Now, Sir, if the plain grammatical sense of Scripture in the statement of a simple fact, has any weight, we must conclude from the first three verses of the thirteenth of Acts, that up to the ordination there mentioned, Paul was not acknowledged as an Apostle, but only as a prophet or a teacher (v. 1). Prophets and teachers were, we know, ecclesiastical officers, inferior to Apostles (Eph. iv. 11). Would any one acquainted with the constitution of the Church of England say, "there are in London certain priests and deacons, as Mr. Wilson, Mr. Johnson, and Dr. Blomfield?""

But, says the Reviewer, "according to this representation, Paul had no better right to style himself an Apostle than Barnabas had." Certainly he had none whatever; and consequently we find St. Luke always placing them on a footing of equality. For instance, we read in Acts xiv. 14,-" Which when the Apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of." Barnabas then was an Apostle, constituted such by the ordination mentioned in Acts xiii. 3: and why must I believe that the same act which conferred apostleship on Barnabas, was totally needless and totally ineffective in the case of Paul? In 1 Cor. ix. 1, 2, the Apostle merely asserts his apostleship, and says not one word about the origin of it: had the Reviewer however read on to the sixth verse, he would have found Barnabas ranked with the other Apostles. But I will not take up your pages and the time of your readers, by proving what must be perfectly clear to every attentive and impartial student of the Acts of the Apostles.

C. H. T.

ARCHDEACON WRANGHAM AND THE REV. G. S. FABER. MR. EDITOR,-It is with the most entire deference for the vastly superior learning of these eminent theologians that I venture to suggest, what both, I conceive, will, on consideration, readily admit, that they must have been deceived about the word dzоørárns.

It is true that the characters, in modern printed books, stands both for the two letters or, and for the number 6. But why, it may be asked, should or designate 6? And to this question no satisfactory answer has been returned. Bishop Marsh, in his Hora Pelasgicæ, (and the shelter of his great name is no small consolation to one who has presumed to controvert the venerable authorities of Archdeacon Wrangham and Mr. Faber,) has shewn that the is no other than a corruption of the C, the old digamma, which was, like the Hebrew 1, the SIXTH letter of the alphabet, and which, though disused as a letter by the Greeks, was retained by them in its numerical power. This simple solution of a very substantial difficulty takes all right from the letters or to be considered as composing the number 6.

It is surprising how many applicable words form exactly the apocalyptical number. Does not this uncertainty point to some different principle of interpretation? and is it not worth considering whether that principle has been indicated by Mr. Croly?

I am, Sir, your very obedient servant,

HENRY THOMPSON.

Rectory, Wrington, July 9, 1829.

AN APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE POOR CHURCHES IN THE DIOCESE OF SODOR AND MANN.

Ar a period when "the glad tidings of salvation," are proclaimed from shore to shore, it is deeply to be lamented that any of the subjects of our gracious Sovereign should be destitute of the benefits of public worship, and the means of religious instruction. Yet such is the condition of a large proportion of the poor in the Isle of Mann. The population of the Island has of late years increased considerably, and the number of the poor has increased in an equal proportion, whilst the Churches within the Diocese are quite inadequate to the accommodation of such augmented numbers.

The population of the island is not less than 50,000 souls, and the existing churches do not afford room for more than about 9,000. In the town of Douglas alone, where the total number of inhabitants amounts to about 7,000, and where the churches can accommodate but about 1,300, there are no free seats, and 4,000 of the poorer classes, who are professed members of the Church of England, are excluded, by the want of accommodation within her walls, from joining in her service. The same deficiency of means exists in several other parishes of the Island. And it is to be peculiarly lamented, that in a diocese where a Barrow, a Wilson, and a Hildesley (Prelates whose names deserve to be held in everlasting remembrance), laboured to sow the good seed of Christianity, the efforts of such distinguished men should be thus rendered comparatively unavailing.

The inhabitants of this little island, though blessed by a kind Providence with various advantages, yet labour under many privations. They enjoy few of the benefits of commerce and manufactures. They have little access to the sources of national wealth and prosperity; and few of them possess any other riches than the riches of contentment. They are consequently much circumscribed in their means, and obviously unable of themselves to meet the great spiritual exigencies of the diocese.

Under these circumstances, the Bishop of Sodor and Mann has recently applied to the Commissioners for Building, and the Society for the Enlargement of Churches, but the Isle of Mann was found to be neither within the rules of the former, nor the Charter of the latter.

An appeal, therefore, to public liberality, is the last and only resource of the inhabitants of this little Island; and they are induced to make it with the greater confidence, from recollecting the generosity of the British nation towards their ancestors, when they had not, as their descendants now have, a sort of family claim on the affectionate regards of the people of England, by being recently more closely united under the same gracious Sovereign. They appeal to their wealthier neighbours of the United Kingdom in behalf of many thousands of their poor brethren, who desire to join with them in the same Liturgy, to imbibe the same doctrines, and to participate in the same communion. Their object is Christian unity, and their appeal is to Christian charity.

The preceding appeal we are sure will be met by the friends of the Church with their wonted liberality. Among the names of the

Subscribers we observe with pleasure those of the two Archbishops, the Bishop of Sodor and Mann, Viscount Goderich, Mr. J. S. Harford, and Mr. Lawrence, for 100l. each; besides the Bishops of London, (501) Salisbury, Lichfield, and Llandaff, 201. each, and several other highly respectable individuals, whose names we have not room to specify.

Subscriptions, in furtherance of the object of this Appeal, will be received at Messrs. Hammersley & Co.'s, Pall Mall; Rivington's, St. Paul's Church-Yard, and Waterloo-Place; Hatchard's, Piccadilly; Seeley's, Fleet Street; Nisbet's, Berners Street; Mr H. C. Christian, 10, Strand; and by the Rev. H. Stowell, Salopian Hotel, Charing Cross.

PRO-POPERY SOPHISTRY.

MR. EDITOR,-The Popish sophism which I at present intend to combat is one put forth by the Protestant Dr. Chalmers. "Give me the Bible," says that divine, " and I will overturn Popery by the single strength of it."

"Give me THE BIBLE!" Yes, give-not the profound and eloquent Chalmers, but a simple child,-THE BIBLE, and, as a matter of argument, he may overturn Popery easily enough. The Bible, certainly, is the most formidable among the foes of the spiritual Babylon; the foe whom she has always laboured the most sedulously to suppress, the foe who has achieved her most signal defeats,-the Cyrus, before whom, in the great and terrible day of the Lord, the loins of kings shall be loosened, and the two-leaved gates opened. But against what argument is the sophism directed? Who ever affirmed that there was any probability of Popery prevailing against Scripture by the power of reason? No:

"I wish the cause were on that issue tried."

The dangers we fear are from godless men, to whom the Bible, as a spiritual rule, is a sealed book, and who know no principle of action but self-interest and personal aggrandizement; from Popery in the ascendant, closing its eyes against Scripture light, taking away the key of knowledge, and neither entering, nor suffering others to enter; from politicians, whose argument is the sword and the enactment, and the weapons of whose warfare (unlike the Christian arms) are CARNAL. It is not for our salvation that we fear; our foes, we know, have no power to kill the soul. It is not for the existence of our Church that we fear; she stands upon a rock. But personal persecution, and the overthrow of our Church establishment, we do apprehend from the late measure, and, as we think, with justice and reason. We are told that the scenes of the Marian persecution can never recur. The present sophism cannot tranquillize us on this head. Never was Popery more resolutely opposed by the Bible than at that sanguinary period: never more entirely vanquished by argu

ment; NEVER MORE COMPLETELY VICTORIOUS IN EVERY OTHER POINT

OF VIEW. And if the fashionable cant about improved civilization be added, what is gained? Many of those who have most

zealously urged this point, are men who have eulogized on the score of superior enlightenment, the period of "THE reign of terror!"

No! let us indeed cling to our Bibles, as our impregnable stronghold against the SOPHISTRIES of Popery; and our comfort amidst its secular triumphs! but let us not be deceived into the mad belief that these triumphs are to be averted or mitigated by yielding every security which God has placed in our hands, and throwing ourselves from the pinnacle of the temple, by trusting to promises which are contingent upon the use of the means which we disregard. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!"

A CATHOLIC OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

THE NECESSITY OF UNITY IN THE CHURCH.

MR. EDITOR,-The many anxious thoughts which arise at the present moment, in every reflecting mind, attached to the Protestant religion in general, and the Church of England in particular, will very reasonably seek relief in your publication.

If those, who preside over the Establishment peruse your pages, it is desirable that they should see the sentiments of the Clergy expressed in them with plainness, candour, and truth. It may be supposed that the following questions are not suggested by one person only, but by many; since they naturally spring from the extraordinary and anomalous state in which we are unhappily placed. Without further proem then, it may be asked, Whether such discord ever prevailed in any community, as now prevails in the religious opinions of the members which constitute an ecclesiastical body, with any hope of its permanency and stability? And whether the dangers to which it is exposed are not increased by the undivided, unchangeable, and absolute authority of that church, whose influence and power are now admitted into the councils and legislative assemblies of these realms? Whether, again, such dangers are not still more aggravated by the union of sects (dissenting from it) in one general co-operation, tending to the destruction of its very existence? An affirmative answer to these inquiries will lead to one or other of these inferences: either that we must despair of the peace and security of our church, or that we must adopt seasonable measures to maintain it inviolate. All, no doubt, are most deeply interested in the latter result: accountable to the Divine Author of that truth, which is promulgated by our ministry, for a watchful and zealous defence of it and accountable to the people, who are committed to their charge, for a conscientious performance of their duty, in teaching, and exhorting, and administering the word and sacraments to their edification.

But the inferior orders look to the superior for support, encouragement, and example. When the shepherds do not superintend the fold, the flock will be scattered: when the watchmen either leave ther post, or disagree about the means of keeping guard, the walls of our Jerusalem will lie open to assault. May we humbly hope that such obvious considerations will have their weight with

those to whom our safety is confided! What serious mischief (God grant it be not irreparable!) has been inflicted on our church by the divers opinions of its rulers, in regard to the Roman Catholic Question, no one can have overlooked. That was a convulsion in the religious world, like an earthquake in the natural :--fundamenta quatit. But there are other causes of distraction which rend asunder the bonds of unity and peace. We tread here indeed on tender ground: we step with trembling feet, as we approach those limits of debatable territory, in which we mingle with friends or enemies, and can scarcely distinguish the one from the other. But truth requires plainness of speech, and those who love the truth will not shrink from it. Let us then calmly and amicably deliberate on the course we should take, and with all deference entreat our diocesans to go before us in the way that we ought, with deference to their authority, and obedience to a far higher authority, to choose and

pursue.

It is matter of deep and momentous concern, that many of the Clergy are agitated by very distressing doubts, with regard to their decision on subjects about which their ecclesiastical superiors disagree. They are most anxious, with one heart and one mind, to concur in the most salutary, pious, and prudent designs of the wise and good, to whom they owe canonical obedience and cordial respect. But, in different dioceses they find different principles, or, at least, opinions espoused, and different lines of conduct distinctively approved. It is painful and invidious to particularize instances of this. Let those who have observed passing events, apply the objection now suggested to the various expressions of approbation or disapprobation, which are connected with the diffusion or restriction of religious societies, under the influence of different Bishops. It is a fact that cannot be disguised, and occasions regrets which it is difficult to suppress: it is attended with consequences, which have never ceased to flow from such a source:--" Discordia res maximæ dilabuntur." Would that this were well and timely considered by those, from whom the remedy must proceed! Would that the overseers of God's household might so direct the ministers and stewards, who look up to them for advice and counsel, that they should all walk together in the same path, as they are to be led by the same Spirit-the spirit of truth, and unity, and concord! If they do not agree in such advice, as it behoves all the Clergy to adopt, what but dissension can ensue amongst their more humble brethren? The discussion of this subject may be thought a bold and intrusive step into the seat of church-government ; but it is taken by one whom age and meditation on so grave a matter, have rather impelled than checked in his advance; one, to whom the cause of religion is as dear as it is venerable; and the Church of England more especially an object of attachment, strengthened by experience, and confirmed by principle. If he speaks boldly, yet he speaks respectfully: and, with a fearful anticipation of a coming storm, he conjures the friends and advocates, the Bishops and Curates, of our Apostolic Church, to prepare for its approach, and provide against its assaults, by combining together, with one consent, in the propagation and promotion of the true Protestant faith, as it is