the tyme whanne thou woldist die & evy (every) poynt of thi passioun was doon at thi ordinaunce. & I bileeve Lord that thou leftist thi soule whanne thou woldist & whanne thou woldist thou tookit it ayen. Now here, swete Jesu, I beseche thee graunt me grace to profre me to thee with hool wil in sorowe of herte for my synnes, & criynge merci in wil to amende me. in schrift to thee and penaunce for my synnes. in contynuaunce of good lyvynge. in hool love to thee that madist me. & grante me to turn to thee in often schrifte. in ech tribulacioun. in ech temptacioun of man, fleisch, world or enemy & graunte me grace that ech thougt of me word or werk schewe that I am turned to thee & yeve me grace fayn to turne to thi dedis with ful wil that thou hast ordeyned for me. swete Lord I beseche thee thou heere my praier. (Then follows a Latin prayer.)

These classes of nouns afford a good deal of curious matter for reflexion. The language seems to have been in a tentative state in Gower's time. The writers were trying forms, some of which have been since rejected. Thus, we have not gladship, unkindship, &c., but use the termination in ness, which was used in Gower's time, but had not been tried with these words. Then, again, we have ment tried with certain words, a still more Latin form of which (so to speak) has since been introduced, as in the case of accusement, for which we have now accusation, a form which was well established in Gower's time, as the above examples shew, but not in this word.

SACRED POETRY.

Hymnus, in Nativitate S. Joannis Baptistæ, ad Laudes et ad Vesperas, dicendus.

TYRE of the West, and glorying in the name
More than in Faith's pure fame!
O trust not crafty fort nor rock renowned
Earned upon hostile ground;

Wielding Trade's master-keys, at thy proud will
To lock or loose its waters, England! trust not still.

Dread thine own power! since haughty Babel's prime
High towers have been man's crime.

Since her hoar age, when the huge moat lay bare,
Strong holds have been man's snare.

Thy nest is in the crags; ah! refuge frail!
Mad counsel in its hour, or traitors will prevail.

VOL. IV.-Sept. 1833.

2 M

He who scanned Sodom for his righteous men,
Still spares thee for thy ten.

But, should vain hands pollute the Temple wall,
More than His church will fall;

For, as Earth's kings welcome their spotless guest,
So gives He them by turn, to suffer or be blest.

(2.) UZZAH AND OBEDEDOM.

THE ark of God has hidden strength;
Who reverence or profane,

They, or their seed, shall find at length
The penalty or gain.

While, as a sojourner, it sought
Of old its destined place,

A blessing on the home it brought
Of one who did it grace.

But there was one, outstripping all
The holy-vestured band,

Who laid on it, to save its fall,

A rude corrective hand.

Read, who the church would cleanse; and mark,

How stern the warning runs :

There are two ways to aid His ark,

As patrons and as sons.

(3.) THE BEASTS OF EPHESUS.

How long, O Lord of grace!
Must languish thy true race,

In a forced friendship linked with Belial here;
With Mammon's brand of care,

And Baal pleading fair,

And the dog-breed who at thy Temple jeer?

How long, O Lord, how long

Shall Cæsar do us wrong,

Laid but as steps to throne his mortal power?
While e'en our angels stand

With helpless voice and hand,

Scorned by proud Haman, in his triumph-hour.

"Tis said our Seers discern

The destined bickerings stern,

In the dim distance, of thy fiery train.
O nerve us in that woe!

For, where thy wheels shall go,

We must be tried, the while our foes are slain.

(4.) ST. PAUL IN PRISON.

O comrade bold of toil and pain!
Thy trial how severe,

When severed first by prisoner's chain

From thy loved labour-sphere!

Say did impatience first impel

The heaven-sent bond to break?
Or couldst thou bear its hindrance well,
Loitering for Jesus' sake?

O might we know! for sore we feel
The languor of delay,

When sickness lets our fainter zeal,
Or foes block up our way.

Lord! who thy thousand years dost wait
To work the thousandth part

Of thy vast plan, for us create
With zeal a patient heart!

(5.) ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΜΙΣΗΤΟΥ ΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ.

"The Powers that be are ordained of God."

Yes, mark the words; deem not that saints alone
Are Heaven's true servants, and His laws fulfil
Who rules o'er just and wicked. He from ill
Culls good, He moulds the Egyptian's heart of stone
To do him honour, and e'en Nero's* throne

Claims as His ordinance; before Him still
Pride bows unconscious, and the rebel will
Most does His bidding, following most its own.

Then grieve not at their high and palmy state
Those proud bad men whose unrelenting sway
Has shattered holiest things, and led astray

Christ's little ones: they are but tools of Fate,
Duped rebels, doomed to serve a POWER they hate,
To earn a traitor's guerdon, yet obey.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Editor begs to remind his readers that he is not responsible for the opinions
of his Correspondents.

TRAVELS OF AN IRISH GENTLEMAN IN SEARCH OF A RELIGION.

ERRATA IN LAST LETTER.

P. 155, line 14 from bottom, for any, read every; line 2 from bottom, for head, read Lord. P. 156, line 6 from bottom, for Tertullian, read Irenæus. P. 157, line 8 from bottom, for notion, read nature. P. 158, line 23, for Amatus, read Anicetus; line 5 from bottom, after heretic, insert named Florinus. P. 160, line 12, for with, read and. P. 161, line 5, for indiscreet, read indecent.

MR. EDITOR,-Having shewn that the Romish tenets and practices which our Traveller has discovered in the first two centuries, with the exception of two-the practice of making the sign of the cross, and that of praying for the dead-exist only in his own imagination, and not in the writings of the fathers, to whose authority he appeals, I

Rom. xiii. 1-8.

might decline altogether the task of examining the selections which he has made from the works of the fathers of the third and fourth centuries. A doctrine, of which no notice whatever can be found prior to the third century, cannot be regarded as a part of the apostolic tradition. The most important, or rather essential links of the chain are wanting, those which connect it immediately with the chosen and inspired interpreters of the mind of Christ. Feeling however that partiality for Cyprian which our Traveller ascribes to all good Protestants, and seeing him also summoned to bear testimony to certain Romish tenets, I could not refrain from inquiring, how it happened, that he, whom I had always considered a steady ally of the Protestant cause, was now ranged on the side of its enemies; and I proceed to present you with the result of my inquiries.

Cyprian says, that, if we turn to the source of Divine tradition, error (in the original, human error, error humanus) ceases. Our Traveller quotes this passage as a testimony in behalf of unwritten tradition. Had he extended his quotation, he would have found, that it was a testimony in favor of written tradition. For Cyprian proceeds"This the priests of God ought to do in the present instance, (in deciding on the validity of heretical baptism,) observing the Divine precepts; so that if the truth has been shaken in any respect, we may recur to the source-the word and the gospel-and to the apostolic tradition; and thus the reason of our procedure may thence take its rise, whence the succession and source arose. For it has been delivered to us, &c.'"+ Then follow quotations from the epistle to the Ephesians, and the first epistle of Peter. According to Cyprian, therefore, the tradition of the apostles was contained in their written epistles.

Our Traveller next quotes Cyprian in support of the primacy of the successors of St. Peter. The quotation is from the tract de Unitate Ecclesiæ, and is as follows-"Nevertheless, that he (Christ) might clearly establish unity, he formed one See, and by his authority fixed the origin of the same unity, by beginning from one. The other apostles were accordingly, like Peter, invested with an equal participation of honour and power; but the beginning is built on unity. The primacy is given to Peter, that there might be exhibited one church of Christ, and one See." Here I must ask our Traveller, whether he knows that this is one of the passages in which the Roman Catholics were long since charged by James, the learned keeper of the Bodleian Library, with corrupting the text of Cyprian. If he does not, I refer him to James's work, or to the notes on the passage in Fell's edition. If he does, I am at a loss for terms with which adequately to describe the disingenuousness of his proceeding. The passage, as it stands in all the best manuscripts, and all the early editions, is as

Our Traveller refers to epistle Ixiii.; but the epistle from which the quotation is made is numbered lxxiv. in the editions both of Pamelius and Fell.

"Quod et nunc facere oportet Dei sacerdotes præcepta divina servantes, ut si in aliquo nutaverit et vacillaverit veritas, ad originem Dominicam et Evangelicam, et Apostolicam traditionem revertamur; et inde surgat actûs nostri ratio unde et ordo et origo surrexit. Traditum est enim vobis quod si unus Deus et Christus unus, &c. from Eph. iv. 5.