We are certainly in no danger of falling into the idolatry of the ancients in setting up a Divinity to preside over lands and limits. Whatever other fanes grace our national Tarpeian Rock, there is no temple to the God Terminus; whose very name has been vernacularised among us to indicate the beginning and end of vertiginous locomotion; depriving our idol, it is true, of arms and feet, as the ancients emblematically did theirs, but placing him on a steam-carriage to give him velocity. The ancients tell us (Fast. II.) that the God Terminus imposed boundaries upon people, and cities, and mighty nations, and that without him every field would be eaten up with litigation; but our proposed metropolitan Terminus has caused mighty squabbles; and whenever men hear the very mention of his name, they tremble, thinking not of stability but of change, no one knowing but to-morrow his patrimonial glebe will be demanded by this national idol, and the dowry of the widow, and the portion of the orphan, be devoured in litigation to satisfy his ravin. eraism is driving us. It is not prudent to put to sea with only sails and paddles, without rudder or compass, anchor or ballast; all which may prove as necessary as impulsive steam and driving gales. One most alarming trait of neweraism is its reckless removal of landmarks; the deprecation of which, whether fraudulently or rashly, ought not to be confined to an annual Commination Service. The wisdom of our ancestors, it is true, was not infallible; many great national improvements are desirable; and we would not retain a useless decayed post in the public street only to annoy passengers, or refuse to widen a thoroughfare to meet the new demands of Omnibuses. But momentous changes, which involve large principles, ought not to be rashly proposed or adopted. We have witnessed many mutations of our national policy in matters both temporal and spiritual;-but no Revolution has been effected in our days, or in those of our forefathers, since the period of the Reformation, which would be so portentous as the destruction of the Church of England as a National Establishment ;-for to that tends the whole course of new-era policy; and we cannot but see that Dr. Hook's education scheme would precipitate the catastrophe. No principle-not even that of the duty of national worship for adults-has been more systematically acted upon throughout Christendom, than that of basing the education A little more next month; but of youth upon religion. The re- in the mean time we once more ligion might be corrupt, or the respectfully suggest for considerameans employed bad or inefficient; tion, whether Dr. Hook's scheme but the object was uniformly kept however piously intended- is in view. All our academical not in effect a national abjuration establishments, previously to the of religion; which, followed up to introduction of new-eraism, vouch its legitimate results, carries us out for the fact. But now everything either to polytheism, or pantheism, of this sort is to be changed; and or atheism. No enactment of a siall the old landmarks are to be re- milar character has ever passed the moved, even before we have de- British legislature. The Act which cided where to place the new ones. converted Marriage, as legally re But the subject is too weighty to allow of playing upon a word. We had however a serious meaning, which was this, that if we must remove our territorial landmarks at the arbitrament of newera encroaching rail-roadism, at least let us pause before we submit our religious institutions to a similar process. cognized, into merely a civil ceremony, left all persons to add any religious rites which they pleased; but the legislature did not provide rooms, at the public expense, in which the various ceremonies are to be performed; nor did it require the registrar to demand every Monday morning a certificate of some religious form having been gone through. The Maynooth endowment regarded only one particular class of those who call themselves Christians; and the "godless" Irish colleges were confined to secular education. But Dr. Hook makes provision at the public cost for edifices, in which all isms which were ever devised may be taught; a parish ark, in which all that is clean or unclean is to be crowded together; a Babel, the strange confusion of which would be the least evil. Arguing with Dr. Hook only in his character of what he calls a High-Churchman, we would ask, Has he considered that his plan directly abets schism? Hitherto all sects have been tolerated; but the legislature has not built schools for them; nor does it demand a certificate of attendance at a Quaker Meeting, or a Baptist chapel. But Dr. Hook recognizes all sects; his annual million of money goes in part to open religious classrooms for all; and their legal admission into the proposed theological seminaries gives them respectability and public sanction. Which of them, we once more ask, would he, or could he, exclude? We would in the mean time suggest to our readers to consider seriously, and to come to a definite opinion upon, the fundamental principles involved in these inquiries; as to the rights and duties of States, and the rights and duties of individual conscience. These are not, and cannot be, discrepant. There never can be two contrariant paths of duty. We may in many cases doubt which is the right path, but God cannot mean us to walk two ways at once. All cases of conscience are of this class. We ought to consult Scripture, to exercise our best judgment, and to pray for Divine direction, in order to discover the way in which we should go, and to ascertain which set of seemingly conflicting reasons has the scriptural preponderance; but though we may be perplexed, there is always one right path; just as in the case where several roads meet, one of which leads to our journey's end, and all the others diverge from it, we are not either to sit down in despair without inquiry, concluding that all are wrong; or to take the first that offers, presuming that all are right; but are to find out which is the proper route. We shall probably all of us-Churchmen and Dissenters, Statesmen and private Christians-have to form a careful opinion upon this matter; and having done so, we ought not to be shaken by objections which we have fairly weighed and disposed of. If any man ask, "Should Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have worshipped the State image, or Daniel have refrained from praying to the true God, at the king's command?" the answer is clearly in the negative; for the ruler interfered with the prerogatives of private conscience; and he had no right to do so; nor was the subject bound to obey him when he did so. But if it be asked, "Ought our Lord to have paid tribute to Cæsar, who was an idolator?" the answer is equally clear; for the paying tribute to whom tribute is due, is the ordinary duty of the subject, who is not personally accountable for the disposition of the national revenues; and hence there is not any trace throughout the New Testament that the Apostles, or any of the early Christians, refused to comply with the fiscal demands made upon them by the govern ments under which they lived; though the taxes went in part to support pagan institutions. There was not the slightest question upon the subject at Rome, or Athens, or Ephesus, or Corinth. And yet these same men sacrificed liberty, property, and life, rather than swerve one hair's breadth from their allegiance to their Saviour. (To be Continued.) HISTORY OF FOREIGN PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN ENGLAND. The History of the French, Walloon, Dutch, and other Protestant Refugees in England, from the reign of Henry VIII. to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. By JOHN S. BURN; author of Parish Registers; The Fleet Registers, &c. London. 1846. WE lately gave some historical notices of Nonconformist Churches in London; and it occurs to us that some account of Foreign Protestant Churches settled among us may interest our readers. We have the materials conveniently at hand in the above-named volume. Mr. Burn was appointed Secretary to her Majesty's Commission for collecting non-parochial registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials; and in this capacity the records of most of the Refugee congregations were placed in his custody. Of Of these materials, before uncollected, he has given the aggregate. The statistical details under each Church are chiefly for reference; but he has prefixed to his volume a succinct historical memorial, the substance of which we will extract; as we could not narrate the leading facts in fewer words. The account is solely historical, not theological or controversial. England, we rejoice to say, has long been a refuge for the persecuted saints of Christ in other lands; nor indeed do we grudge the large hospitality with which she opens her arms to foreigners of every class, who, so long as they conduct themselves peaceably upon her soil, ought to be allowed a home; only we could earnestly wish that extensive efforts were devised and carried into ration for-we do not say proselyting them-but for making known ope to them the Gospel of Christ in that purity in which it is our privilege to enjoy it. "For a long time prior to the 16th century there had been many foreigners settled in England, carrying on mercantile operations with Antwerp, Venice, principal object, however, of this and and various other European states. The the following chapter, is to notice the two large influxes of foreigners occasioned, about the middle of the 16th century, by the cruelty of the Spaniards in the Netherlands, and by the massacre of St. Bartholomew; and about the latter end of the 17th century by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. ration of protection and privileges, to "Edw. I. granted a charter, or declaforeign merchants, and also determined the customs or duties which these merchants were in return to pay on merchandize imported and exported. He promised them protection, allowed them tives and half of foreigners, and appointa jury on trials, consisting half of naed them a Justiciary in London. He imposed on them a duty of 2s. on each the old duty, and 40 pence on each sack tun of wine imported, over and above of wool exported, besides half a mark, the old duty. But notwithstanding this seeming attention to foreign merchants, the King did not free them from the cruel hardship of making one answerable for the debts, and even for the crimes, of another that came from the same country. "By the 1st Rich. III. cap. 9, it appears there were great numbers of merchants, strangers of the nation of Italy, as Venetians, Genoese, Florentines, Apulians, Sicilians, Luccaners, Cateloins, &c. and by that Act they were subjected to various restraints in trade. ing strangers, with the following pre"In 1540 an Act was passed concernamble: "The King our most dread Sovereign Lord, calling unto his blessed remembrance the infinite number of strangers and aliens of foreign countries and nations which daily do increase and multiply, &c.' "It then recites the various Acts passed relating thereto, and makes further enactments. And in 1546, the King granted a license to Stratta Cavalcanti and Guido Cavalcanti his brother, Florentine merchants, to import all manner of jewellery, &c. &c. "Fringes, Parsamentys, and all other new Gentilesses, for the pleasure of us, of our dearest Wife the Queen, our Nobles, Gentlemen, and others.'—Rymer, vol. 15, page 105. 66 Strype, in his memorials of the year 1547, says 'Now I conjecture, were the beginnings of the foreigners' church planted at Canterbury by the countenance and influence of Archbishop Cranmer.' One or two learned foreigners were in this city under the Archbishop's auspices-one of these was John Utenhovius, a person of honourable rank and quality, afterwards elder and assistant to John a Lasco's church in London others were Valerandus Pollanus, and Franciscus, and the year after Bucer was here. "About this time also it was, that one day when Latimer was preaching before the young King Edward VI. he spoke to him of a distinguished theologian, who had begun to preach to the foreign Protestants assembled in London, the truths of the gospel: his name was Jean a Lasco. I could wish,' said Latimer, that we could collect together such valuable persons in this kingdom; it would be the means of ensuring its prosperity. "He who re ceives you," said our Saviour, "receives me. ." Some time after, the King granted a Charter' to all the foreign Protestants,' as will presently be noticed. "In the year 1549, the persecution in France grew very warm, which was partly occasioned upon the inauguration of King Henry II. and his entrance into Paris for that purpose. For the burning of martyrs in several streets of the city, where and when the King was to pass by, made a barbarous part of the solemnity. In this year, many French Protestants, who had been imprisoned for religion in their own country, were either banished, or secretly made their escape into this kingdom. These applied to some French ministers, entertained as it seems in the family of Archbishop Cranmer, with Bucer, Peter Martyr, and others, which ministers delivered the condition of these poor men to the Archbishop.' "In the year 1555, King Edward VI. granted to the foreign Protestants a Charter for the exercise of their religion, and granted to them the church of the Augustine Friars, appointing John a Lasco to be their superintendent, and Gualterus Delonus, Martinus Flandrus, Fraciscus Riverius, and Richardus Gallus, the first ministers. "The refugees experienced some reverses during the reign of Queen Mary, but were greatly protected and encouraged by Elizabeth, who in 1560 wrote a letter to the Church, in which she said, 'We are not ignorant that the ceremonies, &c., have been different in the various Churches since the birth of Christianity-in some, the congregation prayed standing, in others, kneelingit is nevertheless the same religion, provided their prayers are addressed to the same God. We do not despise your ser vice, and we do not constrain you to adopt ours. We approve of your ceremonies, inasmuch as they accord best with the countries whence you come.' "The great influx, however, of foreigners was in the year 1567, when upon the report of the Duke D'Alva coming into the Netherlands with 10,000 veteran soldiers, the trading people of the town and country withdrew from the provinces in such vast numbers, that the Duchess of Parma, the Governess, wrote to Philip II., that in a few days above 100,000 men had left the country with their money and goods, and that more were following every day.' These trading people, called Walloons, fled in great numbers to England, and settled at Canterbury, Norwich, Southampton, Sandwich, Colchester, Maidstone, and other towns, introducing the manufactures of Woollen, Linen, and Silk Weavers, Dyers, Cloth-dressers, Silk Throwsters, &c., and teaching the English to make Bayes, Sayes, and other light Stuffs. In like manner, about the year 1360, the Belgians and Flemings (driven from home by frequent inundations), had taught the English the art of making woollen cloths, of which they were before ignorant, being till then only skilled in husbandry, sheep-keeping, and war; for the Belgians and Flemings then supplied the whole world with cloth.' "We reference to this period, Strype observes in his Annals: "The Protestants were now [1568] miserably harassed in France by their unnatural King-edicts for the free exercise of their religion broken, their ministers banished, and much blood spilt; and those in the Netherlands persecuted intolerably by the Duke D'Alva, that breathed out nothing but blood and slaughter. Great numbers of them therefore from all parts, daily fled over hither into the Queen's dominions; the Pope took upon him in his bull, to charge the Queen, for these poor strangers, in these slanderous words, viz. : "That all such as were the worst of the people resorted hither, and were by her received into safe protection." "In this year, all provisions were at a low price, although a dearth had been expected. The Bishop of Norwich, in his correspondence with the Divines of Helvetia, adds, that he and others were persuaded, that this blessing from God happened by reason of the godly exiles, who were here kindly harboured. "The success of these strangers gave great offence both in London and the provincial towns in which they settled. The retail tradesmen charging them with retailing as well as manufacturing their goods, and employing themselves as tailors, shoemakers, &c., to the detriment of the English artizan. Among the papers at the Dutch Church is a list of the strangers in London, who were so interfered with about 1568. "Another influx of foreigners took place upon a memorable occasion in 1572. "On St. Bartholomew's day in that year, that most horrible massacre of the Protestants in Paris was perpetrated, sanctioned by the King, who even participated in the horrid destruction of his subjects. Orders were sent to several of the large towns, inciting them to similar outrages, and about twenty-five thousand French Protestants perished on this occasion; many flew to England, and the French King demanded that the Queen should admonish, or rather command them to leave the realm, as rebels to His Majesty. "On the sacking of Antwerp in 1585, one third part of the merchants and the workmen who worked and dealt in silks, damasks, and taffeties, and in baizes, sayes, serges, stockings, &c., settled in England, because England was then ignorant of those manufactures. (Huet on the Dutch Trade, quoted in Macpherson's Commerce.) "The strangers were not without their troubles, even in England; many of those that came over in Queen Elizabeth's reign were shoe-makers, and in 1576, the Cordwainer's Company procured a commission to enquire of certain aliens born, whether they were denizens, and whether they paid their quarteridge, &c., &c., and in 1578 the Free Shoemakers petitioned the Lord Treasurer, and stated that certain strangers of the art, viz. Francis Gerers, Daniel Swarts, John Yong, Edward Tyson, Leonard CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 105. Harman, and others did not come to the Hall and take their oaths according to the order of the Star Chamber, in King Henry the Eighth's time and prayed that the Queen's orders might be obeyed.-Stow, p. 300. "In the year 1586, the Apprentices of London raised an insurrection in the city against the French and Dutch strangers, but especially against the French. Several of these youths (of the Plaisterer's Company) were taken and committed to Newgate upon the Queen and Council's commands, and the Recorder and other Magistrates of the city were in search for the principal captain. "In 1592, the strangers who dealt in retail trades, were complained of by the English shopkeepers and freemen of London, as spoiling their trades; amongst other things, that they retailed in cities, towns corporate, and the suburbs of cities and other exempt places, which the English retailers, were prevented from doing, by the I. and II. Phil. and Mary. A bill was accordingly brought into Parliament in 1593; Sir John Wolley, (Secretary for the Latin tongue to the Queen) and Sir Robert Cecil spoke against the bill, and Sir Walter Raleigh in favour of it, the latter complaining bitterly of the strangers. The bill passed the Commons, but a dissolution of Parliament taking place, the strangers were left in possession of all the indulgence and hospitality they had previously enjoyed. "In the year 1588, there being a loan charged by the Queen upon the city, the Companies of London subscribed separately. The strangers also subscribed among themselves £4,900. "In the year 1595, the poor tradesmen made a riot upon the strangers in Southwark and other parts of the city of London, whereupon was a presentment of the great inquest for the said borough, concerning the outrageous tumult and disorder unjustly committed there upon Thursday, June 12th, 1595, and the leaders were punished, and also the chief offenders.'-(Stow, 303.) "The like tumults began at the same time, within the liberties (as they are called), where such strangers commonly harboured; and upon the complaint of the elders of the Dutch and French churches, Sir John Spenser, the Lord Mayor, committed some young rioters to the Counter: and when some of their fellow apprentices and servants gathered in a body and attempted to break open the Counter, he went out in person and took twenty or more of them, and committed all to safe custody, and promised to proceed against them with all severity, as he signified in a letter to the 4 D |