As no language can be pronounced with out vowELS, so the Hebrews must have had theirs; and it is probable the letters, called by the Heb.ews matres lectionis, were employed to that purpose in several places where their defect is now supplied by vowel-points. Desvæux upon Eccles.

Instances of absurd worship paid to the VIRGIN MARY, quoted from Vossius. Quicquid in Psalmis vel Deo assignatur, vel Christo, id in psalterio Virginis MariaTn SEOTÓ Virgini tribuere reveritus non est Bonaventura. Illud quoque æqualitatem indicat, quod, (quemadmodum etiam ex picturâ in Sylvæ-ducensi templo ab Episcopo Masio constituta apparet) dubitare se profiteantur, utrum ad ubera Virginis Mariæ, an ad sanguinem Christi sit recurrendum. Quid quod etiam sancti Christo ac Deo patri præferant interdum, ut cum in cantico Romanæ ecclesiæ dicitur: O felix puerpera! nostra pians scelera, jure matris impera redemtori. Voss. de Invoc. Sanct. Disp. 9, p. 21.

VIRGILII Eclogam quartam cum prophetis sacris aliquam cognationem habere (sive sacri codicis versionem Græcam jandiu tum vulgatam in subsidium vocemus, sive etiam exinde deprompta oracula a Judæis Hellenistis, ut videtur, Græco carmine condita, quæ sub nomine Sybillarum ferebantur) tot extant tamque manifesta in ipso poemate indicia, ut omnia, quæ ei sententie obstant, facile amoveat et diluat ipsa carminis lectio. Sensus, imagines, dictio etiam cum sacris vatibus mirum in modum congruens, res ipsa vel in se tam elata et magnifica, vel potius a poeta, omnium licet verecundissimo ac severissimo, in eam altitudinem exaggerata, ut mihi nullo persuadere possim, quin subsit aliquid mysticum, quod primæ hypothesi, ipso vate inscio nec opinante, furtim quodammodo accrevit, totique operi alienos quosdam colores induxit, et magnificentiam modum et mensuram argumenti longe exsuperantem. Quid fuerit poetæ consilium, quæ mens, quanquam hîc multum sese exercuerint doctissimorum virorum ingenia, tamen nec adhuc sciri arbitror, neque spem habeo ut unquam clare investigetur. Nullam neque rem neque personam ostendit historia, aut rei Romanæ status ac temporum conditio, quæ cum argumenti ratione atque adjunctis satis apte congruere videatur, aut tam magnificis prædictionibus locum dare ullo modo potuisse. Mihi quidem illud usu venire plane profiteor, ut cum carmen hoc ea ex parte contemplor, quanto id sæpius relego, tanto intelligo minus. Et in hoc poemate tot mihi occurrunt ab usu Romano abhorrentia, ut vix mihi persuadeam etiam tum cum primum ederetur, satis perfecte intelligi potuisse. Cum vero hæc ipsa ideo luculenter explicet peregrina quædam interpretatio ex Hebræorum rebus ac monumentis superinducta, cujus vim omnem et magnitudinem nullo modo complecti potuerit, aut etiam attingere ipsius poetæ animus. Lowth de Sacra Poesi.

If VACCINE INOCULATION should be attended with the same success in future as it has hitherto, it will be one of the greatest blessings that mankind has ever experienced; and Dr Jenner, through whose skill and indefatigable investigation it has arrived to its present perfection, must be considered as one of the best benefactors to the human species.

Hume, in order to depreciate the character of WICKLIFFE, speaks thus of him: "That reformer, notwithstanding his enthusiasm, seems not to have been actuated by the spirit of martyrdom; and, in all subsequent trials before the prelates, he so explained away his doctrine, by tortured meanings, as to render it quite innocent and inoffensive. Most of his followers imitated his cautious disposition, and saved themselves either by recantations or explanations. Hume's Hist. vol. iii. p. 55.

We say our salvation is by Christ alone; but we do not teach Christ alone, excluding our own faith unto justification; Christ alone, excluding our own works unto sanctification; Christ alone, excluding the one or the other unnecessary to salvation. It is a childish cavil, wherewith, in the matter of justification, our adversaries do so greatly please themselves, exclaiming that we tread all Christian virtues under our feet, and require nothing in Christians but faith, because we teach that faith alone justifieth: whereas, by this speech, we never meant to exclude either hope or charity from being always joined as inseparable mates with faith in the man that is justified; or WORKS from being added as necessary duties, required at the hands of every justified man; but to shew that faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ unto justification, and Christ the only garment, which, being so put on, covereth the shame of our defiled natures, hideth the imperfection of our works, preserveth us blameless in the sight of God, before whom otherwise the weakness of our faith were cause sufficient to make us culpable, yea to shut us from the kingdom of heaven, where nothing that is not absolute can enter. Hooker on Justification, sect. 31.

St Paul speaks of justification only as an absolution from condemnation, by reason' of our past sins committed before faith in Christ, and our reconciliation to God by the pardon of them, or the not imputing them to those who believe in him. Whereas, St. James speaks plainly of those works, which follow faith, are wrought by it, and are the effects of it, and of their necessity in order to our continuance in a state of justi- . fication and freedom from final condemnation. St James speaks of a mere profession” of faith with the mouth, St Paul of believing from the heart; St James of a dead! fruitless faith, St Paul of a faith working by love, when we have it: St Paul excludes ' from justification only those works which are exposed to justification by an act of grace, and make it to be of debt; St James requires only those works to our salvation and justification which proceed from and are accepted through grace; St Paul argues to the Jews who sought for justification by the law of Moses, St James speaks of justification

by

by works performed under the covenant of graces St Paul speaks of Christians only conéerning justification from past offences by faith in the blood of Jesus, but St James as well to unbelieving as believing Jews touching faith in God. Whitby on Galat, and St James.

A remarkable instance of the superstitious wORSHIP of images in the Romish church, taken from Moore's Manners of the French, vol. ii. p. 406.

Vienna,

"A Frenchman, in a creditable way of life, had a small figure of our Saviour on the cross, of very curious workmanship: he offered it for sale to an Englishman of my acquaintaince. After expatiating on the excellency of the workmanship, he told him that he had long kept this crucifix with the most pious care, that he had always addressed it in his private devotion, and that in return he had expected some degree of protection and favour; instead of which he had of late been remarkably unfortunate; that all the tickets he had in the lottery had proved blanks; and, having had a great share in the cargo of a ship coming from the West Indies, he had recommended it in the most fervent manner, in his prayers, to the crucifix; and, that he might give no offence by any appearance of want of faith, he had. not insured the goods; notwithstanding all which the vessel had been shipwrecked, and the cargo totally lost, though the sailors, in whose preservation he had no concern, had been all saved." Enfin, monsieur," cried he, with an accent of indignation mingled with regret, and raising his shoulders above his ears, "enfin, monsieur, il m'a manqué, et je vends mon Christ."

Some maintain that there was WRITING before the deluge, and that Adam was the inventor of letters. And, though it is agreed by all that there is nothing extant more antient than the books of Moses, it does not follow that there was no writing before him. It appears, on the contrary, that writing was common enough at that time both among the Egyptians and Hebrews; and it is to be supposed that the chief of the nation read the tables of the law. Moses had been instructed in all the knowledge of the Egyptians, and doubtless had learned their manner of writing. Cruden's Concord.

The sterility and unfruitfulness of the WIVES of Abraham, Isaac, &c. seem to point out to us, that the multiplication of the promised seed was not effected by any natural succession, but by the Divine power and benediction. Stackh.

Duo erant magna mysteria in nativitati Christi: 1, Deus factus homo. 2, Virgo mater. Horum typi duo erant, quibus fides illis conciliari possit; nimirum apparitiones angelorum humana specie, et conceptiones vetularum et sterilium sub vet. fœd, Lightfoot.

The

The authors of the Universal History, vol. x. p. 609, suppose that the soldiers appointed to watch our Saviour's sepulchre were Jews, not Romans, and observe that this is a material circumstance to secure to us the truth of his resurrection.

Tacita hîc est antithesis inter nothos sapientiæ filios, qui inanem titulum sine re obtendebant, et genuinos, qui Johanni et Jesu crediderunt, qui tamen minime omnium sapientes habebantur; cum Scribæ, &c. pro sapientibus se venditarent, qui hîc innuuntur minime sapientes fuisse. Lucas Brugensis.

And it is here observable, that xa is rendered, by Beza, Piscator, and others, with our version, but wisdom, &c. Matt. c. xi. 19, which marks the antithesis still stronger; which sense is evidently borrowed from the Hebrew 1, the opposite meaning of which is very frequent in the Old Testament; and, for want of observing this, our translators, by adhering to the copulative signification of this conjunction, have, in many passages, destroyed the most beautiful antithesis, and often perverted the direct meaning of the words, more particularly in the proverbs of Solomon.

The great reformation made in the notions of the eastern part of the world by ZoROASTER, whose doctrine and form of worship was the purest that the heathen knew, proceeded, very probably, from the notices of the true religion spread by means of the Jews: and many have apprehended, not without specious appearances of reason, that almost the whole knowledge of God, which the Greek philosophers had, was derived to them ultimately, if not immediately, from the revelations made to the Jews. Secker's Sermons, vol. v. p. 366.

THE END.

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