keeping blood, which was renewed every week, in a vial one side of which was thick and opaque, the other transparent, and turning it by a secret hand, as the case required. A trick of the same kind more skilfully executed is still yearly performed at Naples. There was also a crucifix at Bexley, called the Rood of Grace, which was a favourite object of pilgrimage, because the image moved its head, hands, and feet, rolled its eyes, and made many other gestures, which were represented as miraculous, and believed to be so. The mechanism whereby all this was done was now exposed to the public, and the Bishop of Rochester, after preaching a sermon upon the occasion, broke the image to pieces in sight of the people.

The motives of Henry in thus proceeding were doubtless of a selfish kind; for he was well aware that the chief barrier to his supremacy, as opposed to the Pope, lay in the monastic Clergy. Neither is it too much to suppose that their wealth and revenues were regarded by the Monarch with a covetous eye. It must, indeed, be confessed that much of the property which was thus surrendered to the king, was lavishly squandered away,* either upon his courtiers, or upon his own prodigality, or ambitious projects. A large portion of that which was God's property, inasmuch as it was originally devoted to the service of religion, became thus the property of individuals who had no just title to the inheritance of the Priest or

*The yearly revenues, of which the king became possessed by the dissolution of the monasteries exceeded £130,000 of which about a third part only were devoted to religious purposes. The gold from Becket's shrine in Canterbury Cathedral alone filled two chests, which were a load for eight strong men.-Southey's Book of the Church. c. 12.

Levite, on the ground of their performing religious services. Hence the origin of what are called lay tithes, by which the Church became impoverished with respect to a vast number of her livings; an evil which exists even at the present day, and manifests by its injurious effects upon so many parishes where there is no adequate maintenance for a resident Minister, that sacrilege, or Church robbery, is a crime as pernicious to man as it is hateful to God.

It must be mentioned, however, that a remnant of the spoils of the religious houses were employed by the King in the founding of new bishopricks. Of these Oxford, Bristol, Peterborough, Gloster, and Chester were created and endowed at this period. This was by the advice of Cranmer, who was anxious that, dioceses being reduced into a smaller compass, every Bishop might be able to fulfil the duties of his office. It was also another part of this plan of Reformation to have annexed a college of students in divinity to every Cathedral, and to have converted some of the convents into seats of literature and places for religious retirement, where the members should be bound by no vow, and burdened with no superstition. Without being willing to carry this part of the Archbishop's plan into execution, which might have proved a real blessing to the country, the King did not hesitate to bestow a portion of the Abbey lands in the foundation of Grammar Schools and hospitals, and in the building and endowment of Trinity College, in the University of Cambridge. The Prior and his monks were also compelled to give place to the Dean and prebendaries in the Cathedral Churches, and the former allowed a yearly sum of

money, as a pension for the service from which they were discharged.

We must not suppose, however, that though thus at war with many of the essential institutions of Popery Henry was become a Protestant. The creed of the latter was much too pure for a Monarch who scrupled at no indulgence into which his passions hurried him, and at no cruelty which might be instrumental to his favourite vices. It may be said of him that his love was almost as dangerous as his hatred; and his name is sullied with the cruel treatment of two of his wives, Anne Bullen and Catherine Howard, whom he brought to the scaffold, the first on a groundless, the second on a doubtful charge of adultery. Thus bitter in his conduct towards all who incurred his displeasure, it is not to be wondered at that his religious bigotry kept pace with the spirit that prevailed in his age against all who were supposed to hold heretical doetrines. Though the Bible and the three creeds were now made the standard of faith, and some of the grosser features of Romanism, such as the worshipping of images, were softened down; one of its chief tenets, the bodily presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, was still retained. For opposition to this doctrine many were cruelly put to death; and among the rest, Lambert and Barnes, and a lady named Anne Askew. So little, however, did the scale of mercy incline to either side, that Henry, as if to shew his impartiality, while he executed those as heretics who went beyond the limits which he had laid down, also punished as traitors those Romanists who refused to acknowledge his supremacy. Papists and Protestants were drawn upon the same hurdle to

Smithfield, the former to perish by the hands of the hangman, the latter amidst the flames. In the height of this storm of bigotry and tyranny, the great as well as the mean were compelled to submit to the same sanguinary fate. Sir Thomas Moore and Bishop Fisher fell victims to a resentment on the part of the King, which was the result of their not admitting his title to be the head of the Church; and, by the intrigues of his enemies, Cromwell, who had for some time enjoyed the favor of his Sovereign, and filled the highest office of state, was attainted and beheaded.

It must be acknowledged then, that the character of the Sovereign under whose auspices the Reformation was begun was that of a man of blood. The souls of the martyrs under the altar who were slain for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus in his reign, will, we fear, cry aloud for vengeance against him at the last day. But we should ever carefully distinguish between the instruments whom God employs in subservience to his Providence, and the ends which they have to accomplish. The Church of England built upon the rock of Scripture has nothing to answer for from the conduct, in many respects guilty, of that King by whom its Reformation from Popery was begun. Nor should it be here forgotten that his errors were the fruits of that corrupt and defective system in which he had been educated. We can only therefore from his history gather a stronger reason for thankfulness to that Providence which rendered the passions and vices of this Monarch a powerful engine to uproot a corrupt religion which had given them birth, but for its own destruction.

E. B.

Died 9th of January, 1830. Aged 79 years. This woman was full of good works, and alms deeds which she did. Acts ix. 36.

During the many years of her residence in this town Her life was one continued course of piety towards her Creator,

And of love towards her fellow-creatures. An undeviating worshipper of God, through Jesus Christ,

In this House of Prayer and Peace.

Here she sought and received the Spirit of her God and Saviour;

And, like Jesus Christ, making it her meat and drink to do the will of God.

She was incessant in her endeavours to relieve the

afflicted;