those, whose interest it certainly must be, to reduce it to the lowest possible standard. I wish to shew that if any censure is applicable to the legislature, it is because they did not take the case of the Curates into their earlier consideration, and provide for them by a law more speedy in its operation; that if any appeal on this head is necessary to the Bishops, it is that they will exert their vigilance, in taking care, that the benevolent intentions of Parliament be not frustrated, and the provisions of the act evaded by the artifices of the selfish, the needy, or the avaricious. In these remarks, if I have been betrayed into any warmth of expression, let me not be supposed to breathe a spirit of hostility, or disrespect, to the Incumbents of this country. As a body, and, to the extent of my acquaintance with them, as individuals, I hold them in the highest possible admiration, and esteem. I look upon them as an of repectable Clergymen," you may, "perhaps be the means of procur ing them some speedy alleviation and redress." I must, however, also hope that under the appellation of "respectable Clergymen," he will be pleased to include us poor Curates, and allow us to form one member of this venerable body. I hope that if he finds one leg of this body, to be disabled by a "chronic," or any other disease, he will relinquish his plan of relieving it, by transferring the disorder to the other leg. And I can assure him, that if he really does think Curates are "better provided for than Incumbents," and is desirous to throw away that very disadvantageous and troublesome thing called a living, he will find it readily and thankfully picked up, by his, and your Sir, Obedient humble servant, WILL you allow me to add a postscript, to the satisfactory answer which has already been given to Mr. Owen's vaunting account, of the Bible Society's translating operations. honour to the age, an ornament and To the Editor of the Remembrancer. a blessing to the country in which they live. I consider them as often very inadequately rewarded, and would not deprive them of one jot, or tittle of what they so justly merit. All that I contend for is that an increased provision for non-resident Incumbents cannot consistently with equity, or humanity, be derived from the diminution of that destined for the maintainance of resident Curatés, a class of men equally meritorious, and in still greater need of men who have been often, and justly characterised as exemplary, pious, zealous, and efficient: as deserving every encouragement that their country could give them, and yet often receiving scarcely the wages of a menial, or of a common labourer. I shall close this subject with concurring in the hope of Clericus, that in giving his, or other commu. nications" a place in the Christian Remembrancer" and representing "the deplorable case of hundreds "No body of men, (says Mr. Owen,) can take more pains than they (the Bible Society) do, to procure suitable editors for such foreign versions as they may have occasion to print, or look more closely into the principles and qualifications of those to whom the editing of them is entrusted." It is admitted that they knew nothing at all about the principles of M. Mercier the recommender; and perhaps your readers know as little of the principles of Dr. Adam Clarke, the editor of the version in question. He brought himself first I believe, into public notice by maintaining that the creature which tempted Eve was an ape. But his chief forte seems to lie in per verting the most solemn truths of Scripture, into jibes and jeers at the Established Church. The few following may serve for a spice of the quality of the numbers interspersed through his commentary. "Paul was not brought into the Christian ministry by any rite ever used in the Christian Church; neither Bishop nor Presbyter ever laid their hands on him." A very different account, however, is given in the thirteenth chapter of the Acts: where we see that Paul was brought into the Christian ministry, by the very rite still used in the Christian Church, performed by the very same authorities as at present, and that by the express command of the Holy Ghost. Again, "where the seed of the kingdom of God is sowed, and the dispensation of the gospel is committed to man, a good education may be of great general use: but it no more follows, because a man has had a good education, that therefore he is qualified to preach the Gospel, than it does because he has not had that, therefore he is unqualified." Dr. Clarke I hope will allow, that the "dispensation of the gospel" was committed to the Apostles, and they certainly were considered by their master, unqualified for preaching it, for want of a good education, for they were not permitted to preach it till this want had been supplied, by one of the most awful miracles recorded in Holy Writ, though many of them were equally well educated with the generality of that class with which they ranked in Society; and secondly, in the case of St. Paul, we see that human learning, naturally acquired, superseded the necessity of this miraculous endowment with knowledge, although with regard to all the other gifts of the Holy Ghost, he was not a whit behind the chiefest of the Apostles. From the first example it appears that a good education, not a middling one, is absolutely required by Christ, in his ministers, and from the second, that a good education naturally acquired, is as far as education goes, sufficient. Again, "men-made ministers," says the Doctor," have almost ruined the heritage of God." Who the "men-made ministers" are, we need not ask, but I think some self-made ones have lately been much more mischievous. But to quote all the passages of this description would be endless, open the Doctor's Testament where you will you meet with something of the kind. "However necessary the Church may be to the State, and the State to the Church, yet the latter is never so much in danger as when the former smiles upon it."-"The publicans were something like the tithe farmers in a certain country,—a principal cause ofthe public burdens and discontent." In short the Doctor seems never to have set himself down to his Bible but with a mind rendered morbid by animosity towards the Church of England, and yet I believe the Doctor considers himself one of those to whom the "dispensation of the Gospel" is peculiarly committed. However this may be, he has frequent recourse in his commentary to the authority of the late Mr. Gilbert Wakefield, and occasionally to that of Dr. Priestely, neither of them very great friends either to the Gospel or its author, and therefore we need not wonder that the Doctor as editor of the Bible Society's French version should permit the erroneous passage which gave rise to this discussion to remain uncorrected. ALPHA. MR. OWEN'S PAMPHLET AND POSTSCRIPT. OUR readers may probably have heard that the Rev. John Owen has republished his two letters on the subject of the Bible Society's French Bible, which appeared in the last Number of the Christian Remembrancer, with a Postscript, contain. ing remarks on the whole correspondence. Those who have not seen the pamphlet will be surprised to hear that Mr. Owen has abstained from reprinting the letter and the observations to which he replies. Such a proceeding might have been inconvenient, but it would not have been unfair. Those who have seen the pamphlet, will probably think that we are called upon to offer some remarks upon its contents. First, we must speak of Mr. Owen and of ourselves. This controversy was not of our seeking, In giving insertion to Dr. Luscombe's letter, we acted merely as the conductors of a magazine- and we printed the Oxford reply the moment that it reached our hands. Mr. Owen refused to let the matter rest here, he drew up a long statement upon the subject, and published it as an advertisement in the newspapers. And when our attention was thus forcibly directed to the question, we took the trouble of examining Mr. Owen's statements, and sent our discoveries respecting them to the New Times. The importance of those discoveries is admitted by Mr. Owen himself; and if they have not contributed to raise the character of his favourite institution, the friends of that institution have nobody to blame but Mr. Owen. The public would never have heard of M. Mercier, or M. Des Carrieres, had it not been for the overflowing of Mr. Owen's zeal. He thought it worth his while to attack the Remembrancer, in the newspapers, and we availed ourselves of the right of selfdefence. In his Postscript, Mr. Owen fears that the friends of truth and fair dealing, will feel great pain at our statement respecting the French Testament, circulated by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. Now if we had pretended to quote a work which does not exist, (viz. Ostervald's French Bible, 1716) and referred confidently to several And others which we had never seen, (viz. the other early editions of the same work) we should think it highly probable that the friends of truth would never trouble themselves again about us or our writings. Mr. Owen thought Ostervald's Bible was first published in 1716. This was a mistake, and as such may be excused. But he also said that he had consulted that and other editions, and that they sanctioned the disputed translation. This was not a mistake, and is not to be excused. ready as we are, and ever shall be to submit to the judgment of the fair dealing, Mr. Owen must excuse us for questioning his title to the epithet. If his Advertisement had noticed the letter from Oxford, or his Pamphlet had contained a reprint of the articles on which it comments, if he had given a categorical answer to our query respecting Dr. A. Clarke; or said less about his friendship for the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, we should have been happy to pay a tribute to the fair dealing of our adversary. In the present state of affairs we must beg leave to pause, and to refer a question upon which of course we cannot be impartial, to the judgment of every candid mind. A few words must be added with respect to the last mentioned institution, of which Mr. Owen affects to think that we are as much the directors and the organs, as he is the director and organ of the British and Foreign Bible Society. If we had been selected by a Right Rev. Vicepresident of the Society for promot. ing Christian Knowledge, as the proper persons to explain the proceedings of that institution, if we had consequently defended it at a very considerable expence, in the Old and New Times, if when that defence was exposed and refuted, we had proved the fact "to the satisfaction of the committee," and been authorized to inform the world of " their having given directions that the corrected translation shall be adopted accordingly, in all future editions of that version" of the Bible, Mr. Owen might have some grounds for making the Society responsible for our vindication of it, and for being very much hurt at our neglecting to express a heartfelt sorrow for the errors in the French Testament, which has been circulated by the Society!! As matters really stand, the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has been introduced most absurdly and unnecessarily into the dispute, by the zeal and sincerity of its warmhearted friend, Mr. Owen. When he had not a word to say for himself or for the Bible Society, he turned off, consistently enough, with a sneer at Bartlett's Buildings, and Dr. Luscombe. We cannot even pay him the compliment of saying that the imposition upon the Society's booksellers was detected by his means; since Dr. Luscombe is much better entitled to that distinction. The worthy doctor must feel obliged by Mr. Owen's courteous notice of him; particularly as the second error which has been pointed out in the Bible Society's French Bible, is passed over without the slightest notice. The reader of the Postscript is told that Dr. Luscombe is looking for more errors, but Mr. Owen's fair dealing does not say that he has found one. Can we doubt why his pamphlet omits the writings of his opponents, or need we say another word to such a candid controversialist? We will only add that be concludes his lucubrations by saying that the Bible Society "has secret friends in the Church, who will avow their attachment to it, as soon as they can do so with impunity." A very prudent resolution-and calculated to give "great pleasure to every friend of truth and fair dealing." SACRED POETRY. ON FASTING. Thou, who for hapless Sinners' sake, Didst to the barren wild repair; So by austerities, O Lord, My wayward stubborn will subdue : My body to the spirit bend: My heart in holiness renew. By fasting and by prayer alone The demons were of old expell'd ; And best by penances severe Will Man's presumptuous sins be quell'd. The world, its pleasures and its gains, ON THE TEMPTATIONS IN THE WILDERNESS. Amazing scene! the Incarnate God By Satan's wiles assail'd! Yet spurn'd, like Samson's bands, with ease, The strong temptations fail'd. And whence, O Saviour, say, O whence, To meet the trying hour, Was drawn against the insidious Foe Didst Thou in all the Godhead rise, No by the words of Holy Writ O be the same assisting Grace ON REPENTANCE. FROM THE 51ST PSALM Ah flow, in bitterness of grief, The troubled heart, the conscious tear, The Soul, if there contrition dwell, As spotless as the virgin snow. How near the paths of death I tread! |