transitive sense to verbs, which the classical authors use only as neuter and intransitive. Thus, in the Septuagint, (áw signifies either to live, or to preserve alive, to cause to live; Baoiλevw, to reign, or to make a king, to cause to reign; and many others. There can therefore be no reason why λrío may not signify either to hope, or to cause hope, according as the context may require. Assuming then, that there are no valid objections against the proposed translation, the only question which remains is, what meaning do I attach to the passage according to this mode of rendering it? I answer this question by another; What constituted the fundamental principle of religion, in the family of our first parents? Faith in the promised seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent's head. (Gen. iii. 15.) The inspired writer has distinctly recorded their expression of this faith, at the birth of their first son Cain, Gen. iv. 1.* I have gotten a man! even Jehovah! and again at the birth of Seth, Gen. iv. 25, God hath appointed me ANOTHER SEED instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. These pious exclamations are precisely such as might be expected from the mother of the human race. And it can hardly be supposed that the birth of her first grandson would fail to call forth from every member of this holy family similar expressions of faith in that one promise on which all their hopes rested. The Holy Spirit, therefore, who has related the birth of that grandson, has marked also in one concise sentence, the religious hope and confidence which it inspired: And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then were they encouraged to call on the name of JEHOVAH. BISHOP HEBER'S OBSERVATIONS UPON THE ALTAR, PULPIT, &c. TO C. R. COCKERELL, ESQ. Lincoln's Inn, June 24, 1822. MY DEAR SIR, I can assure you that I have not lost sight of your question, whether any grounds of objection are to be found in the canons or precedents of the Church, to such an arrangement of the communion-table, desk, and pulpit as you shewed me in your beautiful design for Lord Lansdowne's chapel; and I am happy to say that my subsequent inquiries have fully confirmed the opinion which I, in the first instance, expressed, that the custom of ascending to the chancel by a flight of steps, was at once most suitable to the public and decorous celebration of the service performed there, most consonant to the practice of Christian antiquity, and to the general arrangement of our Christian churches, before the puritans, and their dislike to every thing which favoured the name or notion of an altar, sank the communiontable to the level of the floor, and obscured it as much as possible with the pulpit and reading desk. In the earliest Christian churches, and so far down as the seventh or eighth century, so far as I have been able to discover, the communion-table, and the steps which led to it, were the places whence all the principal parts of divine service were delivered. There was, in *Upon this text see Christian Remembrancer, Vol. X. pp. 383, 435, 567. fact, nothing in those churches which properly answered to our notion of a pulpit. We find, indeed, toward the west end of the nave, and near the partition which separated it from the northex, or station of penitents, one, or sometimes two tribunes, or ambones, where the singers stood, and whence the deacons and other inferior officers of the church chanted the litany, introits, &c. But the presbyters and bishop were always seated in the chancel, and whatever they did was done from the altar or the steps, which were generally pretty numerous, so as to enable all the congregation to see what was going on. The chancel was in fact called βῆμα, from ἀναβαίνειν. And it is more frequently noticed that the Gospel was read, and the sermon preached there. You will find this substantially the same account which Bingham has given (Antiq. of the Christian Church, Book VIII. c. 5, 6.) He is wrong, however, in supposing the ambo to have resembled a pulpit, inasmuch as it most certainly was a kind of gallery, capable of holding many persons, as is plain from the 59th canon of the Council of Laodicea, which speaks of the choristers going up there to sing. It answered, in fact, to our organ loft, and to the galleries for singers in modern Greek churches. This arrangement is still accurately followed in Russia, where, except in very modern churches, pulpits are never seen; but the reader or preacher lays his book or MS. on a small moveable desk, like a music-stand, on the steps leading to the royal gate' of the ayiov. 6 The rules prescribed by the English Church in this particular, are, merely that a convenient pulpit, or preaching place, and desk, should be provided (without saying any thing as to their situation), and that the communion-table be railed in, and placed against the eastern wall of the chancel. But the chancel itself is ordered to be left "as in times past;" and it is very certain that all the old chancels, anterior to the reformation, were much elevated, and approached by many steps. Some instances of this kind still remain. That in the church of Tenby is, as I am informed, raised nearly ten feet above the nave. The altar in the Cathedral of Chester is approached by six or seven rather steep steps; and the same may be observed of the fine church of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, and of that at Wrexham. And when we consider that the most solemn and impressive part of our Liturgy is celebrated in this situation, it seems no more than natural and decent to give it as much elevation as we find necessary and convenient for other parts of the service. It is as fit that all the congregation should hear the commandments, as it is that they should hear the litany; as necessary that the Gospel should reach their ears as the sermon. Nor can I understand how the priest can be said to consecrate the elements "in the sight of all the people," when he is inclosed with pews higher than his head, and when a pulpit fifteen feet high is built up between himself and his congregation. Nor is there much decency or good sense in exalting the pulpit so greatly above the reading desk, as if preaching were a more important office than prayer, or the commentaries of men more valuable than the Scriptures themselves and it is, therefore, noticed with approbation by honest Isaac Walton, in his life of Herbert, that this excellent : man, in the new church which he built at his own expense, had the pulpit and desk of the same height, and opposite to each other. The truth is, that the time when the altars were depressed, and the pulpits exalted, was, as I have already noticed, when the puritans were in power. Several instances of their having done so, are mentioned by Walker, in his "Sufferings of the Clergy;" and it is probable that, on the restoration, the bishops acted with much wisdom in not returning immediately to the ancient custom, which so many were then disposed to consider as a remnant of popery. But I do not believe that any feeling of this kind now exists, either among members of the Church of England or dissenters; and I can hardly think that, in a new erection, any offence would be given, by an arrangement at once so convenient and so elegant. On talking over your plan with a friend, whose experience and good sense, as well as his knowledge of the history of our Liturgy, made me anxious for his opinion, he said, "The only difficulties which occurred to him were, that old and infirm communicants would find the ascent of so many steps inconvenient, and that the preacher would not be sufficiently elevated." The first of these objections might, I should think, be remedied either by making the stairs sufficiently easy, or perhaps by placing them within the communion rails, so that the priest only, and not his communicants, would have to ascend and descend. But the fact is, that even in the largest church, no great elevation would be necessary or desirable. Our modern pulpits are very much too high. We all know that sound ascends; and we therefore may easily understand why, in most London churches, though the galleries hear well, the aisles can hardly hear at all; and why, in order to remedy an evil of his own creating, the builder has usually had recourse to a sounding board, to beat the voice down again, an object which it answers very imperfectly. But, from repeated trials I have found, as a general rule, that an elevation of six feet above the floor of the church, is amply sufficient, and that at which the human voice is best heard by all parts of a large auditory. It is, in fact, nearly the height of the stage in most theatres, buildings of all others best calculated for the transmission of sound, and in the construction of which both sight and hearing are most studiously considered. On the whole, my impression is, that your plan needs only to be once tried to be very generally imitated; and that you have not only contrived an extremely convenient and picturesque arrangement of this necessary furniture of our churches, but that you have got rid of what I always considered the great deformity and inconsistency of a step-like edifice for preacher, reader, and clerk, with its back directly turned on those mysteries which are, or ought to be, in every church, the chief object of a Christian's reverence. The best, however, and the only legitimate judge of such arrangements, is the Ordinary, to whom, by the rules of our Church, it belongs to determine where the communion-table, &c. are to be fixed in every place of worship; and if any doubt exists in your mind, or the minds of the trustees for the new church, I know no person on whose taste and judgment I could so implicitly rely, as the Bishop of London. Believe me, dear Sir, ever most truly yours, REGINALD HEBER. REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF PROTESTANTISM IN FRANCE. (Extract from a Letter from Paris.) I WILL comprise the result of my inquires into the state of the Protestant clergy in this country within as brief a space as practicable. There can be no doubt that numbers of Protestant pastors are anxious for a better state of things in a religious point of view; but, unhappily, the means of accomplishing any amelioration are denied to the majority of them: they are destitute of books; cut off from all intercourse with their brethren; and their whole orthodoxy is limited to the scanty ideas which they contrived to pick up, none can tell how or where, some thirty or more years ago. It is of common occurrence to meet with a whole department of four hundred thousand souls under the charge of one single pastor: no wonder, therefore, that the few, who have any reading at all, should not have wandered beyond the unholy pages of their idol, Voltaire. Their religious food is supplied by occasional reports of Bible Societies, or a pious tract or so, doled out to them, at far and wide intervals, in bundles for chance distribution. I learn, however, with much gratification, that, in those parts where the members of the Protestant community are in a less isolated state, particularly in Languedoc, congregational associations. have been formed: this can scarcely fail to afford a convenient opportunity for promoting harmony of views in theological matters. One of the principal associations of this nature, I mean that established at Nismes, has printed certain of its statutes, and from these I collect what follows:-All the clergy, candidates for orders, and students of theology, who desire to take part in its proceedings, meet at Nismes three times a year, and, after opening their assemblies with a short prayer, confer upon some point brought forward at the preceding sitting on this point each member present is called upon to express his opinion in succession. No resolutions are put or adopted, their only object being mutual instruction, and an unreserved interchange of sentiments. The signatures, which are subjoined to these statutes, are of the most heterogeneous complexion: Methodists figure in equal numbers on the same page with Arians and Socinians. This is a proof that toleration, at least, has made some progress amongst them; but it holds out a warning that none but general and unimportant questions are likely to come under discussion. I observe, among other subjects of debate, that one of these meetings at Nismes sat in judgment on the advantage or disadvantage of extemporary preaching; another touched upon the benefit or prejudice resulting from conventicles; whilst a third took higher ground, and argued over the subjects which were fitting to be broached from the pulpit. The number of meetings is so confined that it is not possible their influence should reach the sphere of domestic life but at a very measured pace; and it is easy to foresee that, unless a more than common spirit of peace and love pervade them, they must speedily fall to the ground. An instance, in proof, has occurred at Vaunage, in the department of the Gard, where most of the clergy are Methodists, and the association took upon itself to assume the character of a convocation. On this occasion articles of belief were propounded, and candidates who presented themselves for ordination were required to go through certain examinations, with a view to prove their orthodoxy fertile subjects these for the clashing and conflict of the members' opinions. Now, as the number of members was unlimited, and every strange face was entitled to admission, it so happened that, at one sitting, the doctrine of predestination was adopted by a considerable majority; but, at the succeeding one, the vanquished party having mustered their distant adherents, the subject was again brought upon the carpet, and, after being canvassed and twisted in every direction, was at last-anathematized and scouted by as great a majority as had previously eulogized and sanctioned it! "Revue This wretched state of things is aggravated by the total want of any monthly or other publication, which might serve as a rallying point for men of sound and rational views. Coquerel's Protestante," even if its editor were not a man to whom theological studies and foreign lore are terræ incognitæ, has no one fixed religious principle about it; and the "Religion et Christianisme," edited by Vincent of Nismes, concerns itself more for the religious wants of the vulgar, than the intellectual necessities of the educated class of society. In short, what remains among the 'pia desideria' of Protestant France, is a Christian Journal, having the vitality of religious learning for its base; and, in its conduct, combining perspicuity and intelligibility with that single-heartedness and intrepidity which, under Providence, carries a righteous cause to a happy consummation. REV. ZACHARIAH MUDGE'S MONUMENT. THE ancient church of St. Andrew, Plymouth, has lately been adorned by a master-piece of Mr. Chantrey's chisel, erected there under the artist's personal superintendence. It is a monumental bust of the REVEREND ZACHARIAH MUDGE, from a picture by SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Of three portraits which Sir Joshua completed of his friend, this (painted in 1766) was the last, and universally allowed to be the best. The expression of deep contemplation which distinguishes it, and obtained for it the appellation of "the intellectual picture," has been transferred to the marble, with admirable effect, by the sculptor's unrivalled hand. The inscription on the pedestal is short and simple. ZACHARIAH MUDGE, AND VICAR OF SAINT ANDREW'S, PLYMOUTH, BORN 1694, DIED 1769. IN PRIVATE LIFE HE WAS AMIABLE AND BENEVOLENT; FAITHFUL, ELOQUENT, AND PERSUASIVE; AMONG THE LEARNED; AND FOR TALENT AMONG MEN OF SCIENCE. |