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ment,- —a sentence from which so many consequences are deduced.-That sentence forms the conclusion of a short tract which is prefixed to the Glossa Ordinaria, and entitled "Translatores Bibliæ." Had Mr. Travis taken the precaution of reading the entire tract, he would have found that the writer, in his account of the Septuagint translation, quotes, as his authority, a person whom he calls "Magister in Historiis." This appellation had been given to PETRUS COMESTOR, who flourished in the latter part of the twelfth century, and wrote a history of the Bible under the title of Historia Scholastica. The tract in question, therefore, could not have been written by Walafrid Strabo, who lived in the ninth century. What now becomes of Mr. Travis's argument founded on the ancient Greek MSS. which had been examined, with the most critical exactness, by Walafrid Strabo? *

As much importance has, by several writers, been attached to the supposed testimony of Walafrid Strabo, we have taken some pains to ascertain the real author of the tract from which Mr. Travis drew his quotation. We have now before us an edition of the Vulgate Bible, with the Glossæ and the Exposition of Nicholas de Lyra, printed at Venice by Pagninus, in the year 1495. Prefixed to the work is a letter addressed to Cardinal Francis Picolhomini, by Bernardinus Gadolus, Brixianus. In this letter Gadolus describes the great care and diligence which he had employed, at the request of Pagninus, in preparing the edition; and concludes with the following sentence : Conscripsi præterea, sive ex multis auctoribus et præcipue ex Hieronymo excerpsi, tractatulum de Libris Biblia Canonicis et non Canonicis; qui si tuæ

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To leave no room for uncertainty on this subject, we compared the Tract entitled "Translatores Bibliæ," with the "Historia Scholastica;" and found the most complete agreement between them. We may here remark, that the appella, tion "Magister in Historiis" for a long tract of time as clearly designated Peter Comestor, as the appellation" Magister Sententiarum," or "Magister in Sententiis," designated his contemporary Peter Lombard.

reverendissimæ dominationis judicio, cui omnia subjicio, comprobatus fuerit, eum ad utilitatem legentium imprimi permittam; sin nimis (1. minus) cellula continebitur." Then follows the Tract, alluded to in the letter, entitled De Libris Canonicis et non Canonicis; to which is subjoined the Tract entitled Translatores Biblia, which furnished Mr. Travis with his quotation. If any of our readers will take the trouble of examining these two tracts, we are convinced that not one of them will hesitate in attributing them to the same pen. In both, the style of composition is precisely the same, and the same authorities are alluded to, viz. Origen, Jerome, Magister in Historiis. We must, therefore, conclude that, instead of affording a proof of the critical attention of Walafrid Strabo in the ninth century, Mr. Travis's quotation will be found to attest the editorial diligence of Bernardinus Gadolus at the close of the fifteenth.*

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Of his own care and affigence, indeed, this learned Editor has written in high terms of commendation; but in terms which, we have no doubt, were well deserved. Conquisivi," he writes, "haud parvo certe labore, omnes jam antea impressos Sacræ Scripturæ libros, et manu scriptos ad quinque numero; et percurrens codicem quo erant pro archetypo usuri, ubicunque aliquid vel errati vel dubii apparebat, diligentissime singulos codices inspectavi; et quæ ex his in meo codice errata inveni (inveni autem quam plurima) accuratissime sustuli: in quibus illud Deo teste profiteor, me nilil penitus addidisse aut immutasse quod non ex aliquo

In the Bibliotheca of Sixtus Senensis, there is the following notice of Ga dolus, whom he calls Galdolus :-" Bernardinus Galdolus, Brixianus, Camaldulensis Abbas, vir bonarum litterarum, philosophiæ, et juris canonici apprime eruditus, scripsit in omnes Bibliorum libros insigne annotationum opus. Ciaruit sub Maximiliano Imp. I. A.D. 1496." We will take this opportunity of stating that, in a subsequent edition of the Biblia cum Glossis, we find the two tracts above-mentioned inserted without the prefatory letter of Gadolus to Cardinal Picolhomini. Perhaps Mr. Travis was misled by an edition of this kind.

On the "Old Dissenter's" Censure of Mr. Howe

antiquo codice aut addendum, aut mutandum, obliterandumve manifeste visum fuerit." In this account we find a strong confirmation of the truth of Mr. Porson's description of the method of collation adopted by the critics of those early times. "That exactness of quotation," says he, (Letters to Travis, p. 30,) “which is now justly thought necessary, was unhappily never attempted by the critics of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The method in which Valla performed his task was probably to choose the MS. that he judged to be the best, to read it diligently, and whenever he was stopped by a difficulty, or was desirous to know how the same passage was read in other Latin, or in the Greek MSS., to have recourse to them." It will hardly be imagined that these observations are thrown out for the purpose of disparaging the labours of those learned persons. Beyond controversy, they performed all that in their circumstances was deemed requisite.

To engage in regular combat with the Pseudo-Jerome, the author of the Prologue to the "Canonical Epistles," would be a great waste of time. Perhaps, however, it may be argued,if the adversaries of the verse urge, as they do, the statement of the author of the Prologue as a proof that the text was wanting in some Latin manuscripts-ought they not to admit, on the same evidence, that it was extant in some Greek manuscripts at that day? We think not. Little would in general be known of Greek manuscripts compared with what was known of Latin manuscripts. With regard to subjects of which little is known, there are always considerable numbers ready to believe any thing that may be boldly affirmed. In such cases a confident assertion will often prove a successful experiment. The Bishop of St. David's seems to admit, with most learned men, that the Prologue is not Jerome's, although professing to be his. As, therefore, the main object of the writer of the Prologue is obviously to give currency to the seventh verse in question, we cannot suppose that, after he had gone so far as to assume a name which did not belong to him, he would scruple to support his cause by another assump

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tion, and talk of manuscripts which did not exist.

SIR,

Bridport, May, 1822.

YOUR respected correspondent Mr.

Rutt, with his usual zeal for the interests of the Repository, although not perhaps with his usual judgment, furnished to the number for January, (pp. 28, 29,) a private letter, written in 1801, by the late Rev. T. Howe, to the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield. On some of the statements in this letter, a person who subscribes himself" An Old Dissenter," has thought proper to animadvert, (pp. 158, 159,) and he has accompanied his criticism with some remarks on the character of the late Dr. Toulmin and the conduct of Mr. Howe, which cannot be perused by the friends of either without pain. Mr. Rutt has noticed, in your last number, (p. 215,) the "Old Dissenter's" letter, but, since he has omitted any comment on that part of it which relates to Mr. Howe's conduct, it will not, I trast, be unseasonable to follow up his remarks by a few additional observations.

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Mr. Howe introduces the following statement: "It seems as if there was a scheme in agitation among our great men, to emancipate the Catholics, without granting any relief to the Protestant Dissenters. This I conclude from a letter I received last week from our good friend Dr. Toulmin. The following is an extract: A letter from London this week informs me, that endeavours are using by those in power, to prevail with British Dissenters to let the Catholic emancipation take place without putting in their claims to equal freedom, &c. Some classes who have been applied to are said to be as quiet as government wishes them to be.""

There is truly nothing very obscure or "hard to be understood" in this statement. Let us see, however, what the "Old Dissenter" makes of it. "Dr. Toulmin," he says, speaking of Mr. Howe's letter, "is reported to have received a letter from London, informing him that, in order to obstruct and defeat a proposed application of the Catholics for a repeal of the Test Laws, the Dissenters of several classes wished to wave their petition for redress of this grievance, lest the Catholics should succeed in their endeavours

to obtain emancipation." Really, Mr. Editor, if your correspondents (and especially one who tells us "the view in which I now wish to regard the Monthly Ropository, is that of a correct and impartial detail of historical facts, relating to Protestant Dissenters," and who is anxious" to render the collectors of anecdotes more cautious," and "to prevent their imposing, under the sanction of your valuable Repository, on the credulity of any of your readers") have not the ability to understand a couple of plain sentences on a first reading, they might at least bestow a second perusal on those parts of your work which they undertake to censure. The " Old Dissenter" having in his haste mistaken an imputation on some of the Dissenting body, of indifference to their own rights, for a charge of bigoted opposition to the rights of others, proceeds to comment on the report and on its propagators. His "much-esteemed friend" Dr. Toulmin is treated with remarkable condescension. He, we are told, "was credulous, and, with regard to some other circumstances, not always very correct. But he never erred intentionally or wilfully." Having discussed Dr. Toulmin's character, your correspondent next favours us with his opinion of Mr. Howe. 66 'Mr. Howe, indeed, was much less excusable; for he seems to intimate, that the distributors of his Majesty's bounty to the Protestant Dissenting Ministers, then called the Regium Donum,' were in the secret; and that they moved the springs of government in opposition to the Catholics." ("Moved the springs of government!" How correct a version of the original statement!)" In this insinuation there is a degree of illiberality which does no honour to the memory of a man whom I always esteemed, and with whom I was on terms of intimate acquaintance. He knew where to have applied, if he had thought proper, for more correct information. Over this censurable part of his conduct I wish to throw a veil," &c. It is my purpose to defend, rather than to attack; yet I cannot suppress my conviction, that if the "Old Dissenter" be accustomed, in this way, to exhibit his esteem for his "intimate acquaintance," and to throw a veil over the censurable parts of their conduct,

few persons will be anxious to enjoy the advantage of his friendship. What proof does he offer that Mr. Howe had no foundation for his suspicions; or what shadow of pretence has he for saying that Mr. Howe knew where to have applied for more correct information? In the esteem of the many who were witnesses of Mr. Howe's public life in this place for thirty years, if the warm affection of those (and they were not few) who mingled with him in the intercourse of private life, furnish any ground on which those who had not the happiness of knowing him personally may found their estimate of his worth, we are warranted in maintaining that charges like those recited above, are unfounded aspersions. He was a Dissenter; one who did not wish to claim for Christianity, even under that form which he himself approved, the pecuniary aid of the civil power, but who regarded such aid as inconsistent with the principles of the Christian religion, and injurious to its purity and prevalence in the world. With such opinions, and being aware too that intercourse with ministers of state is not highly favourable to the maintenance of independent principle and manly feeling, he was naturally disposed, and many readers of the Repository have, I believe, a similar bias, to look with jealousy on the mysterious transactions between Government and some Dissenting Ministers, respecting the Regium Donum grant. And when he received from Dr. Toulmin the report above recorded, not being aware of the little value which ought to be attached to information from one so "credulous," he surely made no absurd conjecture in supposing these ministers to have been selected by the members of administration, in order to feel the pulse of the Dissenting body. Nor will any candid person be disposed to censure his conduct, if in a letter to a friend (a letter which he little anticipated would ever come before the public) he mentioned his suspicions, not in the tone of assertion, but as a mere supposition. It appears from Mr. Rutt's brief notice of the "Old Dissenter," (p. 215,) that as to Mr. Marten, at least, the "insinuation" of Mr. Howe was highly probable, and quite accordant with common opinion respecting his character.

I regret much the necessity which

Irish Presbyterianism.

has arisen for thus occupying the pages of the Repository, which ought to be devoted to other subjects than the attack and defence of personal character. Should the “ Old Dissenter" again appear before the public through the medium of your work, I hope he will not think it beneath him to follow the advice of a wise man of old, Understand first, and then rebuke."

SIR,

F

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G. B. WAWNE.

Cork, May 26, 1822. ROM what authority your correspondent Junior," in the Monthly Repository for April, has been led to believe, "that" (in opposition to what "Senior" has advanced (p. 167) on the subject of Irish Presbyterianism) "Presbyterian Synods assume the power of putting down religious discussion whenever they please, inasmuch as by their laws no book or tract involving theological opinions can be published, unless the manuscript first undergoes the inspection of the Presbytery, who can withhold certain pecuniary benefits from those who are hardy enough to resist their mandates," I cannot imagine; but this 1 know, that his authority cannot be good and just, and that he is entirely misinformed in that respect. Were it so, I should heartily join in his censure on such a law, and adinit it as being authority exercised over conscience. What regulations may have prevailed in Irish Presbyterian Synods, when they made subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith a necessary condition of admittance, and guarded what appeared to them to be orthodoxy, by tests and creeds, as did almost all English congregations, even of the Independent denomination, I really cannot tell. Upon inquiry, made at the fountain head, I find that no such restriction now exists. Indeed, five or six years ago, a case occurred within my personal observation, which, if the law stated by Junior had existed, would certainly have called it into action. A young minister preached before a number of his brethren and a large mixed assembly, a sermon controverting all the favoured and generally-received doctrines. At the desire of some who heard it, the discourse was printed. It raised the storm of opposition and bigotry, but it blew

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from the quarters of Lutheranism and of Dissenting Calvinism, not from Irish Presbyterianism. The writer was not called to account by any Synod for not having submitted the composition to inspection before publication, nor for the theological doctrines which it set forth. Nor did the author suffer any pecuniary privation inflicted by the Synod to which he belonged. The ground upon which I rested my assertion, "that Presbyterian Synods in Ireland assume no authority over conscience," I could not but believe to be firm, since it was composed of the assurances of Irish Presbyterian ministers, individually, and in Synod assembled. The first time I was present at the meeting of a Synod, upon ny putting questions with respect to. what powers it claimed, I was informed by the Moderator, that it claimed no right of dictating religious sentiments to ministers, nor forms of worship to congregations. The Synod of Ulster did, no doubt, at one time, require subscription to the Westminster Confession, on which account a number of ministers and congregations separated from its communion, and formed the Presbytery of Antrim. Awakened, probably by that defection, to the consideration of Christian liberty, that Synod, long since, put away from the midst of it the odious test. But, Sir, to put the matter beyond all doubt, I will give you an abstract of principles on this point, from an official printed document issued by the Synod of Ulster, which is by far the most numerous and the most orthodox of the Irish communities, entitled "A Brief Outline and Illustration of the chief, distinguishing Principles of the Presbyterian Church, under the Care of the General Synod of Ulster:"

"The kingdom of the Redeemer is not of this world.

"The Lord Jesus Christ is the only King or Head of his Church.

God alone is the Lord of conscience.

"The right of private judgment, in all matters that respect religion, is universal and unalienable; and it is the duty, as it is the right, of all to read, to examine and to interpret the Holy Scriptures for themselves.

"The Holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice, and contain

all things necessary to direct Christians in the path of salvation.

"There is no infallibility in any man, or body of men on earth; and as it is the business of church-officers merely to declare the counsel of God, as set forth in the Scriptures, and to enforce the law of the Gospel by spiritual sanctions, so the Lord Jesus Christ has not empowered any man, or body of men, to decree rites and ceremonies, to exercise authority in matters of faith, or to inflict temporal penalties for offences against the order and discipline of the Church.

"Though it be the duty of all to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, yet Christians are not permitted to judge, condemn, or persecute one another, on account of doctrines, or modes of worship and church government."

These propositions I quote from the work open before me, and I should conceive that they must satisfy "Junior," "No Presbyterian," and every impartial person, that what I have stated with respect to Irish Presbyterianism, is just and true; "that its Synods are bonds of union and Christian association; tribunals for the preservation of the temporal funds and property of the Presbyterian congregations, and for the settlement of any disputes which may possibly arise between ministers and people, and by no means, boards of controul over religious opinions and worship."

I beg pardon, Sir, for having again obtruded myself upon you and the readers of your very valuable work. My sole end in so doing, is to remove, by fair representation, what seems to me to be misconception.

Heartily wishing the wider diffusion of the Monthly Repository, I remain, Sir, your obedient Servant,

SENIOR.

Commemoration of the First Settle

ment of New England.

HE history of the United States

to posterity than that of any country, ancient or modern. Already, the Americans are studious and careful of their Antiquities. If the European smile at this word, thus applied, let

him remember that the time will come when its use will be no longer ques

tionable, and when the inquiries of the Transatlantic antiquaries will be facilitated and amply rewarded by the pious and patriotic labours of their fathers now existing.

Amongst other American associations for cultivating the knowledge of American History, is The Pilgrim Society, who are accustomed yearly to visit Plymouth, in New England, the landing-place of the first English Puritan Emigrants, on the anniversary of the day of the landing, viz. Dec. 22. This celebration was begun in the year 1769, and has been kept up with some intermissions to the present time; consisting sometimes of a religious service, and sometimes of an oration by a layman. There is now lying before us, "A Discourse delivered at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820, in Commemoration of the First Settle

ment of New England: by (the Hon.) Daniel Webster." This was a great day for the occasion, being the completion of the second century from the emigration. The orator was wisely selected. We have seldom read a more admirable discourse. The style of the speaker, indeed, is not always perspicuous, and betrays occasionally, that want of pure taste and of the genuine English idiom which is commonly found in orators declaiming in English out of England, and not unfrequently in England: but the speech contains passages of true eloquence, and breathes throughout the mind of a scholar, the heart of a philanthropist and the spirit of an enlightened Christian.

Warmed and possessed by his subject, Mr. Webster says finely, in one of the opening passages of his Discourse,

"There is a local feeling, connected with this occasion, too strong to be resisted; a sort of genius of the place, which inspires and awes us. We feel that we are on the spot where the first scene of our history was laid; where the hearths and altars of New England were first placed; where Christianity and civi

ment, in a vast extent of country, covered with a wilderness and peopled by roving of the year at which the event took barbarians. We are here, at the season place. The imagination irresistibly and rapidly draws around us the principal features and the leading characters in the original scene. We cast our eyes

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