Antioch, and of all the "holy and humble men of heart"—were, to say the least, mistaken and profitless observances?

R. W. H. goes on to say, that, "we are to 'rend our hearts, and not our garments,' i. e. we are not to keep up the appearance without the reality." Granted: but need that prevent us keeping up the appearance as well as the reality? We may (and it is to be feared that many do) repeat the responses in the public service, so as to have the 66 appearance without the reality" of devotion; but is that any reason why the responses should not be made? Did the church intend it to be left to the fashion of the present state of society? If not, why should fasting be an exception? And as for the different states of society, are we so much "better than our fathers," that what they found serviceable as a means to the attainment of greater holiness is of no use to us, their "silky sons," except to "be conducive to general health," to which end (of course on the supposition that we have eaten more than is good for us on the other days) R. W. H. "would advocate the abstaining from meat once, or even twice in the week," not, however, that he would fix on any particular day, for "fasting every Friday, is, after all, a mere form," which the church, in her ignorance of human nature, prescribed at the first, and has had the weakness to continue for eighteen centuries.

But R. W. H. argues that because the reformed church has not distinguished between days of fasting and abstinence, and because the New Testament contains no positive command on the subject, " that fasting is left entirely to ourselves." But are there not many things the church adopts without a positive command? And is not the practice of Christ and his apostles equivalent to a positive command? Have we any positive command for the observance of the Lord's day? Yet who would say that therefore this is left entirely to ourselves? And because the church has prescribed no exact rules for our food, are we, therefore, to disregard her voice altogether? It seems to me that we are as much bound to practise abstinence (at least) as we are any duty which the church prescribes, or any Christian virtue which the Scripture enjoins. Nor, in fact, has the church so much left us in "uncertainty," as she has allowed us liberty. We may find her intentions more fully set forth in the Homily, from which we may learn that these "two meals be permitted on that day to be used, which sometime our elders . . . . . did use with one only spare meal, and that in fish only." And afterwards an extract is given from the Tripartite history, where a great variety of customs with regard to fasting is given, with the object, as it appears to me, of shewing what diversity of practice has existed without breach of charity, and now, according to our temperament of body, and earnestness of mind, we may choose what we shall judge most suitable to our own case.

Space does not allow of any reference being made to R. W. H.'s objection to the benefit of fasting, as I have already trespassed so largely on your pages; but he will find them fully answered in the Homily. The allusion to the fisheries, of course, does not affect the doctrine of fasting, as there laid down.

I beg to remain, sir, your obedient servant,

L. DE R.

SCRIPTURE TEXT BOOKS.

SIR,-An old error often makes its appearance in a new guise. One of the greatest mistakes of the middle ages, with reference to Scripture, was that of straining and forcing the sacred text, and of endeavouring to discover in the words a variety of concealed and hidden meanings, beyond and above their obvious and literal signification. The mode of interpretation adopted by a large class of those who, during that period, undertook to expound the word of God was, to search "for mysteries and various recondite meanings in the plainest texts, and, for the most part, without much discrimination." These persons treated Scripture as if it were intended not so much to reveal the truth, as to present it in a form as remote as possible from the comprehension of the ordinary reader; as if it were a book which required a careful and ingenious search to discover the full purport of the various passages; and although few of them concurred as to what the sense of Scripture really was, yet all were of one mind in thinking "that besides the literal import, there were other meanings of the sacred books, although as to the number of those meanings they are not agreed; for some of them make three senses, others four or five; and one, who is not the worst Latin interpreter of the age, maintains that there are seven senses of the sacred books."+

It seems wonderful that any one can fail of perceiving how fruitful in mischief such a mode of handling Scripture must have been; nor can such a system of commentating be considered anything else than a direct perversion of the Word of God; and yet, if I greatly mistake not, this medieval notion, with reference to Scripture, is now, although in another form, pretty widely prevalent, and that too, among a class of persons who, of all others, would be the least desirous of imitating in anything the divines of the dark ages of the church.

It is hardly possible to go into any bookseller's shop without seeing scattered about a number of prettily got up little, very little, volumes, if books can be called volumes most of which are only about an inch and a half square, with titles such as the following:-Daily Food for Christians, Crumbs from the Master's Table, A Threefold Cord; or, Precept, Promise, and Prayer, from the Holy Scripture, for every day in the Year, Dewdrops, Daily Verses, Small Rain upon the Tender Herb. Publications such as these are to be seen everywhere one goes, and, if we may judge from their variety and the frequency of our meeting with them, they obtain a very large circulation indeed; and the way in which they are intended to be used is, that the owner should each day read the scrap of Scripture therein appointed for the day, and make it the subject of his meditation, by means of a personal application of it to himself. Now let us suppose that of one of these books there is an edition of three thousand printed and sold, and in actual use, and we shall then have three thousand individuals, of whom it is hardly possible that any two can be in precisely the same frame of mind, all endeavouring to feed themselves off of the one † Ibid. s. 9.

* Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. Ed. Soames, cent. ix. b. iii. s. 8.

"crumb" on the one day, and to apply to themselves the one precept, or promise, or warning, as the case may be. That the same text of Scripture should be really applicable to the case and circumstances of all these various individuals is quite out of the question; to suppose that a passage adapted and intended by its Divine Author for one condition of mind should be likewise and equally adapted to several thousand persons in as many various states of feeling, is to make Scripture mean either several thousand various things or else nothing at all. In short, in the great majority of cases the text is not in the smallest degree applicable to mind or situation of the owner of the book. How, then, is this difficulty surmounted? Is the little volume laid aside until the next day? and does the person wait day after day until a "crumb" or a "dewdrop" turns up which he can fairly and profitably use? By no means. If the application be not obvious, the passage is adapted and made to apply; if the plain meaning of the words afford him no direct instruction, he thinks over them again until he discovers some meaning which they may bear and some application which they may be made to have, and thus, whether it will or not, the text is brought to bear upon his own case. though no one would more highly value a deep and practical study of every sentence and word of God's blessed book than I, though no one would more cordially praise the man who would strain his eyes to catch every ray of light that lamp sends forth than I would, yet I cannot but condemn this practice most strongly. It is a deceitful handling of the Word of God; it is the very error of the middle ages; it is striving to fix on Scripture a sense and an interpretation beyond and above its literal one; it is making the same passage have, not two or three, or even seven, but several thousand, senses; senses as numerous as are the various conditions of mind in which the persons using the book may happen to be upon a certain day.

Now,

That the one short passage cannot be "daily food" to all these many individuals must (one might have supposed) be apparent to every unprejudiced mind; and if it be made so when in reality it is not, or if adaptation be so extensively and violently employed as to bring it to suit their various cases, for my part I cannot see what barrier we are to set up to prevent the introduction of all the extravagant interpretations which the allegorical and mystical commentators put forth. To use Scripture honestly it must be taken in its plain and literal signification, and the Christian who wants daily food should search the stores which the Word of God contains, and he will have his needs supplied with much more fairness to the sacred text, much more satisfaction and benefit to himself, than by making use of any of these publications which the mistaken zeal of indiscreet, though well-intentioned, persons has given rise to.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

P.

FORM FOR THE RECEPTION OF AN ARCHBISHOP, BISHOP, LEGATE, OR CARDINAL, KING OR QUEEN, AS ANCIENTLY USED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK, DUBLIN.

SIR, I send you another liturgical form from the ancient Antiphonarium of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, now in the possession of the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor and Dromore. I hope, in my next communication, to give you a complete account of the contents of this curious volume, together with some remarks on its age, and on some of the documents which it has preserved.

It is only necessary here to observe further, that the passages printed in italics are in rubric in the original; and that the latter part of the form was only used when the archbishop came to be enthroned immediately after his consecration.

At present the archbishop is received at the west door of the cathedral by a procession only, without any of the prayers, or other ceremonies prescribed in the following form:

Fiunt autem quedam prosesciones ueneracionis causa ad suscipiendum archiepiscopum, proprium episcopum, legatum, vel cardinalem, regem, vel reginam. hoc ordine est processio. Precedat aqua benedicta. Deinde tres cruces a tribus accolitis differentibus* aibis et tunicis indutis, Deinde duo ceroferarii albis cum amictibus induti. Deinde duo thuribularii in simili habitu. Choro itaque sequente. In primis clerici de ija forma, et clerici de superiori gradu iuxta predictum ordinem, uidelicet excellentioribus personis subsequentibus, qui omnes sint in capis sericis. procedunt aulem per medium chori et ecclesiæ, ad locum destinatum, videlicet ad ostium occidentale. ibi denique ad personam suscipiendam ad modum processionis, non cantando nec legendo. Due excellenciores persone in capis sericis infra ostium predictum differentes crucem predictis, uidelicet Archiepiscopo, Episcopo, Legato, uel Cardinali, Regi, uel Regine, et osculatur crux a predictis personis regalibus, et postea thurificentur, et aqua benedicita aspergantur. Cantore incipiente. R. similiter. Contra archiepiscopum, episcopum proprium, legatum, vel cardinalem, dicatur hoc responsum. Summe Trinitati. Contra regem dicatur hoc responsum Honorum uirtus. Contra reginam R. Regnum mundi. Eadem quoque via accesserant usque ad gradum altaris adducant. Finito responso cum suo versu a toto choro, sequatur Kyrie el. Christe el. Kyrie el. Paternoster. q. Deinde super Archiepiscopum proprium episcopum, legatum vel cardinalem, prosternant se in oracione ad gradum altaris, sacerdos dicat in capa serica, [cum nota.+] Et ne nos inducas. Sed libera. Saluum fac seruum tuum Domine. Deus meus sperantem in te. Mitte ei Domine auxilium de sancto. Et de syon tuere eum. Nichil proficiat inimicus in eo. Et filius iniquitatis non nocebit ei. Esto ei Domine turris fortitudinis. A facie inimici. Domine exaudi orationem meam. et clamor m. Dominus uobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Oremus. Concede quesumus Domine famulo tuo. N. metropolitano. uel

*Read deferentibus.

† Added in rubric by the original hand over the words ne nos.

VOL. XXVII.-March, 1845.

T

qua

episcopo, uel prelato nostro, ut predicando, et exercendo que recta sunt exemplo bonorum operum animas suorum instruat subditorum et eterne remuneracionis mercedem a te piissimo pastore percipiat. per Christum dominum nostrum.

Super regem vel reginam in prostracione ad gradum altaris dicat sacerdos in capa serica. Et ne nos. Set libera. Ostende nobis. Et salutare tuum. Domine saluum fac regem [ancillam] tuum [tuam.] Deus meus. Mitte ei Domine auxilium de sancto. Et de Syon tuere eum [eam.] Nichil proficiat inimicus in eo [ea]. Et filius iniquitatis nocebit eum [eam.] Domine Deus uirtutum conuerte nos. Et ostende faciem t. et s. e. Domine exaudi oracionem meam. Et clamor meus ad Dominus uobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Oremus.

Deus in cuius manu corda sunt regum, qui es humilium consolator, et fidelium fortitudo, et protector omnium in te sperancium regi [locumtenenti*] nostro et regine populoque christiano triumphum virtutis tue scienter excolere, ut per te semper reparentur adueni....per Christum Do.

Intronizacio archiepiscopi hec sequens oratio dicatur antequam ponatur in cathedram. [cum nota.] Et ne nos inducas in temptacionem. Set libera nos a. Saluum fac seruum tuum Domine. Deus meus. Sperantem in te. Mitte ei Domine auxilium de sancto. Et de Syon Nichil proficiat inimicus in eo. Et filius iniquitatis non nocebit ei. Esto ei Domine turris fortitudinis. A facie inimici, Domine exaudi oracionem meam. Et clamor meus ad te ueniat. Dominus uobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Oremus.

tuere eum.

Deus bonorum omnium Deus omnium dignitatum que glorie tue sacris famulantur ordinibus, huic famulo tuo. N. quem apostolice sedis presulem et primatem sacerdotem, ac ecclesie tue doctorem dedisti, et ad summum sacerdocij ministerium elegisti; hanc quesumus Domine graciam largiaris, ut ad cathedram pontificalem ad regendam ecclesiam tuam et plebem universam ascendat. per Christum Dominum nostrum.

Hic ponatur episcopus in cathedram. Alia Oratio. Omnipotens pater, sancte Deus eterne omnem ordinem dignatus es in celestibus sedibus ordinare in celo, Domine in eternum permanet uerbum tuum. tibi angelos et archangelos suo tibi ordine mancipasti, et in ueteris testamenti preuilegio Moysen et Aaron in sacerdotibus tuis et Samuel inter eos qui inuocant nomen tuum, patriarchas et prophetas ad consulendum populo tuo ordinasti, et in novo per filium tuum Ihm Christum apostolos sanctos et precipue Petrum apostolum in cathedram honoris uniuerse ecclesie preposuisti; et Mathiam eiusdem consortem in apostolatum atque cathedram honoris enumerasti, et in numerum omnium apostolorum euocasti quesimus pro tua immensa misericordia in nostris temporibus da tuam graciam fratri nostro. N. ad instar sanctorum apostolorum tuorum sedencium in cathedra honoris et dignitatis, ut in conspectu majestatis tue dignus honore appareat. Per Dominum nostrum Ihm Christum.

This word is written over regi in a more recent hand, shewing that this form was occasionally used to receive the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland.