THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE ASSERTED.

to answer distinctly to his name; which being done, and they proving unanimous, the Recorder spoke as follows:

"I am sorry, gentlemen, you have followed your own judgments and opinions, rather than the good and wholesome advice that was given you. God keep my life out of your hands! But for this, the court fines you forty marks a man, and (commands) imprisonment until paid."

William Penn.-I demand my liberty, being freed by the jury.

Lord Mayor.-No; you are in for your fines, for contempt of the court.

Penn.-I ask if it be according to the fundamental laws of England, that any Englishman should be fined, or amerced, but by the judgment of his Peers, or jury? since it expressly contradicts the 14th and 29th chapters of the Great Charter of England, which says, "No freeman ought to be amerced but by the oath of good and lawful men of the vicinage.

Recorder.-Take him away, take him away; take him out

of court.

Penn.-I never can urge the fundamental laws of England, but you cry "Take him away, take him away!" But it is now the order, since the Spanish Inquisition hath so great a place in the Recorder's heart. God Almighty, who is just, will judge you for all these things.

Both jury and prisoners were now forced into the Bail Dock, for non-payment of their fines, whence they were carried to Newgate. These proceedings, of course, aroused the attention of a nation, justly jealous of the government of such a profligate and arbitrary prince as Charles II. and indignant at the conduct of such a judge as Howel. Sir Thomas Smith, about a century before, had considered the fining, imprisoning, and punishing of juries to be violent, tyrannical, and contrary to the custom of the realm of England; while the celebrated Sir Matthew Hale, who had been chief Baron of the Exchequer, and chief Justice of the King's Bench in this very reign, observed, in his pleas for the Crown, p. 313, that it would be a most unhappy case for the judge himself, "if the prisoner's fate depended upon his directions: and unhappy also for the prisoner; as, if the judge's opinion must rule the verdict, the trial by jury would be useless."

Edward Bushel, a citizen of London, whose name deserves to be handed down to posterity with applause, immediately

POETRY.

sued out a writ of Habeas Corpus. Upon the return, it was stated, that he had been committed for that, contrary to law. and against full and clear evidence openly given in court, and against the direction of the court in matter of law, he, as one of the jury, had acquitted William Penn and William Mead, to the great obstruction of justice. This cause was heard in the superior courts; and after a solemn argument before the twelve judges, the above was resolved "to be an insufficient cause for fining and committing the jury." They were ac cordingly discharged, and they brought actions for damages. Eleven years after this, William Penn bent the whole force of his capacious mind to a great and noble undertaking. Having in 1681, obtained from the Crown the grant of a large tract of land in America, since named Pennsylvania, after himself, as a compensation for the arrears due to him, as executor for his father, he took over with him a colony of Quakers, and formed a city which he called Philadelphia, or, The City of Brethren, in allusion to their union and fraternal affection. After thus laying the foundation of a future empire, and establishing a body of excellent laws, this truly great man, who reflects so much lustre on the name of Englishman, returned to his native country, and died at Beaconsfield, in Berkshire, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, A.D. 1718.

Poetry.

THE GOSPEL FEAST.

"And they, with one consent, began to make excuse."- Luke xiv. 18.

GOD makes a feast, and bids his creatures come;

But strange excuses keep the most at home:

Some are too busy to partake the treat;

And some too idle e'en to rise to eat.
Some too well settled to seek endless rest;

And some too happy to be truly blest.
Some are too learned to be really wise;
And some too rich the pearl of price to prize.
Some are too knowing wisdom's voice to attend;
And some too stupid truth to comprehend.
Some are too bold the God of heaven to dread;
And some too timid duty's path to tread.
Some are too good free mercy to receive;
And some too bad their wickedness to leave.

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

'Tis yet too soon, says youth in vig'rous bloom,
To waste my time in dull religious gloom;
While bustling manhood pleads for short delay,-
'Tis time enough-I'll seize a future day.
E'en withered age still asks a longer date,
And then exclaims, alas! 'tis now too late.
Happy the youth to early zeal inclined,
Whose God delights and awes his op'ning mind:
The man who first pursues the world above,
Then leaves the rest to his Creator's love:
The hoary saint, with honoured age opprest,
Who quits his load, and wings his way to rest:
Whoever comes, the meanest and the least,
Shall find a welcome to the gospel feast.

Anecdotes and Selections.

PUBLIC READING OF THE FIRST ENGLISH BIBLES.-An anecdote is preserved by Strype, which shows the earnestness with which young persons availed themselves of the brief opportunity for reading the scriptures in the latter part of Henry the Eighth's reign. Several poor men in the town of Chelmsford, joined together and bought a New Testament. They used to assemble at one end of the church on Sunday, their only leisure day, to read portions of it, and many persons used to come and stand around to hear. William Malden, then fifteen years of age, was constantly to be found among the number who came to hear the glad tidings of the gospel. His father, a bigoted papist, observing this, fetched him away several times, and compelled him to join in repeating the morning prayers in the Latin language. Finding that his father continued this course, William Malden determined to learn to read, that he might be able to peruse the word of God himself. This he accomplished with some difficulty; and then he and his father's apprentice, joined their little stock of money and bought a New Testament, which they concealed in their bed-straw, and read whenever opportunity offered. One night, as he sat with his mother, they conversed respecting the bowing down to the crucifix. This he told her was "plain idolatry," and against the commandment of God, which is, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor bow down to them, nor worship them." The mother, enraged to hear him speak thus, exclaimed, "Wilt thou not worship the cross which was about thee when thou wert christened, and must be laid on thee when thou art dead?" She then went and informed the father, who, inflamed with anger at hearing that his son denied that worship was due to the cross, immediately went to his son's room, and pulling him out of bed by his hair, beat him most unmercifully. The lad bore all with patience, considering

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

that it was for Christ's sake, as he said when he related the anecdote in Queen Elizabeth's reign. Enraged at his calmness, the father ran and fetched a halter, which he put round his son's neck, and would have hanged him but for the interference of his mother. Such scenes doubtless occurred in many families.

LUTHER AND HIS MAID-SERVANT.-Luther had a domestic residing in his house by the name of Elizabeth, who, in a fit of displeasure, left without giving the family any notice. She subsequently fell into habits of immorality, and became dangerously ill. In her sickness she requested a visit from Luther. On taking his seat at her bedside, he said, “Well, Elizabeth, what is the matter?" "I desire," she replied, "to ask your pardon for leaving your family so abruptly; but I have some thing else weighing very heavily on my conscience,-I have given away my soul to satan. I have," continued she, "done many wicked things, but this is what most oppresses me, that I have deliberately sold my poor soul to the devil; and how can such a crime ever find mercy ?" "Elizabeth, listen to me," rejoined the man of God. "Suppose, while you lived in my house, you had sold and transferred all my children to a stranger, would the sale or transfer have been lawful or binding ?" “Oh, no,” said the humbled girl, "for I had no right to do that." "Very well; you had still less right to give your soul to the enemy; it no more belongs to you than my children do. It is the exclusive property of the Lord Jesus Christ; he made it, and, when lost, redeemed it. It is his, with all its powers and faculties; you cannot give away or sell what is not your's; if you have attempted it the whole transaction was unlawful, and is entirely void. Now, do you go to the Lord, confess your guilt with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and entreat him to pardon you, and take back again what is wholly his own. And as for the sin of attempting to alienate his rightful property throw that back upon the devil, for that, and that alone, is his." The girl obeyed; was converted; and died full of faith and hope.

and

GARRICK AND STERNE.-Sterne, who used his wife very ill, was one day talking to Garrick in a fine sentimental manner, in praise of conjugal love and fidelity. "The husband," said Sterne, "who behaves unkindly to his wife, deserves to have his house burnt over his head." "If you can think so," responded Garrick, “I hope your house is insured." Let all whom it concerns give heed to this valuable hint, and ever endeavour to act on the principles laid down by the venerable Philip Henry to his son Matthew, when he was married. The following are the lines which were sent to the wedded pair :

"Love one another,-pray together; and see
You never both together angry be.

If one speaks fire, t'other with water come;
Is one provoked; be t'other soft or dumb.

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

OLD MOTHER BENDER was pious but poor. In the midst of her extreme want her trust and dependence were in God. It was late one chilly night, in the autumn of the year, that two rather wild young men were passing near her little cottage on their way bome. One of them had under his arm some loaves of bread, which he had procured at the village store. A faint light flickered from mother Bender's casement. Said the one who had the loaves to his companion, "Let's have some fun with the old woman." "Agreed," said the other. They approached the house, and, peeping in at the window, saw the old lady upon her knees by the hearth, where a few embers were smouldering in the ashes. She was engaged in prayer. They listened, and heard her offering earnest petitions for bread. She was entirely destitute of food. In furtherance of their fun, one of them, with the loaves, climbed softly up the low roof of the cottage, and dropped one loaf after the other down the chimney. As they rolled out upon the hearth they caught the old lady's eye, and in the fulness of her heart she exclaimed, "Thank the Lord; bless the Lord for his bounty." "But the Lord didn't send them," shouted a voice down the chimney. "Yes, he did," she cried, undaunted; "the Lord sent them if the devil brought them." Inference: The Lord can use evil agents for the accomplishment of good ends.

AFFECTING ILLUSTRATION.-The late Rev. Mr. Toller, of Kettering, once preached from Isaiah xxvii. 5.-"Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me;" and illustrated it in the following manner. "I think," said he, "I can convey the meaning of this passage so that every one may understand it, by what took place in my own family within these few days. One of my little children had committed a fault, for which I thought it my duty to chastise him. I called him to me; explained the evil of what he had done, and told him how grieved I was that I must punish him for it. He heard me in silence, and then rushed into my arms, and burst into tears. I could sooner have cut off my arm, than have then struck him for his fault. He had taken hold of my strength, and he had made peace with me." What could more strikingly exhibit the case as between the true penitent and his offended Maker? God, as if with reluctance and grief, has declared his determination to punish; but sincere sorrow for sin, wrought in the heart by the revelation of his mercy in Christ, takes hold of his strength; disarms him, as it were, of his power to strike the blow; inclines him to forgive; and thus brings about, between him and the sinner, a state of reconciliation and peace.

RECKON THAT DAY, that hour, or those minutes lost, which any worldly pretences would tempt you to save out of the public worship of the church, the certain and constant duties of the closet, or any necessary services for God and godliness. Dr. Watts.