ago told you, that he who would stand up firmly on his legs, had need to fall down frequently on his knees. There is such a thing, then, as looking backwards, that we may be better enabled to go forward. It does, indeed, seem to me but as yesterday, since the honoured editor of the Visitor showed me the proof-sheet of the first number of the work. With no trifling interest I looked at the cut of the crocodile crawling up the sedgy bank, with his long scaly tail hanging in the water, and it was with no small complacency I glanced over Old Humphrey's Observations on the Price of Things. Why, since then, more than a dozen annual volumes of the Visitor, filled with useful information and important lessons, have been published, with seven or eight hundred illustrations. Since then, thirteen years have fled by swifter than the wings of the wind; death has dealt around us his darts, and angels have gathered in heavenly harvests.

The proudest of earth, who made princes their trust, With their brother the worm have lain down in the dust,

And the lowly and meek, with delight and surprise,

Have enter'd rejoicing their home in the skies.

Yet here am I, still scribbling for the Visitor. But, old man-like, I am prating about myself, while I ought, in agreement with my undertaking, to be reviewing you. It is time that I began to

move among your ranks.

And now, then, having you drawn up before me, shall I first of all harangue you, and tell you of the glorious exploits of the great captains of olden time-the battles they fought, and the victories they won? Shall I rehearse the deeds of Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses?

If the idolized heroes of later days, some of whom,

Led on by mad ambition's lure alone,

Keen-eyed to glory, but to justice blind, Have waded on through "slaughter to a throne, And shut the gates of mercy on mankind :" If the warriors of the world, with the glittering tiara or the laurel wreath on their brows, have had their doubtful deeds inscribed in marble and gold, how ought the deeds of those of whom I have spoken to be recorded? Oh how eloquent might I be, if eloquence were mine, in narrating the conflicts and the triumphs of the people of God, true subjects and soldiers of the Lord of lords,

and King of kings! But "time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephtha, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets : who, through faith, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens,' Heb. xi. 32-34. I must leave these matters, for they are above my powers to describe. A dwarf cannot wield the sword of a giant, nor should the mean occupy the place of the mighty. It would require the gifted powers and inspiration of an apostle to do justice to the achievements of the followers of God.

Whether you are on horseback or on foot, whether you are in command, having men in subjection under you, or exercising no command, but obeying those who are in authority over you-in either case, as soldiers of the cross, you have been well provided for. Food and raiment, and good quarters, pay, and fair prospect of high promotion, are yours. How, then, are you discharging your duties?

In what state are your weapons? I am not asking you about your swords and your pistols, your firelocks and your bayonets, for I suppose you have little or nothing to do with such things. If you carried firelocks, I might be peeping into their pans; and if you had swords, I might be drawing them from their scabbards, to see if they were clean and bright, and fit for service; but Christian weapons are of another kind. In what state is your humility, your patience, your self-denial, your forbearance, your love, your faith, and your zeal? Are they in a state fit for immediate service, if you should be called upon to bear a calamity, to forgive an injury, to attack a sin, or to jeopardize your lives in following out the commands of the great Captain of your salvation? I must examine your weapons.

In what state is your clothing? Not your scarlet jackets, your white pantaloons, your brass helmets, or your high caps of felt or bear-skin, but your general conduct and demeanour. Are you orderly, sober, and civil? for order, sobriety, and civility should be the uniform of every Christian soldier. I must examine your clothing,

Are you obedient, obeying in all

things, without a moment's hesitation, | the voice of your great Commander? Have you attained to a skilful use of your weapons? Remember these are "not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. Are you strong and of good courage, fearing nothing in your conflicts against evil? You are not required to enter into the death grapple with your fellow-men, to sweep them with your gunnery from the plain, and to hew them down in the stormy breach, with the edge of the sword. It is not your duty to charge the embattled line, to storm the bastion and the battery, and to spread around fire, and sword, and destruction; but fearlessly to attack sin in all its forms, and to resist Satan in all his deceits. Is your fidelity to be relied on, and are you determined, with your lives in your hands, to be faithful unto death? I have passed through your ranks, glancing at your arms, your clothing, and your appointments, and I have noticed your movements, your marching, and your manoeuvres, and now shall I compliment you on your soldierlike bearing and general appearance; on your steadiness and promptitude under arms? Shall I say that the correctness and precision of your movements are highly creditable to you, and that I trust a spirit of emulation will be kept up among you, that you may never forfeit the high reputation you have attained? I cannot go so far as this. I must address you in a different manner.

Christian soldiers, there is much among you that I must commend, but there is also much that I cannot but condemn. There are, no doubt, before me, men, whose arms and regimentals show their care, men whose obedience is prompt, whose skill is great, whose courage is not suspected, and whose fidelity has been fully proved. Why is it not so with all? I have too much reason to believe there are among you the careless, the disobedient, the unskilful, the cowardly, and the unfaithful. Shame! shame! on such unsoldierlike behaviour! Is it thus that, shrinking from enduring hardness as good soldiers, you sully the banner of the cross! I say of some of you, that your weapons are rusty, your clothes are soiled, you are wanting in godly vigi

lance, you have given intelligence to the enemy of souls, and you have been found sleeping at your post of duty. I now take my leave; but to such of you as are faulty I say, Have a care, or punishment awaits you! Amend your conduct, or "be sure your sin will find you out." But, "Stop! stop!" say you, go not off thus with a flourish of trumpets! Leave us not while the kettle-drums are rolling, and the cymbals clashing, to your honour, as if you were a real field-marshal, with the colonel of the regiment, and the adjutant, and your staff-officers around you, while a crowd of gazing spectators press forward to catch a glance of your feathery head, or a glimpse of your horse's flowing tail. Come back again, field-marshal Humphrey, for the principal part of your duty remains unperformed; you have reviewed us with a witness, but, as yet, you have not reviewed yourself!"

Pardon me, my friends! but in this you do me wrong, for I have been reviewing myself the whole of the time that I have been addressing you. Not. an error have I attacked, not a sin have I put to the sabre, but it has been my own! Instead of losing sight of myself in my review, I have hardly had anybody else but myself in my eye. Far be it from me to put one under arrest, and confine another in the guard-room, while I, having committed the same offence, walk at liberty. No! no! comrades, you shall never say, with truth, that I screened myself from deserved punishment, while applying the cat-o'-nine tails to another. I have been sadly too careless of my clothing, and my arms; and my deficiencies in obedience, skill, courage, and fidelity, are to my reproach. Let us try, then, together, to become, for the future, more vigilant as soldiers of Christ, and more faithful as followers of the Redeemer.

FRUITFULNESS.

We have been long as fig-trees planted in the vineyard of our Lord; we have been members of his visible church; we have been favoured with numerous and important privileges; we have had the word of God to instruct us in all that was necessary for us to believe and to do; we have had his ordinances to nourish and refresh our souls, and to animate us in the path of duty; we

have had all the means that have been appointed, and all the opportunities that could be desired, for promoting our improvement in knowledge, and faith, and holiness and it may well be asked, if more could have been done than what has been done for our spiritual welfare. Now the Lord of the vineyard, God, from whom we have received all these advantages, has come and sought fruit upon us; he has come to ascertain what improvement we have made-and what has he found? On some of us, we trust, that he has found those fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God." On many he has found little in proportion to what might justly have been expected from the favourable soil in which they were placed, and from the patient and attentive culture that had been bestowed. And alas! it is to be feared that there are not a few who are absolutely barren; as unproductive of what is good and acceptable, as if they had still been left in the bleak and sterile wilderness. They have had leaves, the symptom and profession of spiritual soundness; they have even had blossoms, the promises and the resolutions of substantial excellence; but what are all these to the Lord of the vineyard, who comes seeking fruit, demanding what he had a right to expect -the unreserved devotedness of their lives?

But what is to be the consequence of all this with respect to your conduct? What are you to do, in this your accepted time, in this the day of your merciful visitation? Is the Saviour's intercession

to be in vain? Is the forbearance of God to make no impression on your hearts? Is your warning to be treated as if it had never been given? That remains with yourselves to be determined. What you ought to do is too obvious to be mistaken. Every consideration of wisdom, of duty, of gratitude, and of interest, calls you from sin unto holiness, from Satan unto God, from inactivity to diligence in the work which is given you to do. And the unfruitfulness of your past life should make you give all diligence, that you may crowd into what remains of it as much as possible of "the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope." Up, then, and be doing; lose not a moment; every passing moment is precious; for it embraces a portion of your preparation for eternity. To improve it aright, is to labour for

salvation; to delay may ruin you, and that for ever. Under the impression of this momentous truth, of this alarming prospect, let me conjure you to repent without delay, to devote what yet remains of your existence here, to the service of your God and Redeemer, and thus to be waiting for the second coming of the Son of man.-Rev. A. Thomson.

AFFECTED HUMILITY.

TRUE and genuine humility does not lie in a person's affecting the meanest habit, or yet a singularity of dress, however mean, that he may not seem to be proud. I speak not this, however, to cloak the proud gaudiness of any. Excess in costly attire, following vain, strange, light, immodest fashions, is a great sin and shame of our times. Oh, how many are there that in this way glory in their shame! Were the "daughters of Zion," reproved and threatened for this sin by the prophet Isaiah, ch. iii., ever more guilty than multitudes among us at this day? But yet I must tell you, that a proud heart may be under vile raiment Diogenes. "I trample on Plato's pride,' said "But it is with pride of another kind," said Plato! Thus some may be proud of an affected plainness-proud of their seeming free from pride, of their looking like humble, mortified men. And some there are, whose pride lies not so which one would think that none but much in gaudy dress and fine clothes, children and fools would be taken with, as in a high conceit of themselves-their knowledge, light, and perfection.-—Bar

too.

rett.

OPTICAL ILLUSION.

AN odd optical illusion, says an eminent writer, has amused me these two last nights. I have been of late, for the first time, condemned to the constant use of spectacles. Now, when I have laid them aside to step into a room dimly lighted, out of the strong light I use for writing, I have seen, or seemed to see, through the rims of the same spectacles which I have left behind me. At first, the impression is so lively that I put my hands to my eyes, believing I had the actual spectacles on at the moment. But what I saw was only the eidolon or image of the said useful servants.

THE REFORMERS BEFORE THE

REFORMATION.

No. I.

ORIGIN OF THE GREAT WESTERN SCHISM -EUROPE DIVIDED.

THE history of Christianity presents few periods more deserving of attention than the close of the fourteenth century, and the beginning of the fifteenth. The despotic constitution of the church of Rome, in which the papacy was exalted above every other power, then exposed to view all its evils, without showing any of the advantages which it had possessed at an earlier date, when it was the means of overthrowing the paganism of Europe, and of resisting Mohammedanism in the

east.

66

If the ambition of the ruling pontiffs could have been moderated by experience, they would, long before, have been brought to acknowledge the wisdom and judgment of Him whose vicars they assumed to be, when he declared, My kingdom is not of this world." The papal authority, which asserted its own infallibility, and pretended to direct the concerns, not only of all churches, but also of all kingdoms, could have been harmless only in hands incapable of sin. And to escape the violence which its boundless pretensions incessantly provoked, it should have been as inviolable in reality as it was declared to be by law.

This was not the case: the efforts of some of the pontiffs drew upon them the displeasure of monarchs, and their real authority so little corresponded with their imagined rights, that those who thought themselves entitled to rule in every part of the globe, were often dependent, everywhere, upon the will of others.

A twofold danger to the popes resulted from this difference between their assumed authority, and their actual weakness. On the one hand, the princes who felt their blows, or their threats, were prepared to contend for their own rights in opposition to those of the papacy, and were ready to repel their thunders by force of arms. On the other, those sovereigns who thought themselves able to make use of the papal denunciations against their enemies, were strongly tempted to pursue this policy. The question was, who should wield that invisible sword, whose point turned every way-who should seize the handle wrested

from the feeble grasp of its owner? Thus the so-called absolute authority in temporal matters, which the popes used as a perpetual menace to mankind, became the occasion of deeper peril, of incessant dangers to themselves. They found themselves fatally compelled to have recourse to all the dangerous extremities of their self-imposed situation. They needed mighty armies to repel these kings, large sums to maintain these forces, and shameful courses to procure the money employed for these corrupt ends. The chief aim of Hildebrand was forgotten. Instead of relying on their temporal power to support their spiritual authority, many pontiffs unworthily used the latter for the interests of their secular state. Therefore criminal wars arose, supported by frightful simony; piety and charity were forgotten, in proportion as indulgences and false pardons were multiplied, and the stream of corruption filled to overflowing the course which should have been marked by morality and truth.

After two centuries of successful efforts, chequered by great reverses, the grand design of the papacy was accomplished. Innocent III. was perhaps the only pope, who, with audacity equal to his genius, lived at a favourable period, dreaded by all, and independent of all.

But after Clement iv., who directed a fatal stroke against the house of Suabia, the power of the popes was unlimited nowhere but in their own imaginations; and soon, in their long residence at Avignon, they found themselves in a state of dependence under the French crown nearly as painful as that in which the tiara had been held by the imperial sceptre.

Nevertheless, the papacy, as a spiritual and infallible power, was as yet scarcely shaken in the popular opinion. All the scandals given, and the torrents of blood shed by the popes, had not done away this deception. It was the will of God, that the mighty elements of this authority should work their own ruin, and that the nations submitting to the papacy, and who bent their knee before this new idol, should be at a loss where to find the object of their false worship. This was in the great schism of the west, which lasted for half a century: it began in 1378, after Gregory XI. had once more made Rome the seat of his sacred power.

Several causes contributed to recall Gregory xI. to Italy. Rome was displeased at the absence of its bishop, torn by

D

To these motives were joined others, of a religious nature, supported by the visions of two females reverenced in the church, St. Catherine of Sienna, and St. Bridget; they announced revelations which declared to the pope that it was his duty to return to his bishopric.

He decided, and returned to Rome, where he died the second year after his return, pronouncing expressions of regret, and predictions of approaching calamities. The famous Gerson relates" that Gregory XI., being on his death-bed, with the blessed body of our Saviour Christ in his hands, exhorted all present to beware of those persons, whether men or women, who under the pretext of religion uttered the visions of their own imaginations. He said that, misled by such persons, contrary to the leadings of his own mind, he should have given ground for a schism after his death, if the Lord had not restrained him!"

The result soon followed. Of sixteen cardinals who were at Rome with Gregory, only four were Italians: among the others were eleven Frenchmen and a Spaniard. The latter was the celebrated Peter de Luna. Had the election been free, a French pope would apparently have been chosen, but the people of Rome desired an Italian. A furious mob besieged the entrance of the conclave, and threatened the lives of the inmates, crying out, "Come, lord cardinals, give us a Roman pope who will dwell among us, or we will make your heads redder than your hats." An Italian was elected: the choice unanimously fell on the archbishop of Bari, who took the name of Urban VI.

This prelate, according to Thierry de Niem, his secretary, was, before his elevation to the pontifical chair, a humble and devout man, disinterested, watchful, laborious, averse to simony and to those who practised it, the friend of wise and good men, regular and strict in his man

He had retained a praiseworthy desire to reform the manners of the clergy, but he laboured therein with rash eagerness, and after three months of his pontificate those who had elected him protested against his appointment. The eleven French cardinals and the Spaniard were the first who left Rome; they repaired under different pretexts to Agnain, and from thence to Fondi, from which place they wrote to the different governments and universities of Europe in the following terms:

"We have informed you of the horrible fury, the cruel tyranny, the audacious and sacrilegious efforts of the people and governors of Rome, devised against our property and persons, whilst we were engaged in the election of a pope, to compel us to create one in compliance with their fancy. Through their unbridled malice, the seat of St. Peter is filled by an apostate, who diffuses erroneous doctrine, and tramples all truths beneath his feet. He is not our pope by a canonical election; the Holy Spirit has not called him; he was not established by unanimous consent, but by the most cruel rage of one party, and the mortal fears of the other. Therefore we are obliged to make a public protestation against this intruder, whom ambition has delivered up to his own reprobate will, fearing lest believers should be led astray by his artifice."

The warning given by the cardinals, if right and well grounded, ought to have come when less expected. The date of their letter, and the violence of their style, rendered the purity of their motives in writing doubly liable to suspicion.

They

Three Italian cardinals still remained with Urban; (the fourth, the cardinal of St. Peter, was dead;) their brethren in France concerted an unworthy pretext, by which to win them over. wrote to each of these privately, promising him the pontifical sovereignty, under a charge of the strictest secrecy. The temptation was too strong; the Italians hastened to Fondi, and took part with the rest in a second election; but