I cannot agree with Mr. Terrot, that the "being dead unto sin,” in the 11th verse of chap. vi. refers to the baptismal death. "Therefore (ver. 4.) we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Should walk in newness of life; that is our duty, which the rite of baptism in one part of it typified. Verse 11: "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin;" consider, ye have in baptism professed to be so. Verse 12: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body;" walk according to your profession in baptism. I should rather say the words refer to an actual death unto sin in the habitual practice of a holy life, than to the baptismal death. Mr. Terrot, on chap. vi. 3, states, that "we have been baptized into his death," means to profess an imitation of his death for sin, by our death to sin. The being dead, indeed, unto sin, in ver. 11, seems the putting of this profession into actual practice.

I differ from Mr. Terrot in his construction of verses 4 and 6, ch.vii. Verse 4. is, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ :"-it is not said, by baptism, but by the body of Christ. The law, in every sense in which it is dead or abrogated, is so through Christ. Baptism represents a death unto sin, not the abrogation of the law. The law is not dead by being merged in baptism, but by being nailed to the cross of Christ. Col. ii. 14. Verse 6, in the received translation is, "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held." Mr. Terrot renders it, "being delivered from the law by dying"-by dying in baptism. The words, "that being dead," according to the common Greek version, refer to the law; vóμov dτоlavóvтos. Mr. Terrot approves of dro¤avóvτes, and this is the reading of several editors. The reading in this case is, "being dead (to that, understood), in which," &c. But the common reading is much more agreeable to the simile between the authority of the law and the authority of the husband. The wife is freed, by the death of the husband; so the man by the death of the law. The wife is not freed by her own death, so as to be at liberty to unite herself to another husband; so not the man by his death, but by the abrogation of the law under which he was held. U. Y.

As we have already communicated to the public our views of Mr. Terrot's work, we are by no means obliged to retrace that ground. But as our correspondent has chosen to attack our criticism, we shall not shrink from the defensive. That part of his letter which refers not to us we leave in the hands of Mr. Terrot himself.

We had said in our review, "it is plain matter of fact, that Christ has not delivered us from temporal death." This our correspondent denies. It is evident that this disagreement proceeds from a dissimilar use of the phrase "temporal death;" as, if our correspondent had used it in our sense, he would have entertained no doubt of our proposition. "It is appointed unto all men once TO DIE." This is all we meant when we made the affirmation which U. Y, so vehe

mently and so elaborately combats. And this is not only the assertion of Scripture, but of history and of experience.

What U. Y. means by "temporal death," we cannot easily discover; but he seems to think it can scarcely co-exist with a resurrection from the dead. We, for our part, if there were no resurrection from the dead, should rather consider death as eternal than as temporal. U. Y. also calls a resurrection of the body from the dead " temporal life;" which our Lord calls "eternal life."

We conceive, therefore, that it is not ourselves who are to be censured for a false assertion, but U. Y. for perversion of language. We must, therefore, take the liberty to inform him, that the word temporal has reference to time, and not to matter, as he appears to conceive. We are agreed with him, that Christ has ultimately delivered us from death, both of body and soul; and he will readily agree with us, that the penalty of temporal death, properly so called, has not been remitted; but that dust we are, and unto dust we shall return.

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE.

Bristol, Dec. 1829.

MR. EDITOR,-It must be productive of great satisfaction and joy to the friends of our venerable Church, and to the admirers of ecclesiastical architecture, to perceive a very manifest and considerable improvement taking place in the attention paid to those monuments of the taste and pious munificence of our forefathers-our parish churches, which have suffered so much through an unworthy parsimony. Under this impression, and being of opinion that so good a work may be promoted by giving, through your valuable pages, extended circulation to what has been effected in this way in various parts of the kingdom, it appears to me that the tribute of respect paid in the following remarks to the parties alluded to is not more than they deserve, and will contribute to that end.

I

The preservers or restorers of sacred architecture certainly have a claim to our warmest gratitude: and I feel assured that it is not more just than it is politic to make public and honourable mention of their good deeds, and to hold them up for the imitation of future times. am therefore induced to lay before your readers a short notice of some improvements which have taken place in the immediate neighbourhood of this large city; and, among many other instances which might be named, it gives me pleasure to bring forward the improved state of the parish churches of Portbury, Tickenham, and Portishead, in the diocese of Bath and Wells. In the two former parishes, the inhabitants have received the kind assistance of James Adam Gordon, Esq. of Naish House; and in the latter parish, now coming considerably into notice, the parishioners have been aided by the very ample and munificent benefactions of the corporation of this city, who have given every support to the restorations lately adopted in its beautiful church, and have displayed a most praiseworthy example in their desire to provide accommodation, in this and other churches situated on their property, for the benefit of the increasing popu

lation more immediately connected with them. The repairs of the church at Portishead have also been considerably assisted by the liberality of the above-mentioned James Adam Gordon, Esq. the Lord of the Manor of that parish, as well as of Portbury; a gentleman of great taste and classical attainments, eminently skilled in the early English architecture; a most generous promoter of every judicious plan for the restorations of the ecclesiastical beauties of the churches with which he is connected, and who, in addition to the other services he has rendered, recently presented to that church a finetoned organ, built by a first-rate London artist. This church contains also two oak chairs of peculiar beauty, well worthy the attention of the antiquary, formed at the expense of the Rev. John Noble Shipton, B. D. of Balliol College, Oxford, who has been many years resident in that parish, and a great benefactor to its church, from the materials of the elegantly carved skreen which once separated the church from the chancel, the production of an age long since passed away, but which was taken down and thrown by as lumber upwards of half a century ago. These have lately been presented to the Church, no expense having been spared in their formation, and are placed on each side of the altar.

The venerable buildings above described are well worthy the inspection of every admirer of ecclesiastical architecture: may they long remain the ornaments of the county in which they are situated, a county eminently distinguished by the elegance and beauty of its sacred edifices; and it is to be hoped that they will never want those who have the ability and the will to come forward in their behalf. Be it remembered also that the zeal shewn on such occasions will ever be creditable to the parties concerned, and highly advantageous to the community. Most sincerely is it to be wished that we had many more such friends as those alluded to; but we will hope the number is increasing; at least it is certain, that in the present day there are appearances of a revival of church architecture, and that our times have displayed some bright examples of liberality in this way.

B. C.

SURNAMES OF BISHOPS.

MR. EDITOR, -Allow me, through the medium of your pages, to suggest the propriety of specifying the surnames of the Bishops of our church in the title-pages of their works..

The practice of designating them merely by their Christian names, with the names of their dioceses, is attended with great inconvenience to most persons. And I cannot see that even the Clergy are bound always to know who is bishop of every diocese, even at the present time, much less who was bishop a hundred, fifty, or even five years ago. Yet we have not only Charges, and other works, now published for the first time with this sort of title (as, for instance, "Some Account of the Writings and Opinions of Justin Martyr, by John, Bishop of Lincoln"), but repeated editions of old works in the same way (as, for instance, "An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles,

by Gilbert, Bishop of Sarum," and "An Exposition on the Creed, by John, Lord Bishop of Chester"), without any intimation who the authors were, or when they lived.

I have now before me Jones on the Canon of the New Testament, in the Index to which, under the letter C, I find, "Canterbury, present Archbishop of, denominates, "&c. The book was printed in 1798, without a hint that it had ever appeared before. (Archbishop Wake, the prelate referred to, died, I believe, before 1740.)

I venture to suggest the propriety of departing from a custom which gives needless trouble to most persons, at the same time that it savours somewhat of affectation.

MR. EDITOR,-I beg to offer to you the following observations, in explanation of that obscure and much canvassed text, Mark ix. 49— "For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt."

The first point to be considered in every obscure passage of Scripture is, how would it be understood by those to whom it was addressed? Now, here, our Lord was speaking to Jews, and makes use of an illustration taken from a well-known ordinance of their ceremonial law, Levit. ii. 13-" Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt." It is a well-known and remarkable fact, that the same custom was practised by heathen nations, of salting every offering of flesh before it was consumed on the altar, Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxi. 7. "Maxime in sacris intelligitur autoritas quando nulla conficiuntur sine mola salsa." Hor. Od. iii. 23, 20, Sat. ii. 3. Now, this custom was, no doubt, intended to imply, that nothing was fit to be offered to God until it had undergone a previous process of purification. For it is certain, that a notion commonly prevailed, (whether derived from this custom, or whether the custom itself were founded on the older established opinion) that salt was emblematical of purity and holiness. And therefore, by salting the sacrifices, it was understood that they were purified. This, Maimonides says, was the purpose for which salt was necessary; and he gives us the opinion prevalent amongst the Jews. The disciples, therefore, would naturally understand the metaphor of "being salted," especially, when spoken in reference to sacrifices, to mean "being purified." And with regard to the expression of being salted by fire, we know how commonly the writers of the New Testament use the metaphor of a fire, to express the severe trials and persecutions by which the faith of the early Christians was proved and purified. 1 Cor. iii. 13-15; 1 Pet. iv. 12; ibid. i. 7; Jude v. 23.* So that the disciples

* Ignatius, v. 28, says that tribulation is necessary for the children of God. Ατ igniti, apti sint ad convivium regis." Theophylact, quoting the passage of St. Mark, πῶς γὰρ πυρὶ ἁλισθήσεται, interprets it πᾶς τις ΔΟΚΙΜΑΣΘΗΣΕΤΑΙ.

would understand the whole expression to mean,-" Every one shall be tried and purified in the fiery trial of temptation, before he can be presented unto God, as perfect in Christ Jesus, as every burnt sacrifice under the law is purified with salt before it is offered on the altar to God."

Let us now see how this is connected with our Lord's foregoing observations. The conversation arose from a circumstance recorded in the thirty-third verse, (which should be borne in mind during the whole of the remaining part of the chapter,) namely, a dispute amongst the disciples, "which of them should be the greatest," in the expected kingdom of their Lord. Our Saviour evidently designs to check their ambitious and selfish desires, and to give them juster notions of what they would be called to as his disciples. "He set a child in the midst," as an example of docility and simple-mindedness, v. 36. He checked the jealous spirit of John, which had led him to forbid one whom he had seen casting out devils in his Master's name, v. 38. And then he went on to teach them, v. 43, that in His kingdom, so far from being at liberty to contend for worldly preeminence, they must hold themselves in readiness to give up every worldly possession if their duty to him required the sacrifice; that if any thing as valuable as a hand, or a foot, or an eye, were a cause of offence to them, they must "cut it off, and cast it from them;" because it would be better to make any sacrifice, than to be cast into hell, "where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched," v. 48. And then follows the passage in question, which, in the sense that I have put upon it, keeps up the connexion of the discourse, and is prophetical of the severe trials to which the sincerity and constancy of the first believers would be put, before they should be counted worthy to enter upon their reward. Perhaps it may be considered as bearing reference more immediately to the Apostles, as preachers of the Gospel, in which character our Lord seems to be speaking of them in v. 42; and to which he again alludes in v. 50. And we may

continue the paraphrase thus: "Salt is good, but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith will ye season it?"-I send you to purify and save mankind; see then the necessity of being yourselves pure and holy, in principle and conduct; for if you, who are to preach the Gospel to others, be yourselves corrupted by carnal motives, and distracted by selfish disputes, how mischievous will be the result, both to yourselves, and to the cause you serve! Therefore, salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another;" have the seasoning grace of true religious principle, and labour to convert the world in mutual concord, and unite with one another.

"have

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

* See our Number for February, 1829, p. 118.

G. B.