towards it.* At Lyme Regis, the Mayor favoured Hancock; but a rich merchant, with his followers, opposed him openly. Words were leading to blows; "the Mayor had much ado to quiet the hurly-burly; till he got most of them out of the church, and was himself called a knave for his protection of the preacher."+

Licences were granted to pious laymen to preach without any other ordination. We read of Richard Taverner, high sheriff of Oxford, preaching most enthusiastically in the pulpit of St. Mary's there, arrayed in gold chain and sword; and of William Holcot, Esq., of Buckland, ascending the pulpit wearing a velvet bonnet, a damask gown, and gold chain. Taverner, though a learned and earnest man, appears to have successfully cultivated the conceited style then becoming fashionable. Sir John Cheke has preserved a portion of the commencement of one of his sermons, which is as far as possible from simplicity :-" Arriving at the Mount of St. Mary's, in the stony stage where I now stand, I have brought you some fine biscuits, baked in the oven of charity, carefully conserved for the chickens of the Church, the sparrows of the Spirit, and the sweet swallows of salvation."

Various other modes were attempted of ministering to the public religious taste. One, which signally failed, was the revival of dramatic representations, with the facts of gospel history for their basis, instead of the fables of medieval faith. This soon fell into deserved contempt. It has survived, in very feeble form, down to

* Strype's Cranmer," A.D. 1547.

+ Roberts's "Social History of Southern Counties," p. 222.

our own times, in the occasional introduction of a scriptural scene into the peep-show at the village fair, and, with equal tameness, in the cold "Sacred Dramas" of Hannah More. Art is an illustration, but not a primary teacher of religion.

Such devices were not required in places where the leading reformers were the preachers. At Exeter, for instance, Miles Coverdale, the honoured coadjutor of the martyred Tyndale, and second only to him in his high office as translator of the Bible, preached incessantly the leading truths of the Gospel. So vigorously did he do this, that all other controversy there was thrown into the shade, compared with that controversy which our Lord indicated, when he asked his disciples, “What think ye of Christ ?"

Among the men who were at the same time conspicuous examples and considerable promoters of evangelical religion about the Court, was Dr. William Turner, the author of the celebrated "New Herbal," the first original botanical work in our language. He was one of the Cambridge students who, in the first religious revival there, became the subject of decided religious convictions, which through life rendered him the faithful enlightened advocate of the Gospel. Without having been ordained, and renouncing flattering prospects of promotion at the University, moved by missionary zeal, he devoted himself to itinerant preaching, and went out into the cities, towns, and villages of the midland counties, proclaiming Christ as the only Saviour. He settled at Oxford, in order that he might there carry on together his two

beloved vocations of preaching and the study of natural history. Under the influence of the shifting policy of the last reign, he was imprisoned and banished; he resorted to Italian, French, and German universities, and, when the times were changed, returned home laden with knowledge and honours. He obtained preferment both as a physician and as a divine, became a standard-bearer for the Gospel whilst practising in high circles as a physician, was banished during the succeeding reign, and afterwards returned and lived a long life of usefulness, glorifying God by the devotion of large endowments, acquirements, and affections, to the great object of advancing the kingdom of Christ.

The eager pursuit and fond appreciation of the doctrines of the Gospel, which now arose, had a far wider range than the geographical limits of the Reformation. The great band of secret brothers in Southern Europe, Juan Valdez, Flaminio, Bernardo Ochino, Peter Martyr Vermiglio, and Aonio Paleario, within and without the Church of Rome, vied with each other in diving for that pearl of great price which lay hid in the depths of divine revelation. Their friends and neighbours who rejoiced with them were amongst the virtuous and the great in many countries. The treatise attributed to Paleario, "The Benefit that Christians receive by Jesus Christ crucified," was first dispersed in MS. in Italy, (having, as is obvious from the contents, been collated with the "Divine Considerations" of Juan Valdez,) printed about 1546, translated into French, and printed at Lyons in 1545; translated from the latter version in 1548, by

Courtenay Earl of Devon, whilst a prisoner in the Tower, and read in MS. by King Edward. The identical copy thus prepared is now in the Cambridge University library, and the young king's handwriting remains in two thoughtful sentences which show us the staple of his reflections. In the page after the dedication he has written, “Faith is dede if it be without workes. Your loving neueu Edward." And in the last page but one, "Liue to die, and die to liue again. Your neueu Edward.” *

Thus the glorious riches of God's free grace, the inheritance of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, appeared to be on the point of becoming naturalized in the literature of courts and colleges.

The song was again jubilant,—

"Let all the world in every corner sing,
My God and King!

The church with psalms must shout;
No door can keep them out :

But, above all, the heart

Must bear the longest part.

Let all the world in every corner sing,

My God and King!"

HERBERT.

The kind and cordial reception given to the eminent foreign Protestant teachers who, at this juncture, came to promulgate the tenets of the German Reformation, and repaid the hospitality, by conduct becoming Christians and learned men, was a token of the earnestness with

See Mr. Babington's sumptuous edition of this remarkable book, and also Mr. Ayre's admirable edition, published by the Religious Tract Society.

which the truth was then sought. Peter Martyr Vermiglio, Bucer, Fagius, John Alexander, and John A` Lasco, were all treated with honour, and placed in situations where their character and abilities might eminently serve the cause of truth.

The influence of the intercourse between the learned men who had lighted their torches at the same flame of Divine truth in England, and in Germany, produced the happiest results. Every treatise upon evangelical subjects became common property, whether it was published on the Continent or here; letters are still extant showing the mutual delight with which successive works of the reformed press were hailed. Many of these were translated for more extended circulation. The great number of French religious refugees residing in England furthered this operation; and thus we derived from continental sources, much of that well-grounded, though somewhat formal, doctrinal literature, which rendered the Puritan writers so mighty in dogmatic theology. For instance, we find a ponderous folio, printed in 1576, dedicated to Sir Anthony Cook, by Robert Masson, one of the ministers of the French church in London, being the "Common Places" (as such selections were then called) of Peter Martyr Vermiglio. It comprises extracts from such of his works as treat of positive and ethical doctrines; it begins with the psychological consideration of God, then proceeds to consider revelation and nature, then humanity, original sin, salvation, predestination, justification by faith, concluding with the institutions and sacraments of the church.