Spirit in their hands, they want not holy water to protect them from the machinations of Satan; or priestly incantations to exorcise them from his indwelling. If Christ be formed in the heart the hope of glory, Satan will find that consecrated place no congenial abode. Believing what God has related, they may safely be incredulous to the marvels which cunning men have feigned, or weak men fancied; and holding their faith on sure grounds, they have no reason to fear that it will be shaken because they inquire searchingly, rather than believe hastily, in regard to the many prodigies which Satan himself has perhaps invented in order to damage what is true: as if an enemy, to render the genuine coin suspicious, should multiply false resemblances. Those who have the real gold need not fear the hottest crucible that is necessary to consume the dross.

SENEX.

LETTER FROM THE CHAPLAIN OF SALOP GAOL ON THE CASE OF MISTER.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

My attention to Pastor's Letter in your May Number, and your observations thereon, was drawn by a brother clergyman, whom I accidentally met, while from home. Having only very recently returned, I had no time to notice it before.

It is true that Josiah Mister died denying his guilt; and that the blessed sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to him previous to his execution; but I trust that the recipient did not look upon it as a passport into heaven. It is certain, the course of instruction pursued at the Salop County Gaol must lead to a very different conclusion. When Josiah Mister was brought into custody, in August last, his knowledge of religious truths was scanty and superficial; but before his execution, he had made considerable progress, and was at least acquainted with the Gospel plan of salvation. His being confined to a separate court, without any manual employment, afforded him leisure to read the Bible, and other religious books, with which he was supplied; and his time was chiefly occupied in reading, meditation, and committing to memory the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and other portions of Scripture which were supposed to be applicable to his case, and likely to lead him, under God, to repentance, and to believe in the Saviour of sinful man. Besides the leisure and opportunity thus afforded him, he regularly attended Divine service daily in the chapel. After prayers, and a practical exposition of some portion of Scripture, were over, he, as well as the other prisoners, was detained in chapel for catechetical instruction, or to read a chapter in the Bible, which was verse after verse explained. The sacraments were, in these examinations, prominently brought before them, and frequently explained in detail. In addition to these public ministrations, I visited him twice at least every week, in his day-room. By these means I became acquainted with the progress he made in religious knowledge. Several sermons were delivered on the necessity of receiving, as well as explanatory of, the Lord's Supper, during the period of his imprisonment. And when he solicited me to administer the holy rite to him, after sentence of death was passed upon him, I earnestly cautioned him from supposing the sacrament to be of itCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 43.

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self a viaticum to heaven—or that he could derive any benefit or advantage from it, unless he received the same with a truly "penitent heart and lively faith:"-but, on the other hand, if received without such qualifications, he would be an unworthy communicant, and would eat and drink to his own condemnation. Josiah Mister professed repentance and faith,-whether he was truly penitent, it is not for me to presume to tell: God alone can discern the truth concealed in the recesses of the heart. After all, I hesitated, until I had consulted a faithful and zealous brother clergyman, to give him the sacrament. And I can assure you, that I never heard any one joining more earnestly and fervently in the confession, in the communion service, than Josiah Mister did. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

D. WINSTONE,

Chaplain to the Salop County Gaol.

*The duties of Chaplains of Gaols are often so painful and difficult, that, in cases which involve difference of opinion, much candour, delicacy, and Christian sympathy, are due towards those who conscientiously discharge them. We trust we did not violate this spirit in the remarks which we made upon the case of Mister, and which were as follow:

“We have inserted Pastor's letter, because it relates to a subject which has been much discussed in our pages, the administration of the Lord's Supper to criminals before execution. Without being acquainted with the particulars of what passed between the chaplains and the criminals, in the cases referred to (Macreth and Mister) it would be contrary to charity to assume that those who administered the Lord's Supper in these instances did not consider themselves conscientiously constrained, as a matter of duty, and after the strictest scrutiny, to act as they did; as in the case of Courvoisier, so candidly explained by Mr. Carver. At the same time, most superstitious and sacrilegious is the customas a custom of administering the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to criminals before execution, as if it were a viaticum which ought to be urged upon them, instead of being bestowed only upon their solicitation, after due instruction, examination, caution, and if necessary, dehortation."

It is not for us to presume to decide for the consciences of other men; but as this particular case has been adverted to in our pages, it is but justice to Mr. Winstone, that we should say, that, according to our own rule, if after much deliberation and prayer, he administered the Lord's Supper to Mister " only upon his own solicitation;" and "after due instruction, examination, caution, and, if necessary, dehortation," following the Apostle's direction "Let a man examine himself," not undertaking to decide infallibly as to the sincerity of the candidate's professed repentance and faith, though faithfully warning him of his guilt and danger if he was deceiving himself or others; we do not see that he would have been justified in ultimately withholding it. The only point left unexplained by him is, whether or not, as a most important and essential proof of penitence and faith, he urged upon the condemned man the duty of at least not uttering falsehood in regard to the crime of which he was convicted, supposing he was guilty of it ;-which we think there can be no doubt of, notwithstanding his denials and protestations. The duty of a chaplain in this matter appears to us very clear. If a convicted prisoner denies his guilt, the strong probabilities are that he falsifies; still, as all human tribunals are fallible, it is within the range of possibility that there was a mistake in the judgment. Now we do not think that it is the office of a chaplain to cross-examine a convicted prisoner, or to entrap him, as it were, into an acknowledgment of his criminality. Should he solemnly deny it, the chaplain

is not to harass him by asking him how he accounts for this or that circumstance ;-unless it be that really thinking it possible he was innocent,' he wishes, for the condemned person's own sake, to elicit such facts as may clear up the matter, and perhaps procure a pardon. But we are speaking only of cases in which the inquiry is not for this just and charitable purpose; but in order to elicit a confession. In such instances the minister of Christ ought not to be the accuser; nor, as we said, the cross-examiner. His chief duty regards the man's soul; he must solemnly state the matter to the prisoner as an affair of conscience and salvation. "You are convicted by your country of this crime: you deny your guilt: God, before whom you deny it, is your Judge, not I;" [the chaplain might, however, strongly express his own opinion, if he considered the case incontrovertibly clear, lest his abstinence should embolden the criminal in his falsehood] "but one thing is certain, that if your conscience attests your guilt, and you die with a lie in your lips, asserting the contrary, you seal your eternal condemnation." And so in regard to the administration of the Lord's Supper under such circumstances; the chaplain was only to teach, warn, and exhort, not condemn but he was bound specially to urge that if the party was condemned in his own conscience, as well as by an earthly tribunal, and especially if he was persisting in a falsehood in denying his criminality, he would eat and drink his own condemnation by partaking unworthily of the sacramental supper, not discerning the Lord's body. Now it does not appear from Mr. Winstone's narrative (though we presume it is implied) that he made this a touchstone of the prisoner's sincerity. We repeat, that we do not mean in the way of what is called "moral torture" in order to extract a confession; but in the way of appeal to the conscience of the party as regarded his own salvation, and moreover as a duty to God and society. If the prisoner had been silent as to his guilt, even then the duty of confession, provided he knew himself to be criminal, might have been strongly urged, without oppressing, as it were, a helpless man; but when he denied it, the necessity was, if possible, still more urgent, of warning him against approaching the Lord's table, or meeting his Judge, with falsehood on his lips. If he disclaimed having falsified, the chaplain, who was not acting as a juryman, much less as an arbiter, must proceed, after due monition, as though the disclaimer were true; the guilt being upon the culprit's own head if it were false. Mr. Winstone mentions only his general exhortations to the prisoner in regard to penitence and faith; he does not say whether he pressed this particular point, which was of extreme importance; for either Mister received the sacrament under the most awfully aggravated circumstances of lying hypocrisy before God and man, or he died a victim to the fallibility of human laws and false judgment. It was not for the chaplain to decide which of these awful alternatives was the true one; though we can scarcely conceive otherwise than that he was, and is, convinced of the prisoner's guilt; but even if he had believed the contrary, still, under the circumstance of the man's being condemned, yet denying his guilt, he was bound to make the truth or falsehood of that denial the man's own special witness to his own conscience (combined of course with repentance and faith in full) as to whether the Lord's Supper would be a bane or benefit. This done (and we presume it was done) the party must decide for himself.

ON THE TERCENTENARY OF THE SETTING UP OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE IN CHURCHES.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

MAY I request to be informed on what authority you have stated (whose bare statement is in general good authority) that "in the year 1541 ....the English Bible was ordered to be set up in our churches ?" (See Christian Observer, April 1841, p. 231.) Your other synchronisms in that interesting and able review, I have not tested; nor probably should I have examined this, but from the synchronism of my being engaged in attending village Bible meetings, about the time I read that review. The tercentenary of the event alluded to, afforded a happy reminiscence for a Bible meeting; although I did not avail myself of it; having remembered the precept (would that I ever may in weightier matters!) "Prove all things." Last year, or 1838, would have done, according to my authorities (bating the Christian Observer.)

CLERICUS P. A. T.

We have not at hand any memorandum of our reference. The circumstance is probably noticed by Strype; and perhaps by Fox or Burnet. If our correspondent will give us any reason for doubting it, we will look out for the verification; but as we have no hesitation about it, we scarcely think it necessary.

Since we wrote the above paragraph, we have opened a new uncut volume on our table,-Mr. Bagster's splendid English Hexapla New Testament, just published-and on turning to the date of 1541, in the interesting and diligently compiled preliminary "historical account of English versions," we find the following passage, which is worth quoting for the facts contained in it, as well as in reply to our correspondent's inquiry.

"The state of things, as regards religion in England, was now increasingly anomalous. The Gospel was not to be preached under the pain of suffering as heretics. Many doctrines were enjoined on pain of death, to be received as being in Scripture; and yet the Bible, in which not a word was said about some of these very doctrines, was not only allowed to be circulated, but the injunctions which had been before made with regard to its being placed in every parish ehurch, were repeated and enforced. This new proclamation was dated May 6, 1541. It recited, that the king had set forth certain injunctions requiring the Bible to be placed in every parish church, to the intent that all his subjects might read it; and in order that the right end might be answered by this, the procla mation enjoined that none should read the Bible with a loud voice during the time of mass, or other divine service; that no layman reading it, should dispute or argue, but only reverently peruse it for his own edification.

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By this it seems as though the Bibles had in some places been actually read aloud while the Latin service was going on. The injunction seems to contemplate its still being read at such times, but only restrains the manner in which this should be done.

"As to laymen being forbidden to dispute about Scripture, the act of the Six Articles seems to have been already sufficiently stringent upon that point; for the things there defined were enough to make, not laymen only, but all others, fear to hold lightly any disputation as to what the Bible actually contained.

"This proclamation farther sets forth that the king had heard that, in spite of his former injunctions, there were many parishes destitute of Bibles; at which he marvelled not a little, enjoining that a Bible should be speedily procured for every parish church; the time limited for this was the next All Saint's day, (Nov. 1, 1541.) after which a penalty of 40s. a month was to be imposed where one was not obtained. The price likewise of the Bibles of the largest volume was fixed at 12s. well bound and clasped, and 10s. unbound."

The authority for the above account, as given in the margin, is, "Cott. M. S. S.; Cleop. E. v. 337;" which our correspondent doubtless knows refers to the press and shelf marks in the Cotton library in the British Museum; but the document is perhaps printed or noticed (and from that very source) in Strype. Our statement was published more than two months before Mr. Bagster's Hexapla. In our historical notices of the English Bible in our volume for 1836, (see Index) we have alluded to the chronological and historical difficulties which beset some of Henry the Eighth's partial, mutable, and inconsistent proclamations relative to the promulgation of the English Bible.

LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR OF "THE SINNER'S FRIEND." To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

SIR, I take the earliest opportunity of expressing my sincere thanks for the judicious corrections you have so kindly made, (in the Number for May), and with such a sweet Christian spirit, in some of the portions of "The Sinner's Friend." I do indeed feel truly grateful for them; and have proceeded, instantly, to make the alterations -for the next edition-shortly expected; but I will write you more fully in a few days.

I have thought so much of your kind remarks, (in the Christian Observer published this day) that I have made it a matter of thankfulness to Almighty God, that you have been led to detect the danger which might arise from any unguarded declaration (in "The Sinner's Friend") of that mercy which is so largely treasured up for every penitent sinner.

To Pastor, I am greatly indebted for bringing the subject forward; may the Lord grant unto him the blessings of true repentance, and true faith, that he may LOVE the Lord Jesus more and more.

Originally, "The Sinner's Friend" was not intended for sale; I published the first 3000 gratuitously, for my old companions and others; but the demand for this little work became so large, that it was needful that some should be paid for; but I have had the exquisite pleasure of giving away upwards of 40,000 copies, in which I have been rewarded a million-fold by the conversion of many sinners. To GOD alone be all, ALL the praise.

I have the grateful pleasure of subscribing myself, your very obliged and (I have no doubt) fellow Zion-traveller,

THE AUTHOR AND COMPILER OF THE SINNER'S FRIEND."

*We have received two other letters from the author of "The Sinner's Friend" written in the same kind, candid, and Christian spirit; but which having his name affixed, and mentioning, with all simplicity, some particulars in which it has pleased God to bless the perusal of his tract, were not meant for publication. It is only necessary to add, that having seen the remarks in our Number for June, he says:

"The more I read your own remarks upon that subject, (Pastor's Letter) in your Magazine for the present month, the more reason I have for being thankful that you have written so well, and so much to the purpose, and so much more to my satisfaction, than I could have done myself; therefore I now forego every intention of taking any further notice of it."

"I cannot pass over, in silence, your kind defence of the right and holy intention' of 'The Sinner's Friend,' and I assure you that every portion, written by