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THE Morning Chronicle, of July 3rd, records the following circumstance :

"On Tuesday last, as a lad named Smith was at work in a field near Wells, which is allotted by the Bishop to several poor people, he was struck by a meteoric stone, which, passing through his hat, carried away part of his skull-bone, entered his leg, and then passed into the earth. The poor boy was killed instantaneously; but, strange to say, there did not appear to be any part of his body or dress at all burnt or singed."

It is not often that the descent of aerolites is remarked; but, doubtless, circumstances of this kind had much connection with ancient idolatry. On this subject the Numismatic Society has published the following observations:

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From the various accounts which have descended to us, there appear good reasons for believing that many of these deities really fell on the earth, and that in several cities the origin of stone-worship may be traced to the descent of aerolites.......It seems probable that the Jupiter worshipped in Cyrrhestica, obtained the name of Karaißarns in consequence of the descent of an aerolite in, or near, that city, the coins of which constantly bear the legend AIOC · KATAIBATOY....Herodian's account of the far famed El Gabal exactly agrees with the description of aerolites. This historian says, that its figure was conical, and its colour black, and that it was said to have fallen from heaven. Other ancient writers speak of the descent of similar objects, and the many modern authenticated accounts of the fall of meteoric masses corroborated their narrations. The Palladium is said to have descended

from heaven; and in the New Testament the Grammateus, or town-clerk of the Ephesians, flatters their civic pride, by alluding to the image which fell down from Jupiter. It was natural that in a superstitious age, the descent of aerolites should be regarded with awe and veneration, which was heightened by the circumstance of their falling during a violent commotion of the elements. In a superstitious age the descent of a huge substance, resembling no terrestrial production, amidst fire and smoke, and the crash of thunder, was certainly sufficient to inspire those who witnessed the event with superstitious amazement and dread, and lead to the belief that it was the missive of a deity. If the descent took place near a temple, the particular divinity to whom that temple was consecrated, would, of course, be supposed to be thus in communication with the earth. The fame of this would be noised abroad, and bring crowds of the devout together."

This is a very probable account of the origin of one species of idolatry, but the tendency to this dreadfully degrading sin is a most humiliating subject for reflection. According to the popular notions of the emancipation wrought out by education for the human mind, we might suppose that in civilized countries, or, at least, in the more intellectual circles of those countries, men would be too enlightened to shew any tendency towards this almost incredible folly. How is it, then, that in every land in which infidelity widely spreads its ravages, or nominal christianity leads men to perdition, idolatry in some form or other is sure to make advances? How is it that the most powerful intellects become entangled in the idolatrous superstitions of Rome-that Paris, disenthralled from the trammels of Romanism, could worship with perilous levity, such as might in another generation have become real adoration, "the goddess of reason"that Englishmen, yes! our fellow-countrymen, and those in exalted stations, can join in the worship of the abominable idols of the Hindoos, and sometimes become as completely enslaved in body, soul, and spirit, to idol worship, as the most depraved of the heathen? How is it that some unbelievers, as in the case mentioned in Mr. Shepherd's recent work, on the state of religion on the continent, seriously incline to worship

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CLERICAL ADVERTISEMENTS. From the Times Newspaper, July 5, 1839. "To the Clergy: an incumbent would resign directly, with patron's consent, to one not under 46 years of age, a beautiful living, a perfect gem, one of the prettiest things in England, with excellent new free-stone front house, in good repair-facing a park, in the county of Somerset, at the skirts of a small market town, with every necessary of life cheap; productive garden, lawn, pleasure-ground, wall-fruit; six acres of pasture adjoining, coach-house, stabling for six horses, out-houses,-no trouble as to income, duty easy, spot healthy, roads and society good; the whole worth £280 a-year. Terms: in-coming incumbent to pay down 1900., to indemnify present incumbent's outlay on the spot, and for his fixtures, and his old wine, worth 180l.; also, for live-stock, including three cows, horses, and pony-carriage,-piano-forte, by Stoddart, cost 85 guineas; hand-organ, by Flight, cost 387.; plate and linen; and a few pictures.

"A second living, one mile off, worth

481. a-year, without trouble or uncertainty, duty single and immediate, no weekly, may be had also at option. There is a large family pew in the church, handsomely fitted up, and with a stove. Both incomes are capable of and likely to receive increase," &c.

This advertisement contains the instruction of many volumes. The picture of luxury and repose which the pastormerchant has drawn up of his own pastoral life is complete: he had evidently been a man of taste and pleasure, and had omitted nothing which could enable him voluptuously to enjoy the days that had been given him under the sun. We can well imagine the charms of this religious hermitage, for such places we have seen, and can testify that this description does not exaggerate the attrac tions of certain residences, where certain clergymen, with “ an easy duty," and an abundant income, are said by their admirers to spread an atmosphere of civilisation and gentility around them, in districts, which, but for their presence, would lapse into barbarian horrors. We do not the least seek to impugn the statements of the advertiser, we can well suppose that his parsonage is "a perfect gem;" that the house is well-built and well furnished; that there is no trouble about the income; that the gardens teem with redundant fruits; that the cattle repine not, knee-deep in rich pastures; that the location agrees with the health of the body admirably; that the road is good; that it is broad and has a wide gate, and that "there be many which go in thereat." The musical instruments are doubtless very melodious; the wine, mellowed by age, is fit for the banquets of princes; and the large family pew, with its cushions, footstools, and stove, is a delightful retreat during the labours of the liturgy and the unavoidable sermons of the curate :-all this we cheerfully ac cede; but whether the duty is so easy" as the advertisement describes may be called in question, and for this reason, that as the residence is doubtless intended to be occupied by one who would at least call himself a minister of the Christian religion, it does not seem possible to defend the enjoyments of luxuries like these by any reference to scripture--neither does it seem possible to justify the open, undisguised, shameless merchandise of the pastoral charge.

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"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth: for ye are

dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God," is an admonition fatal to this "perfect gem;" and when we read Luke x. 4, Matt. x. 10, Mark vi. 8, Acts xx. 35, and compare these scriptures with the revenues, emoluments, and delicacies of this "beautiful living," we fear that "the duty" of taking possession of these things would be anything but "easy" to one who held a conscience not seared with a hot iron. The "easiness of the duty," means probably that the parish has a population about whose spiritual wants the clergyman need not put forth much energy-a sermon on Sunday, and an occasional baptism or funeral will be the extent of his labour. All this may be performed by a curate; the salvation of souls, the preaching of the gospel, the gathering of a church of believers, and the edifying of the saints-these were considerations which the advertiser has never once entertained. He knows not what these things mean; he careth for none of these things, neither does his patron. The advantageous disposal of the living is all that the advertiser is anxious to achieve.

INDIAN IDOLATRY.

MR. POYNDER has published the following letter in a morning paper :—

"When Mr. Weeding, the East India proprietor, suggested, on Wednesday, that the offering made by the GovernorGeneral of India, in a heathen temple, was possibly made by the heathen Prince who took him there, he evinced his ignorance of what is constantly going on through India, and has long been the subject of my public complaints at the India House. I have proved, in open court, that the European officer of the Madras Government offered a gold marriage necklace (an indication of the strictest union, and therefore a direct act of worship) to the idol Padazier, together with red silk cloth and incense; and also presented scarlet cloth to the priest, and money to the heathen attendants. I then also read the Government order, authorising this expenditure from the public treasury for this idolatrous ceremony.

"I further proved that offerings are annually made on behalf of the Government to the idols at Conjeveram, near Madras-no similar honour having ever been paid to idolatry under the rule of

Mohamedan predecessors; also that the British Government incurs herein the expense of 300 pagodas paid from the public treasury, and I named Mr. Place as the Government officer (the collector of the Jaghire) from whose time the festival has been performed by the India Company.

"I further showed that, in one year, the Rajah of Mysore requested leave to perform this worship himself, which was conceded; but in the following year the Government performed this ceremony instead of the Rajah. I proved that Mr. Place offered to the god jewels, and a head ornament worth 1,000 pagodasthat Lord Clive, on his personal visit to an idol temple, offered an ornament of 1,050 pagodas-that Mr. Collector Garrow presented a gold necklace of 500 pagodas-and that till this time the collectors present to the god, every year, a lace garment of 100 rupees' value. In Mr. Place's collectorate he sent for all the musicians, dancing girls (or prostitutes), elephants, and horses, attached to the other temples of the Jaghire, in order to increase the pomp of the principal ceremony in question, when he gave his personal attendance, and made offerings to the priests who recited the bedas; and I then asked the Court whether these facts did not remind them of Mr. Burke's celebrated declaration, that 'the servants of the East Iudia Company' contrive to get unbaptized in their 'outward-bound passage?'

"I proved further that the Government order issued at Canara, so late as 1833, fully sanctions the offerings to the idols for procuring rain, and expressly allows money from the public treasury for the maintenance of this abominable superstition, and even directs the officiating priest to offer such worship. The total money paid in that one year to the several temples in one district was no less than 360 rupees. I proved further, that the Hindoo goddess of wisdom ('the world by wisdom knew not God.' Cor. i). received annual offerings at the public expense, and that, as a part of the ceremony, the account books of the Company were equally deified, and money gifts distributed to the heathen priests. These gifts, the music, and the fruit, all form a regular item in the public expenditure.

"There is also a god of wisdom as well as a goddess (Ganesa), who is worshiped as duly at the charge of the Company,

and I read to the Court the application of the native officer for this very payment 'to perform worship to this idol, after it had been kept one day in the Government Court House,' that is, after the priests and prostitutes had been fed till the idol was moved in procession.

"I could easily multiply these proofs of religious offerings being made by the officers and servants of the Company, and paid for by the state, but shall only observe, that these different acts of worship are notoriously performed in the offices of all the chief native revenue officers, the expense of all being defrayed by the government.

"On one occasion I showed that we had to pay for all this abomination six entire days; and that nightly worship was then offered, the particulars of which would be wholly unfit for publication in England.

"The only remarkable circumstance is, that Mr. Weeding was himself in court when I adduced these and many similar instances of European delinquency in openly encouraging and paying for the offerings made to idols, and that he can yet suppose the possibility of the offering at Umritsir not having been made by Lord Auckland, but by Runjeet Singh. I will, however, suppose, for the sake of the argument, that the heathen prince (and not the Christian governor) offered to the heathen idol, and I will then ask, in the face of this Christian country, how came Lord Auckland to be present when this abominable idolatry was performed? He had clearly no right to sanction, by his presence, the worship of heathenism, any more than the primitive Christians would have permitted themselves to be present at the offerings which were made to heathenism of old.

"I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,

"JOHN POYNDER. "New Bridge-street, June 21, 1839.”

LATIMER'S ANSWER TO THE PAPISTS. Latimer answers the arguments of the Papists, that as we cannot be certain about the truths of Scripture, so we are not at liberty to teach our uncertain knowledge:

"There have been, say you, those who have had a zeal, but not after knowledge. True it is, there have been such, and yet be too many, to the great hin

derane of Christ's glory, which nothing doth more obscure than a hot zeal, accompanied with high authority without right judgment. There have been, also, which have had knowledge without any zeal of God, who, holding the truth of God in unrighteousness, shall be beaten with many stripes, while they knowing the will of God, do nothing according to their knowledge; I mean not amongst Turks and Saracens, but amongst them who have been christened. And there have been, also, those who have lost the spiritual knowledge of God's word which they had before; because they have not followed it, nor promoted the same; but rather with their mother-wits, have impugned the wisdom of the Father, and hindered the knowledge thereof, which, therefore, has been taken away from them: that Christ may be righteous when he judgeth, threatening to him who hath not that that which he seemeth to have shall be taken from him; because to abuse that which a man hath, or not to use it well, is not to have it; and, also, seeing it is true that God's wisdom will not dwell in a body subject to sin, albeit it abound in carnal wisdom; for the mere carnal and philosophical understanding of God's Scriptures is not the wisdom. of God, which is hid from the wise and revealed to little ones. And if to declare this or that to be the truth, requireth a deep and profound knowledge, then either every man hath a profound knowledge, or no man can call this or that the truth; and yet he may be ignorant and uncertain in many things, as Apollos was, but which things he will not attempt to preach for the truth. As for myself, I trust in God I have my senses exercised to discern between good and evil, being, at the same time, without deep and profound knowledge, in many things: and those things which I understand not, I preach not :-yea, there be many things in Scripture which I cannot discern, not with all the exercise I have in Scripture, nor yet with the help of all the interpreters I have, so as to content myself, and others, in all scrupulosity that may arise. But in such I am wont to wade no farther into the stream, than that I may either go over, or else return back again, having ever respect not to the ostentation of my little wit, but to the edification of them that hear me, as far forth as I can, neither passing my own wit, nor yet their capacity.

THE INQUIRER.

SEPTEMBER, 1839.

What saith the Scripture?-Rom. iv. 3.

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD.

CHAPTER IV.

JUSTIN MARTYR, TERTULLIAN, IRENÆUS.

In the technical language of church history, the Apostolical period closes with the Fathers noticed in the last chapter; and the commencement of the Ecclesiastical era is marked by Justin Martyr. In this chapter, it is proposed to give some brief account of Justin Martyr, touching also on Irenæus and Tertullian, whose writings in order of time fall near together.

In some respects, the opening of the Ecclesiastical Period affords proof of an increment of superstition amongst professing Christians; or, at any rate, of a more determinate acceptance of those oriental and Jewish doctrines which, in the Apostolical era, had hovered round the outskirts of the Church, soliciting an affiliation amongst those who, having already forgotten the most precious portion of the faith once delivered to the saints, were in a condition to admit within the sacred inclosure the specious progeny of pagan philosophy, Jewish theosophy, and oriental mysticism. But Justin Martyr and Tertullian, the two great names of the second period, were far better instructed in the decencies of superstition than that offensive fabulist, Hermas," the father of tradition," and, if not by right feeling, were preserved at least by good taste from the figments of the legendary school. That they gave too much credence to the floating superstitions of their day, and by their high authority consecrated the errors of credulity and ignorance in which their contemporaries indulged, we shall presently see; but not even Tertullian, after his lapse into Montanism, ventured to deceive the Church by revelations of his own coining: he may have believed the spurious or fanatical visions of others, but his own he propounded not; and in some other important particulars, the aggressions of the patristic theology assume a more modest appearance in the commencement of the ecclesiastical than in "the golden age" of the apostolical period.

Justin Martyr was born at Flavia Neapolis, in Samaria, of gentile parents. His father's name was Priscus Bacchius. Epiphanius asserts that the religion of Justin Martyr was originally that of the Samaritans; but he himself informs us that he was educated in the religion of the Greeks before he became a Christian. He had carefully studied the tenets of the different philosophical sects, and successively attached himself to the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans, and the Platonists. The lofty speculations of the Platonic school for a while satisfied the cravings of his inquisitive mind: "I was greatly delighted with their notions of incorporeal objects; and the contemplation of simple ideas elevated my understanding to such a pitch, that in a short time I really thought myself to be a wise and knowing person; and I was so weak as to imagine that I should, by means of this silly chicanery, soon arrive at a knowledge of God." Here, however, he could not ultimately rest, and he was induced to examine, and, after examination, to embrace Christianity, finding in it, as he himself expresses it, "the only sound and useful philosophy,' -ταυτην μονην ευρισκον φιλοσοφιαν ασφαλη και συμφορον. In the persecution of the Christians which took place in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, Justin composed his First

VOL. II.

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