of it: if this does not put a stop to it, the Christian rule is, come out from among them, and be ye separate," faith the Lord: for what communion hath light with darkness? Or what concord hath Chrift with Belial ? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols-for ye are the temple of the living God." Nor is it enough that our fecular converfation be innocent in its nature, it must have bounds. So much time may be taken up in receiving and paying vifits: in preparation before, and reftoring order after, that what thould be only an amufement, will become the bufinefs of life. There will not only be no time, what is worse, there will be no inclination to return to religious duties. The buzz of company will be for ever humming in our ears. Vifiting in these days is formed into a fyftem. We have memorandum tablets for vifiting engagements, on every day in the year. While these are kept with fo much care, it is much to be feared there will be few or no memorandums kept, in the tablet of the heart, for the more important engagements to our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. The truth is, they, who will lead the life of a real Christian, cannot give up much time to fecular amusements; their neceffary occupations, or their neceffary studies, will take up a large portion of their time. Some may undoubtedly be given up to vifits and amufements; but it should always be remembered, that one thing is needful-that we are to use this world as not abusing it; and it should be our daily prayer, that, God being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. 1. MOSES received the Oral Law from Mount Sinai, and delivered it to Joshua; and Joshua to the Elders; and the Elders to the Prophets; and the Prophets delivered it to the men of the Great Synagogue. Thefe latter injoined three things: Be flow in judging; and eftablith many fcholars; and make a hedge to the law. 2. Simon the Juft was the laft of the men of the Great Synagogue: He was wont to fay; The world is established upon three things: upon the law, upon worship, and upon the retribution of kindneffes. 3. Antigonus of Socho received the traditions from Simon the Juft: he ufed to fay; Be not as fervants who minifter unto their master for the purpose of receiving a reward; but be ye as fervants who minifter unto their mafter without defign of receiving a reward: and let the fear of Heaven be upon you. 4. Jofe, the fon of Joczer, of Zereda, and Jose, the son of Jochanan, of Jerufalem, received the traditions from him. Jofe, the son of Joezer, faid; Let thine house be an houfe of affembly, for the wife, and sprinkle thyfelf with the dust of their feet, and thirst to imbibe their words. 5. Jofe, the fon of Jochanan, of Jerufalem, faid; Let thine house be open towards the street; i. e. to all comers; and let the poor Ifraelites instead of foreigners be thy fervants; and multiply not talk with a woman: with one's own wife, they faid; How much lefs, therefore, with the wife of one's neighbour. From hence the wife men faid, Every time that a man multiplieth multiplieth talk with a woman he causeth evil unto himself, and is hindered from applying to the words of the law, and in the end defcendeth into hell. 6. Joshua, the fon of Perachia, and Nithai the Arbelite, received the traditions from them. Joshua, the son of Perachia, said, Chufe unto thyself a master, and gain unto thyself a friend, and judge every man by the balance of innocence. 7. Nithai the Arbelite faid, Remove to a diftance from a bad neighbour, and join not thyself unto a wicked man, and entertain no doubt of final vengeance. 8. Judah, the son of Tabai, and Simon, the son of Shatach, received the traditions from them. Judah, the fon of Tabai, faid, Make not thyfelf like unto them who canvas and prepoffefs the judges: and when the adversaries are standing before thy face, let them be as wicked in thine eyes; but when they are difmiffed from before thy face, let them be in thine eyes as innocent, if fo be that they have received upon themselves, and acquiefced in the decifion. 9. Simon, the fon of Shatach, faid, Throughly examine witneffes; and be cautious in thy words, left from them they thould learn to deceive. 10. Schemaiah and Abtalion received the traditions from them. Schemaiah said, Love work, and hate an high office, neither be thou acquainted with power. 11. Abtalion faid: Ye wife men, be cautious in your words, left ye fin the fin which is punished with exile, (viz. erroneous expofitions of the law) and ye be carried away unto a place of unwholesome waters, i. e. into hærefy, and the disciples who come after you drink them and die, and the name of God be found to be profaned. 12. Hillel and Shammai received the traditions from them. Hillel faid; Be one of the difciples of Aaron, who loved peace and ensued it : he loved mankind and caused them to apply to the law. 13. He alfo was wont to fay: He who fpreadeth his name loseth his name; and he who increaseth not, confumeth; and he who learneth not is worthy of death; and he who for lucre's fake ferveth under the crown of the law, paffeth away. 14. He alfo was wont to fay: If not I for myself, who will for me? And altho' I have for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? 15. Schammai faid; Make thy time for the study of the law fixed: fpeak little and do much; and receive every man with courtesy. 16. Rabban Gamaliel faid, Chufe unto thyself a mafter, and extricate thyfelf from doubt, and do not frequently give tithes by guess. 17. Simon, his fon, faid, All my days have I grown up among wife men, and I have not found any thing better for the body than filence. Neither is word the foundation, but deed. And every one who multiplieth words bringeth in fin. 18. Rabbi Simon, the fon of Gamaliel, faid, Upon three things the world is established: upon judgment, and upon truth, and upon peace: as it is written, (Zech. 8. 16) Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates. То TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN, ALTHOUGH the ability and judgment with which they have accom : plished their great work, can scarcely be too warmly commended, yet have our tranflators of the Bible introduced much obfcurity into the fifth verfe of the fecond chapter of St. Peter's second epiftle, by endeavouring to explain it through the infertion of a word, not only unneceffary, but deftructive of the real fenfe of the paffage: and the commentators (fuo more quidem) adopt the error, while they make an awkward attempt to put a meaning on it. The text to which I am alluding, runs thus, "But faved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of Righteoufnefs." Here the infertion of the term perfon manifeftly fuggefts the queftion, How was Noah the eighth perfon? Oh, fays Dr. Hammond, the eighth in the ark; the number preferved in that having become proverbial; and to this: lame explanation, Whitby refers. Lame I call it, because in reckoning the number preferved in the ark, the patriarch fhould naturally be put first and even overlooking this, fuch an allufion to the number would be cold and infignificant. But had thefe learned men taken the pains to tranflate the original anew, it fcarcely could have escaped them, that Ογδοον Νωε δικαιοσυνης κηρυκα meant Noah the eighth preacher of Righteousness. A phrafe which elucidates a paffage in the last verse of the fourth chapter of Genefis, which, as it ftands at prefent, is not very intelligible" Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." This text too has puzzled the commentators. For that men fhould then only begin to call upon the name of their Creator, it is difficult to conceive': and the conjecture introduced to render recurrence to fuch a fuppofition needlefs, that there was then a reformation produced among the fons of Cain, who had been apoftates, is equally unfupported by any thadow of the facred hiftorian's teftimony. But if the original be rendered, as I am confident readers versed in that tongue will fee it "Then. your may be, was it begun to cry out, i. e. (as the terms are in other places used*) to preach in the name of the Lord," we have not only a fuggeftion of that encreafing corruption which at length brought on the flood, but an intimation of the length of time during which the preachers of righteousness endeavoured to prevent the world from bringing the divine judgments on them by their iniquity; and by commencing the lift with Enos, and continuing to reckon the eldest fons mentioned in the line of Seth, we fhall find, that Noah was in number the eighth, and thus merely by a more accurate tranflation, both thefe texts will be explained; and the fense in which St. Peter understood Moses, will teach us so to understand him too. I am, gentlemen, Sept. 25th, 1802. Your humble fervant, P. C. TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN, THE HE editors of the Chriftian Obferver, in their Number for July, 1802, p. 440, exprefs themselves thus:-" Baptifm is only the outward fign of our admiflion into the Church, administered by fallible men, and * See for the first, Is. 40. 2, 3, 6, and for the second, 1 Sam. 25. 9. 1 Kings 21. 3. and Mic. 4. 5. may may or may not be accompanied by the inward and fpiritual grace of juftification, which is the act of God alone." In their number for Auguft, 1802, p. 552, they defire this paffage to be corrected, by omitting the words "the inward and fpiritual grace of ". It appears to me, however, that this correction, though it may remove the verbal inaccuracy of the paffage, fuffers the doctrinal error of it to remain in full force. For, is it not hence to be inferred, that children, who are baptized, may or may not be placed in a state of salvation? and that, in fact, only thofe children, who, according to the Calvinistic notion of election, are appointed to falvation, have their juftification fealed by the facrament of baptifm? If so, I may venture to fay, without fear of contradiction, that, by whatever mode of reafoning this doctrine may be attempted to be proved true, it is inconfiftent with the doctrine of that Church, of which the editors of the Christian Obferver profess themselves members and defenders. For, at the end of the baptifmal office, which the Church has prefcribed, occurs this decifive declaration :-" It is certain by God's word, that children, which are baptized, dying before they commit actual fin, are undoubtedly faved." I am, gentlemen, Rempton, Notts, Yours, &c. TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN, WHATEVER can in any fhape promote the intereft of true religion and virtue, advance the temporal or eternal welfare of mankind in general, or conduce to the decency and good order of things appertaining to religion, is admitted with great propriety into your valuable Miscellany. It was with much pleasure I noticed the remark of your correspondent THEODOSIUS, in your Magazine for Auguft, 1802, p. 98, "on the fubject of Monumental Infcriptions." I have observed on many occafions the fame evil of which he fo juftly complains, and have equally lamented it with himself, and for that reason rejoice that the attention of the clergy is now fo properly called to this long ftanding abufe. In a churchyard in my immediate neighbourhood, of which parish I have been curate (until lately that the incumbent hath performed the duty himself) for nine years, there is a very modern infcription placed on an handsome head-stone, and intended as a mark of refpect to the memory of departed friends by furviving relatives, both the fenfe and orthography of which is very faulty; and I fcarcely ever remark it in going to or from the Church without heaving a figh of regret at the difgraceful manner in which the infcription is executed. The whole expence of the tomb-ftone and infcription muft have been very confiderable, and if the coft of it had not been defrayed, I fhould very strongly have advised it not to be paid 'till this ftone was taken away, and another, with at leaft a correct and grammatical infcription on it, put up in its place. Had I, as the officiating curate, been confulted, this difgrace had not happened. So far fhould I have been from defiring any compenfation for fo trifling a civility as this, that I fhould, without any view of the kind, have chearfully advifed with my refpectable neighbour on the proper infcription, and would have endeavored, with decency and propriety, to do juftice to the feelings of the living, and honour to the memory of the dead: and allow me, gentlemen, to obferve, that I am perfuaded very few of my brother minifters, at least such as I have the pleasure pleasure of being acquainted with, would have declined a fimilar friendly office on a like occafion, but would readily have done it without having an eye to any other remuneration, than the heartfelt pleasure of doing a humane and friendly action. As the evil alluded to by your refpectable correfpondent prevails to a confiderable extent in fome parifhes, excufe me for endeavouring to fix the attention of your clerical readers upon the advice which THEODOSIUS gives, not to permit any stone to be erected, without having the infcription intended to be engraved upon it, first "revised and approved" by the incumbent or officiating "minifter of the parish." By this wife conduct, the farcafms of the enemies of our religion would be filenced, every fide-wind reflection on the minifter of the parifh, for permitting difgraceful infcriptions on the tombstones in his churchyard, would be avoided, and all things, agreeable to the Apoftle's advice, would be done decently and in order." I am forry that another of your correfpondents (I think in your Magazine for July, 1802, but I have not that number. juft now by me) fhould have caufe to cenfure any Clergyman, for omitting to meet a corpfe at the entrance of the churchyard. Such conduct is very highly reprehenfible, as being not only indecent, but as flying directly in the face of the Rubric which directs it to be done. I am, however, inclined to hope, that few inftances of this indecorum can be produced; and am of opinion your correfpondent would have acted a more wife as well as a more friendly part, to the Clergyman and to religion in general, had he privately admonifhed him of the impropriety of his conduct, instead of publicly expofing him in your Magazine. Allow me, gentlemen, to remark, that in fourteen years of my miniftry in the Established Church, I never once entertained an idea of acting in the indecorous manner above alluded to, and that a fingle inftance never before came under my obfervation of any Clergyman of the establishment having fo acted. With regard to the fee of 2s. 6d. for carrying a corpfe into the Church, and there reading a certain part of the funeral fervice appointed by our Church, as I found the cuftom firmly established here previous to my coming, and acquiefced in by the parishioners at large, and as the Rubric exprefsly leaves it at the option of the officiating minifter to go into the church or not as he pleafes*, I have had no fcruple whatever in taking the regular and cuftomary fee from fuch perfons as my clerk hath informed me were able to pay it, (and, indeed, I have in fuch cafes rather made a point of infifting on it, as thinking myself not at liberty to injure the income of my fucceffor,) whilft this, and the churching-fee, fmall tythes, &c. &c. Í have chearfully refigned to fuch as could not well afford to pay them. Excufe me, gentlemen, for once more obferving, that to me it appears not very friendly to the establishment, for any person thus ftudiously to hold up the imperfections of its minifters to the malice of its enemies, and at least, to ufe the most gentle epithet, it is extremely imprudent so to do. Your new correfpondent OBSCURUS, pp. 97, 98, hath very wifely called upon the TEACHERS of great public fchools, to vindicate to the public "their principles and modes of instruction; for, in the prefent The Veto lodged in the breaft of the minifter, is very neceffary to be put in force in the cafe of malignant fever, &c. on which occafions, I fuffer not a corpfe to be carried into the Church on any account, awful |