"3. Moreover, it shall not seem meet or necessary that we should.... understand Christ's words according to the literal sense, but rather according to the order and phrase of speech, comparing phrase with phrase, according to the analogy of the Scripture.

"4. Last of all, how that it ought to be received according to the true and right institution of Christ, albeit that the order which at this time is crept into the Church, and is used now-a-days by the priests, do never so much differ from it."

As Frith had much to say on this subject, his friend requested him to put his opinions into writing; which, though at first unwilling, as well aware into what danger it would lead him, at length he did. There happened to be then in London a tailor named Holt, who, pretending great affection for Frith's friend, persuaded him to let him read this treatise; but as soon as he had obtained it, he treacherously carried it to Sir Thomas More. More immediately set to work to refute it; and his reply being communicated to Frith, the latter produced, though in prison, and destitute of all ordinary helps, a complete answer to the chancellor's book. This answer is one of the most valuable of the writings of that age. It was important as being the first book written on the doctrine in England by any of the reformers; and was put together with so much skill and learning, that Archbishop Cranmer, when afterwards writing against Bishop Gardiner, acknowledged himself greatly indebted to it. 66 Though More," says Burnet, "wrote with as much wit and eloquence as any man in that age did, and Frith wrote plainly, without any art; yet there is so great a difference between their books, that whoever compares them will clearly perceive the one to be the ingenious defender of an ill cause, and the other simple asserter of truth." Frith maintained his opinions with the utmost moderation. He lamented the divisions on the subject of the sacrament among the reformers. The great evil, he considered, in the Romish Church on this point, was the practical idolatry that was set up. Were the worshipping of the sacrament disavowed, it mattered not enough, he thought, what speculative opinions might be held of Christ's presence, to break, on account of them, the unity of the Church.

"well

More was not the only person with whom Frith had to dispute. He had, while abroad, written also against Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and Rastal, Sir Thomas More's son-in-law, chiefly on the subject of purgatory; and now while, in the Tower, he continued the controversy with Rastal, with such effect, that Rastal was at last, on considering Frith's argument, content to count his natural reason foolishness; and, with hearty thanks given to God, became a child again, and sucked of the wisdom which cometh from above, and saveth all that be nourished therewith. In the which he continued to his life's end with the honour and glory of God."

The following epistle, which Frith wrote "unto the faithful followers of Christ's gospel," in all probability at this period of his imprisonment-it is dated merely 1532-will give an interesting view of the spirit with which he was actuated.

"Grace and peace from God the Father, through our Saviour Christ Jesu, be with all them that love the Lord unfeignedly. Amen.

"It cannot be expressed, dearly beloved in the Lord, what joy and comfort it is to my heart to perceive how the word of God hath wrought, and continually worketh among you: so that I find no small number walking in the ways of the Lord, according as he gave us commandment, willing that we should love each other as he loved us. Now have I experience of the faith which is in you, and can testify that it is without simulation, that ye love not in word and tongue only, but in work and verity.

"What can be more trial of a faithful heart, than to

adventure not only to aid and succour by the means of other (which without danger may not be admitted unto us), but also personally to visit the poor oppressed, and see that nothing be lacking unto them, but that they have both ghostly comfort and bodily sustenance, notwithstanding the strait inhibition and terrible menacing of these worldly rulers: even ready to abide the extreme jeopardies that tyrants can imagine.

"This is an evidence that you have prepared yourselves to the cross of Christ, according unto the counsel of the wise man, which saith, My son, when thou shalt enter into the way of the Lord, prepare thyself unto tribulation. This is an evidence that ye have cast your accounts, and have wherewith to finish the tower which ye have begun to build. And I doubt not but that He which hath begun to work in you, shall for his glory accomplish the same, even unto the coming of the Lord, which shall give unto every man according to his deeds.

"And albeit God, of his secret judgment, for a time keep the rod from some of them that ensue his steps, yet let them surely reckon upon it; for there is no doubt but all which will devoutly live in Christ must suffer persecution: for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, and scourgeth every child that he receiveth; for what child is that whom the father chasteneth not? If ye be not under correction, of which we are all partakers, then are ye bastards, and not children.

"Nevertheless we may not suppose that our most loving Father should do that because he rejoiceth in our blood or punishment; but he doth it for our singular profit, that we may be partakers of holiness, and that the remnants of sin, which, through the frailty of our members, rebel against the spirit and will, causing our works to go imperfectly forwards, may somedeal be suppressed, lest they should subdue us and reign

over us.

"Of these things God had given me the speculation before, and now it hath pleased him to put in use and practice upon me. I ever thought, and yet do think, that to walk after God's word would cost me my life at one time or another. And albeit that the king's grace should take me into his favour, and not to suffer the bloody Edomites to have their pleasures upon me, yet will I not think that I am escaped, but that God hath only deferred it for a season, to the intent that I should work somewhat that he hath appointed me to do, and so to use me unto his glory.

"And I beseech all the faithful followers of the Lord to arm themselves with the same supposition, marking themselves with the sign of the cross; not from the cross, as the superstitious multitude doth, but rather to the cross, in token that they be ever ready willingly to receive the cross, when it shall please God to lay it upon them. The day that it cometh not, count it clear won, giving thanks to the Lord which hath kept it from you. And then when it cometh, it shall nothing dismay you; for it is no new thing, but even that which ye have continually looked for.

"And doubt not but that God, which is faithful, shall not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able to bear, but shall ever send some occasion by the which ye shall stand stedfast; for either he shall blind the eyes of your enemies, and diminish their tyrannous power, or else, when he hath suffered them to do their best, and that the dragon hath cast a whole flood of waters after you, he shall cause even the very earth to open her mouth and swallow them up. So faithful is he, and careful to ease us what time the vexation should be too heavy for us.

"He shall send a Joseph before you, against ye shall come into Egypt; yea, he shall so provide for you, that ye shall have a hundred fathers for one, a hundred mothers for one, a hundred houses for one; and that in this life, as I have proved by experience, and after this life, everlasting joy with Christ our Saviour.

"Notwithstanding, sith this stedfastness cometh not of ourselves,-for, as St. Austin saith, there was never man so weak or frail, no, not the greatest offender that ever lived, but that every man of his own nature should be as frail and commit as great enormities, except he were kept from it by the Spirit and power of God-I beseech you, brethren, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the love of his Spirit, to pray with me, that we may be vessels to his laud and praise, what time soever it pleaseth him to call upon us.

"The Father of glory give us the spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, and lighten the eyes of our mind, that we may know his ways, praising the Lord eternally. If it please any of our brethren to write unto us of any such doubts as peradventure may be found in our books, it should be very acceptable unto us, and, as I trust, not unfruitful for them. For I will endeavour myself to satisfy them in all points, by God's grace. To whom I commit to be governed and defended, for ever. Amen.

"JOHN FRITH, the prisoner of Jesu Christ, at all times abiding his pleasure." S. [To be concluded in the next Number.]

SKETCHES FROM A TRAVELLER'S PORTFOLIO.

No. II.-Just too late.

It was a lovely evening in July when I was walking on the pier which stretches far out into the waters of a foreign sea-port town. I had taken my passage for England in a vessel which was to sail that night; and I was contemplating, for the last time, the scenery of a strange land. Before me was a broad and beautiful river just mingling with the ocean; and beyond it, about five or six miles distant, were picturesque hills, mounting, as it were, from its bosom, and surrounding a pretty little town. On the right was the blue sea, sleeping calmly in the evening sun; and as I looked on it, I lifted up my heart to Him who "stilleth the noise of its waves," to bring me safely across it to my home. On my left I could discern for many miles the winding of the noble stream which washes in its course many celebrated cities, some of which I had lately visited: and behind me lay the commercial town, in which I had been staying for a day or two, with its pleasant suburb rising to the top of a well-wooded ridge. The busy hum from its crowded docks and warehouses just reached my ear, as I paced slowly and solitarily along; and I thought of the indefatigable industry of the men of this world, who " rise up early, and late take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness," to gain those things which perish in the using. I could not survey that prospect without a melancholy feeling. Beautiful as it was, the land was a moral desert. Superstition, or a supreme contempt for all forms of religion, had supplanted in it the pure worship of the one true God; and I had that very day witnessed a scene, which, though there common enough, would assuredly startle and disgust any one who had lived only in our own favoured country. I meditated on the time when the truth should universally prevail, and the knowledge of the Lord fill the earth as the waters cover the sea; I prayed that his kingdom might speedily be established.

While I was thus musing, the sun was set, and it was necessary for me to go back to my inn, and prepare my luggage for departure. This was soon done; and at

the appointed hour I went on board the vessel, a steam-packet, which was lying close to the quay, and was to set off at precisely 11 o'clock at night. After a little while, the bustle of passengers embarking had subsided; the officers belonging to the port were gone on shore; the clock from the nearest church had tolled the hour; and the engineer was just waiting the captain's signal; when suddenly high words were heard in the cabin. A young man from one of the hotels was there making a demand upon a passenger, which the latter considered unjust: the youth, however, refused to forego his claim. And now the vessel-bell was rung, and the captain called, "You must go on shore -I am going." He did not obey the call. The captain then vociferated angrily, "You will be too late, if you stay a minute longer: I shall carry you to England." He still delayed: till at last the signal was given, and the vessel proceeded on her way. Then, at the first feeling of the motion, the youth rushed up from below, and was springing from the deck towards the quay, now several feet from us, but was saved by the strong grasp of the captain from what must have been certain destruction. "You see you would not mind me when I called you," said he; " and now it is impossible to stop you must go with us to England." The poor lad-he looked hardly seventeen-stood for a moment stupidly gazing on the fast-receding shore; then, staggering to a seat upon the deck, exclaimed, that he was ruined-for he should lose the situation on which his livelihood depended; and, covering his face with both his hands, he burst into tears.

The stars were shining in the cloudless heavens ; and two or three of the passengers remained with me on deck to contemplate the glorious scene, and to watch the bright sparkles of the waves which with a long luminous line marked our track, and the now only twinkling light which shewed us the port we had left: and we talked of what we had seen, and recounted our adventures in regions far away; we spoke also of our own England, for our hearts yearned towards our beloved country, and we were glad when we thought that we should soon see it again. We had, indeed, been wandering through a very lovely land; still it was notand no traveller as he journeys can help feeling thisit was not our home. But, as we walked up and down, the sobs of the poor lad, brought with us against his will, fell upon our ears; and I could not help contrasting his sorrow with our joy. I was surprised that his grief was so excessive; and I stopped once to ask him why it was so? He would be carried safely home in a little time; and surely his employer might be prevailed upon to receive him again into his service? O no, he said, his place could not be left unfilled a single day; and besides, it would be thought that he had run away, and therefore some one else would be hired immediately. "But," I told him, "you will get some other employment. Have you no friends to exert themselves for you?" No," replied he; all my friends are dead: nobody will care for me; and I shall be sure to starve." "Then why were you so silly as to stay here when you were repeatedly told to go ashore?" "I did not think," with a fresh burst of tears, "that he really meant it I thought he would have waited a minute longer and I was only just too late."

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My questions could then do no good; and therefore

IT is difficult to realise the importance of religious ordinances: we meet together – we sing the solemn praises of truths of the GospelGod- we listen to the great and affecting truths of the Gospel- and having done this, we part, and speed back, it may be, to the hurry and enjoyment of earthly things, with

still they venture on a little-but a little-longer; they must secure this one object,-till, how often, the last summons is issued, the last signal peals forth, and they are hurried away unprepared to that distant land, whence there is no return, and where they must stand friendless, with every prospect blasted, and every hope extinguished, before the throne of God.

Let no man persuade himself that a little time can be of but little consequence. A few moments may make the widest difference in his condition. If he were drowning in the ocean, and a rope were held out to him, an instant's delay in seizing it, in all probability, would be instant death. Were his habitation in flames around him, the shortest delay in escaping might bury him in the burning ruins. If, instead of fleeing for his life, he thinks there will be time to occupy himself in searching for some valued treasure, he will see, it is likely, just when he is preparing to escape, the last outlet closed, the last staircase falling. He is only just too late; but his momentary delay has been to him destruction.

And surely, if any thing can add bitterness to disappointment, or increase the wretchedness of ruin, it must be the reflection, that the prize was almost gained, safety only just sacrificed. The keenest selfreproach will then add its pangs to the actual misery endured, and the victim of his own folly will execrate the infatuation which involved him in irreparable destruction. And thus in the dark habitations of lost spirits, their worm will never die, as well as their fire be never quenched.

Let me then earnestly entreat every individual into whose hands this paper may fall, to lose no time in securing the things which make for his eternal peace. "Knowing the terrors of the Lord," I would persuade, I would anxiously implore him, immediately to escape for his life; I would strive to impress upon him, as a spur to zealous action, the grief, the shame, the agony, the remorse, under which he would for ever writhe, if he should be JUST TOO LATE.

U.

Oh, my brethren, is not the want of seriousness as to eternal things an awful and prevalent calamity? Are we not dreadfully negligent of the actual import of the religious duties in which we engage? Take, for instance, our feelings in the utterance of those confessions of sin which the Liturgy of the Church puts into our lips at the commencement of the service. Let any man put his hand upon his heart, and answer to the question, what correspondence is there between the terrible confession to the Divine Being, "We have done those things which we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and there with which we have made that confession? is no health in us,"-and the actual feelings If men would deal candidly by themselves, they would be struck with the amount of the contrast between this confession and their jesty of Godactual feelings. To have insulted the mato have lifted up the arm of rebellion against his authority to have forgotten the precepts of his wisdom, and the invitations of his love to have no spiritual health to be the subjects of an inward disease which wastes the life, not of the body, but of the soul, which robs a man not of the fleeting pleasures of time, but of the inconceivable blessings of eternity: this is the guilt which we confess, and this is the moral condition which we assume to be our own. Can any condition be more awful? can any acknowledgment be more overwhelming? And yet what are the sensations which often accompany us throughout the utterance of these admissions ?

Oftentimes, it is to be feared, pride and self-complacency occupy the whole heart, and conceit of our own virtues runs side by side with the assurance that there is no spiritual health in us!

We desire never to exaggerate, but con

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It is to this insensibility that the ministers of Jesus Christ are directed to bend their anxious attention. If they have themselves received mercy, they are bound by fidelity to their God, and by charity to their fellows, to reason of temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come." They are bound to invite and to entreat men to awaken from the dreams of sense, and to connect themselves with the hopes and fears of an approaching eternity. God," says the apostle Paul, has committed to us "the word of reconciliation." "We then," he adds, are the ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Weak, then, and unworthy as may be the hands entrusted with this ministra tion, the subjects and the results of that ministration are inconceivably momentous. The influence of this fleeting half hour may be felt even through the periods of eternity. The Gospel at this moment is nothing less than a message from God to our souls; and our attention or neglect may stand in solemn connexion either with an immortality of sorrow or of joy. The expressions of the apostle indicate the existence of a state of enmity on the part of man towards God. The terms," We beseech you, be ye reconciled to God," imply that a quarrel existed, but a quarrel which was capable of reconciliation. It seems impossible to describe the relations which are established between God and his creatures, except by the imperfect medium of those communications which exist among themselves. Hence a continual reference is made in the Scriptures to human passions in conjunction with the Divine proceedings. God is said "to repent," and to be " angry;" to relent, or to retain his wrath. But it is very evident that these terms cannot be interpreted in the exact sense in which we use them; yet they are sufficiently accurate for every purpose for which they are employed. The same imper

ence on the part of man towards God. A state of enmity, to which reconciliation is opposed, is founded on personal repugnance and a sense of injury. Now, between the supreme and invisible Being and man such a repugnance is not imaginable. But the term will be found sufficiently accurate to delineate the hostility of the human mind to the requirements of the Divine law, and to the loveliness of the Divine perfections. "The carnal mind," says the apostle, on another occasion, "is enmity against God;" and he explains this enmity when he adds, "not being subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be."

The nature of the quarrel is thus defined; and it consists in a repugnance to the Divine law; using the term "law" in the wide sense of all those communications of truth, purity, mercy, and grace, which God has deigned to make to man. To this law men are reluctant to yield obedience. The opposition which we make to the law of conscience, independent of its illumination under the fuller blaze of Christianity, is a direct evidence of this enmity towards God. For what is the import of this resistance to the dictates of conscience? What is it but the expression of our preference of our own desires to the commands of God? And this preference actually exists, and constantly exists, in every unconverted mind. This is the source of all the irreligion and immorality which are visible in the world. Since the fall of Adam, self is despotic in the human heart; and though its actings are circumscribed by conscience, by human laws, by the frame-work of human society, and by the alarm connected with the anticipations of eternity, yet, except it be dethroned by the potent arm of Divine grace, it maintains its constant sway over the heart of man. This opposition of the heart to God has, however, become most visible under the light and influence of Christianity. It might be thought, that a revelation from God to man would have been received with eager attention, and have been embraced with ardent gratitude. It might have been supposed, that amidst the admitted ignorance, sufferings, and perturbations of the world, the voice of knowledge, of mercy, and of peace, would have been heard with inexpressible emotions of satisfaction. It might have been supposed, that amidst the havoc and dreariness of death, a promise of "resurrection and of life" would have been hailed with transports of delight.

But how wonderfully different has been the reception of Christianity in the world! Men have dealt by Christianity exactly as they had previously dealt by conscience. They have resisted the former upon the same grounds as they had resisted the latter. In both cases they prefer the gratification of their own wishes to the commands of God. In both cases they manifest a repugnance to his requirements; they feel uneasy under his yoke; they rebel against his government; they resist his estimate of good and evil; they overlook the extent of his condescension; and they disbelieve his assertions as to the ultimate tendencies of virtue and vice. This is the enmity of man against God, to which every page of Scripture, to which the collective voices of history, to which the observation of daily facts, to which the corrupt murmurings of the heart, bear their strong and unfaltering testimony; and this testimony is always more or less strong according to the force with which the light of truth beams in upon human society.

The knowledge of God, where it does not convert, seems to embitter the heart; and wherever the tide of celestial light has been the brightest, it has uniformly discovered in a corresponding degree the deformity of human practice. Never was human depravity so horribly exhibited as at the cross of Jesus Christ, and in the succeeding conflicts of early Christianity with Paganism; in the struggle of Protestantism at the time of the Reformation, and in the bitterness of controversy against revived religion in our own times, we find undeniable proof, that, in strange ignorance of his true interests, man, in this mitigated sense, hates his God, and cannot be reconciled to his requirements that he cannot stamp the seal of approbation upon God's administration of the world! Yet this enmity is most unreasonable and most destructive; this quarrel is with a man's own happiness; this enmity can only bring down upon its possessor the darkness of a moral destruction, when the great Judge of quick and dead, by a summary process, will terminate the controversy, even where, from the indestructible principles of evil, there must be "weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth."

But, ere this period arrives, mercy and clemency strive and reason with men. This Christianity, which meets so rude a reception, is still a proclamation of inconceivable kindness, and invites, with reiterated entreaties, a dying world to turn to the stronghold provided against its miseries, and, by the love of Christ, urges the work, tardy though it be, of reconciliation with God. The language of this ambassage of peace is in the

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highest degree remarkable. There is no parallel to it on earth. Never did the heart of a paternal monarch address a revolted subject, yea, never did the bosom of a mother's tenderness address a reluctant child with the energy of compassion exhibited in the Gospel. Men may have heard of this compassion till its sounds may pall upon the ear, and even irritate the soul; but, nevertheless, it is a compassion which sheds an actual brightness over the celestial world, and which, in defiance of human contempt and scorn, will rescue from the depths of moral misery innumerable multitudes of earth. "We then are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God: for he hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” In other words; we come to you in order to invite you, by the exhibition of the Divine love, to part with your reluctance to God's service, and to conform yourselves to God's wishes. He is the moral Governor of the world, and every knee must ultimately bow to his sceptre. The heart must humbly and gratefully bend, or it must one day break. The sinner must accept mercy, or he must encounter justice. We address you on the behalf of Christ; we tell you that God is too pure to connive at sin, but too kind to contemplate unmoved the eternal wretchedness of the offender. He has exposed his own Son to the infliction of shame and torture, that the just sanction of his violated law may never touch you. He implores you to forego the undue gratifications of sense-the injurious pleasures of pride-the vain enjoyments of ambition,-and rather to contemplate his favour as the source of your substantial blessedness. We beseech you even by the mercies of God, and by the eternal welfare of your souls, to accept the fleeting moment of conciliation, and receive peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Such is the import of the apostle's address to the Corinthian Church. But what is the connexion of this address with ourselves? What resemblance does our moral condition bear to that of the Corinthians?

The character of man is in truth the same, as to its essential features, in every age: the lights of philosophy and of human science gleam upon the surface of our nature: civilisation may embellish manners, but it does not renew the heart. It has no power to link again the golden chain of holy love around the human soul. Nay, even the indirect influence of Christianity, though it may augment considerably the softness of our habits, and raise the tone of our morality, yet leaves