shew of hands was then had, and a poll demanded, which was granted and concluded in about two hours, when there appeared for the rate 87, against it 63; majority for the rate 24. The leader of the opposition was then asked by the the chairman if he required a scrutiny; but he declined, stating that he was satisfied with the votes as they stood; however, the churchwardens compared the list of voters, and found that 11 persons had voted against the rate who had not paid the poor-rate after it had been demanded; consequently the real majority in favour of the church rate would be 35.- Leeds Intelligencer. SCOTLAND. DONATION TO THE GLASGOW BIBLE SOCIETY.-There were sent a few days ago, to the address of the Rev. Mr. Willis, secretary, an elegant gold chain, with three valuable gold Portuguese coins, which the anonymous donor desired should be consecrated (when converted into English money) to the service of the Glasgow Bible Society. INCREASE OF CHURCHES IN SCOTLAND.A Glasgow merchant has given 2,000 guineas as a subscription for 100 churches that should be built in connexion with the Church of Scotland Extension Committee. The munificent individual is Mr. Wm. Campbell.-Watchman. IRELAND. MONDAY, COURT OF EXCHEQUER JUNE 20.-Final decrees were granted by the Court, without opposition, to thirtythree tithe causes. Baron Pennefather observed, that the defendants in these causes must be very patriotic. On looking over the list he saw the names of several who were well able to pay, and it astonished him not a little that they would incur so much expense. POPISH CATHEDRALS AND PROTESTANT CHURCHES.- The Directors of the National Bank, per Mr. O'Connell, have given 30l. to Doctor M'Hale, towards completing the large chapel at Tuam. Lieutenant Drummond, the secretary at Dublin Castle, and Lord Morpeth, have subscribed 51. each for the same purpose." -Dublin Evening Mail. SACRILEGE.-On Monday night, June 13, some miscreants entered the church of Bromerville, Tralee, by breaking the glass and framing of the east window, and plundered the communion table of its cloth covering. Several indecencies committed in the church mark a deeper and more detestable spirit in the wretches engaged in this transaction, and the main object must have been an insult to the place, and the worship to which it is dedicated.-Ib. MR. O'CONNELL'S MIS-STATEMENTS.~ Mr. O'Connell has published a letter addressed to the people of England, in which he "states the case" between himself and his protestant rector as follows: The rector of this parish is the Rev. Mr. Longfield. He has been rector for the last ten or twelve years: I believe he has not been as many days in the parish. I never saw him; and the only service he ever did me, was leaving his usual residence at Bath or Cheltenham, and coming to an election at Kerry for the purpose of voting against me-that is all. His composition for tithes out of the parish amounts to 500l. per annum, or thereabouts, and he has also three or four glebes.' The following reply has been given by Mr. Longfield, in a letter to the editor of the Cork Constitution":— "I have seen in your paper a letter to the people of England, in which my name is introduced. If it were addressed to the people of Ireland I should not take the trouble of contradicting the false assertions in it, which the writer calls facts, as his facts are too well known in this country; but in this (as I state it) apology for not paying his debts to me, though, as I could prove, he has paid other clergymen when it was his interest, there is hardly one fact, except, indeed, it may be true that he will not pay me.... As to my residing at Bath or Cheltenham, I never spent a day in either, but have resided in another parish, and have officiated without a curate for thirtyeight years, and never spent as much as one month out of it. So much for this fact; and as to the tithe composition in Mr. O'Connell's parish being 500l., it is little more than half that sum, being but 2581......As to the number of days I spent in the parish, he knows nothing; but when I got the parish, there was neither church, clergyman, nor glebe house in it. Now there are all three. As to the globes, there is one, for which I pay annually Sol. for 20 bad acres, on which the glebe house stands the glebe belonging to the parish being a mountain at the remote end of it, of little value; and if the curate is badly paid, the charge comes badly from a man who has not paid his tithes these four years." COLONIAL. (From a Correspondent.) The King has subscribed 1001. for a new church in Newfoundland, and Government has given 100%.4401. are still required for this most desirable object. 17 JUST PUBLISHED. The Harp of the Wilderness. 24mo. 4s. cloth. Madrid in 1835. By a Resident Officer. 2 vols. 8vo. 28s. boards. Six Months of a Newfoundland Missionary's Journal. By Archdeacon Wix. 2nd edition. fc. 4s. 6d. cloth. Tales of a Rambler. Post 8vo. Plates. 10s. 6d. cloth. Public and Private Life of the Ancient Greeks. By H. Hase. Translated from the German. fc. 5s. 6d. boards. Chateaubriand's Sketches of English Literature. 2 vols. 8vo. 24s. bd. D'Athanasi's Researches and Discoveries in Under Egypt. 8vo. 12s. Empson's Narratives of South America. 8vo. 10s. cloth. Pocket Guide to the Picturesque Scenery of Scotland. 32mo. 2s. 6d. cloth. The Rambler in Mexico. Post 8vo. 9s. cloth. Grotius de Veritate. With English Notes. By Valpy. 12mo. 6s. bd. A Manual of the Political Antiquities of Greece; from the German of T. Hermann. 8vo. 15s. boards. Encyclopædia Metropolitana. 2nd Division: Mixed Sciences. Vol. VI. (Manufactures and Machinery,) 87 plates. 4to. 31. 6s. cloth. The Meadow Queen; or, the Young Botanists. 18mo. 2s. 6d. cloth. Contributions for Youth. 18mo. 4s. 6d. cloth. Gregory's Legacy, and Economy of Human Life. 32mo. New edit. 1s. 6d. cloth. Twamley's Romance of Nature. plates. 8vo. 1. 11s. 6d. silk. History of Van Diemen's Land. boards. 27 coloured 12mo. 5s Fisk's Sermons. 8vo. 10s. 6d. boards. Key to Professor Klauer Klattowski's German Chalmers's (Dr.) Sermon delivered at the opening of the Dean Church. 8vo. 1s. sewed. Edwards's Select Epistles of Cicero and Pliny. fc. 4s. cloth. Boyle's (Rev. John) Sermons on Christian Doc. trine and Duty. 12mo. 8s. cloth. British Colonial Library. Vol. III. (Cape of Good Hope, &c.) 6s. cloth. The Pope Confounded, and his Kingdom Exposed. By Martin Luther. Translated by the Rev. Henry Cole. 8vo. 6s. cloth. Fletcher's (Rev. William) Young Geographer; or, the Narratives of Four Japanese Travellers. 18mo. 3s. cloth. Legends and Records. By the Rev. C. B. Taylor. Post 8vo. 10s. 6d. half-bound, morocco. Anthologie Française. By C. Thurgar. 6s. 6d. cloth. Crossman's Introduction to the Christian Religion. In two parts. 1s. bound. Williams's Parent's edit. 2s. cloth. Catechism. 18mo. 4th Post 8vo. Lucas on the Arteries of the Human Body. 12mo. 4s. 6d. boards. Memorials of a Departed Friend. New edition. 12mo. 7s. boards. Bateman's Magnacopia; or, Library of Useful Information. 18mo. 6s. boards. Guide from the Church of Rome to the Church of Christ. By the Rev. James Godkin. 2nd edit. 18mo. 3s. cloth. The Valley of Clusone. New edit. 18mo. 2s. 6d. cloth. London and all its Dangers. 18mo. 1s. sewed. British Flora Medica. By B. J. Barton, F. L. S. and Dr. Castle, F.L.S.. Part IV. 2s. 6d. Scientific Memoirs; selected and translated from Foreign Journals, and from the Transactions of Foreign Academies and learned Societies. Edited by Richard Taylor, F.L.S., G.S., and Astr. S. IN THE PRESS. Dr. Blundell's Observations on the more Important Diseases of Women. Edited by Dr. Castle. Mr. Osler, author of the "Life of Admiral Lord Exmouth," has a work in the press, entitled "The Church and Dissent, considered in their practical influence." 35.10 1.7.6 125 5.7.6 18 12 20 35 The following shall be used immediately :—“ T. K. A.," " p.,” two letters on "The Moravian Episcopacy," "M. A." on Wretchlessness," t -S, "T. S.'s" important letter on the shameful passages in the "Encyclopædia Britannica," "X.," and "A Lover of Ancient Customs." The Editor trusts that some of these very valuable correspondents will be assured that nothing but press of matter has prevented their letters being used, others being actually in type before some of them arrived. Were it not for the expense, this Magazine might very often be doubled, from the number of valuable communications which come. doubt correspondents do not particularly study the art of brevity, which would be convenient now and then. No "Ecclesiasticus" shall be used, if what he justly calls" that most nefarious act," the Registration Bill, shall pass. The letter from "A Lover of the Church" should be inserted, but that he alludes to a person's claiming in private sanction for a publication, while in his preface he has denied it publicly. This is very wrong, but there are great objections to noticing any private conversations in public. M." has certainly done all he can to repair the injury done by ascribing the "Religion of Socrates" to the wrong author, and has shewn a very creditable degree of candour in his letter; but it is obvious that the publication of it would do harm. The Editor must be excused by an "Old Subscriber." He has seen so much to disapprove in the work alluded to, that he could not assist in circulating extracts from it. 'J. B.'s" suggestion as to reprinting "Alpha's" tract on Confirmation, has been forwarded to its author, who says that "J.B." is at liberty to reprint it, with alterations, if he should wish it. The tract called "Historical Notices" has been published by Messrs. Rivington. The Editor would like to see a specimen of the Extracts from the Fathers alluded to. He does not doubt their value, but wishes to judge as to the length, &c. The Editor can assure "N." that there was not the least reason to apologize for the composition of the narrative sent,—quite the contrary, but, on consideration, he really thinks that, on the whole, silence on so horrid and revolting a history of incest and murder is most advisable. He has to express his thanks to "N." for his subsequent letter; but, as he will see, the facts are already stated in an extract from the newspapers in Events, and there was thus no room for his obliging letter. The letter on "The New Rule at the Bounty Office," and "S. D." on Grassington, shall be used. The readers of the "British Magazine" will remark with pleasure the high and just praise given in the new number of the Quarterly Review" to Mr. Townsend's compositions in prose and verse, which first appeared in this Magazine, and did such high honour to its pages. The two following books were sent too late for review in the regular place, but they well deserve early notice. The first is Mr. La Trobe's "Rambler in Mexico," (Seeley and Burnside,) a volume full of life, spirit, and drollery, containing a most animated account of one of the most beautiful and interesting countries in the world, and manifesting all through a right and good feeling. The next is Ecclesiastical Records of England, Ireland, and Scotland," by the Rev. R. Hart, (Cambridge, Deightons,) which is strongly recommended to all churchmen as a most useful and laborious work, containing a digest of all the canons of British Councils from the fifth century, arranged under their proper heads. To have all this in one volume,-matter, too, which is only contained in large and expensive works,-is a great point, and Mr. Hart deserves every encouragement. There is no space for saying more now, but in justice to the excellent author of an unpublished "Tour in Ireland," which has been very hardly treated in the newspapers, the Editor must express his obligations to the author, and declare his conviction that it gives, in fact, a very strong testimony against popery. An excellent pamphlet, by the Rev. H. Cary, on "The Apostolical Succession in the Church of England," (Rivingtons,) deserves mention. THE BRITISH MAGAZINE. SEPT. 1, 1836. ORIGINAL PAPERS. THOUGHTS ON PHARISAISM AS A LAY-SYSTEM. THE history and doctrines of the Pharisees have been often discussed, and yet one of their most striking peculiarities, and that one the most interesting to a churchman, has been almost entirely overlooked. Pharisaism has not been considered, as it is, a system of lay-usurpation. Most persons, on the contrary, look upon Pharisaism and priestcraft as almost synonymous terms; and yet nothing can be more contrary to fact. The Pharisees were an order of self-constituted teachers, without any Divine commission, who first invaded the office, and ultimately destroyed the power and the rights, of the clergy. It is known to every reader of the Bible, that when God constituted the kingdom of Israel, an established church and a divinely commissioned clergy formed a main part of the legislative provisions for the good of the people. The family of Aaron, the priests and the Levites, were appointed to minister in holy things, and to instruct the people. Of the tribe of Levi, Moses says "They shall teach Jacob thy judg ments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt-sacrifice upon thine altar." (Deut. xxxiii. 10.) Of them, Malachi, the last of the prophets, says "The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." (Mal. ii. 7.) In like manner, God himself says to Aaron-"Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations....and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. (Levit. x. 9-11.) From these passages it is clear, that the tribe of Levi was commissioned to teach, and the people commanded to seek the law at their mouth. The fact, that God sent prophets who were not of this family, does not interfere with their commission; for the law announced the mission of such extraordinary teachers, VOL. X.-Sept. 1836. 2 L and furnished a test to try the truth of their claims. Now the Pharisees did not pretend to the prophetic character; and it is equally certain that they were not exclusively, nor necessarily, of the tribe of Levi. Upon this point all the writers whom I have been able to consult are agreed. Nicholas Serarius, of the church of Rome, says— "They were of every tribe. The pharisaic institution was not like the priesthood, or the other duties of the temple, which were confined to the tribe of Levi. For some were of the tribe of Judah; others, as St. Paul, from that of Benjamin, (Philip. iii. 5 ;) others of the tribe of Levi, as Hyrcanus, at first."* His opponent, Drusius, of the reformed church, expresses the same opinion:"I have no doubt but that the scribes, like the Pharisees, were of every tribe; for the father of Hillel the Pharisee was a Benjamite, his mother of the tribe of Judah. Many among the Pharisees were priests, as Tarphon, Josephus, and others. For this reason I agree with Chrysostom, who says, that the Pharisees were scattered through all the twelve tribes."+ In like manner, Basnage, who was certainly no friend to the priesthood, says-"They were not all of the tribe of Levi, nor engaged in the priesthood; neither was Pharisaism an ecclesiastical office, as some have imagined. There were in this sect priests, and high priests; but the majority were laymen." Abundance of Talmudic proof may be found in Wolfius' "Catalogue of Mishnic Doctors," from which it appears, that their greatest men were from other tribes. It is certain, therefore, that Pharisaism was in nowise a priestly invention, nor under priestly influence. Its merits and demerits, whatever they may be, must be attributed to the whole body of the people. It becomes, therefore, an interesting inquiry to ascertain by what means an unclerical sect got into their hands all that power and influence which, in the New Testament and the Talmud, we find the Pharisees to have possessed. Christian writers differ as to the date of their origin; and the Pharisees themselves say, that their laws and traditions, and consequently their power and rights, were derived from Moses, who received them at Sinai, along with the written law. Lightfoot says-"We must not think that Pharisaism arose altogether and at once, but it was long a conceiving, and of no fixed form when it was brought forth." And again" We observe presently, that the foundations of Sadduceeism were laid in the days of Ezra, before there were any Sadducees; in his days also, I suspect, the foundations of Pharisaism were laid, long before there were any Pharisees."§ This opinion is in the main correct, though I am inclined to think, that the foundations of Pharisaism were laid before the days of Ezra, and that the system gradually developed itself out of the circumstances of the people. It is certain that, from the days of Moses, there were local judges scattered through the tribes of Israel, whose business it was to give judgment in criminal and civil cases. As the law of Moses was the law of the land, a study of this law was an indispensable qualifi Trihæres. lib. ii. c. 2. Hist. des Juifs, liv. ii. c. 18. § 1. De tribus sect. Jud. lib. ii. c. 12. ་ ་ |