the Roman Catholics, and were violent in their rage against the Protestants. They had not however the power of stopping the progress of the Reformation, and the work went on prosperously during the reign of this young King, which was however very short; he died in the year 1553, at the age of sixteen years.

After the death of this excellent young King, his eldest sister, Mary, ascended the throne. Mary was a bigoted Papist, and, during the whole of her reign, she used every means in her power to stop the progress of the Reformation. Bishops Gardiner and Bonner assisted her, and all those who refused to return to the Roman Catholic religion were condemned to death. During this reign, the good Bishops Cranmer, and Ridley, and Latimer, and many other illustrious and pious Protestants, who were too bold in the truth to conceal their opinions, were burned at the stake. Queen Mary was a cruel persecutor of the Protestants till the day of her death. She died in the year 1558, and Queen Elizabeth, her sister, then came to the throne.

The cruelties practised by Mary against the Protestants had so completely set the people against the Roman Catholic religion, that they were now glad to embrace the Protestant faith; so that this persecution produced (as persecution generally does) exactly the contrary effect from what was intended by it. Or rather, we should say, in this case, that the power of God brought good out of evil, and blessed the propagation of his own word. Queen Elizabeth had been educated as a Protestant, and she was enabled to restore that religion;and it has, since her time, been the established religion of this country.

In this short sketch, we have been obliged to give a very hurried account of the Reformation in

England, and consequently to leave out many important particulars; but, if our young readers will attend well to this short account, they will be enabled to understand the bearing of such other circumstances as we may at any time have occasion to introduce on the subject of the Reformation.

V.

ON THE SACRAMENTS.

IN the above account of the Reformation, we have said that the Roman Catholics believe that there are seven sacraments, whilst we, Protestants, believe that there are only two. Now, of those services which the Romanists practise, we do not say that all are contrary to the Scripture, for some of them we believe to be in agreement with Scripture, and we have adopted them in our own Church; we only deny that they are sacraments. A sacrament is some outward sign,-something visible, -something that we can see;-and this outward sign is ordained or appointed by Christ himself; and it is a sign of something inward and spiritual; some grace which God has promised to give to those who earnestly seek it;-a sacrament is a pledge that God will give this grace, and He requires us to seek it in the way which he has appointed. A sacrament, as our Catechism teaches us, is "an outward visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us.' It is "ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof." Now there are only two ordinances which, according to this description, can be called sacraments. The 25th Article of our Church says, "Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men's pro

fession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses and effectual signs of grace, and God's good will towards us; by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in him."

There are two sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.

Those five commonly called sacraments, that is to say, confirmation, penance, orders, matrimony, and extreme unction, are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel; being such as are grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles, partly are states of life allowed by the Scriptures; but yet have not like nature of sacraments, with Baptism and the Lord's Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God. V.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

A PLAIN ADDRESS OCCASIONED BY THE EXECUTION OF JOHN DIGGLE,

At the Lancashire Spring Assizes, 1826.

Friends and Neighbours,

ALTHOUGH John Diggle did not make a dying speech, we are not, for that reason, to conclude that he had no "dying thoughts."-I believe he was a very ignorant man; and that circumstance might account for his not saying much. His mind was in a sad state of darkness-especially considering that he was brought up in a Christian country, and in a neighbourhood where the means of knowledge and instruction were within his reach on every side. Who was to blame for the man's ignorance, it is not

for me to say; but most certainly serious blame does rest some where. I cannot help observing here, for the admonition of parents, that those persons will have a great deal to answer for, who, in these days, suffer their children to run wild, and to grow up in ignorance and vice. Every town, nay, almost every village, has its Sunday School, where children may be taught to read the Scriptures, and to love and fear God.-May all parents seize the advantages thus held out! But though it is probable Diggle's ignorance prevented him from speaking much, it is pretty evident that the man did think. His saying to his brothers, that he hoped none of them would come to that prison in which he was then confined, and his giving the 51st Psalm to his wife, with a request that his child might be taught to read it, are circumstances which afford some clue to the thoughts that then filled his breast. Surely those brothers can never forget that charitable and affectionate wish. It was the last wish of their dying brother. May it sink into their hearts! Is there not something affecting too in the gift which the unhappy man sent to his child?-It was the 51st Psalm, a Psalm well suited to his own circumstances, and we trust expressive of his own feelings at the time. He saw what had been the source of all his own errors-and he saw what would be the means of saving his child. He felt convinced that if his child only imbibed the principles of the 51st Psalm, it would be armed against those snares which had been his ruin. May that child profit by this last token of its unhappy father's affection!may it experience the fulfilment of the Psalmist's prayer, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."-From these circumstances, I say, we may form some idea what were Diggle's thoughts in his last moments.

It is my wish to say what I believe he felt; and in doing this I will endeavour to put his thoughts

into such language as I think he himself would have made use of. He would doubtless have spoken words of warning and admonition to persons of all ranks and ages;-but I think he would have looked more particularly to the young-to young men in his own station of life-to those especially who were known to him, and had perhaps often been his companions.-I conceive his address would have been to this effect;

"My Friends, you behold in me a sad example of the fatal consequences of a loose and idle course of life. My sins have found me out, and I am shortly to pay the forfeit of my life for my offences. I confess with sorrow, that my crimes have been great, both against God and man. Before I leave this world, and appear in the presence of that God to whom your sins, as well as mine, are all known, and from whose all-seeing eye it is impossible to escape, let me give you a few words of advice. I solemnly call upon you, if you wish to be good and happy men, to resist the first beginnings of a sinful course. Be on your guard against the very first temptations of the devil. If you once give way, you may never recover yourselves. If you once yield, you know not where you are to stop. Little perhaps did you once think, little did I once think, that I should ever commit such a crime as that for which I am to forfeit my life. But I erred here: I neglected God.-I gave way to the devil, and he led me on from sin to sin. Beginning with idleness I have gone to the highest pitch of wickedness. Idleness led to drinking and bad company;-these led to robbery;-robbery led to murder;—and I, who was once your neighbour and companion, am doomed to suffer a shameful and ignominious death. You know my errors, then ;-you see my end: oh take warning by my fate! If I have done you harm by my life, let me beg of you to derive benefit from my death. Shun the rock on which I split-and on