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666 'St. Peter and St. Paul founded the Church at Rome.' (p. 15)

"The Church was always spread by sending clergy with a bishop over them, to the different countries.' (p. 24)

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The Church was planted in the East Indies and South Africa by persons going out from Portugal to trade, who took their religion with them.' (p. 24.)

"The Church was planted in South America and the West Indies when they were conquered by the people of Spain.' (p. 24.)

"The One Church is the same in all places, its faith and practice teaching all truth.' (p. 6.)

"Mr. Mangin next proceeds to ignore the existence of the Church of Scotland, 'a sect called Presbyterians, who are without Bishops, which was established by King William the Third.' (p. 34.) He condemns Protestant Dissenters for 'leaving out of their forms of religion many things which the Apostles and early Church thought necessary to salvation,' (p. 34,) and can think of them, and of those who separate themselves from the Church,' including therefore converts from Popery to any of the Protestant Churches without Bishops, 'only with sorrow (as of Jews, Mahomedans, and Heathens,) to whom the promise of salvation, through Christ, is not made.' (p. 9.)

The sacrificial priesthood (the Pontifex and Sacerdos) of the Church of Rome, having being thus identified with the Presbyter or Minister (the priest) of our own communion, Mr. Mangin proceeds to state that- A priest may consecrate the bread and wine, and offer them with the prayers of the congregation to God, in the Holy Communion.' (p. 8.)

"I would earnestly appeal to your Lordship, whether a parochial minister should be permitted, under the sanction of his rector, to disseminate such doc

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trines as these, the inevitable tendency of which is to seduce the ignorant inquirer from the only foundation of our hope-the Saviour and His Word-into a vain reliance on the spurious dogmas and deductions of men?

I have the honor to be, my lord, Your most obedient servant, CHARLES GIBERNE. "The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.

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12, Marine Parade, Brighton, April 29, 1851. "Sir, I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 23rd, and to thank you for the little publication it contained, and which I return.

I am, Sir, your faithful servant,
R. BATH AND WELLS.

"Capt. Giberne.

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Bath, May 1st, 1851. "My Lord, I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 29th, with its inclosure.

Will your lordship permit me to inquire whether the matter may be now left, under the assurance that the character and tendency of Mr. Mangin's publication will receive at your lordship's hands a full investigation, and the case be dealt with accordingly; or whether it is to be inferred, from the book being returned without remark, that your lordship declines interfering in the matter? I have the honour to be, my lord, Your most obedient servant, CHARLES GIBERNE. "The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.

"Bath, May 15, 1851. "My Lord, I beg to forward the annexed copy of a communication I did myself the honor of addressing to your lordship a fortnight since, of the receipt of which I have received no acknowledg

ment.

"In the event of my not being shortly favoured with a reply, I would submit whether I shall not be fully justified in understanding, either that Mr. Mangin's publication meets your approbation, or that your lordship declines adopting measures to drive away the erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word' which are taught therein.

I have the honor to be, my lord, Your most obedient servant, CHARLES GIBERNE. "The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.

"Wells, May 20, 1851. "Sir,-The Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells being for the present deprived of the use of his right hand, I am directed by his lordship to acknowledge the receipt of your communications of the 1st and 15th of May.

"His lordship further instructs me to acquaint you that your inference is correct That from the book being returned without remark, he declines interfering in the matter.'

I have the honour to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,
EDMUND DAVIES.

"To Capt. Giberne.

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'Bath, May 29th, 1851. "My Lord Archbishop. In transmitting the accompanying publication, of which upwards of six hundred copies are stated to have been sold in this city, I beg to solicit the interference of your Grace, in putting a stop to the further circulation, under the influence of a parochial minister, of the erroneous and strange doctrines, contrary to God's Word,' which are taught therein.

"I beg to apologize for trespassing on your attention, occupied as it necessarily is in the duties of your exalted and responsible station, but the Rector of the parish and the Lord Bishop of the diocese (a copy of whose letters are annexed) having both declined interfering in the matter, there remains no alternative but an appeal to your Grace.

I would beg to adduce the passages I have marked, as teaching the following

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promise of salvation through Christ,' than 'Jews, Mahomedans, and Heathens.' (pp. 9, 34.)

4thly. That it may be proved from Holy Scripture,' that a priest of the Church of England 'may consecrate the bread and wine, and offer them with the prayers of the congregation to God, in the Holy Communion.' (p. 8.)

"Entertaining a deep and solemn conviction of the duty of protesting against the unfaithful conduct of many of our clergy, who, under the influence of their position, are disseminating the seeds, and promoting the growth, of the Romish Apostacy, of the effects of which in our own family circles, many of us have had bitter experience-assured on unerring testimony that a house divided against itself cannot stand, and that the Tractarian heresy must either be eradicated from our Church, or will ultimately prove its destruction, I approach your Grace with the greater confidence, under the conviction, that no member of our Church entertains a deeper abhorrence of the false and fatal principles of Tractarianism, than does he, who in the good providence of our Heavenly Master, has been called to the highest office within it.

"That your Grace may be long spared to be a guide and example to the Church, and that you may be rightly and divinely directed under all the difficulties and anxieties of your high calling, is the earnest prayer of

My Lord Archbishop,
Your Grace's

Most faithful and obedient servant, CHARLES GIBERNE. "His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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LONDON: J. H. JACKSON, ISLINGTON GREEN.

THE CHRISTIAN GUARDIAN,

AND

CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE.

JULY, 1851.

THE SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

THOSE of our readers who have not visited the British Museum this summer, will, we are sure, thank us for bringing before their notice one of the most interesting sections of our national collection which a thoughtful Christian can examine. We refer to the cases in the Museum library, which, among other literary treasures, contain some exceedingly rare and valuable editions of the Scriptures. The curious volumes here displayed have hitherto been known only to a few favoured sight-seers, or persevering book-worms of the library, but are now placed so that every visitor may see them. The entire library has this year been thrown open, and the treasures of rarity carefully selected, and ranged in glass-cases on each side. We may notice some of the contents of such cases as come within the scope of our magazine.

Entering the room appropriated to the Grenville Library, we observe some of the rarest specimens of the noble art of printing, in its infancy. Here is what is called the Biblia Pauperum, a series of Scripture histories told in rude wood-cuts, sparingly described from Holy Writ; both picJULY-1851.

tures and words cut in wood before the invention of moveable type. It is, in short, a block book; and by the side of it are other volumes of the same class. The Book of Canticles is a very elegant series of designs. Then we have the fine Mazarine Bible, in Latin, supposed to have issued from the press of Gutenberg and Fust, at Mentz, in 1455. It is the earliest printed Bible, and also the earliest printed book with moveable types known: the typography is beautiful. We have also the Mentz Psalter, by Fust and Schoeffer, the first book printed with a date (1457), and the first example of printing in colour. In the next case we have the first Bible with a date,-a Latin Bible printed at Mentz in 1462.

From this room the visitor proceeds to the Manuscript department. In the case on the right hand are autograph letters of Galileo, Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, and the following Reformers,- Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and Knox; also a letter of the notorious Bonner's, partly burnt. In another case are various MSS. in Burmese, Cingalese, &c.; and some

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curious volumes of miniatures and
other paintings in the styles of Persia,
India, &c. Conspicuously, in a case
by itself, is placed a manuscript of
the Bible, containing the Latin text
of the Vulgate, as revised by Alcuin,
probably written in the reign of Char-
les the Bald, King of France, about
the year 840. In the adjoining case
may be seen the celebrated manu-
script of St. Cuthbert's Gospels, writ-
ten and illuminated by Eadfrith, Bi-
shop of Lindisfarne, 698-720. The
Latin text is accompanied by an
Anglo-Saxon gloss, added in the tenth
century. Here is also a volume of
the Codex Alexandrinus, containing
the Greek Septuagint version of the
Scriptures; one of the earliest copies
known to exist, and probably written
at the beginning of the fifth century.
It was presented to Charles I. by
Cyril, patriarch of Constantinople.
In the other half of the case which
contains these two treasures, are
some volumes in elaborate bindings.
Among the rarities here displayed,
is the Treatise by Martin Bucer,
De Regno Christi, in the hand-writing
of the author, and presented by him
to Edward VI. There are, also, a
volume of Texts of Scripture in proof
of the doctrine of justification by
faith, collected and written by Ed-
ward VI., with a dedicatory epistle to
his uncle, the Duke of Somerset; a
Book of Hours believed to have been
used by Lady Jane Grey on the scaf-
fold, and containing some notes in
her hand-writing; a manuscript of the
Latin Gospels, of the eighth or ninth
century, in the ancient binding, co-
vered with plates of silver set with
gems; and the Latin Psalter, with
miniatures prefixed, written in the
twelfth century for Melissenda, Queen
of Jerusalem, and still presenting the

original carved covers, executed by a Greek artist named Herodius. In the last case in this department are some volumes of larger size,-one of them a manuscript containing the History of the Old and New Testaments, represented in miniatures, with explanatory texts; executed in France in the thirteenth century. Besides these large volumes, are two or three rich copies of Hours of the Virgin.

Passing into the King's Library, we find, among other printed books, the first Hebrew Bible, by Abraham Colorito, Soncino, 1488; the first Hebrew Pentateuch, also printed by Colorito, Bologna, 1482; and the first Greek Lexicon, about 1478, most probably at Milan.

From this noble room, proceeding through the Banksian Library, we enter the general Library of the Museum.

Here is a case containing

volumes of the deepest interest. The following may be mentioned :—1. The first Reformed Prayer-book of Edward VI., 1549.-4. The Reformed Prayerbook of Queen Elizabeth, 1559.— 6. A Primer and Catechism in the Irish language, 1571, being the first book printed in the Irish character.— 7. The Bible translated out of Douche and Latyn into Englishe; supposed to have been printed at Zurich; 1535. This Bible, commonly called Coverdale's Bible, is the first complete edition of the Scriptures in English.— 8. The Bible translated by John Rogers, 1537, printed on straw-coloured paper.-12. A fragment of the first edition of Tyndale's translation of the New Testament, forming the earliest specimen of a printed version of the Scriptures in English: the date is 1525.-19. The Great Bible, 1539.-20. Another edition of the Great Bible, revised by Cranmer, 1540.-21. The

REAL PROSPERITY.

first edition of the authorized version of the Scriptures now in use, 1611. In the same room are exhibited many other rarities, including an extraordinary series of books printed by Caxton, the finest and completest possessed by any library. Here also

is the Polyglot Bible, printed by Plantyn, of Antwerp, and remarkable as being the copy presented to the Duke of Alva by order of Philip II. of Spain. A German Bible may likewise be seen, with the autograph of Luther upon it: the same copy passed after wards into the possession of Melancthon, who has written a long note within it. A curious map of Cambridge in 1574 may be mentioned; and among the varied specimens of bookbinding of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we may enumerate, for the sake of the contents, the following :—1. The Gospels in AngloSaxon and English, 1571, a presenta tion copy from John Foxe, the editor, to Queen Elizabeth.-19. The Bible;

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Cambridge, 1674; bound in embroidered velvet for King James II.20. Parker, De Antiquitate Britannica Ecclesiæ, 1572; privately printed; a presentation copy to Queen Eliza beth.

From this brief notice the reader will see that the best thanks of the public have been well earned by the library authorities, who have so zealously placed within the reach of the ordinary visitor such a variety of choice and curious articles. We have noticed but a part of the curiosities thus newly exhibited: there are others well deserving both mention and inspection. We can truly say that our visit to the library has tended to make us more deeply thankful to Him who has not only given to man the revelation of His will, but has graciously watched over its preservation, and, by means of the art of printing, and of the Reformation, has blessed us with an open Bible.

L.

Divinity.

REAL PROSPERITY.

THE words of God are true: there is not a single sentence of God's word that will not be found essentially true; and the more we took into any assertion of the word of God, the more fully shall we be satisfied that this is the case, and that every such assertion so made contains in it a very valuable lesson. Such is the case here. In Psalm i. David describes a man who "walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful;" and he pronounces him to be blessed. And certainly

many would be prepared to admit, that he who so entirely separates himself from the evil ways of men, as not only, not to sit down and settle himself in the scorner's seat, not only to avoid all lingering about the paths of unholy men, but actually not walk even according to wicked counsel, that such an one is blessed and happy. So far most men of common sense and moral feeling would agree. But subsequently David says of this man, "Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." And here many would be disposed to doubt, What! in this world of

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