nounced her to be an obstinate heretic, and one that would not be reformed, and he would not consent to her release. Again the spirit of the unstable man turned against his wife, and he laid information against the brother of Alice, complaining, that Roger Hall, (for so her brother was named,) had found means to hold frequent communication with the poor prisoner; and he told the Bishop that if he could keep her brother from her she would turn, for, added the cruel husband, ' He comforteth her, giveth her money, and persuadeth her not to return or relent.'

The prison of Alice Benden was soon after changed, and she was taken to a wretched dungeon called Monday's Hole, strict orders being at the same time given, that her brother's coming should be watched for, and that he also should be taken and committed to prison. This dungeon was in a vault beneath the ground, and in a place where, in these protestant days, prisons are not to be found; it was within a court where the prebend's chambers were. The window of the dungeon was surrounded by a paling so high, that the prisoner in the dungeon beneath could not possibly see any one beyond the paling, unless he stood by it and looked over it. There, by the good providence of God, in the absence of Alice Benden's jailor, who was also a bell-ringer, that loving and faithful brother at length discovered the place of her imprisonment. He came at a very early hour while the man was gone to ring the church bell, and he managed with some difficulty, to convey money in a loaf of bread, at the end of a pole, to his half-starved sister. But this was the only intercourse he could obtain, and this was after she had already lain five weeks in that miserable dungeon. 'All that time,' says Foxe, no creature was known to come at her more than her keeper.' She lay on a little short straw between a pair of stocks and a stone wall: her fare being one half-penny a day in bread, and a farthing in drink, till she entreated to have the three farthings in bread and water to drink; and there she lay for nine weeks, in the depth of the winter, without once being enabled to change her raiment.

ill

On her being first brought into that loathesome dungeon, the poor treated woman gave way to complaint and lamentations, wondering within herself, why her Lord God did with His so heavy justice suffer her to be sequestered from her loving fellows into such extreme misery. And in these dolorous mournings did she continue,' adds her biographer, till on a night as she was in her sorrowful supplications, rehearsing this verse of the Psalm: " Why art thou so heavy, O my soul"-and again, "the right hand of the Most High can change all," she received comfort in the midst of her miseries, and after that continued very joyful until her delivery from the same.'

At length, on the 25th of March, it was in the year 1557, Alice Benden was taken from her dungeon and brought up before the iniquitous Bishop of Dover. And the question was again put to her 'Would she now go home, and go to the church or no?' and great favour was promised her if she would but reform. Her answer shewed the steadfastness of her purpose; she would not consent to receive liberty or life on such terms, saying; I am thoroughly persuaded by the great extremity that you have already shewed me, that you are not of God, neither can your doings be godly; and I see that seek you

my

utter

destruction,' and she shewed them how lame she was from the cold and the want of food, and the sufferings of her wretched prison: for she was not able to move without great pain. Her whole appearance indeed was most piteous; for after they removed her to the Westgate and her clothes had been changed and her person kept clean for a time, the whole of her skin peeled and scaled off, as if she had recovered from some mortal poison.

The day of her death was now approaching. And her deportment to the last was in keeping with the rest of her exemplary conduct. At the latter end of April she was again called for and condemned to die; and from that time committed to the castle prison, where she continued till the 19th day of June. Two circumstances attending her last hours were peculiarly affecting. In undressing herself for the stake, after having given her handkerchief to one John Banks, probably a faithful christian friend who was standing by, to keep in memory of her, she took from her waist a white lace, which she gave to the keeper, entreating him to give it to her brother, Roger Hall, and to tell him that it was the last band that she was bound with, except the chain ; and then she took a shilling of Philip and Mary, which her father had bent, a bowed shilling,' and sent her when she was first committed to prison, desiring that her said brother should with obedient salutations render the same to her father again. It was the first piece of money she said, which he had sent her after her troubles began: and then in her lovely spirit of piety, she added, that she returned it to him as a token of God's goodness to her in all her sufferings, that he might understand, that she had never lacked money while she was in prison. Will you not agree with me, my reader, that yonder forgotten martyr's field can yield associations far more lovely and richer in holy thought than the magnificient aisles of the celebrated Cathedral of Canterbury.

6

I spoke of Alice Potkins as the fellow-prisoner of Alice Benden; and the ruins of the old Castle of Canterbury, which we see from this ancient mount remind me of her sad story. Her fate was still more frightful than that of Alice Benden. She and four other prisoners were starved to death in that same castle. A letter which they wrote, betrayed the secret of their dismal death. It was finished by the last survivor, when four of them were already dead-famished with cold and hunger and was thrown by that last feeble and emaciated hand from between the bars of the prison window of the castle. That letter, in God's wise providence, fell into safe hands, and it is to be seen in Coverdale's collection of the Martyr's letters. It concludes with these few solemn words; 66 Notwithstanding we write not these our letters to the intent that we might not afford to be famished for the Lord Jesus' sake; but for this cause and intent; that they having no law to famish us in prison, should not do it privily; but that the murderers' hearts should be openly known to all the world, that all men may know of what church they are, and who is their Father."—"Out of the Castle of Canterbury." CHARLES B. TAYLER.

St. Peter's, Chester,
Nov., 1844.

THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA.

No. VII.

THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA.-REV. III. 14-22.

MR. Lindsay's account of Laodicea is fuller than that of the other six churches. He thus speaks of his visit to this church :—

'My next object was to see Laodicea. In the road to this is Guzelhisar, a large town, with one church, and about seven hundred Christians. In conversing with the priests here, I found them so little acquainted with the Bible, or even the New Testament in an entire form, that they had no distinct knowledge of the books which it contained, beyond the four gospels; but mentioned them indiscriminately with various idle legends and lives of saints. I have sent thither three copies of the Modern Greek Testament, since my return. About three miles from Laodicea is Denizli, which has been styled, but I am inclined to think erroneously, the ancient Colosse: it is a considerable town, with about four hundred Christians, Greeks, and Armenians, each of whom has a church. I regret, however, to say, that here also the most extravagant tales of miracles, and fabulous accounts of angels, saints, and relics, has so usurped the place of the Scriptures, as to render it very difficult to separate, in their minds, Divine truths from human inventions. I felt that here that unhappy time was come, when men should "turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned unto fables." I had with me some copies of the Gospels in Ancient Greek, which I distributed here, as in some other places through which I had passed. Eski-hisar, close to which are the remains of ancient Laodicea, contains about fifty poor inhabitants, in which number are but two Christians, who live together in a small mill: unhappily, neither could read at all the copy, therefore, of the New Testament which I intended for this church, I left with that of Denizli, the offspring and poor remains of Laodicea and Colosse: the prayers of the mosque are the only prayers which are heard near the ruins of Laodicea, on which the threat seems to have been fully executed, in its utter rejection as a Church.'

Mr. Hartley gives this account of his visiting Laodicea:

April 5, 1826.-From Hierapolis we directed our course toward another ancient city, which suggests to the serious mind, topics of painful but of useful interest. I know of no part of the sacred scriptures which is more calculated to alarm the careless, than the epistle to the Laodiceans. It is not merely the infidel, the profane, or the licentious, who find cause to tremble on reading these verses: many, who have much that is amiable and moral in their deportment, are here brought under condemnation. Our Lord does not charge the Laodiceans with heinous crimes: He does not say, 'Because thou dost not worship the Lord thy God; because thou dost not keep holy the sabbath-day; because thou killest, committest adultery, or art living in open violation of every one of the divine commandments: no! awful as are the guilt and danger of such a condition, there is

another state, still more odious in the eye of the Almighty-" Because thou art neither cold nor hot; because thou art lukewarm: because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." Let us carefully attend to the condition of the Laodiceans. They were Christians: : they were Christians who had a creed uncorrupted by human additions, and correct according to the very model of apostolic preaching: nor, as just noticed, were they charged with any open. deviation from the path of God's commandments. But they were not zealous for Christ; they were precisely in the situation of those who condemn earnestness and activity on the subject of eternal salvation; who are continually mis-applying the precept, "Be not righteous overmuch;" and who consider themselves possessed of many qualities extremely valuable in the sight of God, while they scarcely understand, or even condemn, those who frequently employ terms of self-condemnation. They did not feel themselves excited to any powerful efforts by the contemplation of their Redeemer's love, or by the force of his example: their conduct shewed no signs of "striving to enter in at the strait gate; " of "fighting the good fight of faith: of "counting all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord;" of "praying without ceasing." They did not love that Saviour, whose religion they professed to adopt, more than their "father," their "mother," and their "life" itself: nor could they comply with his strict language, "Whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Our Lord declares, therefore, his indignation, in language the most expressive and alarming, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." Happy for those who feel the force of these admonitions and warnings! To such, promises are annexed, no less encouraging than the rebuke is alarming: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me: To him that overcometh I will grant to sit with me in my throne: even as I also overcame, and am set down with my

Father in his throne!"

'The first object which attracts attention at Laodicea is the great number of Sarcophagi: in these, I reflected, the material part of many Laodicean Christians has returned, "earth to earth-ashes to ashes-dust to dust:" their spirits have long since given account of the manner in which they availed themselves of the faithful admonitions of the Apocalypse.

The city of Laodicea was situated on a hill of moderate height, but of considerable extent. Its ruins attest that it was large, populous, and splendid: there are still to be seen an amphitheatre, a theatre, an aqueduct, and many other buildings. But its present condition is in striking conformity with the rebuke and threatening of God. Not a single Christian resides at Laodicea! No Turk even has a fixed resi- · dence on this forsaken spot. We only observed a few Turcomans who had pitched their tents in the area of the amphitheatre. Infidelity itself must confess that the menace of the scriptures has been executed. It was a subject of interest to me, to find that the amphitheatre, which still remains, was built not much later than the time when St. John wrote the Apocalypse: nor could I help inquiring, whether theatrical amusements might not have been one of the principal causes which

induced the decay of spirituality at Laodicea: we know from the passionate fondness of the ancients for these sports, and also from the powerful condemnation of them by the primitive Fathers, that they must have been a source of serious temptation to the early Christians. Unhappy was the hour, when the youth of either sex were prevailed upon to take their seat in these splendid structures: that solid and serious felicity which the gospel imparts would soon be expelled amidst such tumultuous assemblies: and, with so many objects to inflame the passions and corrupt the heart, there was little prospect that a single visit would leave the individual without being infected with a dangerous contagion. Though circumstances are somewhat different in modern theatres, it is greatly to be apprehended that the results are not dissimilar: how many a youth, who awakened the best hopes, has been utterly ruined by these entertainments ! '

THE LIFE OF VIGILANTIUS,

A REFORMER OF THE FOURTH CENTURY.

THE following sketch is extracted from a work, which is earnestly recommended to the notice of the reader, not only for the interesting account it gives of Vigilantius himself, but also for the memorials it supplies of several of his contemporaries, and for the light it casts upon the true character of the religious system of the fourth century,the ripened fruit of Nicene piety.*

It has been often observed, that there is no age of the Christian Church, which can boast of so large a number of eminent men as this. To pass over those who flourished during the former half of it, we have in the latter half, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Hilary, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose, Augustine, Paulinus, and last of all, Jerome, the most learned, though not the most amiable, of the illustrious fraternity. Their works, as Mr. Gilly informs us, amount to thirty eight folio volumes, and are the repository of practical, doctrinal and polemical divinity, to which appeal is constantly made by those who deem the Fathers the chief or sole interpreters of the Sacred Scrip

tures.

But did these Writers, so diligent in study, so zealous in devotion, so transcendent in talent,-really hand down to future ages the pure doctrines of the gospel? To answer the question, we naturally refer to the effects of their teaching on their own age. And what was it, but the confirmation of errors which had been privily stealing in upon the church from the times of the Apostles, together with the addition of new delusions more and more at variance with the simplicity of the gospel of Christ?

Vigilantius was born about the year A.D. 364, in the Gallic village of Calagorris, situated at the foot of the Pyrenees, on the northern side of the mountains, and belonging to the district of Convenæ,—the present * Vigilantius and his Times. By W. S. Gilly, D.D., Canon of Durham, and Vicar of Norham.