clare the myfteries of God's kingdom; and are exccedingly hurtful to the church, expofing her ordinances to neglect and contempt. + Their bad example fpreads far and wide among the people. I Their wickedness introduceth manifold errors and corruptions into the church. Nothing is more difficult of cure, than the heart of an ungodly minifter; and their corruptions expofe them to the most fearful judgments of the Moft High. T T REMARKS ON PSALM Xxxvii. 5, 6. DEAR SIR, To the Editor. HOUGH many of your readers might be difgufted with the frequent infertion of critical remarks on the Original Scriptures, I hope very few would complain of your inferting fomewhat of this kind now and then; and certainly fome would be gratified with any hints tending to elucidate the word of God. As I fhould be glad to receive them from others, fo I would be willing to communicate any thing of the kind which might occur in my own reading. Shall I offer for your infertion an examination of a paffage in Pfalm xxxvii. which is one of the Alphabetic Pfalms, and peculiarly beautiful in its compofition, and interefting in its contents? I was lately induced, by looking accidentally into the Polyglot, to notice the first word of the third paragraph, orftanza, which begins with the letter Gimel, and is contained in verfe 5. 6. of our tranflation. “Commit thy way," &c. I knew it had been common to derive this word from a root which fignifies to roll,t which yet as connected with way, forms but a harth catachrefis, unless we fupply what might be fuppofed to have been left out by an ellipfis, "Roll the burden of thy way," &c. But on cafting my eye on the feveral ancient vertions, I found they all rendered it differently. Pf. 1. 16, with P. xxv. 9, 14. 1 Sam. ii. 12. Mat. v. 13. 27-36, & ii. 11-14, with iv. & xxii. Pro. xxviii. 5. Jer. xxiii. 15. . 8. § 1 Tim. i. 19, & iii. 9. Lev. x. 2. 1 Sam. i. 12-17, Ezek. ix. 6. So Henry Michalis "volve, devolve, tanquam onus ninium tibi gave, humili patientia & fimplici fide." Adnotationes in Pfannos. The The Targum, or Chaldee Paraphrafe is, Manifefta Do mino, Manifeft to the Lord, &c. The Syriac, Dirige coram Domino, Direct before the Lord, &c. The LXX. Aπoxxλu↓ov πpos Kupio, Revela ad Dominum, Reveal to the Lord, &c. The Vulgate, Revela coram Domino, Reveal before the Lord, &c. The Arabic is rendered Detege Semitas tuas Domino, Dif clafe thy ways to the Lord. It directly ftruck me that the authors of thefe verfions probably had a different reading in the Hebrew copies from whence they made their respective tranflations; and derived this word, not from galal, he rolled, but from galah, he revealed, uncovered +, difclofed or unveiled. This would regularly make geleh in the Imperative Kal, or in Pihel, which increafes the force, galleh, which by an Apocope of of the laft radical, according to Bythner's 67th rule, is turned into gal, the very word ufed in Pfal. cxix. 18. Open thou, (or rather unveit) mine eyes, and I fhall behold wonderful things, &c. The fame veib is ufed by Jeremiah xi. 20. and xx. 12. "Unto thee have I unveiled, opened, or revealed my caufe:" The very practice recommended in the text. Upon turning to Dr. Kennicott's Bible, I found this conjecture abundantly confirmed. In his four firft and best manufcripts, and in 47 more, the word is written and not and the next word is in ten copies, to, inftead of upon. I propofe, therefore, the following as a correct tranflation of the whole ftanza: A Unveil thy way fully to JeHoVall, And rely upon him, and he fhall perform it; And he fhall bring forth thy righteoufnefs as the light, ANECDOTE. 56 Gentleman in Scotland having been to hear the late Mr. Whitfield preach in the open air, was niet in his way home by an eminent minifter, under whom he ufually fat, and who expreffed great furprife that he should go to hear fuch a man. The gentleman gave him this antwer: "Sir," faid he, "when I hear you, I am planting trees all the time; but during the whole of Mr. Whitfield's fermon I never got time to plant one." 1 + This is the word to often fed in Lov, xviii. So Num. xxii 31. "The Lord unveiled the eyes of Balaam, &re. VOL. VII F REVIEW REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS. ESSAYS on fome fele&t parts of the Liturgy of the Church of England, being the fubftance of a course of Lectures delivered in the Parish Church of St. Werburgh, Brifol. By T. T. Biddulph, A. M. late of Queen's College, Oxford. 12mo. 340 p. Matthews and Dilly. MANY perfons, both in the establishment and out of it, having imbibed prejudices against Sunday evening Lectures, the ingenious Author begins with a rational and elegant apology to his parishioners, which we doubt not will be found interefting to many of our readers. "Great is the honour and regard, which I entertain for you, Men, Brethren, and Fathers, the worthy Rector, the Veitrymen, and other Inhabitants of the Parish, to which I have lately been appointed the Lecturer. The general refpectability of your characters, as members of fociety, fecures to you public etteem; while the pious example of many among you, founded on Chriftian principles, attracts the cordial affection of all who truly fear God. But that which more peculiarly on the prefent cecafion demands a due acknowledgement, is that inftance of your conduct when, rifing fuperior to vulgar prejudices, and fincerely wishing to glorify God in the advancement both of your own fpiritual welfare, and that of your fellow-citizens, you unanimously unfolded the doors of your church for Divine worship on the evening of every Lord's Day, and fome other felect occafions; and alfo those of your pews for the accommodation of fuch extra-parifhiouers as might wish to attend the lecture. The utility of fuch an inftitution will be denied by no perfons, but fuch as are blinded by ignorance, prejudice, or difaffection to religion. A Sunday-Evening lecture has numerous advantages. At fuch a feafon the wretched inhabitant of the garret, whofe pride and rags prevent an appearance in the houfe of God during the open day, will often defcend under the veil of twilight; and creep, unobferved by every eye, except His," who beholdeth all the dwellers upon earth," to fome obfcure corner of the hallowed dome, where to the poor the Gospel is preached. And who can fay, whether through your zeal in opening your church for general inftruction, many of thefe may not be brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jefus; and at the great day, when they thall have exchanged their fordid raiment for the fplendid robe prepared to be worn at the marriage fupper of the Lamb, blets you as the intruments under God of their refcue from ignorance, fin, mifery, and deftruction? Befide perfons of the above defcription, there is a numerous clafs of fervants in every large town, whofe employers ither from neceffity, or a preference of their own fenfual gratifications to the falvation of their dependants, detain them at home during either one or both the ufual fervices of our church. Such perfons mutt rejoice, if the leaft concern about religion prevail in their minds, that you have afforded them an opportunity of hearing the biciled word of God, and joining in His worship, of which privileges they were before deititute. Morcover fome of the unprincipled and unhappy vagrants of both fexes, who fpend the facred hours of the Lord's Day Evening in the streets of our city, may be expected, eith attracted by the novelty of the icene, or feeling the falutary touch of compunction, to drop in among us. And however hardened they may be at prefent, and hackneyed in the ways of vice, yet the word of God, which is quick and powerful and fharper than any two edged word, may happily reach their hears, to us to turn them from darknets to light, and from from the power of Satan unto God. How ecftatic will be your delight Thould any fuch perfons, meeting you in the realms of blifs, address you in expreffions like thefe: "Well do I remember the time, when wandering through the streets of Bristol on the evening of the fabbath-day, uncon"scious of the value of my foul, and infenfible of my state of fin and dan"ger, I was feeking reft, but found it not. In the midst of my career of wickedness and folly, 'my attention was arrefted by the light, which "beamed from the windows of your church, and by the found of your voices, when finging the praises of your redeeming God. I thought, as "I had no other way of filling up the vacant hour, I would enter the dears which you had opened. I yielded to the impreffion of the moment : and there, within thofe hallowed and ever gratefully to be remembered walls, the found of falvation by grace reached my ears, and engaged my heart. Gladly I embraced the meffage of reconciliation, and began to "find religion's ways to be ways of picafantnefs, and all her paths to be 66 peace. From thence forward I devoted myfelf to the Lord, and was "trained up among you for that inconceivable happiness, which I am "now brought to enjoy. Come, let us approach the throne, and magnify "his name together, declaring the wonders which He hath wrought for "the children of men!" If Tuch an addrets fhould ever falute your ears, kow richly will the pleafing fenfations excited in your breasts recompence this your work of faith and labour of love? "There is a variety of other confiderations, which claim attention; the inability or unwillingnefs of many matters and parents to read to their families at home, and fo employ the evening of the Lord's day in a proper manner; the certainty which exills, that inany perfons, who now attend a place of worship, would otherwife employ their time in an unprofitable vacuity of thought, if not in idle converfation or fecular concerns; and the advantages accruing to the interefts both of church and state, which evidently ftand in connection with fuch institutions. But, apart from thefe confiderations and many more that might be mentioned, it feems unqueftionable that, if people will hear the churches ought to be open, and minifters ought to preach. And that people are ready to hear the Gofpel at their vacant hours, needs no other proof than that of occular demonftratjon, which the nun ous congregations that attend your lecture afford.” The particular object of the work will be best explained by another extract taken from the Author's Preface. "Two objects are kept in view throughout the fubfequent pages, neither of which can be confidered as deftitute of importance. First, the confirmation of those members of our church establishment in the precious truths, which our liturgy, articles, and homilies inculcate, who in thefe peril"ous times" are in danger of being "corrupted from the fimplicity that " is in Chrift." Many are the agents, whom the Prince of darkness has enlifted and commiffioned in the prefent age for the fubversion of thofe venerable bulwarks, which have hitherto proved fo effectual an impediment to the exercife of that unlimited dominion over the minds of men, which he has been always aiming to obtain. Though the author moft fincerely wishes fuccefs to the Gospel of Chrift in every channel, through which it is likely to be promoted; yet he must be allowed to exprefs his perfuafion that the facred walls of the establishment are, under God and in fubfervience to His most holy word, our ftrongest barrier against that inundation of infi lelity, which threatens to overwhelm the land. A fecond object, no lef's momentous, is a difplay of the character of a true churchman. For, as the moral law is a fpeculum, which discovers on inspection our likeness or diflimilitude to the image of God; fo the liturgy of the church of EngLand F2 land may produce a parallel effect, and represent us in our true colours; either as diffemblers with God, whilst we profess to embrace doctrines, which at bottom we reject; ufe prayers, from which our hearts recoil; and openly avow an attachment to God and His fervice, which our lives demonstrate to have no existence; or elfe as fincere worthippers of the Triune Jehovah, in whom there is no guile; and who with every day to be animated more and more by that fpirit of vital Godliness, which our liturgy breathes through all her varied forms of devotion. Whether the plan of this work will be extended to other parts of the fervice of our church, will in a great measure depend on the reception which awaits the prefent volume, and the confequent probability of the usefulness that may attend a farther profecution of the fubject. "As fome readers may not be in poffeff on of any of thofe authors, who have given an hiftorical account of the original compilation and fubfequent improvements of our liturgy; it may be proper for their fakes to fubjoin the following thort narrative, extracted from " Wheatly's rational illuftration of the book of Common Prayer, &c." "Before the Reformation, "the Liturgy was only in Latin; being a collection of prayers made up partly of lome ancient forms ufed in the primitive church, and partly of "fome others of a later original, accommodated to the fuperftitions which "had by various means crept, by degrees, into the church at Rome, and " from thence derived to other churches in communion with it; like what "we may fee in the prefent Roman Breviary and Miffal. And thefe be"ing established by the laws of the land, and the canons of the church, "no other could publickly be made ufe of; fo that thofe of the laity, wha "had not the advantage of a learned education, could not join with them, "or be any otherwife edified by them. And befides, they being mixed "with addreffes to the faints, adoration of the hoft, images, &c. a great "part of the worship was in itself idolatrous and profane. But when the nation, in King Henry the Eighth's time, was difpofed "to a reformation; it was thought neceffary to correct and amend these "offices; and not only have the fervice of the church in the English or "vulgar tongue (that men might pray not with the spirit only, but with the underflanding alfo, and that he, who occupied the room of the unlearn"ed, might understand that, unto which he was toy, amen, agreeable "to St. Paul's precept, 1 Cor. v. 15, 16.); but also to abolish and take "away all that was idolatrous and fuperftitious, in order to restore the "fervice of the church to its primitive parity. For it was not the defign "of our reformers, nor indeed ought it to have been, to introduce a new "form of worship into the church, but to correct and amend the old one; and to purge it from thofe grofs corruptions which had gradually crept "into it, and fo to render the Divine fervice more agreeable to the Scrip"tures, and to the doctrine and practice of the primitive church in the belt "and pureft ages of Chriftianity. In which reformation they proceeded "gradually, according as they were able." We cannot give the whole of this Narrative, though not prolix. As to the Elays, we have perufed them with much pleafure and fatisfaction; and confider them as remarkably well calculated to recommend the doctrines of the church, which will be found to pervade the whole of her services, to fuch members of the establishment as may feel unhappy prejudices againft the Gospel, especially in places where it has been lately introduced. As to the Author's file, the extracts already given will be fuficient to imprefs on our readers a very favourable opinion, |