Let us, then, profit by so favorable an occasion of preferment in the court of the Most High, and be as studious, in this age, to aspire to the dignity of watering God's Church with our blood, as our forefathers were to further it by their virtuous example, and by the glory of their good works. The kingdom of heaven,' says St. Augustine, requireth no price but thyself. It is worth all thou art: give thyself, and thou shalt have it.' Oh! thrice happy you, who are now on the last step to this glory! Joy in your happiness; but in the midst of your joy, forget not us. Pray that God may accept us also, and promote us to the like happiness." We offer no comment upon the above extract.

Its eloquence, and the prophetic spirit which it breathes, will at once have struck every reader.

Southwell's merits as a poet were fully appreciated in his day; of this upwards of ten editions, in twice that number of years, is a sufficient proof; and yet few works have become more rare, a single copy in Long

man's poetical catalogue being marked at six guineas. Were any testimonials needed in favor of their merits, the names of such eminent critics as Sir Egerton Brydges, Mr. Ellis, and Mr. Headley, would be more than sufficient. The former observes, that

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a deep, moral pathos, illumined by fervent piety, marked every thing Southwell wrote, either in prose or verse. There is something," he adds, "singularly simple, chaste, eloquent and fluent in his diction on all occasions." "Southwell's poems," says Mr. Ellis, "all of which are on moral or religious subjects, are far from deserving the neglect which they have experienced." Another judicious critic observes: "That even those, who least love the religion of the author, must admire and praise his writings, and regret that neither his simple strains in prose, nor his polished metre, should have yet obtained a collected edition of his works for general readers." Our next number will contain some extracts from his poetical writings.

Life and Times of John Reuchlin or Caprion, the Father of the Reformation. By F. Barham, Esq. London: 1843.

HATEVER ills afflicted this fair

WHATEV

realm of England, from her conversion to Christianity under St. Augustine down to the fatal epoch of 1534, were most assuredly not attributable to the religion which, during that long and interesting period of her history, grew and flourished upon her soil in so singular a degree: for that was a religion more peculiarly adapted to bring a blessing on the land,"a vision fair of peace and rest;" making it "a land of hills and plains expecting rain from heaven, and which the Lord God for ever visited, keeping his eyes for ever on it, from the beginning of the year unto the end

thereof;" (Deut. xi, 11, 12;) devoting her whole substance in this, to the interests of a future world, and consecrating her whole self, both spiritual and temporal, to those hallowed purposes.

For, in the first place, it was a religion which ever made the Church her homestead. There she enthroned her God in splendid pageantry, collecting all her means to honor Him whom she adored, and attracting to His worship all the people over whom she ruled. There was enticing ima gery for the young, and solemn service for the old ; the note of sorrow or of triumph in her voice, the sign of mourning or of gladness on her altars, the daughter of Sion robed in " the garments of her glory," or clad in the weeds of her affliction, as the season suggested; the emblem of redemp

tion elevated upon high, that while they gazed upon the sad symbol of their faith it might excite compunction, and with compunction hope, and with hope charity. More elevated still, they beheld the representation of the last and awful doom, with Him who was crucified for the sins of men coming in great majesty and power to judge mankind by the standard of the cross, attended by choirs of angels to minister to his will, with companies of prophets and armies of martyrs to attest the judgment, and the whole host of heaven to do homage to his wisdom and his justice; the blessed on the right and the reprobate on the left, a gleam of eternal brightness indicating the reward of the one, and sulphurous flame and tormenting spirits the portion of the other. But this was not the only instruction which the pious votary might read in the decoration of the material temple. If his soul were oppressed or his eyes wearied by the contemplation of this awful scene, and he sought relief by casting them on the ground, there was still a lesson ready for him, for they but rested on the memorials of the dead. If he were a sinner he was again struck with terror; if he were looking with pious expectation for what was to come, he read his hope and his consolation; for he knew that if death were the destruction of the wicked, it was also the resurrection of the just. Around him he beheld depicted the whole story of revelation, to elevate the mind by teaching it the dignity of a Christian, and the value of an immortal soul; the end for which it was created, and the price paid for its redemption. They were all appliances to excite devotion, and every requisite to satisfy it, the daily sacrifice, the varied service, the frequent prayer, the priest of God to distribute his graces, to give strength to the weak and fresh vigor to the strong, to relieve the penitent of his burden at the foot of the cross, and impress the judgments of heaven on the obdurate sinner, to afford consolation to the sorrowful, courage to the timid and assurance to the diffident; in fine, through the powers conferred upon her ministers by her divine Founder, as the vicegerents of Him who said, "Come to me all ye who labor and

are burdened, and I will ease and refresh you;" dispensing relief to all the miseries, temptations, and afflictions with which the poor wayfarer in this valley of tears is sure to be tried, bewildered or oppressed.

It was the religion which, from St. Augustine to Sir Thomas More, never omitted to put forth the most splendid examples of the noblest virtues, of the most steadfast faith, the most heroic courage, and the most ardent charity; leaving monuments of zeal to attest the disinterested and benignant piety of men who enthroned the covenant of God in the heart, and gave it dominion over the passions.

It was the only religion which ever possessed within herself such incentives to virtue, or which provided such safe-guards against vice; which ever realized the counsels of the Gospel, and of frail, sinful creatures, made men "rich in virtue,"—burying them in peace, but giving them a name which liveth unto generation and generation (Eccles. xliv, 6, 14), and sending their souls to that blessed abode, where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow, for the former things are passed away."

It was the religion which, even " in the darkest times, was ever found to be fighting the cause of truth and right against sin, to be a witness for God, or defending the poor, or purifying or reforming her own functionaries, or promoting peace, or maintaining the holy faith committed to her;"* and it was the only religion that ever put forth all her energies, or combated successfully in such a cause.

And thus it was that the ancient religion of the realm covered the land with conse. crated spots, where men were separated from this troubled world, and carried into serene and tranquil regions before their time-where they escaped from the thorny desert to dwell among enamelled meadsfrom the contagious atmosphere of every vice to the salubrious abodes of every virtue. They "who were better than the world in their youth, or weary of it in their

*British Critic.

age;" they whose sensitive nature rendered them alike incapable of resisting either the soft breeze or the rude blast, whose sympathizing tenderness ever melted before the feelings, or whose unresisting timidity ever yielded before the violence of others; they whose iniquities sat heavier on them than they could bear to carry amidst the haunts of sin, and who must needs lay them at the foot of the cross; they whose pilgrimage of toil and mourning had so bruised the heart that it could alone be healed within the balmy influence of the cloister, because there alone the voice of God could reach it amidst the sacred stillness, converting its sorrows into love,-all found their solace and their joy within these holy precincts.

There, too, it was, that the apostolic man was schooled in the science of the saints, till he went forth as the herald of salvation on his triumphant course, conquering sin and death, enlarging the boundaries of faith, and establishing the kingdom of God upon earth.

There it was that the storms of a thousand years swept unheeded over the virtue, which required the protection of the sanctuary to bring it to maturity, and where alone the sublime perfection of the Gospel could be attained: there, that men were congregated together to pray for the sins of their fellow-men-" for a world which forgets to pray for itself"-and to invoke the blessings of God upon his fallen creatures.

There it was that the arts and sciences found their cradle and their refuge, in a rude and troubled age; there the lives of the saints were chronicled, and the history of passing events recorded that otherwise had been lost in oblivion.

There it was that the word of God was treasured up, and explored for the benefit of others with less learning and less leisure than themselves, and there, even, that the classic lore of antiquity was preserved for the amusement and instruction of after generations, till the arts of inore modern days were to place them beyond all future danger; then, as now, 66 a cloister without a library was said to be like a castle without an armory."

There it was that the renunciation of the

superfluities of life was reckoned an honorable and meritorious sacrifice, and men were content to be abstemious themselves to enjoy the means of gratifying the necessities of others; for there the hand of charity doled out the daily pittance to the destitute, without any offensive inquiry into the cause of a distress, the presence of which was alone a sufficient recommendation for relief. The spiritual, too, kept pace with the corporal works of mercy, and while food for the body was distributed without, food for the soul was abundantly supplied within. It was the monastic rule that enabled the possessors of the abbey lands to let them on easy terms, which, together with the hos pitalities and charities which they practised, served as a check on the rapacity or cruelty of the feudal baron; and, as a consequence, a prosperous tenantry and a happy people were sure to grow up around the sanctuary. The same benefits were conferred by the property of the prelates and dignitaries of the Church, so that it became a proverb, “that it was better, to be governed by a bishop's crozier than by a monarch's sceptre:" and such was the condition of about a fourth part of the kingdom, from which not an eighth probably of the revenue was collected. Yet another blessing did they bring with them, that when war and misery had well nigh desolated the land, through the reckless ambition of some daring noble, or the rough tyranny of some lawless sovereign, these "cities of refuge" usually escaped the general wreck, and remained as nurseries of virtue and of learning, for the regeneration of the people; while, if the Church also fell into disorder or decay, from similar causes or from other untoward circumstances, it was the monasteries that ever furnished the materials for its reform.

Such were among the blessings which the religion of our ancestors conferred upon the country. But there were others still; let us take them discursively, as they present themselves to the mind, without order or method.

It was the only religion which has ever really dedicated to God what belongs to God, lavishing the richest produce both of art and nature in His service, and making all things subservient to her sacred and ex

alted destinies; adorning the world with temples for His worship, which, having taken centuries to erect and as many centuries having since passed over them-still stand to excite the admiration of all lovers of the beautiful and sublime, and to attest the superior zeal and piety inspired by the ancient faith.

It was the religion under which England was governed without a standing army, a star chamber, a national debt, or poor law unions; under which all the best and proudest institutions of the country rose and flourished, and attained maturity; which freed the nation from the tyrannical exactions of the forest laws, and which won, and then consecrated by her sanction, the great charter of our liberties.

It was the only religion that ever really provided, without any state assistance, for the education of all classes-of the poor as well as of the rich-in school, in convent, or in college.

It was the only religion that has ever filled the hospitals with unpaid attendants, who, actuated solely by the charity of the Gospel, have brought every virtue of the Gospel with them, and supplied with a kind heart and a devout zeal the best remedies for the body, because administered in conjunction with the best medicines for the soul.

It was the first religion that ever advocated the cause of the slave in the face of power and interest, which broke down the wall of separation between the singular and even antagonist diversities of the human race, and placed "the son of the stranger" upon an equality with the more favored and cherished of her children. It was the only religion which ever established a company for the redemption of captives, even at the risk of their own liberty, and which, after an honorable existence of six hundred years, still survives the occasion for which it was created; the only religion in which piety and humanity have united to conquer the repugnance of our nature, and to congregate men of feeling hearts and enlightened minds within the dark caverns of the unhealthy mine, burying themselves alive within the bowels of the earth, in the sub

VOL. II.-No. 9.

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lime exercise of corporal and spiritual works of mercy to the wretched inmates of those dreary abodes, and whom the avarice of their fellow-men had condemned to this service of privation and misery.

It was the only religion that ever threw her mantle over the persecuted, the forlorn, and the unfortunate. Her voice was ever raised in their defence, and her laws were ever devised for their protection. She never failed to provide shelter and hospitality for the houseless traveller; the wayfaring man of business, the prince, the prelate, and the pilgrim, all equally partook of the charity which the pious care of the faithful of old, had so munificently placed at the disposal of men bound by the most solemn compact to do good service to all comers; while the house of God, which they tenanted and served more especially, stood open to yield its consolations where more was lacked than mere bodily rest and refreshment-that which might satisfy the cravings of the soul, heal the scathed spirit, and ease the burdened conscience. Even the most bold and indifferent, in those " ages of faith," muttered a hasty Pater and Ave, and crossed themselves before they left the hospitable roof, and set forth upon their perilous way; while the sober and thoughtful made their more fervent orisons at the altar of God, offered up their griefs and their repentance, their hopes and their supplications, to the avenger of evil and the rewarder of good, the refuge of the weak and the comforter of the afflicted, that their pangs might be assuaged and their fears dispelled, claiming the protection of heaven, in the true feeling of a Christian, against the wiles of Satan and the machinations of wicked men; but more especially against the hazards with which those devout yet troubled times too often beset the path of the wanderer in this wilderness of sin and sorrow. There was a

community of sentiment also between the casual guest and his hospitable hosts, which imparted such a consciousness of sympathy in all his feelings as infinitely to heighten the boon conferred upon himwhich indeed seemed to be rather the immediate providence of heaven than the extorted charity of man,-and sent the pilgrim on

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his way with a hymn of gratitude to the giver of all good gifts, and of increased confidence in His favor.

It was the only religion that ever consecrated matrimony with a sacrament, or honored celibacy as one of the first of virtues, remembering that the throne of the Lamb is surrounded by spotless virgins, who enjoy the blessed privilege of waiting on Him wherever he goeth.

It was the only religion that ever peopled the desert with anchorites, or filled the cloister with penitents from among the gay and dissolute; the only one that ever gained a barbarous people to civilization and Christianity; the only one that ever sent a tide of devoted warriors to stem the torrent of an infidel fanaticism which threatened to devastate the whole inheritance of Christ; the only one that ever converted a romantic lover into a true knight, or of a fanatic made a saint.

It was the religion that made Godfrey de Bouillon exclaim, in the gratitude of his triumph, that "he would never wear a crown of gold in that city wherein the Saviour of the world had worn a crown of thorns;" which induced Rodolphe of Hapsburgh, the sceptre not being at hand, to seize the crucifix, saying, "This is my sceptre, I'll have no other ;" and when Gregory VII thus expressed himself on his death-bed, surrounded as he was by every worldly sorrow, "because I loved justice, and hated iniquity, therefore do I die in exile," that inspired a bystander to comfort him by the reply, "Sir, there is no place of exile for you, for the Lord hath given you the nations for your inheritance, and the boundaries of the earth for the limits of your dominion."

It was the only religion that ever knit all hearts together in blessed unity, which restrained the unlawful wanderings of the human mind, stifled schism in its birth, repressed error, reduced the loftiest spirits as well as the meanest understandings to a just obedience, established a happy sympathy between the greatest and the least, placed the prince and the peasant side by side on the bare pavement of her splendid temples, elevating the hopes of the one and depres

sing the pride of the other, and instructing both in that wholesome truth, that they worshipped a God who was no respecter of persons. It was the only religion that, by sound of anointed bell, has ever invited the poor husbandman to prayer before the rising of the sun, and has assembled him again at the termination of his labors, when crowds of pious and believing souls came to sanctify the declining day by filling the house of God with their holy chaunt, and proffering their supplications to heaven for protection till the coming morning.

It was the only religion that ever respected the censures of the Church, and exhibited to the Christian world the spectacle of a sovereign prince remaining for three hundred years without sepulture-as did Raymond of Toulouse-because he died under the ban of a spiritual attainder, the open enemy of God; the only one that ever produced a prelate bold enough to close the doors of the snctuary against imperial majesty, considering even the presence of an emperor the fountain of honor, the anointed of God, and the depository of his power -as a profane intrusion, when excluded, by his crimes, from the communion of the faithful.

It was the only religion which, at the voice of outraged virtue, ever shut her temples, hushed her bells, and made a whole people mourn in sackcloth and ashes, till the sins of their brethren were expiated in repentance; the only one that ever brought an offending sovereign to kneel in sorrow and humiliation as a suppliant for pardon at the feet of the common father of the faithful, the common protector of afflicted humanity.

It was the only religion in which the rights of the people were ever respected, and in which, for ten centuries and more, the canonical law, or at least imprescriptible usage, required their consent and cooperation in the election of bishops to govern the Church of God, and even in the appointment of the sovereign pontiff himself; and such was the confidence reposed in their decision, that vox populi, vox Dei, became a proverb; and this honorable privilege might have remained in their possession to this day, had not the vices with