SEVENTEENTH ARTICLE OF RELIGION. SIR, The gentleman who, in your Magazine for July, mentions "that he has often been struck by the word wretchlessness towards the close of the Seventeenth Article of our church, but that how it came to be so spelt he does not exactly know,"-may be pleased with an illustration which a learned prelate has offered in citing from the Latin copy of the Articles securitatem, which in a note he renders recklessness. He then proceeds: "The use of the word wretchless Dr. Johnson calls an unaccountable corruption in our language. It probably arose from observing the original word to be spelt recheless; and after it became obsolete in conversation, so as to be learnt by the eye rather than the ear, the ch in the first syllable came to be pronounced, not as our Saxon ancestors did, reck, but as in rich: this led to the further corruption wretch, nothing being more common in practice than to confound, and at length to identify, a foreign or an obsolete word with some word of the language that is well known and in frequent use. The orthography of the old copy of our Articles ought surely to be restored.' "An Inquiry into the Doctrines of Necessity and Predestination," &c., by Edward Copleston, D.D., 1821, p. 202. The word, however, had appeared in the form of retchlessness before that of wretchlessness, as in the old poetry of Daniel; retchless, indeed, being a common old English word. Another illegitimate form was that of wreakless, as in the first folio of Shakspeare, which seems to shew that reckless, though altered in writing, was then at least a partial pronunciation. Rechelessness is, in fact, one of our oldest words from the Saxon recceleas; is used by Chaucer; and was no doubt familiar to the framers of our Articles; and the earliest departure from their orthography, which as yet, I have observed, is in the Rev. T. Rogers' "Exposition of the Articles," published (after his death) in 1629, where it is wretchlesnes; while, in his elaborate work, "The English Creed," which he published in 1585, it is rightly "rechlesnesse of most uncleane living." In a copy of the Articles, "printed for the benefit of the Commonwealth, 1642," the corruption wretchlessness appears; and I notice this copy for the sake also of observing, (and it is not of common occurrence,) that in it, though printed for the benefit of the Commonwealth, the King's authority for printing it not being mentioned, nor the printer's name, the contested clause at the twentieth Article stands without alteration. Sparrow, in his " Collection of Articles," &c., Burnet, in his "Exposition," and some impressions of the venerable formulary down to the present time, have followed the corruption. "I. M." will permit me respectfully to observe, that the Latin copies of the Article do not uniformly read pertrudit, the true word being protrudit, as in the original publication now before me; and as he will find by referring to Bennet's "Essay on the Thirty-nine Articles," 1715, p. 70. M. A. PARALLELISMS IN THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS. ["CERTE auctorem primæ antiquitatis fuisse evincunt dicta veterum testimonia, phrases ab eo usurpatæ Apostolicæ ætati propriæ, styli simplicitas, ac denique Hæreses ab ipso impugnatæ illæ tantum quæ sub ipsis Apostolis pullularant."—Bull., p. 15, Ed. Grabe.] SIR,-As it may probably be considered a settled point that the writers of the New Testament observed the laws of parallelism, we can hardly suppose that there would be no traces of this form of composition in the Epistle of St. Barnabas, supposing it to be really his. The following examples will, I think, shew that the epistle which bears the name of St. Barnabas does really abound in parallelisms; a fact which, to my mind, almost amounts to a presumption in favour of its genuine ness. (1.) In the first example which I shall produce, the Greek bas perished, but the old Latin translation runs thus:— Ergo considerate opera malæ viæ ; Non separatim debetis seducere vos, tanquam justificati; Quod communiter dilectis conveniat et prosit. Of which the Greek version is (2.) (3.) Κατανοεῖτε οὖν τὰ ἔργα τῆς ὁδοῦ πονηρᾶς· τὶ κοινωφελές ἐστι, καὶ συμφέρει τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς. Πνευματικοὶ γενώμεθα, ναὸς τέλειος τῷ Θεῷ· ἐφ ̓ ὅσον ἐστὶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν, μελετῶμεν τον φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ Ο Κύριος ἀπροσωπολήπτως κρινεῖ τὸν κόσμον, ἐὰν δίκαιος ᾖ, προπορεύσεται ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ ἡ δικαιοσύνη, Let us become spiritual, a perfect temple to God; As far as in us lies, let us cultivate the fear of God; [And] let us strive to observe his commandments, The Lord, without respect of persons, will judge the world; If he be righteous, there shall go before him his righteousness; Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἦλθεν ἐν σαρκὶ πῶς ἂν ἐσώθησαν ἄνθρωποι οἱ βλέποντες αὐτόν; ἔργον χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχοντα, βλέποντες οὐκ ἰσχύουσιν εἰς ἀκτῖνας αὐτοῦ ἀντοφθαλμῆσαι. For if he had not come in the flesh, How would men have been saved who looked Seeing that the sun which is to be not, Being the work of his hands upon him? They that look are not able against his beams to gaze. (4.) Ὅταν γὰρ σπαταλῶσιν, ἐπιλανθάνονται τοῦ Κυρίου ἑαυτῶν, For when they live in pleasure, they forget their own Lord; (5.) Οὐ μὴ κολληθήσῃ οὐδὲ ὁμοιωθήσῃ ἀνθρώποις τοιούτοις, οἵτινες οὐκ οἴδασι διὰ κόπου καὶ ἱδρῶτος πορίζειν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν τροφὴν, ἀλλὰ ἁρπάζουσι τὰ ἀλλότρια ἐν ἀνομίᾳ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπιτηροῦσιν, ὡς ἐν ἀκεραιοσύνη περιπατοῦντες, ὃν συλῶσιν. Thou shalt not cleave to nor resemble such men As know not how by labour and sweat to procure for themselves their food, But snatch away the property of others in their lawlessness, And, though walking as if in simplicity, watch whom they may plunder. (6.) In the same chapter (the 10th) there is a curious insertion of parallel lines between the parallel lines of the first Psalm, which he is quoting. In chapter 11 we have— Ἡμεῖς μὲν καταβαίνομεν εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ γέμοντες ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ ῥύπου, καὶ ἀναβαίνομεν καρποφοροῦντες, ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἡμῶν τὸν φόβον, καὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἔχοντες ἐν τῷ πνεύματι. We, indeed, go down into the water Full of sins and uncleanness, And come up again bearing fruit, Having in our heart fear, And hope towards Jesus in our spirit. (7.) Πρὸ τοῦ ἡμᾶς πιστεῦσαι τῷ Θεῷ, (8.) ἦν ἡμῶν τὸ κατοικητήριον τῆς καρδίας φθαρτὸν καὶ ἀσθενὲς, Before we believed in God, The dwelling-place of our heart was perishable and weak, Truly a temple built with hands; Because full of idolatry was the house, From our doing whatever was contrary to God. Λαβόντες τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ ἐλπίσαντες ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου, πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς κτιζόμενοι. Having received the remission of our sins, Again from the beginning created. (9.) Ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ τῆς πίστεως, ἡ κλῆσις αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, ἡ σοφία τῶν δικαιωμάτων, αἱ ἐντολαὶ τῆς διδαχῆς, VOL. X.-Sept. 1836. 2Q αὐτὸς ἐν ἡμῖν προφητεύων, αὐτὸς ἐν ἡμῖν κατοικῶν, τοῖς τῷ θανάτῳ δεδουλωμένοις ἀνοίγων ἡμῖν τὰς θυρας τοῦ ναοῦ [ἡμῶν] ὅ ἐστι στόμα σοφίας, εἰσήγαγεν εἰς τὸν ἄφθαρτον ναόν. βλέπει οὐκ εἰς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ εἰς τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ ἐνοικοῦντα, His word of faith, His calling of promise, The wisdom of his ordinances, The commandments of his teaching, Himself within us prophesying, Himself within us dwelling, Opening to us, who were enslaved to death, the gates of the temple, Which is the mouth of wisdom, Giving to us repentance, He led us into the imperishable temple. And he who desireth to be saved Looketh not unto the man, But unto Him who within him dwelleth (10.) Οδοὶ δύο εἰσὶ διδαχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας, διαφορὰ δὲ πολλὴ τῶν δύο ὁδῶν· ἐφ ̓ ἧς μὲν γάρ εἰσι τεταγμένοι φωταγωγοὶ ἄγγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ μέν ἐστι Κυρίος ἀπ' αἰώνων εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, Two ways there are of teaching and power, Both that of light and that of darkness: But the difference is great of the two ways ;— On the one are arranged the light-bearing angels of God, On the other, the angels of Satan ; And the one is the Lord for ever and ever, The other the ruler of the time of lawlessness. Almost the whole description of the two ways consists of paral lelisms; but I will only quote one Μὴ γίνου πρὸς μὲν τὸ λαβεῖν ἐκτείνων τὰς χεῖρας πρὸς δὲ τὸ δοῦναι συσπῶν. Do not thou for receiving open thy hands, But for giving shut them close. Lyndon Rectory, July 14th, I am, &c., T.K. A. ON ALPHABETIC WRITING AND HIEROGLYPHICS, MY DEAR SIR,-Not having the time or books to go very deep into the question of Alphabetic writing, I send you a few thoughts at present, which I hope to continue, if you think them worth insertion. A. M. Dr. Wall thinks that alphabetic writing was first communicated to Moses. I am inclined to think that it was much more ancient. I think it possible to prove-first, that there existed some sort of writing long before Moses; and, secondly, to offer some reasons for supposing that it was alphabetic. Before the flood, there is no distinct mention of writing, but even in the brief accounts of that period there is enough to induce us to believe that they had some method of recording events, and of noting their ideas. They could work in brass and iron-that is, there were artificers; and this suggests the idea of barter or trade between those who manufactured and those who did not, and trade would naturally lead to some sort of notation. They could build at a very early period, for Cain built a city; and, however rude the first attempt might be, it is only reasonable to suppose that the art of building was improved in the two thousand years that intervened between the building of this first city and the deluge. Indeed, without great skill, it would have been impossible for Noah to have constructed the ark. These two arks almost pre-suppose some method of drawing plans, however rude, for the guidance of the workmen. Building would particularly lead to some ideas of measurement and geometry, and it is certain that they could count, and used the decimal system of numeration, for Noah received from God the dimensions of the ark— "The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits." Here we have the system of numeration, and moreover the standard of their measure; they measured by cubits. Further, they counted by years, for God says "Yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." Now, the knowledge of arithmetic that is implied in even these recorded computations, and still more in reckoning the long lives, seems to demand some sort of numeric notation, and exhibits an intellectual advance which would feel the necessity of some method of noting ideas and events. The division of mankind into the two great families of Cain and Seth would naturally lead men carefully to preserve their genealogies; and, if they noted anything, to note down the line of their progenitors. And accordingly we find in the fifth chapter of Genesis, the remarkable expression "This is the book of the generations of Adam." It may be said that this was written by Moses; but there can be no good reason assigned why Moses should call this genealogy a book, if it had not previously existed as a separate written document. It is not the usage of the language to call a part of a book, a book. There are many genealogies to be found in the Bible, but this is the only place where it is said, "The book of the generations." Moses must, there |