these joys are sometimes represented: for this might perhaps have quite a contrary effect; it might entangle us farther in carnal affections; and we should be ready to indulge ourselves in a very liberal foretaste of those pleasures, wherein we had placed our everlasting felicity. But when we come once to conceive aright of those pure and spiritual pleasures; when the happiness we propose to ourselves is from the sight, and love, and enjoyment of God, and our minds are filled with the hopes and forethoughts of that blessed estate,

O how mean and contemptible will all things here below appear in our eyes! with what disdain shall we reject the gross and muddy pleasures that would deprive us of those celestial enjoyments, or any way unfit and indispose us for them!-Rev. II. Scougal.

Poetry.

FOR THE SABBATH.*

BEHOLD, we come, dear Lord, to thee,
And bow before thy throne;
We come to offer, on our knee,

Our vows to thee alone.

Whate'er we have, whate'er we are,

Thy bounty freely gave;
Thou dost us here in mercy spare,

And wilt hereafter save.

'Tis not our tongues or knee can pay
The mighty debt we owe ;

Far more we should than we can say,
Far lower should we bow.

Come then, my soul, bring all thy powers,
And grieve thou hast no more;
Bring every day thy choicest hours,
And thy great God adore.

But, above all, prepare thy heart
On this, his own blest day,
In its sweet task to bear thy part,
And sing, and love, and pray.

REST FOR THE WEARY.t
HAS earthly love deceived thee?
Has earthly friendship grieved thee?
Has Death's strong hand bereaved thee
Of all most dear below?

A love which never changes,

A Friend no time estranges,
A land Death's shaft ne'er ranges,
It may be thine to know.

In vain have men asserted,
To cheat the weary-hearted,
That powers by sin perverted

Themselves can calm the breast.

One Hand alone unfailing,
Sin, grief's dark root, assailing,
O'er all within prevailing,

Can give the weary rest.

the part of wisdom to be satisfied with those which have long secured to society a considerable amount of practical good. Revolutionary changes are always accompanied with hazard; their results no human sagacity can foresee; and an immense responsibility attaches to those who would put in jeopardy the institutions of a great people, in the precarious hope of substituting others more nearly approaching to theoretic perfection.-Rev. W. Hull.

THE BURNING BUSH.-After the death of Joseph and of the patriarchs, the Israelites began to depart from the worship of the God of their fathers. Many of them were contaminated by the idolatry of Egypt (Josh. xxiv. 14; Ezek. xx. 8), others had neglected circumcision (Josh. v. 9), and some had intermarried with the Egyptians (Lev. xxiv. 10). The majority, however, had not forsaken their ancient religion; and in this period of distress and bondage, by which they were justly punished, they cried unto the Lord. The time of the fulfilment of the promise (Gen. 1. 24) drew nigh, and "the Lord remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The angel Jehovah, the guardian of the Church, had frequently appeared to the patriarchs; but we have no account of his manifesting himself after the death of Jacob, till he was revealed to Moses in the bush. As this divine Being, however, had uniformly commissioned the patriarchs to preach the true religion, the people would naturally expect, that the prophet, who should declare himself the lawgiver and deliverer, should be appointed by the same authority: this we accordingly find to have been the case. Moses, when feeding the flock of Jethro at Horeb, observes a copse, or thicket, burning with fire, while the branches and leaves appeared uninjured and unconsumed. Astonished at the phenomenon, he approaches the thicket: the angel Jehovah, the God of the patriarchal dispensation, was seen; and Moses receives from him his commission. The diffidence, the delay, the scruples of the prophet, are overcome by miraculous proofs of his divine legation; which, at the same time, convince him, that by his means the Israelites should be delivered from Egypt.-Rev. G. Townsend.

EFFECTS OF 66 PREACHING CHRIST" AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.-" Brethren," said the first convert among them, "I have been a heathen, and have grown old among the heathen; therefore I know how heathens think. Once a preacher came and explained to us that there was a God: we answered, Dost thou think us so ignorant as not to know that? Another preacher began to teach us, You must not steal, lie, nor get drunk, &c.: we answered, Thou fool, dost thou think that we don't know that? and thus we dismissed him. After a time, brother Christian Henry Rauch came into my hut, and sat down by me. He spoke to me nearly as follows:-'I come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven and earth. He sends to let you know that he will make you happy, and deliver you from the misery in which you lie at present. To this end he became a man, gave his life a ransom for man, and shed his blood for us.' I could not forget his words-even while I was asleep I dreamt of that blood which Christ shed for us. I found this to be something different from what I had ever heard; and I interpreted Christian Henry's words to the other Indians. Thus, through the grace of God, an awakening took place among us. I say, therefore, brethren, preach Christ our Saviour, and his sufferings and death, if you would have your words to gain entrance among the heathen. -From Loskiel's Missions to the Indians.

LONDON:-Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country.

PRINTED BY

ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 46 ST. MARTIN'S LANE.

THE FEAR OF GOD-MISTAKES CONCERNING IT RECTIFIED.

WHATEVER is valuable in religion or morals is founded upon firm and commanding principles. Every thing that does not rest upon this basis is but negatively good; for it proceeds not from the goodness of him who does it, but from some circumstances which have nothing to do with his settled character; and therefore are no proof of that character. Hence we find that all the great moral teachers of antiquity, under the influence of enlightened reason, have carefully distinguished between actions themselves, and the motives from which they have sprung; insisting upon the truth, that to him, and to him only, belongs the praise of virtue, who takes delight in the virtuous actions which he does; or the infamy of vice, to him only, who takes delight in the evil course which he follows. In like manner, all religion, as we learn from God's word, rests upon the character, the motives, the purpose of him who performs it. Now, the great master-principle, the governing law of all religion, is the fear of God. It is a great mistake to suppose that the fear of God belongs to the mere elements of religion, and is fitted only to babes in divine knowledge: it is of the very highest importance; "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;" and it is also the end of all wisdom, insomuch that he who is most truly sanctified is most perfect in this fear. From such a law as this the child of God never desires to be free; being under this law in his conscience, and desiring always to be conscious of its restraints; and feeling, too, that whenever

VOL. II. NO. XLII.

PRICE 1d.

this fear is in fullest exercise, then he possesses the best assurance that his heart is whole with God. But since there are some mistakes prevalent about the fear of God, which it is important to rectify, the present reflections will be confined to the negative part of the subject; and it will only be shewn what this fear is not. It might seem superfluous to say, first, that it is not a mere external duty; and yet it is necessary to feel this point for men are very ready to deceive themselves with a merely negative religion; not knowing that God's law requires us not only to depart from evil, but to do good; to follow after positive holiness, or active conformity to the divine image. men's actions were to be tried even upon this ground, which they themselves allow, the negative ground, they would often not bear inspection. Indeed, so deficient would they be found, as to prove that if the heart is to be kept, it must be kept by some more powerful authority ruling in it, that authority being none other than the fear of God, but which, in proportion as it prevails, will have that effect. This fear, then, is nothing negative: it is not the mere absence of other swaying motives; but it is a positive substantial thing.

If

Nor, again, is the fear of God a dread of his power to punish. This is plain from the fact, that such a fear is often found in those whose hearts are unchanged. They have the "spirit of bondage to fear;" yea, it is found in the devils, who "believe and tremble." If the conscience of persons in such a state be ever disturbed, even though the heart remains unholy, this sort of fear cannot but take place; for it is nothing more

L

than a natural passion, springing from selflove and sight of danger; and, so far from being equable, as the genuine fear of God is, the same at all times and under all circumstances, its strength depends upon the sense of danger, according as that seems to be greater or smaller, nearer or farther off. He who is under this fear dreads God as the slave dreads his master, because of the whip with which he is afraid of being lashed; he abstains from sin, not because he hates it, as a thing opposed to the nature of a holy God; but because "the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Now, it is clear at once, that a fear which may exist in the unchanged heart is not the principle which God has commanded, and in which he delights. But this wrong fear of God's power to punish is to be found not only in those who are at a guilty distance from him, but in some whose hearts have fully submitted to his authority. It proceeds either from false views of God or of their own character. Sometimes from false views of God. There are minds which delight to draw the most terrific pictures of the Almighty. They take some earthly king who is severely just, but who knows not mercy; and adding to this idea the qualities. of infinite power and purity, this is the God whom they set up before their imagination as the God of the Bible: this is no uncommor state of mind. And persons are still more commonly to be found, who, if they do not form to themselves notions of God as terrifying as these, yet create in their fancy ideas of God which are quite inconsistent with the love of God, and with a confident "looking for his mercy unto eternal life." Theirs is not the wholesome balance of hope and fear; and though it is written, "the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy," they act as though they had no right to the latter part of this truth; and though God has joined them. together, yet they seem as if they preferred the torment which arises in the mind when they are put asunder. They view God as armed for vengeance, not as clothed with love; as thundering from the throne of judgment, not as smiling on the mercy-seat. They dwell (with apparent preference) on those statements which tell of the "clouds and darkness which are round about his throne" they read the command, "let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear; for our God is a consuming fire ;" and they falsely conclude, that this reverence and godly fear is a dread of the flames with which Almighty power is armed against those that resist his right hand: they read

of his "glittering sword," and seem to think that piety consists in living in a continual dread of its stroke; though they are told that it is only when a man "will not turn, that God has threatened to whet that sword:" they read that "he hath prepared for him the instruments of death;" but they refuse to see that he ordaineth those arrows only against the persecutors of himself and his truth; they remember that "in Adam all die;" but they forget how that melancholy truth is introduced only to usher in the glorious truth, that "in Christ shall all be made alive." Now, can we hesitate to say, that such views of the character of God as these, which fill the mind of him who cherishes them with a slavish dread, are wrong? and must be a widely different thing from that "fear" which is the beginning of wisdom; which whosoever possesses is repeatedly pronounced "blessed?" "God is love:" not only has he manifested his love in numberless and wondrous instances, in every work of his hand, every act of his providence, in the face of nature, in the history of our lives, and, above all, in that act in which he "so loved the world, as to give his Son for its redemption; but he "is love;" it is the very essence of his being but we no where read that God is terror; and therefore, not he that dwelleth in terror, but "he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment :” and it is for the express end of removing this torment, that God has shewn himself in the face of Jesus Christ. The aspect which he exhibits in the Gospel is the very opposite of a frown, being that of "reconciled father in Christ Jesus."

[To be continued.]

Biography.

a

THE LIFE OF JOHN FRITH,

Who was burned in Smithfield, July 4, 1533.

E.

[Concluded from No. XLI.] THE retirement and ruin of Frith's great persecutor, Sir Thomas More, does not appear to have led to his liberation. He was, however, almost forgotten till Dr. Currein, one of the king's chaplains, preaching at court, took occasion to inveigh against the sacramentaries, as those were called who rejected the Romish doctrine of the sacrament, and said, it was no wonder that this abominable heresy prevailed, when there was one in the Tower who had boldly written in defence of it, and had received no check. Bishop Gardiner, who desired Frith's destruction, and who knew Henry's bigoted attachment to the tenet of the corporal presence, seems to have instigated Currein to this sermon. The result was answerable to his expectations. the king, displeased that such a heretic had been saved Canterbury and Lord Cromwell to take order for his so long, immediately commanded the archbishop of examination. Accordingly, Frith appeared first be

For

fore the archbishop at Lambeth, and then a day was appointed for him to be examined by the archbishop and certain other commissioners.

Cranmer had just been raised to the see of Canterbury. His opinions, as it is well known, were at this time those of the Romish Church on the doctrine of the sacrament: yet he acted towards Frith with candour and moderation. He sent at the appointed time one of his gentlemen, and a porter named Perlebeane, to convey the prisoner from the Tower to Croydon. And as they were in a wherry on the Thames, proceeding first to Lambeth, the gentleman, pitying Frith's condition, began to exhort him to yield a little to authority, as thereby he might not only save himself, but have a better opportunity afterwards of spreading his opinions. It were great pity, he urged, “that he being of such singular knowledge both in the Latin and Greek, and both ready and ripe in all kind of learning, and that, namely, as well in the Scriptures as in the ancient doctors, should now suddenly suffer all those singular gifts to perish with him, with little commodity or profit to the world, and less comfort to his wife and children, and other his kinsfolks and friends."-" And as for the verity of your opinion in the sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ," continued the gentleman, "it is so untimely opened here among us in England, that you shall rather do harm than good: wherefore be wise, and be ruled by good counsel, until a better opportunity may serve. This I am sure of, that my lord Cromwell and my lord of Canterbury, much favouring you, and knowing you to be an eloquent learned young man, and now towards the felicity of your life, young in years, old in knowledge, and of great forwardness and likelihood to be a most profitable member for this realm, will never permit you to sustain any open shame, if you will somewhat be advised by their counsel: on the other side, if you stand stiff to your opinion, it is not possible to save your life. For like as you have good friends, so have you mortal foes and enemies." "I most heartily thank you," replied Frith, “both for your good will and for your counsel, by which I well perceive that you mind well unto me: howbeit my cause and conscience is such, that in no wise I either may or can, for any worldly respect, without danger of damnation, start aside and fly from the true knowledge and doctrine which I have conceived of the supper of the Lord, or the communion, otherwise called the sacrament of the altar. For if it be my chance to be demanded what I think in that belief, I must needs say my knowledge and my conscience..... though I should presently lose twenty lives, if I had so many. And this you shall well understand, that I am not unfurnished, either of Scriptures, or ancient doctors, schoolmen, or other, for my defence; so that if I may be indifferently [impartially] heard, I am sure that mine adversaries cannot justly condemn me or mine assertion, but that they shall condemn with me both St. Augustine, and the most part of the old writers; yea, the very bishops of Rome, of the oldest sort, shall also say for me, and defend my cause." Yea, marry," said the gentleman, you say well, if you might be indifferently heard. But I much doubt thereof; for that our master Christ was not indifferently heard, nor should be, as I think, if he were now present again in the world, specially in this your opinion, the same being so odious unto the world, and we so far off from the true knowledge thereof." 66 Well, well," rejoined Frith; "I know very well that this doctrine of the sacrament of the altar, which I hold, and have opened contrary to the opinion of this realm, is very hard meat to be digested, both of the clergy and laity. But this I will say to you," and then he solemnly took the gentleman by the hand," that if you live but twenty years more, whatsoever become of me, you shall see this whole realm of mine opinion concerning this sacrament of

66

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the altar; namely, the whole estate of the same, though some sort of men particularly shall not be fully persuaded therein. And if it come not so to pass, then account me the vainest man that ever you heard speak with tongue. Besides this, you say, that my death would be sorrowful and uncomfortable unto my friends; I grant that for a small time it would so be. But if I should so mollify, qualify, and temper my cause in such sort as to deserve only to be kept in prison, that would not only be a much longer grief unto me, but also to my friends would breed no small disquietness both of body and mind. And therefore, all things well and rightly pondered, my death in this cause shall be better unto me, and all mine, than life in continual bondage and penuries, And Almighty God knoweth what he hath to do with his poor servant, whose cause I now defend, and not mine own; from the which I assuredly do intend, God willing, never to start, or otherwise to give place, so long as God will give me life."

This conversation passed, as before said, while they were on the water in their way to Lambeth. From Lambeth to Croydon they were to proceed on foot and as they went, the gentleman resolved to give Frith the opportunity of making his escape. He therefore sounded Perlebeane the porter, and finding that he was ready to agree, told him, that he had already devised an admirable plan. "You see," said he," yonder hill before us, named Brixton Causeway, two miles from London; there are great woods on both sides: when we come there, we will permit Frith to go into the woods on the left-hand side of the way, whereby he may convey himself into Kent among his friends, for he is a Kentish man born; and when he is gone we will linger an hour or twain about the highway, until that it somewhat draw towards the night. Then, in great haste, we will approach unto Streatham, which is a mile and a half off, and make an outcry in the town that our prisoner is broken from us into the woods on the right-hand, towards Wandsworth; so that we will draw as many as we may of the town to search the country that way for our prisoner, declaring that we followed above a mile, or more, and at length lost him in the woods, because we had no more company; and so we will, rather than fail, lie out one night in searching for him, and send word from Streatham to my lord of Canterbury, at Croydon, in the evening, of the prisoner's escape, and to what coast he is fled. So that by the morning, if he have any good luck at all, he will provide for himself, that the bishops shall fail of their purpose." "I assure you," replied Perlebeane, “I like very well the device herein; and therefore go ye to Frith, and declare what we have devised for his delivery: for now we are almost at the place." Then the gentleman, never doubting that the prisoner would gladly embrace the offer of his liberty, called to him; "Now, master Frith, let us twain converse together... consider that the journey which I have now taken in hand thus in bringing you to Croydon, as a sheep to the slaughter, so grieveth me.... that I little pass what danger I fall in, so that I could find the means to deliver you out of the lion's mouth. And yet yonder good fellow and I have so devised a means whereby you may both easily escape from this great and immi nent danger at hand, and we also be rid from any vehement suspicion." As soon as Frith had heard the plan, he began to smile; "And is this the effect of your secret consultation thus long between you twain ? Surely, surely, you have lost a great deal more labour in times past, and so are you like to do this; for, if you should both leave me here, and go to Croydon, declaring to the bishops that you had lost Frith, I would surely follow after as fast as I might, and bring them news that I had found and brought Frith again. Do you think that I am afraid to declare my opinion unto the bishops of England in a manifest truth?"

.... you must

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"You are a fond man," cried the gentleman, "thus to talk, as though your reasoning with them might do some good. But I do much marvel that you were so willing to fly the realm before you were taken, and now so unwilling to save yourself." Marry," returned Frith, “there was and is a great difference of escaping between the one and the other. Before, I was indeed desirous to escape, because I was not attached, but at liberty, which liberty I would fain have enjoyed for the maintenance of my study beyond the sea, where I was reader in the Greek tongue, according to St. Paul's counsel. Howbeit, now being taken by the higher powers, and, as it were, by Almighty God's permission and providence delivered into the hands of the bishops, only for religion and doctrine's sake, namely, such as in conscience, and under pain of damnation, I am bound to maintain and defend, if I should now start aside and run away, I should run from my God, and from the testimony of his holy word, worthy then of a thousand hells. And therefore, I most heartily thank you both for your good wills towards me, beseeching you to bring me where I was appointed to be brought; for else I will go thither all alone." Such was the constancy of this noble martyr; such his devoted readiness, "not to be bound only, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus." And then he walked on, contentedly and cheerfully, spending the time in godly and pleasant conversation till they came to Croydon. The next day he appeared before the bishops, and other commissioners. Gardiner, his old tutor, was one of them, and, instead of the love and favour he had heretofore professed, shewed against him now nothing but malice and tyranny. Frith, however, defended his opinions with so much spirit and wisdom, as to call forth the wonder and commendation of the archbishop of Canterbury, though unconvinced by his reasons.

It was not Cranmer, however, who finally sat in judgment upon Frith. For on the 23d of June, 1533, not long after the examination at Croydon, he was brought to his final trial at St. Paul's, before the Bishops of London, Winchester, and Lincoln. Of the iniquitous proceedings on this occasion he has himself given us an account, in a letter written in Newgate three days after.* "I doubt not, dear brethren," he begins, "but that it doth some deal vex you, to see the one part have all the words, and freely to speak what they list, and the other to be put to silence, and not to be heard indifferently. But refer your matters to God, which shortly shall judge after another fashion. But in the mean season, I shall rehearse unto you the articles for which I am condemned. They examined me but of two articles, which are these: first, whether I thought there were no purgatory to purge the soul after this present life? And I said that I thought there was none..... The second article was this, whether I thought that the sacrament of the altar was the body of Christ? And I said, yea, that I thought that it was both Christ's body, and also our body, as St. Paul saith, 1 Cor. x. In that it is made one bread of many grains, it is our body; signifying that we, though we be many, are yet one body and likewise of the wine, in that it is made one wine of many grapes. And again, in that it is broken, it is Christ's body, signifying, that his body should be broken, that is to say, suffer death, to redeem us from our iniquities. In that it was distributed, it was Christ's body, signifying, that as verily as that sacrament is distributed unto us, so verily is Christ's body, and the fruit of his passion, distributed unto all faithful men. In that it is received, it is Christ's body, signifying, that as verily as the outward man receiveth the sacrament with his teeth and mouth, so verily doth the inward man, through faith,

These extracts are quoted from the letter in Frith's works, and not from the copy given by Fox, which is far from being accurate.

receive Christ's body and fruit of his passion, and is as sure of it as of the bread that he eateth. . . . . . The cause of my death is this-because I cannot in conscience abjure and swear that our prelates' opinion of the sacrament (that is, that the substance of bread and wine is verily changed into the flesh and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ) is an undoubted article of the faith, necessary to be believed under pain of damnation. Now, though this opinion were indeed true (which thing they can neither prove true by Scripture nor doctors), yet could I not in conscience grant that it should be an article of the faith necessary to be believed. . . . . . The cause why I cannot believe their opinion of transmutation is this: first, because I think verily that it is false, and can neither be proved by Scripture, nor faithful doctors, if they be well pondered. The second cause is this: because I will not bind the congregation of Christ (by mine example) to admit any necessary article beside our creed, and specially none such as cannot be proved true by Scripture. And I say that the Church, as they call it, cannot compel us to receive any such articles to be of necessity under pain of damnation. The third cause is, because I dare not be so presumptuous in entering into God's judgment, as to make the prelates in this point a necessary article of our faith. For then I should....condemn all the Germans.....with infinite more, which indeed do not believe nor think that the substance of bread and wine is changed into the substance of Christ's natural body. And surely I cannot be so foolish hardy as to condemn such an infinite number for our prelates' pleasures. Thus all the Germans....both of Luther's side and also of Ecolampadius' do wholly approve my matter. And surely I think there is no man that hath a pure conscience, but he will think that I die righteously. For that this transubstantiation should be a necessary article of the faith, I think no man can say it with a good conscience, although it were true indeed. By me, JOHN FRITH."

When the prisoner could not be persuaded to recant, the Bishop of London, Stokesley, pronounced his sentence. It was couched in the usual terms of what one must call hypocritical moderation. "We... declare thee to be a heretic, to be cast out from the Church, and left unto the judgment of the secular power, and now presently so do leave thee unto the secular power and their judgment; most earnestly requiring them, in the bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ, that this execution and punishment, worthily to be done upon thee, may be so moderate, that the rigour thereof be not too extreme, nor yet the gentleness too much mitigated, but that it may be to the salvation of thy soul, to the extirpation, terror, and conversion of heretics, to the unity of the catholic faith, by this, our sentence definitive, or final decree, which we here promulgate in this form aforesaid."

Frith, being thus delivered into the hands of the mayor and sheriffs of London, was by them carried to Newgate, and immured in a dungeon underground, loaded with as many irons as he could bear, and fastened with an iron collar round his neck to a post, in such a posture that he could neither stand upright nor stoop down. Still this constant martyr ceased not to "work while it was day," for in his wretched cell, which the light of heaven never entered, having procured a candle, he occupied himself with writing. He enjoyed the gracious presence of the same Lord who enabled Paul and Silas to sing praises in the prison of Philippi, and therefore was not comfortless.

After a few days' confinement in Newgate, the martyr was, July 4th, brought forth into Smithfield, where a young man named Hewet was to suffer with him. When they were at the stake, Dr. Cook, the minister of Allhallows, Honey Lane, charged the people no more to think of praying for the victims than they would for a dog. This gratuitous inhumanity dis