not to be" ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil""Lay hold on that eternal life" (work out your salvation) "unto which you are," or have been, and remain, "called," in the peculiar sense of the perfect tense έkλýons, and the change of tense to the aorist Kai wuoλoynoas, specifying the time of the confession, and shewing the effect of the call to remain, connects the two events together, making the time of calling to have been when the confession before many witnesses was made. No words could more accurately describe the whole of baptism than the three sentences of which the 12th verse is composed the duty to "fight the good fight of the faith," the good confession, or articles of belief, and the grace of baptism, or call to eternal life; and laying hold on eternal life is to "continue in that state of salvation unto this life's end." "The good confession" is the confession of faith made at baptism, or the original form of the apostolic creed, in which the words καὶ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ μαρτυρήσαντος ἐπὶ Пovτíov Пiλárov, now translated "suffered under Pontius Pilate," had a place. In addition to finding the fragments of that most ancient confession of faith, we see the apostolic authority given to such a creed, and the principle of tradition established as the essential character of the Christian church; also the Christian call identified with the grace of baptism, according to the language of the catechism, in which we "heartily thank our heavenly Father that he hath called us to this state of salvation, and pray that God would give us his grace, that we may continue in the same unto the end of life." The translation of scripture is of no authority for the formation of peculiar opinions at variance with the catholic doctrine, (2 Pet. i. 20.) And this would be less impugned if those who take upon themselves to be teachers were mindful of the necessity, in order to fulfil that function, of having recourse exclusively to the original scriptures. Without deriving their knowledge wholly from that source, " desiring to be teachers of the law, they understand neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." (1 Tim. i. 7.) The church and the scriptures, in their original language, are inseparably connected - the church is the keeper of holy writ, and the natural consequence of the tendency which is now too evident of superseding the church, not by the Bible, or the actual oracles of God, but by an interpretation with which human imperfections are very largely mixed up, is to do away with Christianity altogether, and to leave the word itself in the hands of the people without authority. I am, Mr. Editor, yours respectfully, J. H. B. EXPOSITION OF THE SUNDAY WAKE. SIR,-The great nuisance of Sunday feasts and wakes has long been admitted by most persons whose opinion is worth having upon right and wrong; and at several periods in the history of our country, as can be easily proved, laws have been ..ade for the regulation of them. Some there are who, through mistake, or for want of inquiry, seem to have thought better of them than they deserved; but there is no doubt that as they are at present held, the more they are looked into the worse they will appear. I am glad that the subject calls for so much of the public attention, and that it is not likely to be soon laid aside; and that the truth of the case may be better understood, I wish to set it before you plainly and with moderation. Let no man deem me an enemy to rational or healthful amusements, such as recreate the body or the mind, carried on at proper times and seasons, so as not to give public offence. Whether wakes and feasts of any kind can or cannot be brought within these limits I take not upon myself here to determine. The question, as to those held on Sundays, is not a new one, and there are many of opinion that they should not be permitted at all, and still more who object to their being permitted to be held as they now are upon any account whatever. It is a fine thing to read descriptions of meetings like these in poetry, of wakes and festivals, village swains and maidens, all innocent and harmless, enjoying themselves cheerfully and happily, like the fabled creatures of a golden age. But we know that the naked truth is a very different thing; the regular end of such a feast is the beginning of a fray; and the true explanation of the word feast, or wake, as it may be now understood, should, in a future edition of Johnson's Dictionary, be given, a bloody Sunday riot. Am I to crave indulgence for applying a harsh definition to a vile thing? Well, then, if this be thought too coarse, let it be, an assembly of both sexes, held usually on the Sabbath-day, accompanied by disorder, dissoluteness, and fighting. I have been informed that the frenzy into which a multitude, both of men and women, were wrought at some of the late feasts, rather resembled the excesses of bacchanalians of old, or the fury of savages, than anything else. I know there are countries where the peasantry can meet to amuse themselves without reproach,-to dance, to wrestle, to pitch the quoit or the bar, and strive in athletic games; but it is not so in England. Now, sir, these privileged sources of confusion and outrage have arrived at such a pitch as to call aloud for redress in a Christian land. They are become the scenes of premeditated riot and quarrel, injurious to the persons and lives of her Majesty's subjects, and destructive of the peace of our Lady the Queen. I speak seriously, and with real knowledge, when I say, that the annual recurrence of them in the neighbourhoods in which they are held, at intervals throughout nearly the whole year, is looked upon by the peaceably disposed with anxiety and alarm. They consist chiefly of two parts, or ingredients -drinking and fighting. What is the usual course of these proceedings? I have collected a variety of individual instances forming a whole, the particulars of which may be substantiated. A rumour is abroad that a challenge or two has been given and accepted, to be fought at the approaching feast, or that the men of one parish are coming to try their strength and prowess against the men of another. All the disorderly persons in that part of the country, who make a practice of going about from feast to feast, are in attendance; they are ripe for a riot, if none were intended. Their first joy is to get into a state of intoxication, next, into a fray. The constables, if they have been called upon to be present, look on with a conviction that they shall not be able to suppress it. If they speak, they are bullied into silence; if they interfere, they are beaten. He whose duty it has been to preach reverence to the sabbath, and to uphold it, attempts to interpose and prevent violence, and he meets with insult, if, indeed, he is not assaulted; serious injury to some of the parties, or it may be death, ensues. I could point to many fatal instances in Monmouthshire and Herefordshire, in the course of the last few years; but the places might be unknown to you, and I forbear. I will only say that, upon one occasion at least, knives were drawn. Now this I say-if two men fall out casually, and attack each other in the heat of provocation, it is better they should smite with fists, than with sharpedged weapons. But there is no good reason why any, or the whole of these consequences, should not be prevented, if possible, even in cases of unpremeditated assault. Yet when licensed opportunity is given for brawling; when the sabbath is customarily desecrated; when the lawless make a practice and a boast of setting all others at defiance, certainly some effectual interference is peremptorily required. If two prize-fighters engage to meet at a stated place, within a certain distance of the metropolis, is it not thought a fit occasion for the interference of the authorities, and do they not effectually interpose? And from the known character of these assemblies, have we not a right to look to the same species of protection, since they have become the avowed occasions of promoting a challenge, and settling private quarrel? Let us, however, go a little further, and see how the thing works. Mischief or death takes place; the affair comes before the coroner; investigation is set on foot, and warrants are issued; the offending parties run the country, and hide themselves, till the impression of the outrage is weakened, and they find an advantage in voluntary surrender. Or the case may be lighter; it comes before a magistrate; he is an estimable and amiable man-just, but lenient; and perhaps he is prepossessed in favour of what he is pleased to think the manly and harmless amusements of the people. The evil— of which this is but a short and imperfect sketch-has never been presented to him in all its disgusting magnitude. The evidence may be strong against the violent behaviour of the accused, but there is no sufficient proof of pre-determined malice, and the injured party may have been as much to blame. He is of opinion, with others, that men who cannot agree may fight, if they please. Injury, almost mortal, may have been inflicted-it may be uncertain whether death will not be the consequence-yet, at all events, it was chance-medley ; at most but an accident, that should not be visited too severely. So the amenable parties are bailed, and already half triumphant. When it comes before the court they are confident that they shall get off; all who can speak anything like a good word for them are mustered and brought forward, let the known dispositions and habits of the offenders be what they may. He who has a good character is entitled to the benefit of it. Who cannot admire the humane usage of our tribunals on this head? We are not against this, except as it creates confidence in the avowed disturbers of the public tranquillity. The court that— with reverence be it spoken-knows nothing about the bearing and remote connexions of all this-nothing but what is immediately before it-looks to the law of the land, and probably treats it as a common offence. The jury looks to the facts; the accused are acquitted, and (I trust not in every, but I fear in too many an instance,) hardened. Those who had been forward in promoting legal measures are threatened with retaliation, and are insecure; for be it known and remembered that threats of revenge are not confined to Ireland; while some, looking rather to the equitable than the legal construction of the event, can hardly persuade themselves, after all, that the offence has differed essentially from murder; the friends of the acquitted, and the admirers of these humane recreations, cry, "Oh, it was nothing but a fair fight-it was nothing but manslaughter;" and so it ends. But the feasts are not less frequented, and the behaviour of those who frequent them is more unblushing than before. But we have too much of all this not to hope and look for redress. I am neither vindictive nor superstitious; but after what has happened, I think there is something like the voice of blood that cries from the ground against these depraved, impious assemblies. If in England,— well regulated, reformed, civilized, improved England,—such sources of outrage are allowed to go on as incurable, what are we to think? Magistrates formally applied to have declared they have no power to put down these riotous meetings, miscalled feasts; and if this be really the case, things-if I may say so-are really brought to a pretty pass. It will, however, be your own fault, ye who are really humane, lovers of order, respecters of the law, and reverencers of the sabbath, if some method be not finally devised,-for some there surely must be,-of obtaining a remedy; and if this should not be effected, owing to the mere supineness of those who complain only of the evil, as all the well disposed do, it will be to the eternal disgrace of the country. In your name I call upon the conservators and guardians of the public peace, to whom, upon all accounts, we are so much indebted, and than whom no country boasts of a magistracy more upright, judicious, and humane, to do their endeavour, in their generous wisdom, integrity, and diligence, to seek out some method by which the evil may be effectually cured. Though they have declared their existing power to be unavailing to the extinction of these abused feasts, much evidently rests with them to devise, to discover, or set on foot, something that may work a cure. Respectfully, but earnestly, upon them I call, and I would that the appeal could reach them backed by the uplifted reprobation of the united majority of those who oppose these disorders, and are the advocates of Sunday rest and quiet. Upon you I call, ministers of the gospel of peace, knowing that your endeavours, in your peculiar capacity, to preserve that peace need little exhortation from me; but in hope that you will redouble your efforts to maintain it where it is, and restore and confirm it where it is not found. Upon you, farmers and householders of every description, I call, each to do his endeavour, when and wherever he can, by keeping young servants at home, by seasonable advice and influence over those who need it, and by setting your faces against those who despise it; that so, if petitions to parliament now under signature be laid aside and forgotten, nor laws be found nor framed to reach this evil, yet that your example and influence may, in time, put down a custom which brings so much disorder into parishes, and misery into private families, while it is an utter scandal to this Christian land. And I do exhort every lover of peace and social order to become a member of the Society for the Suppression of Sunday Wakes, now established, and of which the Lord Bishop of Hereford has kindly consented to act as patron. I am, Sir, &c., CLERICUS HEREFORDIENSIS. NOTICES AND REVIEWS. A Discourse of Church Government. By the Most Rev. John Potter, D.D., Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. The Seventh Edition, carefully revised and corrected, and illustrated with additional Notes and Authorities. By John Clarke Crosthwaite, M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin, Dean's Vicar of Christchurch Cathedral, and Examining Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Kildare. London: Tegg. THE labour and learning which Mr. Crosthwaite has bestowed, not only offer to the reader by far the best edition of Archbishop Potter's valuable work which has ever appeared, but such a mass of additional illustration as renders the work itself incomparably more valuable than it has ever been. The addition of the passages of the fathers and other ancient writers referred to by the author, the editor's own notes, the full indexes which he has given, while they are highly creditable to the editor, will be found most useful to the student, and entitle Mr. Crosthwaite to the thanks of every member of the Christian church who desires to understand the true nature of its constitution. Purgatory; or, a Quire of Argument in Answer to a Ream of Calumny and Misrepresentation; affectionately addressed to all Roman Catholics, who, believing that Truth will not suffer by Investigation, dare to hear both sides! By the Rev. Richard Hart, A.B., Vicar of Catton, Author of "Medulla Conciliorum," &c. Norwich: Fletcher. pp. 38. 1838. THIS pamphlet is the fruit of one of those local controversies with the Romanists which have, of late, been so frequent, and is very much calculated to shew how little they are likely to be of advantage. Without wishing to be offensive, the reviewer would take the liberty of observing, that they stand in much the same relation to the great efforts of polemical divinity as the rude scuffles of angry rustics do to the imposing conflicts of embattled nations. They generally originate in vanity, are carried on in ignorance, and end in personalities. In the |