substance is first named by St. Paul in 2 Tim. iv. 13. Some of the tribe of Zebulun "handled the pen of the writer" (Judges v. 14); and David describes". the pen of a ready writer" (Ps. xlv. 1). Baruch wrote the words of Jeremiah "with ink in the book" (Jer. xxxvi. 18). Tablets of wood were in use before the days of Homer, who lived aboutone hundred and fifty years before Isaiah; and such tables, covered with wax, were frequent among the Romans. Thus Zacharius "asked for a writingtable” (Luke i. 63). Tablets of lead, brass, or ivory, were sometimes joined together by rings at the back, and a rod passed through them, by which they were carried. The celebrated Montfaucon states that in the year 1699 he bought at Rome a book of lead, about four inches in length and three in width, containing obscure Egyptian characters. A portion of dye was also employed, which could afterwards be washed off the skin or board when required; whence the expressions to blot and wipe out in Ex. xxxii. 32, Num. v. 23, and Neh. xiii. 14. The first Epistle noted in the Old Testament, occurs in 2 Sam. xi. 14, "And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.' The title "Mitchtam" of Ps. xvi. and Ps. lvi.lx. denotes golden; whence it is not improbable that these six Psalms were on some occasions written in letters of gold, and affixed to or suspended in the sanctuary; which is in accordance with the style of Arabian and Persian literature. " They that depart from me shall be written in the earth" (Jer. xvii. 13), may refer to the practice of writing words with the finger, or with a stick, upon the sand. It is conjectured by the critical scholar Eichorn, from the custom of binding Egyptian mummies with linen, having characteristic inscriptions upon it, that the Old Testament books may have been composed of that material; but from its being less durable than some others, its preferable and actual adaptation to that particular purpose is not decisive.

From the separation of the Jews from other nations, as the chosen people of God, it may be inferred that fewer changes took place in the idiom of their language, than during the same space of time is effected in any more modern tongue, or in other dead languages; till after their captivity in Babylon, when the Hebrew became corrupted with the Chaldee, which was not the case when they were in Egypt, for then they were associated together in Goshen; but, in Babylon, they were intermixed with and dispersed among foreigners. The only genuine Jewish coins extant are of the date of the Maccabees, marked with Hebrew-Samaritan letters, a fac simile of which may be seen in a work published by F. P. Bayer, archdeacon of Valentia, in the year 1781. All the prophets, however, up to the time of Malachi, may be considered to have written in pure Hebrew. Josephus says, "It is manifest in what veneration and credit we have our letters or books; for though so many ages are passed, yet no man has dared to add anything to them, nor to take anything from them, nor to change them.' It is not, therefore, likely that any innovation in them should have been made by Ezra-which supposition has been maintained by some-without Divine command. Philo the Jew observes, "Our law only is firm, unmoveable, unshaken, sealed as it were with the seals of nature. It remains firm from the time it was written until now; and it is to be hoped it will remain immortal throughout all ages; as long as do the sun and moon, the whole heaven, and the world." To the literally unalterable character of the Jewish sacred records, our

Lord himself, who spoke in the Syriac, which was the then prevailing dialect, may be understood to allude in Matt. v. 18: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." I believe, therefore, that the Scriptures of the Old Testament, like those of the New, have been preserved to us in a remarkable state of vernacular purity by a special Providence. Of the Septuagint version, which, according to Usher's Chronology, was made A.M. 3737, it may be noticed that, though erroneous in some respects, it formed a connecting link between the Old and the New Testament; and in order to evangelize the Gentile Greeks, the inspired penmen selected that idiomatic phraseology, in several instances, to express sentiments against which their natural hearts were prejudiced, but for which their minds had been previously prepared by the Greek Scriptures-the Greek tongue being then generally spoken through the civilized world. It has often struck me also, as a privileged mark of Divine wisdom and foresight, that after the Apostolic age, when the Lord withdrew from His Church those extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost which he had bestowed upon the Apostles of his own ordination, he should have consigned to their followers and to succeeding ages, in opposition to a Romish genealogical priesthood, and in lieu of His own personal presence for the time being, not only the Scriptural gospels and epistles for their daily sustentation (having an immeasurable superiority over traditional evidence), but also an apocalyptic register of historical events, of which he condescends himself to be the progressive interpreter; so that, like sea-tossed mariners, they should never be left for any very protracted season in impenetrable midnight,

"No light, but rather darkness, visible;"

but that, even though the moon and stars should not appear for many days, they should still be always sensible of the hand which invisibly pilots them that they should be put into possession of a Mercator's Map-that they should be warned, by some floating signal, of a fatal quicksand-and, by a lighthouse, of their near approach to some rocky shore, till they are ushered at last into the haven.

F. S.

ROME A PERSECUTING CHURCH.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

I HAVE just read No. 83 of "Tracts for the Times," containing Advent Sermons on Antichrist. The author, throughout, maintains the Popish doctrines on the subject; and the secret intention of the work seems to be, to screen the Romish Church from the imputation of being Antichrist. He maintains that Antichrist is still to come, because a great persecution is to attend his coming, which has not yet taken place; for that "the Church has been sheltered from persecution for 1500 years," p. 45. I was surprised to find the persecutions of the Romish Church thus passed over in silence, as though they had never been; and turned to Bishop Newton's 22nd Dissertation on the Man of Sin. His words are: "He (that is, the Pope, as head of the Roman Church) is the great adversary to God and man; excommu. nicating and anathematising, persecuting and destroying, by crusades CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 18.

2 X

and inquisitions, by massacres and horrid executions, those sincere Christians who prefer the word of God to all the authority of men. The heathen emperor of Rome may have slain his thousands of innocent Christians, but the Christian Bishop of Rome hath slain his ten thousands. There is scarce any country that hath not, at one time or other, been made the stage of these bloody tragedies; scarce any age that hath not, in one place or other, seen them acted."

I have no doubt this statement is true, and it fixes persecution as a mark of Antichrist on the Romish Church. I could wish to draw from some of your correspondents a more particular account of the persecutions of the Church of Rome, shewing the vast numbers who have suffered from her cruel tyranny, and making good Newton's words, that the Bishops of Rome have shed more blood than the heathen emperors.

The author of the Tract does acknowledge in one place (p. 37) that "the Church of Rome has, in process of time, learned to be ambitious and cruel;" but he had just before said, that "no reason can be given why Rome has not suffered the fullness of God's wrath pegun in her, except that a Christian church is still in that city, sanctifying it, interceding for it, saving it." In this way he mystifies the whole matter, with a view, as I think, to screen the Romish Church. Will not some of your correspondents take up this subject, and shew how deeply the apostate Church is stained with the blood of the Saints? Such a statement might be very useful in these perilous times, when so many causes are concurring to exalt the Church which has so many foul marks of Antichrist.

Your constant reader,

A COUNTRY CURATE.

ON THE EVILS OF FRIVOLOUS READING.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

The

THE worldliness of many in the present day, who pass for the people of God, is an evil which cannot be too deeply lamented; and in order to expose it in one particular-the reading of vain and trifling publications-I am induced to send you the following remarks; which were partly made in conversation with a professedly pious friend, who told me he had been reading in his family one of the light and frivolous publications of the day; adding, that he supposed I should not approve of his so doing; to which I assented, and for these reasons. Scripture says (Romans xii. 2) : "Be not conformed to this world." Does not the world read and enjoy such books? Therefore to read and enjoy them with it, is to conform yourself to it. Again it says, " Be renewed in the spirit of your mind." (Eph. iv. 23.) Will a spiritually renewed mind take any pleasure in such vain writings, which neither tend to warm our love to God, to increase our knowledge of Him, to mortify our lusts, or strengthen our faith? If we do enjoy such books, have we not reason to doubt whether or no our minds are renewed? for a Christian is not only" crucified unto the world," but the "world is crucified to him ;" and the "old things" in which he delighted "are passed away, and all things are become new ;" and among these "all things" is included a new taste in his course of reading and se

lection of books. Can a man, whose soul, like David's, " is athirst for God," take delight in reading such frivolous trash? can he who, like St. Paul, counts all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, and who desires to know nothing else but Him? or can he who is "groaning within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body," and in the mean while ardently desiring "to be filled with all the fullness of God?" How do our consciences witness to the inconsistency of professing to follow the apostolic precepts, "Pray without ceasing,' ""Quench not the spirit,' "Seek the things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God;" and Christ's solemn injunction, that if we will be His disciples we must take up our cross and follow Him; and delighting in the joke and satire of such vain books? How does the love of this sort of reading correspond with St. Paul's description of true Christians "looking for the glorious appearing of their great God and Saviour," "waiting for the Son from heaven," being "buried with Christ in baptism," and rising again to “walk in newness of life"with St. Peter's, of their being a spiritual priesthood, employed in offering up spiritual sacrifices, and that their prevailing disposition is to rejoice in Christ with joy unspeakable and full of glory? or with St. John's, that they "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world," "have an unction from the Holy One," and, having the hope of seeing God, and being made like Him, are diligently "purifying themselves, even as He is pure." How can men be aspiring to possess "all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ" (Col. ii. 2); and be devoutly longing for the fulfilment in them of the Apostle's prayer for his Ephesian converts, "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, might give unto them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, that they might know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward those who believe"-how can they, I say, whose hearts and souls are engaged in exploring these holy depths, in wrestling for these spiritual acquisitions, at once the birthright of the regenerate, and the evidence of their being so, have their minds diverted and beguiled with such emanations of the brain of the natural man, as those to which I allude? But it is said that by such books we learn the ways of the world; get a knowledge of what is called " life;" and, by knowing its arts, are more able to avoid them. Go to the Bible; that will teach you what the world is. St. John says," the world lieth in wickedness;" what more is needful to put you on your guard? and, at the same time, it will tell you how to overcome it: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." This learning you will not find in these idle narratives.

But is it positively a sin to read such books? Yes; for we are commanded to love God with all our soul, and with all our heart, and with all our mind. But do we find, after their perusal, we can go to prayer, and His word, with as much zest as we ought? Confessedly not. Well, then, that is because your love to Him is cooled, and therefore to do that which has produced this estrangement between your soul and its God, and caused you to break the first and great commandment, is sin.

When will those who have some care for their souls hear this word with the hearing ear, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you?" When will the Church decidedly step out from the world, and, "the Lord being merciful," clear the gulf that divides them! Oh that there were no lingerers, no lookers back, none afraid of escaping too far from the world, of making themselves too singular, or carrying things too far!" " then would the earth bring forth her increase; and God, even our own God, would grant us his blessing."

S. H.

ON THE MOTIVES OF THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS, CONTRASTED WITH AN OXFORD TRACT.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

IN Bishop Butler's first Sermon, upon Human Nature, from Rom. xii. 4, 5, that acute reasoner thus speaks, p. 2: "And even as to the allusion, that we are one body in Christ-though what the Apostle here intends is equally true of Christians in all circumstances, and the consideration of it is plainly still an additional motive, over and above moral considerations, to the discharge of the several duties and offices of a Christian; yet it is manifest that this allusion must have appeared with much greater force to those, who, by the many difficulties they went through for the sake of their religion, were led to keep always in view the relation they stood in to their Saviour." Again, p. 3, Bishop Butler says: "Hence the relation of a Christian was by them considered as nearer than that of affinity and blood; and they almost literally esteemed themselves as members one of another. It cannot, indeed, possibly be denied, that our being God's creatures, and virtue being the natural law we are born under, and the whole constitution of man being plainly adapted to it, are prior obligations to piety and virtue, than the consideration that God sent his Son into the world to save it, and the motives which arise from the peculiar relation of Christians, as members one of another, under Christ our Head. Yet it is manifest, that though all this be allowed, as it expressly is, by the inspired writers; yet Christians, at the time of the Revelation, and immediately after, could not but insist mostly upon considerations of this latter kind."

The great motive, therefore, in the first Christians, was a consideration of the relation they stood in to their Saviour; a consideration of the love of God, in sending His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved. Hence Christians, partaking of this salvation, were influenced by motives arising from their peculiar relation, as members one of another under Christ their Head. And our relation to Christ gives new motives of action; the love of Christ constraining us to live unto Him who died for us. This love of Christ carried the Apostles through all labours and sufferings for His name; and caused the Heathen to say, how these Christians love one another !"

"See

If we examine the Acts of the Apostles, and their Epistles, we find that their aim in preaching was to bring men to feel their need of this