and establishing churches in the faith. In the Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul does not hesitate to class himself and Barnabas amongst "the Apostles" (1 Cor. ix. 1-6); and Luke also gives him that venerated title (Acts xiv. 4-14).

Barnabas, therefore, was alive when Paul wrote the first Epistle to the Corinthians A.D. 56; but nothing is known of his death, nor where he died. Tradition tells us that he was stoned by the Jews at Salamis in Cyprus; and that his body was found in that island in the year 488, the usual fate of the bodies of "the Saints," which are but rarely left in the repose of the tomb. The Romish calendar has his festival

on the 11th of June.

"The Epistle of Barnabas" is entitled " Catholic," that is, it is not known to be addressed to any particular Church. The original Greek of this epistle is incomplete, so that we are indebted to an old Latin version for all that precedes the fifth section; and in the subsequent part of the epistle, the Latin version is also incomplete: nevertheless, between the Greek and the Latin, the whole epistle is preserved. The title of "Catholic" can scarcely be considered correct; for though we know not to whom the epistle is directed, yet the first section speaks as clearly of the state of some particular church, as any of the known epistles of Paul. Hail, my sons and daughters! in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath loved us in peace. Knowing that there is in you, by the benignity of God, an abundance of great and excellent things, I rejoice above measure in your blessed and comely [præclaris]

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