it is needful, you will become so strong and stedfast, that you shall not faint under any burden of temptations, how great and heavy soever. The fight is now at hand, to which the Holy Ghost exhorts us, not only that we should go, but even that with all alacrity of mind, we should run.' Many other excellent testimonies of eminent men of those times might be produced and it also is very remarkable, that. Peter Bergier being prisoner at Lyons, in the year 1553, and afterwards suffering death, cried in the midst of the flames, I see the heavens opened.'

Now that the doctrine of being taught by the Spirit of God, was generally received by the Martyrs of those times, we learn from many of their writings. Denis Peloquin burnt in the said year at Ville Franche, said in his confession, That it was the Holy Ghost that gave him witness in his conscience, that the books of the Old and New Testament were the Holy Scripture.' Lewis de Marsac, being about the same time put to death by fire at Lyons, when he was asked how he knew the Holy Scriptures to be the Gospel? said, 'God hath taught me so by his Spirit and being also asked, whether it was his incumbent duty to read the Holy Scriptures, and who had instructed him concerning them? he answered, That God by his Spirit had effected it, that he got some know

6

ledge thereof; and that without his grace, and the enlightening of his Spirit, he could not comprehend and understand any thing in the gospel.' John Calvin did also write to the fore said Peloquin and Marsac : God will cause that the confession which you will make according to the measure of the Spirit he has given you, will produce a greater fruit of edification, than all others that might be sent you.' And to Matthew Dymonet, prisoner at Lyons, he wrote thus: Submit modestly to the guidings of God's Spirit; answer with all moderation and discretion, keeping to the rule of the Scriptures. I have believed, and therefore I will speak; but let not this hinder thee to speak freely and sincerely, being persuaded that he who promised to give us a mouth, and such wisdom as the gainsayers cannot withstand, will never forsake thee.' More of the like instances of the operations of the Spirit of God in his witnesses I could alledge, if I had so intended but I give here only a slender draught of the sincerity and the principle of those that were come but to the dawnings of the reformation; for higher I cannot esteem that time, because the eyes of the most zealous men of those days, were yet so much covered with the fogs which then were, and the prejudice of the old leaven, that they did not discern all things in a full clearness; for one saw the error

of one thing, and others of another; but human affection did work too strong, and thereby they judged one another, as is abundantly mentioned in history.

If we rightly look into this, it seems very absurd, to think that the Reformation (which in former times had been pretty much advanced by some eminent men; as Luther, Melancthon, Oecolompadius, Calvin, Menno, and others) then was brought to perfection; for we perceive that even those reformers themselves, at first had not such a clear sight into many things, as afterwards they got; which to demonstrate at large, I count unnecessary; since England being the chief stage on which the things I intend to describe, have been transacted, I will turn my face thitherward, to take a view cursorily of the beginning and process of

the reformation there.

Passing by Wickliff and others, I begin with Thomas Cranmer, who, because of his sincere and good life, being advanced by King Henry the VIIIth to the Archbishop's See of Canterbury, did all that was in his power to reform the errors crept into the church of Rome, and therefore in the year 1536, he exhorted the King who much loved him, to proceed to a reformation, and that nothing in religion should be determined without clear proofs from Scripture, and therefore he proposed that these points, "Whether

there was a purgatory; Whether deceased saints, ought to be invocated; and how images were to be regarded," well needed to be enquired into; since it began to appear that several things were errors, for which some people not long before had suffered death.

Some time after, Thomas Cromwell, a chief minister of the kingdom, and a great friend of Cranmer, published some injunctions in the King's name, wherein all churchmen were required no more to recommend to people, images, relicks, or pilgrimages, but to teach them the Lord's prayer, the Creed, and the ten Commandments in English. This was a great step towards the translation of the bible into English, which being also furthered by Cranmer, the next year came out in print; and by the King's warrant the clergy were required to set up bibles in their churches; so that now all that could, might read the holy Scripture in their native tongue. Cranmer not content with this, obtained in the year, 1539, a permission for all people to have the bible in their houses; yet for all that, he still was an assertor of the corporal presence of Christ in the host, until in the year 1549, in the reign of King Edward VI. when the times were more free, he was induced by Nicholas Ridley a zealous reformer, and afterwards a martyr under Queen Mary, to enquire better into the thing, and to discover the absurdity of it;

from whence he did not only oppose and suppress that superstition, but also many others; and it is likely, that if opportunity had been given him, he would have reformed more. Neverthe less it cannot but be wondered at, that he who seems to have been a man, of a meek temper, could give his vote to the burning of those whom he looked upon to be hereticks; as John Nicholson, alias Lambert, in the reign of Henry VIII. for denying the corporal presence of Christ in the sacrament; and Joan Bocher, and George Parr, under Edward VI. the first for denying that Christ had taken flesh from the virgin Mary, and the latter for not believing the deity of Christ: from whence we may see, what a wrong zeal for religion is able to effect but without question, he was come to be of another mind, when in the year 1556, under the bloody reign of Queen Mary, this was not only laid in his dish, but he was also forced to undergo the same lot of being burnt alive.

Now, though after his death, the bishops under Queen Elizabeth were content with the reformation made by Cranmer, yet it pleased God in the year 1568. to raise other persons, that testified publicly against many of the remaining superstitions; and although Coleman, Burton, Hallingham, and Benson were imprisoned by the Queen's order, yet they got many followers, and also the name of Puritans. And