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ful, because now it is offered and may be obtained; but the hour of our calamity may, and most likely will, be such as to shut out the possibility of seeking such a gift. It is in our mortal distress that we find God's mercy through Christ to be the one thing needful. Whether we have realized it or not, we then learn the truth, either in the joys of triumph, or the sinkings, and the misgivings, and the opening agonies of despair. But it is in the hour of comparative peace and composure that we must look out for this mercy; for then it is that we are invited to come; and if we do not sit at the feet of the Redeemer while the day of lengthened mercy is bestowed upon us, we may well expect that in His last dealings with us in this world, He will trample us under His feet, as the reward of our negligence, and teach us by the overwhelming severities of His justice the value of that mercy which we lived only to despise.

Now, then, let us ask ourselves, with all the seriousness and tenderness befitting such a question, put by God's messengers of mercy to the inhabitants of a ruined world, Have we obtained this one thing needful? have we chosen that good part? have we conscientiously, and with seriousness, sat at the feet of Jesus, and learned His word? have we drank in from the fountain of Scripture the words of spiritual life, and obtained

this precious gift which imparts to the soul the realities of religion, and of religious hope, and peace, and joy? Can we say that we have actually made it the business of our day of grace to find out, as the most important of all matters, what the Gospel teaches, and what is our interest in its blessings? On the other hand, have we been troubled about many things, and cumbered with much serving, and remained in a great degree indifferent to the safety of our souls in the coming eternity? Oh, if this be the case, to the one thing needful we are yet strangers. Let us be assured that what we have said is true; some time or other we shall find it to be true. Nothing is absolutely necessary but this "one thing,"-to be alive unto God through Jesus Christ. Wealth, health, peace, happiness in this world; nay, life itself may be dispensed with; but if a man's soul is not quickened by the Spirit of God, he is nothing but a brand fitted for the burning; he is a child of disobedience, and a slave of Satan; and he is persisting in his ungodliness in defiance of conviction. Then, while hours of peace and religious knowledge are given, oh, without delay, let us seek more ardently for this blessing. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," and drink, and live for ever.

Φωνη τεθνηκοτος.

THE NUMBER SEVEN.

In six days creation was perfected, and the seventh was consecrated to rest. The seventh of the seventh month, a holy observance, was ordained to the children of Israel, who feasted seven days and remained seven days in tents. The seventh year was directed to be a Sabbath of rest for all things. And at the end of seven times seven years, commenced the grand jubilee. Every seventh year the land lay fallow. Every seventh year there was a general release from all debts; and all bondsmen were set free. From this law originated the custom of binding young men to seven years' apprenticeship, and of punishing incorrigible offenders, by transportation, for seven, twice seven, and three times seven, years. Every seventh year the law was directed to be read to the people. And Jacob served seven years for the possession of Rachel, and other seven years. Noah was commanded to take the fowls of the air into the ark by sevens, and the clean beasts by sevens. The ark touched the ground on the seventh month. In seven days a dove was sent out; and again in seven days after. The seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine were foretold in Pharaoh's dream ;-by the seven fat and the seven lean beasts, by the seven ears of full and the seven ears of blasted corn. Nebuchadnezzar ate the grass of the field as a beast seven years; and he had the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter to receive Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. By the old law, man was commanded to forgive his offending brother seven times; but the meekness of the last revealed religion, extended his humility and forbearance to seventy times seven. If Cain be avenged seven-fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven. In the destruction of Jericho, seven priests bore seven trumpets of rams' horns seven days; on the seventh day they surrounded the walls seven times, and after the seventh time the walls fell. Balaam prepared seven bullocks and rams for a sacrifice. Seven of Saul's sons were hanged to stay a famine. And Laban pursued Jacob seven days' journey.

In

Job's friends sat with him seven days
and seven nights; and offered seven
bullocks and seven rams, seven lambs
and seven he-goats, for a sin-offering.
The children of Israel, when Heze-
kiah was cleansing the temple, offered
seven bullocks, seven rams, seven
lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin-
offering. The children of Israel, when
Hezekiah took away the strange
altars, kept the feast of unleavened
bread seven days, and other seven
days. Solomon was seven years in
building the temple, at the dedication
of which he feasted seven days.
the tabernacle were seven lamps, and
seven days were appointed as an
atonement upon the altar, and the
priest's son was appointed to wear his
father's garments seven days. In
Scripture are enumerated seven resur-
rections. Out of Mary Magdalene
were cast seven devils. Enoch, who
was translated, was the seventh after
Adam, and Jesus Christ the seventy-
seventh in a direct line. Our Saviour
spoke seven times from the cross. He
appeared seven times; and after seven
times seven days, He sent the Holy
Ghost. In the Lord's Prayer are
seven petitions. And within the
number seven are concealed all the
mysteries of the Apocalypse revealed
to the seven Churches of Asia, as to
the appearing of the seven golden
candlesticks, seven stars in the hand
of Him that was in the midst of seven
lamps, being the seven spirits of God;
the book with seven seals; the Lamb
with seven horns and seven eyes;
seven angels sounding seven trum-
pets; seven kings and seven thousand
men were slain; seven angels bring-
ing seven plagues and seven vials of
wrath. The vision of Daniel was
seventy weeks. The elders of Israel
were seventy, and Christ sent out
seventy disciples.

There are also numbered, seven thunders, seven stars, seven streams, seven planets, seven wise men, and seven champions of Christendom, seven days in the week, seven notes in music, seven primary colours, seven great sins; and perfection is likened unto gold seven times puri

fied in the fire. The number seven, with its occult virtues, tends in the accomplishment of all things to be the dispenser of life and fountain of all its changes. So Shakespear divides the life of man into seven ages, as the moon changes her phases every seven days.

In seven months a child may be born, and live, Anciently it was not named before seven days, it not being counted fully to have life before that periodical day. In seven months the teeth spring through. In the seventh year they are shed, and renewed, when infancy is changed into childhood. At twice seven years puberty begins; at 'three times seven the faculties are developed,-manhood commences, he becomes legally compe

tent to all civil acts; at four times seven he is in full possession of his strength; at five times seven he is fit for the business of the world; at six times seven he becomes grave and wise, or never after; at seven times seven he is at his apogee,-from that time he decays; at eight times seven he is in his first climacteric; at nine times seven, or sixty-three, he is in his grand climacteric, or year of danger,- or as much as to say he has one foot tottering upon the grave and the other off; and ten times seven, or threescore years and ten, has been proclaimed by the royal prophet to be the natural period of human life. May we so number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

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THE QUEEN'S SUPREMACY.-STRICTURES ON THE OXFORD

ADDRESS.

By the REV. HENRY WALTER, B.D.
No. 2.

THE second statement to which the Oxonian addressers have "entreated Her Majesty's gracious attention," is, "That the Church of which your Majesty is a member, has declared that the Church hath authority in controversies of faith."

As a bare affirmation of what our Church has declared, in its Twentieth Article, this statement is true; but, as applied by the addressers, it is not true. For whereas the framers of our Articles have declared that by a visible Church they mean "a congregation" of believers; and whereas the Church, for which authority is thus claimed, must be a visible Church, -the framers of this address have made it manifest, by their sixteenth statement, where they again refer to the same words of Article XX.-that they intend those words to pass for a proof, that the authority thus claimed for the Church, is claimed for its ministers alone. And their fifteenth statement is, "That from the time of the Apostles, such a question" (or a controversy of faith) "was never decided by any other than the bishops

of the Church." Whether the assumption, that what is conceded to the Church, in one sense of the term Church, must belong to it where the term has a different meaning,-be an intentional sophism, or only the consequence of a confusion of ideas, the logic of such an assumption is on a level with that displayed in a published letter of a living prelate to the late lamented Mr. Brandram; in which his lordship charged the Bible Society with interfering with the functions of the Church; because, forsooth, the Church is declared, in this same Article XX., to be "a keeper of holy writ." Had the bishop happened to know that the corresponding word is conservatrix in the Latin copy of our Articles, and not, custos, he would hardly have ha zarded such a non sequitur. But at any rate, the subscribers to this address should have been capable of perceiving, that after its framers had told Her Majesty that she was a member of the Church of which they spoke, they could not employ the word Church, in the same short sen

THE OXFORD ADDRESS.

tence, as designative of a body of which she cannot be a member, without being guilty of something very like making a mock of their sovereign.

The framers of the Oxonian address have, however, exposed themselves to a worse charge, by their third statement, which is as follows, "That Magna Charta begins by declaring, We have granted to God, and by this our charter have confirmed for us and our heirs for ever, That the Church of England be free, and shall have all her whole rights inviolable; and among those liberties it was secured by one of the most antient laws of this realm, that she should have her judgments free. [Note.] Law of King Withred, A. 697. Spelman, t. i. p. 194."

There is a decided unfairness in giving the imposing title of "laws of this realm to ordinances, of which those who enacted them only say, in the line preceding that quoted in the statement, that they were be added to the rights and customs of the people of Kent," over whom alone Wihtred entitled himself king. If

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the framers of the address mean to insist that Wihtred's laws are still "laws of this realm," they ought to have transcribed the last of them for the benefit of their fellow-subjects, who may not otherwise be aware to what tremendous penalties they expose themselves, in these travelling times, It is literally as follows, "if a man come from far," (from Oxford into Kent, for example,)" or a foreigner, go out of the road, and then neither shouts out, nor blows a horn, he is to be treated as a proven thief, and either to be slain, or to ransom himself." Spelman, p. 197. Happily, however, we know that the framers of Magna Charta were so far from intending to ratify this specimen of Wihtred's legislation, that they righteously and liberally stipulated that the foreign traveller should be protected. Whilst that they meant to confirm any of Wihtred's laws-of which it is most probable that they had never heard-should be proved, instead of being assumed. There are New Zealand chieftains who have FEBRUARY 1851.

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made greater advances from barbarism than this Saxon kingling; for they have learnt to write; whilst the priests who persuaded Wihtred to inake his grants to them secure, were fain to write for him: "I, Wihtred, have ratified what was written; and not knowing letters, I have marked it with the sign of the holy cross, with my own hand, +” Id. p. 193 and 198. There are New Zealand chieftains, whose knowledge of the Gospel is too superior to Wihtred's to allow them to think as he did,-that his clergy could wash his sins away, by offering sacrifices worthy of God's acceptance for him, Id. p. 192. Did this part of Wihtred's creed give so much pleasure to the addressers as to make them blind to the indecency of desiring our accomplished Queen to be as unhesitatingly guided by the dictates of Wihtred's priests as the rude chieftain who could neither read nor write, and whom they had cheated into the belief that they had power to be his saviours? But did the Oxonian addressers tell their Sovereign the truth -or what can only be proved true, after their manner-by the treacherous art of using words in a nonnatural sense? when they told the Queen, That the ancient law, pointed out in their note, was intended to secure to what is called the Church, that "she should have her judgments free," within even the narrow bounds of Wihtred's rule. The book and the page cited, are now before me, and there Spelman has printed these Saxon laws and his own Latin version of them in parallel columns. And in that version the first enactment begins as follows,-Libera sit ecclesia, fruaturque suis judiciis, et redditibus, seu pensionibus. But what is the corresponding Saxon text, out of which Spelman has concocted these four Latin clauses? It contains neither more nor less than these few words, Cirice .. an freols dome gafo'a. The next words enjoin the duty of prayer for the king. Now it is not a little remarkable that Spelman has manifested a consciousness that his translation of these laws

*The mark .. is used by Spelman to denote some indistinctness in the Saxon MS. in that place.

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was not quite defensible; for at the end of them he has subjoined a note, which begins as follows:-"Constitutiones istas Withrædi, Regis Cantii Saxonicé scriptas, et a nemine (quod sciam) hactenus aut in lucem datas, aut expositas, nos pro tenui facultate nostra in Saxonico idiomate Latinas fecimus, sed de versione dubii ad magis in hoc genere literatos provocamus." Spelman, p. 198. This too humble way of speaking of his attainments is obviously too like an excuse for having wrested the meaning of the Saxon to secure the purposes of party. If only those as learned in Saxon as he, might criticise his version, the writer of this letter would feel himself very low in the list of the excluded; but taking Spelman's Saxon text, he can see that Cirice is Church; he could suppose that if the indistinctness noted by Spelman were removed, an might be part of the wanted verb; and he can see from Manning's Ed. of Lye's Sax. Dict. that Freols dom, there cited from this very law, is freedom. For dom after a noun signifies office, state, or condition, (Introd. to same Dict.); gafola is tribute. So that though the Saxon is elliptical, the rendering which would most naturally suggest itself, would be, "Let the Church have exemption from tribute." And this would correspond with Latin charters which his priests induced Wihtred to grant generally, or to particular monasteries, as printed by Spelman, who has thus headed the last of them, "Privilegium Withrædi regis Cantii, quo ecclesias suæ ditionis liberas facita tributis, &c." And how far the &c. reaches, appears from the subjoined text, which is, "ut ab omni exactione publica tributi, atque dispendio vel læsione a præsenti die et tempore, liberæ sint," p. 198.

If

these things be so, the introduction, by Spelman, of the words, "fruatur

que suis judiciis "into his Latin version of this Saxon law was but a discreditable specimen of the way in which a high Churchman, who desired the patronage of Laud and Charles I., could forget what was due to truth. It so happens, however, that in the days of George I., and of

Archbishop Wake, when high-churchism was not the road to favour, the decrees of Saxon councils were again published with a more careful translation, by Dr. Wilkins, the learned curator of the library at Lambeth. In his transcript, Ciricean forms one word, the plural of Cirice; and the Saxon mark equivalent to our &, appears between dome and gafola; so as to justify his rendering the whole, Ecclesia fruatur immunitate et tributis.

Now, it is very possible that the framers of the Oxford address may have been quite ignorant of Saxon, but they could not possibly be strangers to literary criticism of such a very humble character, as would have sufficed to make them suspect that Spelman could not fairly elicit his four clauses from but five Saxon words. If they wished to take good care to speak the truth, in a statement which was to form one of the grounds for requiring their Sovereign to put narrower limits to her prerogative, and for charging her councillors, by implication, with having deliberately violated our national Church's rights, should they not have been careful to ascertain whether Wilkins' translation confirmed a rendering so little likely to be correct? They did not neglect to consult Wilkins; for their very next note, belonging to the very next statement is, Wilkins' Concilia, ii. 445, where that work is cited to give a colour of authority to another grievous departure from historical truth. What can we conclude but that they only passed by Wilkins, in statement the third, because a reference to him would have shewn, that the words "have her judgments free," were not part of what they had spoken of to Her Majesty as "one of the most ancient laws of this realm?" They might have had recourse to another source of information; for amongst the names appended to the address, appears J. Earle, M. A., Fellow of Oriel, and he is there styled, Professor of Anglo Saxon. Let him tell the public how Spelman's Saxon text can be so construed as to bring out the words, "have her judgments free." I was purposing to omit all notice

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