Lady Jane Grey, though at last, through importunity, he was prevailed upon to consent to it. Soon after Mary's accession he was committed to the Tower, partly for his connection with the attempt of Lady Jane, and partly for the public offer he had made of justifying openly the late religious proceedings. Some of his friends advised him to fly; but a sense of duty to himself, and to those who looked up to him as a standard bearer, constrained him to remain at his post. In April, 1554, he was removed with Ridley and Latimer to Oxford, for a public disputation with the papists; in which, as in most similar cases, it was already decided by the leading powers who was to obtain the victory. The discussion took place in the Divinity Schools between Cranmer and three of his most determined enemies-Weston, Chedsey, and Cole. It lasted from eight in the morning till nearly two in the afternoon. On the 20th of April he was again brought before the commissioners, and was asked, whether or not he would subscribe? On his refusal, he was condemned as a heretic. Cranmer replied-" From this your judgment and sentence I appeal to the just judgment of Almighty God." Some of his friends petitioned the Queen in his behalf; reminding her that he had once preserved her in her father's time, by his earnest intercessions. All solicitations, however, were ineffectual; and the archbishop being degraded and most ignominiously treated, was at last flattered and terrified into an insincere recantation and renunciation of the Reformed faith. But this triumph over the weakness of the primate was not sufficient to gratify the vengeance of his enemies. On the 21st of March, 1556, he was brought to St. Mary's church, and placed on a stage over against the pulpit. Dr. Cole began the sermon by dwelling on the mercy of God; and from that theme, with the preposterous logic of the day, proceeded to show how necessary it was for that justice, by which the Almighty's mercy is tempered, that Cranmer should be burnt alive! While Cole was haranguing, Cranmer evinced great inward emotion; frequently lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, and shedding tears. The sermon ended, the preacher besought the prayers of the congregation for the dying man. They knelt accordingly, and Cranmer knelt with them, praying fervently for himself. Cole then said to him, "Openly express the true and undoubted profession of your faith, that you may take away all suspicion from men; and that all men may understand that you are a catholic indeed." He rose then from his knees, and, after exhorting the people present not to set their minds upon the world, to obey the king and queen, to love each other, and be charitable, he made a confession of his faith, beginning with the creed, and ending with these words, "Eternity is now before me, and I shall soon see either heaven ready to receive me, or hell ready to swallow me up. And now I come to the great thing, which troubleth my conscience more than any thing I ever said or did in my life; and that is, the setting abroad of things contrary to the truth, which here I now renounce and refuse, as things written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be. My hand offended, writing contrary to my heart; it shall, therefore, first be punished; for if I come to the fire, it shall first be burned. I refuse the pope as antichrist; and as for the sacrament, I believe as I have taught in my book against the Bishop of Winchester; the which my book teacheth so true a doctrine of the sacrament, that it shall stand at the last day before the judgment seat of God, when the papistical doctrine, contrary thereto, shall be ashamed to show its face." Filled with fury and disappointment, the papists pulled him from the stage, and carried him to the stake, at the spot where Ridley and Latimer had suffered. He was now urged most vehemently to recant. "I recant my recantation," was his reply. He was then bound to the stake with a chain; fire was applied to him; and true to his promise, he held his hand there with unflinching steadiness, exclaiming from time to time-"This hand hath offended-this unworthy hand!"—until it was consumed. And then in the language of the protomartyr Stephen, with uplifted eyes he cried"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," Such was the principal Reformer of the English Church. If ever there was a character truly great, it was Cranmer. What a difficult course had he to steer! What wisdom, what prudence, what firmness, what moderation, what industry and learning, does his whole life display, when candidly and impartially examined! His fame is recorded, not so much in

his written works, as in the enduring institutions of his country. The sacred edifice of our church, which he restored, has for nearly three centuries, stood like a tower. And is it now to be assailed, with the hope of shaking it, by the revived enginery of its earlier and later opponents? J. Y.

Islington.

THE NATURE AND EMPLOYMENTS OF HEAVEN.

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT.

THERE is nothing more awful, than a glance among the clouds and mists which hide the broken extremity of the celebrated bridge of Mirza; yet, when every day brings us nearer that termination, one would think our views should become clearer. Alas! it is not so; there is a curtain to be withdrawn, a veil to be rent, before we shall see things as they really are. There are few, I trust, who disbelieve the existence of a God; nay, I doubt if at all times and in all moods, any single individual ever adopted that hideous creed, though some have professed it. With the belief of a Deity, that of the immortality of the soul and of future rewards and punishments is indissolubly linked. More than this we are not to know; but we are not prohibited from attempts, however vain, to pierce the sacred gloom. The expressions used in Scripture are doubtless metaphorical, for penal fires and heavenly melody are applicable only to beings endowed with corporeal senses and (at least till the period of the resurrection) the spirits of men, whether entering into the perfection of the just or committed to the regions of punishment, are not connected with bodies; neither is it to be supposed, that the glorified bodies which will arise in the last day will be capable of the same gross indulgences with which ours are now solaced. That the idea of Mahomet's paradise is inconsistent with the purity of our heavenly religion will be readily granted. See also Mark xii. 25. Harmony is chosen (obviously) as the least corporeal of all the gratifications of sense, and as the type of love, unity, and a state of peace and perfect happiness. But they have a poor idea of the Deity, and of the rewards which are destined for the just made perfect, who can only adopt the literal sense of an eternal concert. I rather suppose it should be understood as some commission from the Highest -some duty to discharge with the applause of a satisfied conscience. I cannot conceive it to be altogether a wrong conjecture, that the Deity may delegate a portion of His power. We should then find reality in Milton's sublime machinery of the guardian saints, or genii of kingdoms; nay, we should approach to the Catholic idea of the employment of saints, though without approaching the absurdity of saint-worship, which degrades their religion. We must suppose that in these employments there would be difficulties to be overcome and exertions to be made,§ for all which the celestial beings employed would have certain appropriate powers. I cannot help owning, that a life of active benevolence is more consistent with my ideas than an eternity of music. Of course I would not limit the range of the guardian saints to this confined earth; there is the universe, with all its endless extent of worlds. But this is all speculation; and it is impossible to guess what we shall do, unless we could ascertain the equally difficult previous questionwhat we shall be.¶ But there is a just God, a judgment, and a future life; and let all who own so much, act according to the faith that is in them. **

Alluding to the bridge described in the "Vision of Mirza," in No. 159 of the "Spectator." The bridge, which represented human life, consisted of threescore-and-ten entire arches, and several broken

ones.

See Dr. Chalmers on "Unbelief and Disbelief," in the "Evangelical Register," No. 120, Volume 11, Page 370, October 1839; and on "Atheism and Antitheism," in the " Pulpit," No. 720, Volume 28, Page 299; and also the First Volume of his Works, Pages 56 to 98.

"For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage."

This agrees remarkably with the opinion of the celebrated author of the "Natural History of Enthusiasm."

|| Walter Scott, although (like most people) he relished a simple melody, had not a musical ear; and therefore could not appreciate or enjoy an elaborate composition, or a complicated combination of harmonies.

"It doth not yet appear what we shall be." 1 John, iii. 2.

* Condensed from Lockhart's "Life of Sir Walter Scott; " volume 6 (original edition)-chapter 4; pages 156 and 157. It forms part of Sir Walter's "Diary ;" and stands under the date of December 10, 1825.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVANGELICAL REGISTER.

DEAR SIR-The present wide dissemination of Socialism and Chartism, are among the most fearful signs of the times. The advocates of the former are endeavouring to deluge the land with the destructive tenets of infidelity, whilst those of the latter are seeking to uproot the glorious constitution of our beloved country. Great praise is due to those devoted men, who, at this peculiar crisis are exerting their influence both in our high places as well as among the humbler classes, to stop the progress of those demoralising principles which threaten to destroy our civil and religious institutions. The direful effects of the spread of infidelity in a neighbouring country during the last century are so powerfully stated in the following paper, that its perusal cannot fail to excite the energies of every Christian to vigorous exertion in counteracting its pestilential influence in our own. It is a source of great consolation to every reflecting mind, to find that Divine Providence is raising up at this time such men in the church as the writer of the subjoined article-a clergyman whose works display a most profound acquaintance with the history of the whole Christian church. It is taken from "A Compendious Ecclesiastical History, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time," by the Rev. William Palmer, M. A.

Islington, Feb. 19, 1840.

Yours, very truly,

ANNETT.

The spread of infidelity in the last century is a circumstance so deeply affecting the Christian church, as to deserve particular notice. It is fearful to contemplate the excess of wickedness, to which God sometimes permits His enemies to proceed. One can hardly imagine that any human being in his senses, who was born in a Christian land, and who had been baptised and educated in a Christian church, could be so far transported by his passions as to declare himself the enemy of Jesus Christ. The heart trembles at the very notion of such blasphemy. But that a man should for nearly seventy years devote himself to the extirpation of Christianity-to the destruction of that faith which alone consoles man amidst his afflictions and his fears-to the extinction of every principle of virtue and morality, and the inculcation of general depravity; this opens to our view a deeper gulph of human guilt than even the records of Scripture supply, or the imagination could have conceived. Such was Voltaire-a man whose private life was defiled by the grossest immorality, and whose heart burned with such a demoniacal hatred of HIM, who came down from heaven and voluntarily sacrificed Himself on the cross for the salvation of sinners, that he adopted sa his watch-word on all occasions those awful words, "Ecrasez l'infame!""CRUSH THE WRETCH!"—that is, "Crush Christ-crush the Christian religion!" Such was the language and the feeling of that organised band of infidels, who in the earlier part of last century associated in the impious attempt to subvert Christianity.

England had been already disgraced by the writings of some unbelievers; but the works of Herbert and Bolingbroke, of Collins and Tindal, had produced little effect on the good sense and religious principles of the English nation. The clergy effectually exposed their errors, and they became the objects of popular hatred; but they were unhappily destined to find a more congenial soil in France.

the

Voltaire was born in Paris in 1694, and lived to the age of eighty-four, dying in year 1778. He was endowed with great natural abilities, quickness, versatility, wit; with a remarkable power of sarcasm; and a pointed, easy, and fluent style, which was unrestrained by any principles of truth or decency. While he was at college, he manifested so sceptical a spirit that his preceptor one day said to him, "Unfortunate young man, at some future time you will become the standardbearer of infidelity.' After he had left college he associated only with persons of infamous morals; and having published some infidel opinions, which gave offence to the ruling powers of France, he retired to England, where he became acquainted

VOL. XII.

with several unbelievers like himself. Here he formed his resolution to destroy Christianity; and on his return to Paris, in 1730, he made no secret of his design and his hopes. "I am weary," he would say, "of hearing people repeat that twelve men were sufficient to establish Christianity; I will prove that one may suffice to overthrow it.

In order to accomplish his design, Voltaire found it necessary to obtain the assistance of several coadjutors; of these, D'Alembert was the chief. He was remarkable for his crafty cunning, which enabled him to insinuate infidelity in the most plausible and least offensive manner. His expressions were generally moderate; while Voltaire used to express his wish that he might "die on a heap of Christians immolated at his feet." Another associate was Frederick II., king of Prussia, a great general and statesman, but a shallow philosopher. He was in continual correspondence with Voltaire, and complimented him on being the Scourge of religion," and plotted for its destruction. Diderot was another coadjutor of Voltaire, who, with D'Alembert, devoted themselves even till death to the pursuit of their unhallowed design.

66

I have already spoken of the watch-word of this association, the object of which was the overthrow of every altar where Christ was worshipped. It was not merely the Gallican or Roman doctrine which was marked out for destruction. In the latter part of his career, Voltaire exulted at the dissemination of Hume's infidel principles in England, and at the prospect of the fall of the Church of England, exclaiming with delight that, "in London Christ was spurned." On another occasion he rejoiced that "in Geneva, Calvin's own town," but few believers

remained.

Voltaire invited men to forsake their religion, by promising them liberty of thought. He declared that "nothing was so contemptible and miserable in his eyes, as to see one man have recourse to another in matters of faith, or to ask what he ought to believe." Reason, liberty, and philosophy, were continually in the mouths of Voltaire and D'Alembert. Their adherents represented them as "devoutly waiting for those days when the sun should shine only on free men, acknowledging no other master but their own reason." Voltaire had but little of the spirit of martyrdom; his continual exhortation to the conspirators was, to "strike, but conceal their hands;" that is, to write anonymously. "The monster (Christianity), he said, "must fall, pierced by a hundred invisible hands; yes, let it fall beneath a thousand repeated blows." In accordance with this advice, the press swarmed with anonymous publications of the most impious character. The principal mode of propagating infidelity, was the publication of the celebrated Encyclopædia, of which D'Alembert was the editor, and which was to contain so perfect an assemblage of all the arts and sciences, as to render all other books superfluous. The utmost caution was used in insinuating infidel principles, lest the design should be detected, and crushed by the hand of power. All the principal articles on religion were written in such a manner as to avoid offence; while by means of references at the conclusion of each, the reader was directed to places where open infidelity was taught. Irreligion and atheism were inculcated even in articles on chemistry, or other sciences, where their existence could not be suspected.

When this work was completed, it obtained an immense circulation. Numberless editions were printed, in each of which, under pretence of correction, more impiety was introduced. In one of these, a respectable and learned divine, M. Bergier, was persuaded into writing the part which treated of religion, lest it should fall into the hands of unbelievers; but it was easy to foresee what actually happened; his name conferred respectability on the book, while all its other articles teemed with the most dreadful impiety and blasphemy.

Infidelity now rapidly spread through France, and through every part of the continent of Europe. Several of the crowned heads were more or less favourable. The empress of Russia, the kings of Prussia, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, and all the princes of Germany, were either admirers of Voltaire, or avowed infidels. abominable licentiousness of the court of France assisted the conspiracy. The French ministry, tainted with infidelity, refused to put the laws in force for the

The

suppression of blasphemous, infidel, and immoral publications, which now issued in a flood from the press. The most eminent scientific men, and the most popular writers of France, such as Buffon, Lalande, Marmontel, Rousseau, were unbelievers. It is awful to contemplate the excess of wickedness at which these men had arrived. The history of this time relates that "above all the adepts did a fiend named Condorcet hate the Son of God. At the very name of the Deity the monster raged; and it appeared as if he wished to revenge on heaven the heart it had given him." Infidelity had widely spread among the higher orders; it was now to be disseminated amongst the lowest. Infidel and blasphemous tracts were printed in myriads, and circulated profusely in all parts. Diderot and D'Alembert disputed on Christianity in the coffee-rooms of Paris; and the pretended advocate of Christianity took care always to be defeated.

The Abbé

It is lamentable to add, that the clergy of the Roman communion were not universally to be found on the side of Christianity. The ecclesiastical patronage of the state, indeed, was too often exercised for the subversion of religion. Barruel observes with reference to France, that "the enemies of the church possessed themselves of its avenues, to prevent the preferment of those whose virtues or learning they dreaded. When the bishops wished to repel an unworthy member, Choiseul, the infidel minister replied, 'Such are the men we want and will have.' Cardinel de Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse, was a friend of D'Alembert, and became an open apostate from religion. He was followed by the bishops of Autun, Viviers, Orleans, Lydda, Babylon, &c. In the infidel association of the "Illuminati," were many priests, and even a high dignitary of the German Church. names of the Abbés Raynal, De Prades, Condillac, De Leire, Morrelet, Terray, Marsy, &c., are unhappily but too well known as connected with infidelity. Numbers of Jacobin and infidel priests were also found in Italy, Spain, and other parts of the continent. The majority, however, of the Roman clergy throughout Europe retained their faith, and, under the most grevious afflictions and persecutions for the name of Christ, evinced an increased measure of zeal and piety.

The

Voltaire was received with a sort of popular triumph at Paris in 1778; but very shortly after, this enemy of God and man expired in the most dreadful torments of agony and remorse. His associates did not long survive him; but the seed which they had sown was now to produce its bitter fruit.

All religious and all moral principles being now extinguished, and every passion of man's nature being left without control, human society perished amidst the horrors of the French Revolution of 1789. Amidst rebellion, anarchy, plunder, dissolution, famine, massacre, and every imaginable evil, the reign of infidelity commenced. The worship and ministry of Christianity were proscribed, and God was no longer acknowledged. Then was beheld the woeful spectacle of bishops and priests hastening to the infidel assembly of France, casting from them the ensigns of their ministry, and proclaiming themselves no longer believers in God. The Roman church, scourged for her sins, and especially for that spirit of pride which resists all efforts for the removal of superstitions, beheld her pope despoiled of his territories and the captive of Buonaparte-her revenues plundered in France and Italy-her monasteries snppressed-her bishops driven from their sees into exile, or dying beneath the guillotine-her clergy perishing by the hand of the executioner, or by more wholesale massacre. She beheld faith vanishing away, and

a generation of men arising without religion.

Although the return of peace and order has been favourable to the restoration of Christianity, and though additional fervour may have been added to faith so sorely tried and afflicted, yet it is certain that the effects of the infidel conspiracy of last century have been deep and lasting. It is true, indeed, that Christianity has for many years past been less directly assailed-that infidelity may have been less industriously propagated-but still an infidel and perverse generation lives without God in the world; and in France, more especially, the prevalence of this deadly evil is so great, that an eloquent ecclesiastic of that nation (La Mennais) some years since, declared that "the state to which we are approaching is one of the signs by which will be recognised that last war announced by Jesus Christ: Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?'" "What," said he, "do you perceive every where, but a profound indifference as to duties and