had the Church of Rome been graced and its pulpits filled by many men like him, a reformation of doctrine might have been none the less needful, but the work of the reformers would have been rendered less easy. From a black-letter volume "enprynted in the fletestrete, by Wynkyn de Worde, prynter unto the moost excellent pryncesse my lady the kynge's graundame. In the yere of our Lorde God M.CCCCC.IX. the xij. daye of the moneth of Juyn," we may extract a few sentences illustrative of the style of a court-chaplain three hundred and fifty years ago. The sermons are on the seven penitential psalms, and were printed by command of the Countess of Richmond, "moder to our souerayne lorde kinge Henry the vij." In the first extract we shall preserve the original spelling. The Unfelt Burden. Peraventure some synner wyll saye, E perceybe nor feyle ong weyght in myself, do E neuer so many synnes. To whome we answere that of a dogge hauynge a grete stone bounde aboute his necke be cast downe from an hygh toure, he feleth no weyght of that stone as longe as he is fallynge downe, but whan he is ones fallen to the grounde he is brasten all to peces by the reason of that weyght. Soo the synner goynge downe towarde the pyt of hell feleth not the grete burden of synne, but whan he shall come in to the depnes of helle he shall fele more payne than he wolde. Also every creature which is aboute to put away the yoke of synne feleth the grete and grevous weyght of it. Guileful Enemies. : "Et dolos totâ die meditabantur. If they may not take us by those vanities, then they lay in our way other subtile and crafty baits. Either they be about to bring a man to a higher perfection of life, to the end they may overthrow him again; else they persuade and propose to a man's mind a more profitable place to get virtue in-because why? they may lightly or sooner put him down and make him forsake it like as fishers do when they are about to cause fish to come into their nets; they trouble the waters, to make them avoid and flee from their wonted places. Sometimes they persuade a man to change the manner of his life into a more straight way of living than peradventure any man may bear, that then he that is grieved afterward give over and forsake it say apes be taken of the hunters by doing on shoes. property of an ape is to do as he seeth a man do. therefore, will lay a pair of shoes in his way, and when he perceiveth the hunter doing on his shoes, he will do the same; and so, after that, it is too hard for him to leap and climb from tree to tree as he was wont, but anon he falleth down and is taken. Or else, at some time they lay before a man venom privily hid, under the colour of appearing virtue. They set his mind on getting and laying up worldly riches for the exercising of the works of mercy; or they move a man to chastise his body above his power, to subdue fleshly appetite." like as men For the The hunter, CONFESSORS AND MARTYRS. We are now come to that great "cloud of witnesses" into which the new-born Church of England was "baptized." Most of the theologians in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Mary, were martyrs; and to modern readers, their holy lives and glorious deaths are more edifying and impressive than their writings. Of these last, the style is usually prolix and ponderous, and, except as an archaic curiosity, few care for English authorship before the Elizabethan era. When we come to that era, in quoting from John Foxe, we shall have opportunity to do some justice to the noble deeds of the Reformation worthies; in the meanwhile, we must content ourselves with a few specimens, to which attaches an incidental interest. Anne Askew was a lady of rank and beauty, belonging to the court of Queen Catherine Parr, and was burned at Smithfield, in 1546, for holding that, in the communion, after consecration, the bread continues still to be bread. At the stake she was offered the king's pardon if she would recant; but she replied, "I came not here to deny my Lord and Master," and suffered with affecting constancy, "being compassed with flames of fire, as a blessed sacrifice unto God." The following "Ballad, which she made and sang when she was in Newgate," has affixed to it the text, "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound things which are mighty; yea, and things of no reputation for to bring to nought things of reputation; that no flesh should presume in his sight." THE BALLAD WHICH ANNE ASKEW MADE AND SANG WHEN SHE WAS IN NEWGATE. "Like as the armed knight Appointed to the field, With this world will I fight, And faith shall be my shield. To these times of terror we are disposed to refer the following Christmas carol, although it was not published till the reign of Elizabeth. In king Henry there was too much that reminded his subjects of Herod :— "My sweet little baby, what meanest thou to cry? Be still, my blessed babe, though cause thou hast to mourn, Shedding the blood of infants all, sweet Saviour, for thy sake. Three kings, this King of kings to see, are come from far, Lo! my little babe, be still, lament no more; From fury thou shalt step aside, help have we still in store We heavenly warning have some other soil to seek; From death must fly the Lord of life, as lamb both mild and meek. Thus must my babe obey the king that would him kill. Oh! woe, and woeful heavy day, when wretches have their will! But thou shalt live and reign, as David hath foresaid, And prophets prophesied. Whom caitives none can 'tray, whom tyrants none can kill. To many the following letter is already well known. It is from the learned, beautiful, and unfortunate Lady Jane Grey to her sister, and was written at the end of her Greek Testament, and sent "the night before she suffered." Lady Jane Grey to her Sister. "I have here sent you, good sister Catharine, a book, which, although it be not outwardly rimmed with gold, yet inwardly it is more worth than precious stones. It is the |