the abbey-lands for five hundred thousand crowns, to assist in carrying on hostilities against the protestants.

Thus prompted and supported, the emperor undertook the extirpation of the protestants, against whom, indeed, he was particularly enraged himself; and, for this purpose, a formidable army was raised in Germany, Spain, and Italy.

The protestant princes, in the meantime, formed a powerful confederacy, in order to repel the impending blow. great army was raised, and the command given to the elector of Saxony, and the landgrave of Hesse. The imperial forces were commanded by the emperor of Germany in person, and the eyes of all Europe were turned on the event of the war.

Voes. In the Old and New Testaments. Priest. Do you believe in the writings of the fathers, and the decrees of the councils?

Voes. Yes, if they agree with scripture. Priest. Did not Martin Luther seduce you both?

Voes. He seduced us even in the very same manner as Christ seduced the apostles; that is, he made us sensible of the frailty of our bodies, and the value of our souls.

This examination was sufficient; they were both condemned to the flames, and, soon after, suffered with that manly fortitude which becomes Christians, when they receive a crown of martyrdom.

HENRY SUTPHEN, an eloquent and pious preacher, was taken out of his bed in the At length their armies met, and a despe- middle of the night, and compelled to walk rate engagement ensued, in which the barefoot a considerable way, so that his protestants were defeated, and the elector feet were terribly cut. He desired a horse, of Saxony, and landgrave of Hesse, both but his conductors said, in derision, "A taken prisoners. This fatal blow was suc-horse for a heretic; no, no, heretics may ceeded by a horrid persecution, the sever-go barefoot." When he arrived at the ities of which were such, that exile might place of his destination, he was condemned be deemed a mild fate, and concealment into be burnt; but, during the execution, a dismal wood pass for happiness. In such times a cave is a palace, a rock a bed of down, and wild roots delicacies.

many indignities were offered him, as those who attended, not content with what he suffered in the flames, cut and slashed him in a most terrible manner.

Those who were taken experienced the most cruel tortures that infernal imaginations could invent; and, by their constancy evinced, that a real Christian can surmount every difficulty, and despise every danger,bers were burned at Vienna.

Many were murdered at Halle; Middleburg being taken by storm, all the protestants were put to the sword, and great num

to acquire a crown of martyrdom.

An officer being sent to put a minister to

HENRY VOES and JOHN ESCH, being ap-death, pretended, when he came to the prehended as protestants, were brought to examination; when Voes, answering for himself and the other, gave the following answers to some questions asked by a priest, who examined them by order of the magistracy:

clergyman's house, that his intentions were only to pay him a visit. The minister, not suspecting the intended cruelty, entertained his supposed guest in a very cordial man{ner. As soon as dinner was over, the officer said to some of his attendants. Priest. Were you not both, some years "Take this clergyman, and hang him." ago, Augustine friars ?

Voes. Yes.

The attendants themselves were so shocked, after the civility they had seen, that

Priest. How came you to quit the bosom they hesitated to perform the commands of of the church of Roine?

Voes On account of her abominations.
Priest. In what do you believe?

their master; and the minister said, "Think what a sting will remain on your conscience, for thus violating the laws of hospitality."

The officer, however, insisted upon being obeyed, and the attendants, with reluctance, performed the execrable office of executioners.

"Thy people, Lord, are of one mind,
And each to each in hearts conjoined;
Nor earth, nor hell, nor depth, nor height,
Their fellowship can disunite.

"Jesus, Jehovah's only Son,

With God the Father thou art one;
So are thy children one with thee,
In sweet and endless unity.

"The world may all to pieces break,
The earth and seas endure a rack;
The church of Christ for ever stands,
Immoveable in Jesus' hands."

PETER SPENGLER, a pious divine, of the town of Schalet, was thrown into the river, and drowned. Before he was taken to the banks of the stream, which was to become his grave, they led him to the market-place, that his crimes might be proclaimed; which were, not going to mass, not making confession, and not believing in transubstantiation. After this ceremony was over, he made a most excellent discourse to the people, and concluded with a kind of hymn of a very edifying nature, which it would be unnecessary to translate, as the follow-faith, whisper your confession into my ear, ing poem, in the English language, on the same subject, and from the same text, perfectly preserves the sentiments:

THE CHRISTIAN UNION.

"That they all may become as thou, Father, art in me, and

A protestant gentleman being ordered to lose his head for not renouncing his religion, went cheerfully to the place of execution. A friar came to him, and said these words in a low tone of voice: "As you have a great reluctance publicly to abjure your

and I will absolve your sins." To this the gentleman loudly replied: "Trouble me not, friar, I have confessed my sins to God, and obtained absolution through the merits of Jesus Christ." Then turning to the ex

I in thee; that they also may become in US."-JOHN, ecutioner, he said: "Let me not be pester

xvii. 21.

"Jesus, thy name is sweet to me,

For worlds I would not part from thee;
Of all the names in heaven above,
There's none replete like thine with love.

"In THEE, immortal beauties shine,
In THEE, th' united brethren join;
In THEE, all ransomed souls delight,
In THEE, thy people's hearts unite.
"Thou art our God, and thou alone,
May we in spirit all be one :
One with each other let us be,

And one with Christ eternally.

ed with these men, but perform your duty." On which his head was struck off at a single blow.

Wolfgang Scuch and John Huglin, two worthy ministers, were burned, as was Leonard Keyser, a student of the university of Wertemburgh and George Carpenter, a Bavarian, was hanged for refusing to recant protestantism.

PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY IV.

This leads to the commission of new crimes; for as the man who has once told a lie generally tells a hundred more to support the assertions in the first, so illgotten riches, power, or honor, stand in need of the same support, and guilt being the foundation, the superstructure is raised by an accumulation of crimes.

These observations will in some measure apply to the subject we are now upon; and here we must have recourse to history to explain that bloody act, by which many pious Christians suffered death.

not approve of the revolution that had taken place, especially as Henry was of a sour, morose, and cruel disposition

The crown sat tottering on his head, and many conspiracies were formed against his government. Some pretended that Richard was still alive, although nothing can be more certain than that he had been murdered some time before, and undoubtedly soon after his imprisonment.

Henry was now in a dismal situation indeed, there were few of the nobility he could place any trust in, and his temper was not such as to induce them to esteem and obey him from motives of love. His mind was tinctured with superstition, and he had recourse to the clergy, that dead weight to the constitution, and at all times the friends of arbitrary power.

Richard II. of England was a weak prince, and governed by favorites, many of whom were foreigners: he had disgusted the ancient nobility, who, by the nature of the feudal law, were impatient of control. He had given to some of these foreigners the wardships of the young nobility, and this was sufficient in itself to create a vast number of enemies. A restless nobility, endowed with greater powers than is consistent with the state of a free government, entered into cabals among themselves, and invited over from France, Henry, son of John of Gaunt, and made him an offer of the crown, upon condition he would redress those grievances they complained of. Rich-be brought into parliament, by which all ard was then in Ireland, but landing soon afterward, in Wales, he was taken prisoner and brought up to London.

The followers of Wickliffe, then called Lollards, were become extremely numerous, and the clergy were vexed to see them increase, whatever power or influence they might have to molest them in an underhand manner, they had no authority by law to put them to death. However, the clergy embraced the favorable opportunity, and prevailed upon the king to suffer a bill to

Lollards who remained obstinate, should be delivered over to the civil power and burnt as heretics. This act was the first

A parliament met at Westminster, in in this island for the burning of people for which Richard signed a formal revocation { their religious sentiments; it passed in of all pretensions to the crown; and Henry, the year 1401, and was soon after put into duke of Lancaster, was crowned under the execution. title of Henry IV. This happened in 1399, and the captive king was sent prisoner to the castle of Pomfret, in Yorkshire: that he was murdered in that castle can not be doubted, but the time is uncertain. The generality of our historians make him a prisoner above two years; but this is in our opinion improbable, for as Charles I. said: "There are but few steps between the prisons and the graves of princes."

Richard had always been much favored by the nobility of Yorkshire, and of the other northern counties, so that they did

The first person who suffered in consequence of this cruel act was William Santree or Sawtree (for he is called by both names), formerly parish priest of the church of St. Margaret, in the parish of Lynn, in Norfolk, but afterward of St. Osyth, in London. It appears from Dr. Fuller's church history, that he had formerly abjured those articles (for which he suffered death), before the bishop of Norwich. Therefore, he was adjudged to be degraded and deprived, which was done in the following manner :

First, from the order of priest, by taking from him the paten, chalice, and plucking the chasule from his back; Secondly, deacon, by taking from him we have already explained. The bishops the New Testament, and the stole ; Thirdly, subdeacon, by taking from him trines and practices of the Lollards as the alb and maniple;

Sixthly, sexton, by taking from him the ford, who were to make diligent search key of the church-door and surplice.