false law makers, God's law haters, finders of customs, destroyers of virtues, authors of sin. In this church are idolaters, heretics, enchanters, &c., and all those that believe that health may come of using God's word written, but only hanged on or carried about by man, or that so carried or borne about they are profitable to body or to soul.*

There are merchants, chapmen, victuallers, vintners, changers, buyers, sellers, who use deceit in weight, number, or measure. In this church are usurers, false jurors, and all false witness bearers, as the prophet saith, Ps. xv. In this church are pleaders, lawyers, sequestrators, commissaries, officials, summoners, all such of them as sell truth or sin to take money, as is said, Ps. xxvi. In this church are auditors, receivers, treasurers, procurators, judges, all such as accept persons without a cause.

This church, when it is beaten, it waxes the harder; when it is blamed, it waxes the duller; when it is taught, it is the more ignorant; when it is done well to, it is the more opposed. And it falls down and comes to nought, when in man's eyes it seems most strongly to stand. St. Augustine saith, that Christ's church pursues evil-livers, in charity, by way of amendment. But the fiend's church pursues Christ's church in malice, by way of slander and slaying. And thus Cain, that false, envious, accursed man, slew his brother Abel,

that blessed, simple, innocent man. As the expositors say, Cain was the beginning of Babylon, and antichrist shall be the end. And Abel was the beginner of Jerusalem, and Christ shall be the ender. Ishmael persecuted Isaac, but Isaac did not so to Ishmael. Esau pursued his brother Jacob; but not so Jacob, by the counsel of his mother he fled into Mesopotamia from the wrath of his brother, till it was assuaged. Thus our mother, holy church, counsels her children to flee the malice of the fiend's church, till it be slaked, Matt. x. When the fiend's church shall pursue you in this city, flee ye to another. But this must be done with discretion, that we hurt not our brother's conscience. Christ pursued not the Jews, but the Jews pursued Jesus Christ. Heathen

The use of written charms was very common in the days of popish darkness, and even now is prevalent among ignorant persons, far more than commonly is supposed. The faith still placed by many thousands in that blasphemous relic of popery, called the Saviour's Letter, which may often be seen placed on the walls of cottages, in the belief that it will protect from harm, is a painful instance of this. It is to be feared that there are many still in England who carry that, and other papers of a like description about them, believing that they shall thereby be kept from evil!

men slew the apostles, but the apostles slew not heathen

men.

See now the frowardness of this world, that hath been from the beginning. When Isaiah, the holy prophet, prophesied and preached unto the people, they would not hear his words, nor suffer him to live. But people that rose after his death, read his books and said, If we had lived in his days, he should not have been put to death. And yet, they slew Jeremiah, who by the Spirit of God told things that were to come, and taught them the truth. His successors took his books, and read them in their temples, and bewailed him for a holy man, that he was so slain amongst them; but they slew Ezekiel and many others more! Then the Jews, such as were scribes and pharisees, made fair the tombs of these prophets, and said in hypocrisy, if they had been in their days, they should not have been slain. But they gave the counsel that Christ, who is the head of all saints, should be dead, with most despiteous death. The fiend's church in these days praise above the clouds Christ and his holy saints, with words and with signs; but they pursue to death the lovers of his law! And thus Christ saith in his gospel, Luke vi. Right as ye do now, so did your fathers to their prophets in their days. And therefore, wo to you, for Christ saith, In this world ye are rich, fat fed, laughing while pursuing others; weep ye, and make ye sorrow, for your pain shall be much in hell. Oh, these shall have a dreadful day when they are arraigned at the bar of judgment, when Christ shall rear up his cross, the banner of his sufferings

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Of the day of judgment speaketh the prophet, Zeph. i. The great day of the Lord is nigh, and cometh fast, and wonders approach quickly; it shall not long tarry. In that day, he that is strong and mighty shall be troubled; for the voice of the Lord is bitter to the damned. That day is a

This is one of the most affecting appeals in the writings of the reformers. To enter into the spirit and feelings of the writer, we must consider the situation of the followers of the truth in England at the commencement of the fourteenth century. The burning alive the followers of Wickliff was then just begun, and they were hunted out by the Romish prelates with much activity. In the genuine spirit of the gospel, the persecuted Lollard had recourse to scripture; he felt the identity of his case with that of God's people in all former times, and thence he found comfort and support. And we cannot but observe how completely their case has resembled that of those who went before. Are there not many now who profess to venerate the reformers, while in heart they differ from their views, and oppose to the utmost all who now hold the like doctrines?

day of wrath, a day of tribulation; that is a day of anger, of grief, of ruin, and of wretchedness. It is a day of darkness and of thick smoke, a day of clouds and of the raging whirlwind; it is a day of the trumpet and of hideous noise. For then they shall see their Judge above them, stirred to wrath. Then shall they see hell open beneath them, angels on their right side hastening them to hell, fiends on their left side drawing them to hell, saints approving God's doom, and all the world accusing; and then their own conscience open as a book, in which they shall read their own damnation! These wretches, beholding the great glory of those whom they despised in this world, then shall say, in the words of the wise man, (see the book of Wisdom v.) "These are they whom we sometime had in scorn and upbraiding; we foolish thought their life to be folly and madness, and we guessed their end should have been without honour. How now, for they are counted among the sons of God, and they take their lot among his saints? Therefore, we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness shone not to us: we are weary of the way of wickedness and damnation. What profit hath our pride done to us? or our great avaunt, or boast of riches? What hath it given to us? All those things are passed from us as the shadow!" Then shall the Judge sternly say unto them, Matt. xxv. Go away from me, ye accursed, into the fire of hell everlasting, which is ordained for the devil and his angels." Then may the soul say to the body these words, “Come, thou accursed carrion, come and go with me, for I am compelled to come again to thee, that we may go again to other shame, to take our reward, as we have deserved pain for evermore. That which we loved, now it is gone from us! and all that we hated is turned upon us! Now is our joy turned into sorrow, and our mirth into weeping. Now is our laughter turned into mourning, and all our pleasure into wailing. Nothing remaineth for us but fire, hot, burning horrors everlasting; fear intolerable, dread unspeakable, always discord without friendship, and full despair of any end!"

Strive in this life to leave the fiend's church, and to bring yourself, both body and soul, into the church of Jesus Christ while grace and mercy may be granted. Ask of Him who offered himself willingly upon the cross, to save us all when we were lost. For thus it is written of the words of God,

which he speaketh to a sinful soul. Turn thee again, turn thee again, thou sinful soul; turn thee again, turn thee again, that we may behold thee, Cant. vi. 13. For God knoweth thy misgovernance, and will not forsake thee, if thou wilt turn again. As he saith in the prophet Jeremiah, iii. Thou hast gone after many lovers, nevertheless turn thee to me, saith the Lord, and I shall receive thee,

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and take thee to grace. Upon this saith St. Gregory, "Herein God showeth how much he loveth us; for when we forsake him, he forsaketh not us." St. Augustine saith, 0 man, mistrust thou not the mercy of God, for more is his mercy than thy wretchedness." And thus Abner said of king David, 2 Sam. iii. Ye that will have king David as a merciful lord to you, ye must bring with you this woman, Michal, if ye will see his gracious face. Here we consider David the king to bear the figure of Jesus Christ, and the name Michal, when it is declared,* means the water, or sorrow, of all. Let us think it thus to mean- -Ye that desire in all your might, to find and to have the mercy of God, and to see his gracious face in bliss, ye must have the sorrow of true repentance from your heart, with full contrition of will, never to turn to sin. And if ye will to be true, and no more to break this covenant, God will not that ye be dead, but that ye have everlasting life.

AMEN, AMEN, SO MAY IT BE.

Interpreted. Michal means, Who is complete? or, All is water.

EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS

OF

WALTER HILTON.

WALTER HILTON was a Carthusian monk, of Sheen, in the county of Surry. He was also a doctor in divinity and canon of Thurgarton. He wrote many religious works, from which he appears to have been one of those who entered upon the monastic, or, as they termed it, the contemplative life, with a belief that they were thus best seeking the glory of God and the good of their own souls, and without relinquishing other duties.

His writings, like those of most who remained within the church of Rome, and yet held the doctrines of truth, present a painful mixture. He evidently looked to the only true foundation, even Jesus Christ, for salvation, and in pointing him out as an all-sufficient Saviour, upon whom alone we may trust, he is very clear, but upon this foundation he builds much wood, hay, and stubble, as well as much gold and precious stones. He was, however, free from the common superstitions and vanities of that period; and there is much in his writings which may be useful to the believer at all times. He appears to have been one of that class, who, in a later day, came forward and took a prominent part in the English Reformation; as such it is desirable to give a few specimens of his writings, and we cannot but be convinced that he must have suffered much from the doctrines and practices maintained around him. The first of the following extracts from his writings will show that he had no bigoted predilection for his own class, but considered that a christian might serve his Master faithfully in any station where he was lawfully placed. Had the monastic orders in general been formed of such characters, Wickliff would have spoken and written very differently of them. Such excellences, however, only render more painful the darkness by which they are surrounded; they should make us thankful for the clearer and more steady light of the reformation, and more active to work while that day is continued to us.

Hilton is said to have died in the year 1395; but Pits, apparently with greater probability, considers that he lived about 1433.