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you would now be willing to own with me, that some at least of the old times were shocking bad times.'"

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Mr. Wilson." What did you say was the name of the Chronicle you quoted from?"

James W." The Saxon Chronicle. It is a very curious and valuable document, apparently the work of many successive writers, each of whom briefly narrated the events of his own time. It is not, like most of the other monkish chronicles of the middle ages, written in Latin, but in Anglo Saxon. The dialect of the latter portion indeed approaches our modern English; but the earlier part is absolutely unintelligible to those who have not made the Saxon tongue a regular object of study. The passage I have quoted was written by a monk of the Abbey of Peterborough, and I think you will allow that the simple and pathetic, as well as graphic character of the style, does the good brother credit. But once more, touching these old castles, it is a comfort to know that on the accession of Henry II. not less than eleven hundred of these dens of robbery and murder were either dismantled or altogether levelled with the ground, and their proprietors, chiefly foreign adventurers, banished the kingdom. A law was enacted that, for the future, no one should fortify his residence without a license from the crown. Still, even when these eleven hundred were destroyed, there was a sufficient number left to give a marked character to the England of that day."

George W." If you please, Mr. Lecturer, may I be allowed to suggest that your audience has heard enough about Castles." (Exclamations of Chair! chair!" from Mrs. Wilson and Emily, whereupon Mr. W. interposes.)

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Mr. W.-" As Chairman I rule that the lecturer must be allowed to take his own course."

James W.-(laughing). "Thank you. Mr. President. At the same time I dare say that not only George, but that the whole of you are tired of this topic, and therefore, without any hint from my precocious brother, I was just on the point of passing on to another subject, namely, the MONASTERIES of Feudal England. (Hear! hear! from George.) Some of these were called Abbeys, being under the authority of an ecclesiastic called an Abbot; others, usually of a smaller kind, were subject to a priest termed a Prior. The Normans were great builders; it has been calculated that of religious establishments of all kinds there were founded, within the period we are to-night speaking of, no less than 557. Nor was the establishment of such places in those days such an injury to the country as we should now regard it. As a rule, the monks were the best cultivators of the soil. On the church property the woods were better cleared, and the quantity of waste-land smaller than in other districts. And besides what was accomplished by the hand-labour of the monks, an Abbot or a Prior was usually a milder and more equitable landlord, or fief-holder, than the secular barons. Bad as the church' may have been in those times, it was still, as now, better than the world.' Hence, in part, resulted the frequent rise of towns under the shadow of monasteries. As, however, I am at present wishing to speak more especially of the general external appearance of things, it may be well for me now to observe that the monastic buildings of this period were chiefly of wood. Hence in the old Chronicles we find frequent mention of fires, by which entire monasteries were consumed. Wood, however, was gradually superseded by stone, at least in the case of all the wealthier

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establishments; so that, towards the end of the thirteenth century, the latter had quite taken the place of its less costly but more perishable predecessor."

"As with the monasteries, so with the private houses. These, during the former half of the feudal period, were nearly all built either of wood or mud."

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Mr. W.-" Then I suppose an English town of the feudal times, such, for instance, as Leicester or Northampton, must have borne a considerable resemblance to some of the Irish towns of our day; that is, it comprised among its dwellings a goodly proportion of thatched mud-built cottages?" James W Just so; I believe that cannot be denied, however humbling it may be to the civic pride of the modern inhabitants of those towns to admit such a statement. By degrees, however, in the principal towns and cities a more ambitious style of domestic architecture was introduced. Presently we read of the tall, stone houses' in which the citizens of London dwelt. The word tall,' however must be understood in a relative and qualified sense; for two stories with an attic in the roof seems to have been all they ever attained to. This, compared with the height of many of the houses in modern London is, of course, very dwarfish.

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I must not omit to notice the taste for costly CATHEDRAL architecture which prevailed in those times. Among the dark features of the age there was yet a bright one; the men of that day seemed disposed to consecrate their best to what they conceived to be the cause of God. Full two-thirds of our English Cathedrals, including those of Norwich, Durham, Chichester, Peterborough, Rochester, Hereford, Gloucester, and Oxford were built during this period. This was due mainly to the zeal of the Bishops, several of whom (for example, Herbert Losing, Bishop of Norwich,) defrayed the entire expense of the erection out of their own private fortunes. Doubtless some tincture of human vanity, and perhaps also a measure of self-righteousness, mingled in these acts of munificence; but still it is pleasant to think that before the English prelates themselves dwelt in ceiled houses, so far from allowing the house of God to lie waste they erected for sacred purposes buildings which have been the admiration of all succeeding ages.

"But now to glance back for a moment, and gather up into one view the principal facts we have had before us,-looking through the mist of seven centuries we see England, sunshiny, foggy, windy and rainy as now; in spring and summer carpeted with grass and flowers; in winter frost-bitten, and now and then, snow-clad; the Thames and the Severn, the Trent and the Ouse, the Tyne and the Mersey, running gurgling on to the ocean just as at this moment; but, a population thinly scattered; large portions of the country densely wooded, other parts wild and undrained; not a single tall chimney got on end from sea to sea;' London, a thriving, wealthy place; York, Exeter, Winchester, and Bristol following in her wake; the towns, however, in a general way few and small,--the people living mostly in vil lages, which again consist but of a few log-shanties, or mud-built and whitewashed huts, perhaps with a Castle, Abbey, or fortified Manor-house close by; Monasteries rising up on all sides, occasioning a clearing of the lands adjoining; and lastly, in the seats of Episcopal residence, splendid Cathedrals, not looking hoary and venerable as now, but bran new, the fresh-cut stone glistening in the sun."

George W.-" Bravo, bravo! A capital wind up that. I know that last

sentence must have cost our lecturer some thought. It is not extemporaneous, I'll be bound."

James W-"Well, if you like, ladies and gentlemen, it shall be the wind-up. The next division of my subject would lead me to speak of the social condition of the people, to describe the interior of their dwellings, their style of living, and so on; but I am not ambitious of proceeding unless you really wish it."

Mrs. W.-" But I think we do all wish it." Miss M 166 And to me, at least, your next topic will be even more interesting than the last. I have seen strangely amusing statements as to the way in which our forefathers lived, and should like to know whether they are true."

James W.

little more."

"Be very

kind and charitable then, and you shall have a

(The lecturer proceeded, but the readers of this Magazine must please to wait until the first of next month ere they learn what followed.)

CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLE.

CHRISTIANITY is a Divine institution, given "to all nations for the obedience of faith," on the reception, or rejection of which, man's eternal destiny depends. Unlike human organization, it is, and ever will be, adapted to, and in advance of any progress in society. They must have a very imperfect conception of its nature, who teach that the christianity of to-day is not that of a century ago, but that it must be accommodated to the advanced stage of the world, thus placing it on a level with Mormonism, which needs a constant revelation to teach us what it is at any period, or, it would be anything, or everything men choose to make it.

By religious principle, we mean those conclusions we have arrived at after a careful examination, and mature consideration of religion in general, in its claims and requirements, and adopted as the guide of our actions. It is, therefore, a very different thing from either impulse or credulity; being founded on the truth and the truth alone.

Christianity can admit of no human interference. Alter it, and it ceases to be what it was,-something else is substituted for it. If it had never been altered it must have presented the same appearance everywhere, and at all times, and have borne the same name; but, very early, numerous innovations were appended to it, and its simplicity was corrupted, till, at length, it had very few divine features left. It is equally evident the Reformation did not restore them, but rather confused and perplexed the enquiry respecting them, by the great diversity of sentiments which obtained among various parties. We have no means of ascertaining what christianity originally was, except as it is contained in the New Testament, and to that alone we should appeal. From what came the diversified forms of religion, but from the want of religious principle,-the assumption of the prerogatives of the great Head of the church, or a disregard of his authority? If men once depart from the standard of christianity, where are they to stop? A disregard of the New Testament was the source of all those corrupted forms of christianity which curse, enslave, and darken Christendom. Some will tell us that if a man be sincere in his profession, it is of no con

sequence whether he be a Churchman, Wesleyan, Independent, or Baptist. Truth and error cannot be of equal importance. There is want of religious principle in those who hold such sentiments; he may be any one of these and be accepted of God, while ignorant of primitive christianity; but he cannot first profess one and then another without great inconsistency, and exposure to the accusation of credulity, not knowing why he is of any religious persuasion. The same reason in Turkey would have made him a Mohammedan, in Italy a Roman Catholic, or in India an idolator; but we ought to be christians from a conviction of its truthfulness, and New Testament christians from an examination of its claims. We ought to be intelligent christians, christians from principle, understanding why we are what

we are.

The importance of right religious principle will appear from the consequences of the adopted forms of religion after the Reformation. They have fearfully hindered the progress of truth, and they now almost as much need reforming as the times before the Reformation. Different nations adopted different forms of christianity. In Germany, the Lutheran; in Switzerland, the Calvanistic; in Scotland, the Presbyterian; in England, the Episcopalian; nor have these national churches made any progress in approaching nearer the New Testament model, by completing the began Reformation. The language of Robinson to the Pilgrim Fathers near two centuries ago is as forcible as ever," For my own part I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no further than the instruments of their first refor mation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; whatever part of his will our good God has imparted and revealed unto Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it, and the Calvinists you see stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things this is a misery much to be lamented." : We hope a new era will soon break forth-a second Reformation,-a more complete developement of the truth with all its divine power and life, in its original purity and simplicity. This is but the church's transition state in emerging from darkness, its struggle to free itself from its worldy encumbrances and bondage, that it may go forth in its beauty and majesty, subduing the nations on earth. It must be free, but not free to set aside the divine arrangement, and adopt any innovation under the pretext of charity, sacrificing christian principle to a time-serving expediency; or in other words, an accommodation to worldliness of the truths of christianity, that the offence of the cross may cease; but free, for "they shall know the truth, and the truth shall make them free."

J. H.

LUTHER.

(Concluded from page 67.)

We must now attend Luther to Rome. He was elected by seven monasteries of his order, in some matter of difference between them and their vicar general to represent their case to the pope. He crossed the Alps. On the river Po in Lombardy, he was received at a rich monastery of Benedictines, and great was his astonishment at their splendour and the luxurious ease in which they lived. Approaching the eternal city, the moment he

perceives it in the distance, he throws himself prostrate on the earth, exclaiming, "Holy Rome I salute thee." Here he was as busy and as obser vant as his active mind obliged him to be.-What he saw and heard for the most part was productive only of pain and disgust. Julius II, the unscrupulous, the calculating and the crafty Julius, was then pope. So bad and flagitious was the state of religion and morals at that time, in the capital of Christendom that a celebrated writer said, "The greatest symptom of the approaching ruin of christianity, meaning popery, is that the nearer the nations are to Rome, the less do we find in them of a christian spirit. The scandalous examples and crimes of the court of Rome are the cause of Italy's having lost all principles of piety and all religious feelings."

Luther returned to Wittenberg with a sad heart, having received other and new impressions preparing him for the undertaking in which he was to embark. In Oct. 1512, he was received licenciate in theology and took his oath, "I swear that I will defend evangelical truth with all my power." He then understood himself to have sworn fealty to his beloved bible. This oath was his call to be a reformer; it bound him by the most sacred ties and obligations, to be the intrepid herald of the word of life. He now opposed himself to the schoolmen, and exposed the fallacies of Aristotle and his disciples. He opposed the monks, who would destroy all Jewish productions. He preached popular discourses on the ten commandments, which are still extant. He unveiled the superstitions of the day. He propagated the doctrines of the gospel, with still increasing earnestness and assiduity. He proved himself a workman, that needed not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. THE HOUR OF THE REFORMATION IS NOW APPROACHING. Its proximate and immediate cause, was the general sale of indulgencies at the time, throughout Germany, zealously promoted by one Tetzel, under the express authority of the pope. The profits of the sale were to be devoted to the building of St. Peter's. Tetzel appeared in the neighbourhood of Wittenberg and unremitting were his exertions to induce the people to purchase his precious commodities. Some of this poor harlequin's expressions being repeated to Luther, the Reformer said, "If God permit, I will knock a hole in that man's drum." Shortly after he preached a sermon on the subject, in which he took occasion to explain the doctrine of divine forgiveness. This sermon was printed and created great excitment. On the evening of the feast of All Saints 1517, Luther attached with his own hand to the church door, ninety-five propositions against indulgences. The next day he appeared at the university ready to defend his theses. No one attempted to impugn them, and in less than a fortnight they were distributed throughout all Germany; indeed, not many weeks elapsed, before they were circulated through the greater part of Christendom." At Rome they were not at first ill-received, Leo X regarded them rather in a literary, than in a religious point of view, and said, "This friar Martin Luther, is a very fine genius, and all that is said against him, is mere monkish jealousy." We cannot now enter into the arguments and discussions which the Reformer held with his various antagonists, and can only remark that the timidity of his friends alarmed him much more than the opposition and abuse of his foes. In the former he found trial and dejection, from the latter he drew augmented ardour, renewed zeal, with fresh and more fearless courage.

At length an ecclesiastical court was instituted at Rome for the purpose of trying Dr. Martin Luther, and he was summoned to appear before it in person within sixty days. Every influence was employed by his friends to

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