great fundamental principles of the Reformation. Let their prayers ascend to the throne of grace, that the light of Gospel truth which now shines upon our land may never be quenched; but that to the generations yet unborn, even to our latest posterity, the pure, unadulterated doctrines of the Bible may be handed down, the only doctrines which can emancipate from Popish thraldom, and from the yet more galling thraldom of Satan and of sin, and bestow the inestimable privileges of those who walk in that liberty "wherewith Christ maketh his people free."

THE SUNDAY SCHOLAR.
No. III.-The Harpoon-Boy.

In the morning of one of the brightest days of last summer, a little boy, about the age of thirteen, clad in patched and threadbare garments, called at our door. "I have nothing to give you," said the servant. "You may not," replied the boy; "but I hear that your master gives away little good books; and, perhaps, he will give me one." I was called to the door, and was instantly taken with his appearance. The following dialogue then took place between us.

Minister. You ask for a little book; but, perhaps, you are hungry, and would rather have some breakfast?

Boy. No, sir, I thank you; I have had a good breakfast given me by a kind lady. I should be glad if you would give me a book.

M. But you are poor, my boy. better pleased with some money? B. No, sir; money is but vanity. book better.

Would you not be

I should like a

he will.

M. Do you, then, know any thing of the Bible?

B. O yes, sir; I am very fond of it. But when my father and I were discharged from the ship, in our hurry we left our Bible behind us, and I have been sorry for it ever since.

M. Discharged from the ship! Where, then, do you come from, my boy?

B. I came, sir, from St. John's, Newfoundland. My mother died when I was a baby. My father is employed in the whale-fishery; and since I have been big enough, he has taken me with him. We were on board a whaler which brought us to England. The captain discharged the crew at M-; and we are now on our road to the fishery at C, in hope of procuring employment till the spring, when we expect to get a ship to take us back.

M. But employment is scarce, and you and your father, being strangers here, must experience many hardships.

B. God sends us friends, sir, every day. The captains of ships at the port are all very kind to my father, and help him.

M. You say you are fond of your Bible. Is there

any particular part of it which you recollect, and which gives you comfort in your dangers and wanderings?

B. I am very fond of the first chapter of St. John's Gospel; but I most frequently think of these words: "When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up."

M. Pray, who taught you to read, and instructed you in the meaning of what you read?

B. I learned to read in a Sunday-school which was opened by a missionary at St. John's.

This conversation excited in me an affectionate concern for the little fellow, who stood before me lean

ing on a staff, which was the companion and support of his steps. That I might both gain more information respecting his humble history, and satisfy myself of his sincerity, I proposed to him to come and weed in my garden, promising to recompense him with a little book. He consented, but said," I must run after my father, and tell him what I am going to do, and that 1 will come after him to C-." In a short time after, he returned, with a pocket-knife in his hand, and expressed his willingness to be employed. I took him into my garden, and, for once, was glad that it contained some weeds. He worked with as much diligence as I could expect from a sailor-boy, who had been accustomed to very different occupations. During the two hours that he spent in cutting up the refuse productions of the soil, I often stood beside him, and made further inquiries into his little history. Our dialogue ran on in the following strain.

M. How long were you in the Sunday-school at St. John's?

B. Three months, sir.

M. Only three months! did you learn to read in that time?

B. Yes, sir, with the help of my father. M. Why did you, then, leave the school? B. Because it was broken up, and the missionary removed to another place, to teach other poor children. M. Do you ever think of the kind persons who taught you?

B. Yes, very often. They were very kind to me, and took great pains to make me understand. I pray for them, that God would bless and reward them.

M. Do you think they shewed you more kindness than if they had made you rich? B. O, yes! they did more for me than that. I can never love them too much for all their goodness to

me.

M. Are you not exposed to many dangers in the whale fishery?

B. It is a dangerous business, sir. My employment is to give the harpoons to the harpooners, when they strike the fish, and to let out the line: sometimes the angry fish will, with his tail, either strike the men into the air, or dash the boat in pieces, and endanger the lives of all in it. But God has taken care of my father and me, so that we never have met with an accident.

Thus did this poor child discern the hand of God in those circumstances which too many abandon to the dominion of chance. He saw the interference, and felt the presence, of the Almighty in the midst of scenes where, commonly, he is forgotten, and where noisy and impious merriment drowns every serious thought. Should these pages ever come under the eye of a seafaring man, let him attentively view the fact. Here was a little feeble boy, who would face death in some of his most fearful and dreary forms, and peacefully trust in the protection of an unseen and heavenly Guardian. It was not the natural thoughtlessness of his age, nor the force of habit, which concealed or diminished the dangers which pervade the half-frozen waters of the northern sea. He had an eye to that Saviour who walks beside his people on the tempestuous waters. Little Richard knew how

tremendous it must be for an ungodly man to sink through the dark and stormy deep of the ocean to a lower depth of blacker darkness for ever agitated by fiery storms. But he also knew that it must be a glorious transition for the humble believer in Jesus to pass from the caverns of the fathomless sea to the bright and calm regions of heavenly glory.

When my little friend had spent two hours at his work in my garden, he was supplied with some plain food. As I entered the kitchen where he sat at his humble repast, I observed that he had not eaten the whole of what had been placed before him, although it was not more than enough for one of his years and situation. "Can you not eat more?" I asked. He answered, "I thank you, sir; but, if you please, I will take the rest to my father." This was a moving instance of self-denial and filial affection. Surely it was a fair and lovely specimen of the fruits of that Christian culture which had been bestowed upon his youthful mind in the Sunday-school at St. John's.

My father," added he, "is a good father to me." Happy, thrice happy, the parent of such a child! Poverty and sorrow had not chilled the current of natural feelings in his bosom. I cannot but digress for a moment to say, that the cultivation of natural affection, on evangelical principles, in the children of our poor, and pre-eminently towards their parents, is highly important. Every intelligent observer of human life must perceive how greatly the absence, or diminished force, of that natural affection augments the sorrows of the children of poverty. Reciprocal tenderness, especially between those who, in the lowest walks of life, are called to sustain together many privations, would lessen all their mutual sorrows, and increase their few common enjoyments.

Richard expressed much thankfulness for his refreshment. "I know," said he, "that God has today sent you to be my friend, as he daily sends me one friend or another." He was about to withdraw as if satisfied with what he had received in recompense for his labour, and too humble to renew his petition for a book. I gave him several small books suitable for his age and station. He looked at them with great pleasure, thanked me, and again made for the door. I then took from my pocket a small New Testament, and said, "My boy, take that; read it attentively, with prayer to God that he would instruct you yet more in its blessed truths. Never part with it." He looked at me with a countenance the expression of which is still fresh in my remembrance. Pale as it naturally was, from the weakness of his constitution, and from the hardships he had endured, it instantly was covered with a blush of gratitude and delight. His downcast eye was lighted up with more than usual brightness. He took the book; and, having warmly thanked me, added, "Part with it! No, never!"

A few minutes after he had left the parsonage, I followed him, desirous to bestow on him a small pecuniary gift, since, through his whole conduct, he had evinced a mind so free from sordid covetousness. Not but that the desire of money in him would have been justifiable; for his appearance bespoke the poverty of his earthly portion, and he was at the very time probably without a penny. I looked this way and that, but could not discover him; and I returned disappointed towards my home, concluding that his nimble feet had carried him out of sight. By chance, as we are thoughtlessly apt to speak-" such chances Providence obey" — I took a circuitous path through our churchyard, different from any I usually trod. When I reached the lofty and aged village elu, which annually sheds upon the surrounding habitations of the dead its withered emblems and mementos of human frailty, I perceived the boy seated behind the trunk. A shower of rain was falling, and he had sought shelter under its spreading foliage. His back was towards me, so that

he was not aware of my approach till I reached his side. I was delighted to discover his employment while under cover from the rain. He had drawn his New Testament from his pocket, and was reading it with all the intentness of one who had been accustomed to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest its heavenly truths, as the very food of his soul. No miser counting over his hoard, nor discoverer of a hidden treasure, could have been more engrossed with his object and more abstracted from all the world beside. It was a subject which a painter might have selected for his pencil. Mine were the only mortal eyes which beheld it. From heaven it was doubtless witnessed with an approving smile, and the feelings of this youthful student of the divine oracles were recorded there as a testimony of his interest in the best promises which those oracles convey from God to man.

About ten days after this, I met him retracing his road. His father and he, disappointed at the fishery, had till then procured employment in the hay-fields, and they had just received information of a ship about to sail from one of the neighbouring ports to their native land. I conversed with him a few moments, (and they were all which circumstances then allowed me to spare,) gave my blessing, and bade him God speed.

This account of little Richard presents one of innumerable instances of the beneficial influence of Sundayschools over the youthful mind, particularly when the instructions given in those Sabbath-seminaries is not limited to the mere mechanical act of reading, and the bare repetition of a set task. These have their im portant use; but Sunday-schools will languish, and greatly fail of their expected results, if the system proceed no farther. Kind, intelligent, and well-timed admonitions, simple and elucidatory questions, and expressions of an evident and tender interest in the welfare of the scholars, are indispensably requisite. These tell upon the hearts of children, and will remain in associations with the best recollections of their early years. The communication of religious knowledge is not, indeed, always, a "delightful task." It is accompanied by numerous discouragements and toilsome difficulties, arising from the common corruption of our fallen nature, and from the endless and capricious varieties of temper and character. Heavenly wisdom is less readily imbibed than human wisdom, because it has to encounter and overcome the pride and the evil propensities of the heart, whereas these are often flattered and gratified by secular knowledge. Happily, however, the incentives to patient perseverance, in cultivating this humble field, are neither few nor feeble. The probabilities of affecting the most im portant and the most lasting good are sufficiently great to sustain the benevolent labourer among the children of the poor, under the various discouraging, depressing, and perplexing circumstances of his employment. "Cast thy bread, or thy seed, upon the waters, and it shall be found after many days." It might seem a hopeless expenditure of labour, and time, and seed, to scatter it over lands covered with the water of an inundation; but experience encouraged the Egyptian husbandman to expect a fruitful harvest. So the volatile and vitiated minds of children, often subject to all the destructive and counteracting influence of the worst domestic examples, may appear an unpromising soil in which to deposit the good seed of the kingdom of heaven. Yet, though for many days and many years it may seem decayed and lost, some will spring up, and, by the rich exuberance of its produce, in a measure compensate for that which the fowls of the air carried away, which never germinated, or which never came to perfection. As the children of the poor reach an age at which they may by their labour diminish the burden of their parents, they generally are withdrawn from schools, and are scattered over a surface too wide to come within the future observation of their instructors. But surely we may hope,

and experience sanctions the expectation, that the oftrepeated and gently instilled lessons of childhood will recur to the memory, and retouch the heart of many a wanderer through this world of change and sorrow; and, seconded by the ever-returning storms of a disastrous life, may be made effectual in the hand of God to the renovation, the comfort, and the salvation of his soul. The dying warrior on the field of Waterloo, trembling at the approaching disclosures of a world, of which he had thought too little and too feebly to let him enter it with peace and hope, endeavoured, but in vain, to form his anxieties into prayer, till memory supplied him with some of the collects of our Church, which, when a boy, and in a Sunday-school, he had been taught to understand and repeat. In the language of these he breathed out the penitence and trembling hopes of the departing soul, and died in peace. Many pages in the history of our charitable institutions for the diffusion of heavenly knowledge, are illuminated by facts of this description, which seem to echo in the ears of benevolent persons,-"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."

Biography.

THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER NOWELL, D.D., DEAN OF
ST. PAUL'S.

ALEXANDER NOWELL, the second son of John Nowell of Great Mearley, in Lancashire, was born at Read, in that county, in 1511. The name and family of Nowell are thought to have been of Norman origin. The Nowells, or, as their name was then spelt, Noell, existed as a well-known family as early as 1200; and they appear to have been distinguished for talent at various periods of their history. The two brothers of the subject of this memoir, Lawrence Nowell, dean of Lichfield, and Robert, attorney of the Court of Wards, were much celebrated for their abilities and learning.

Alexander Nowell was educated at Middleton, near Manchester, though the name of his preceptor is not known. He made such rapid progress in learning, that he was considered fit for the university at the early age of thirteen, though it was usual at that time to enter at college at a much earlier period than in the present day. A curious coincidence is mentioned respecting this number "thirteen:" having entered at Brasenose College, Oxford, at the age of thirteen, he resided there thirteen years; and afterwards he founded in that college thirteen scholarships.

He tells us, in one of his letters, that he was chamber-fellow with Fox, the martyrologist; and it is not improbable that he had the same tutor, Mr. John Hawarden, or Harding, who was afterwards principal of Brasenose College, to whom Fox dedicated a work on the Eucharist. When he was in his twentieth year, he was a public reader of logic in the university, and taught the well-known book of Rodolphus Agricola, which was afterwards enjoined at Cambridge by Henry VIII. He had fixed upon the clerical office ever since he was sixteen years of age; but it is not known when, or by whom, he was ordained, though, as he took the degree of M.A. in 1540, and was about that time elected fellow of his college, it is likely that his ordination was of nearly the same date. When he left Oxford, he filled the conspicuous post of master of Westminster School; appointed to that office, doubtless, by the express approval of Henry VIII., who was the founder of Westminster. His predecessor (the first master) was John Adams; his successor, in 1555, Nicholas Udall, known, like a successor of his of a still later period, for his powers of learning and flagellation. He had now been a preacher for some years, with the king's license, but it is not known

where he officiated: all we are told is, that he preached in some of the "notablest places and auditories in the realm." He tells us this himself, in auswer to an illnatured remark of Dorman, who, though he knew that Nowell had long been occcupied in preaching, said of him, fifteen years afterwards, that of a mean schoolmaster he was suddenly become a valiant preacher." In 1551, Nowell was presented by the king to a stall in Westminster, vacant by the death of John Redmayne, who had, for twenty years, studied the Scriptures, and the early writers of the Church, intending to write a work on "Transubstantiation." An affecting interview is recorded between Nowell and Redmayne, in the last illness of the latter. Nowell waited on him to know his belief concerning the "troublous controversies of those days," professing himself willing to receive and approve his words as oracles sent from heaven. He took a day or two to consider, and then sent for Nowell, saying, that he would answer any question he should ask him as in the presence of God. The substance of his answers, which were in fourteen articles, was, that purgatory, the sacrifice of the mass, and transubstantiation, were groundless and ungodly; that we are justified, not by our works, but by lively faith, which rests in our only Saviour, Jesus Christ; that good works "are not destitute of their rewards; yet, nevertheless, they do not merit the kingdom of heaven," which is "the gift of God."

He

In the first parliament of Queen Mary at Westminster, Nowell was returned one of the burgesses for Looe in Cornwall; but his election was declared void, because, as he was a prebendary of Westminster, and, by virtue of that office, had a voice in the Convocation House, he could not be a member of the House of Commons. As soon as the persecution against the Protestants commenced, he was marked out, with other eminent divines, for a sacrifice to popish cruelty, in Mary's bloody reign. Fuller, in his Worthies of Lancashire, informs us, in his usual quaint way, that Nowell was fishing upon the Thames,-an exercise wherein he much delighted, and, while he was intent upon catching fish, Bonner, understanding who he was, was intent upon catching him; in which he had succeeded, and had sent him to the shambles, had not Francis Bowyer, a merchant and afterwards sheriff of London, safely conveyed him beyond the seas. withdrew to Germany, with the rest of the English exiles, who, in number about eight hundred, were scattered over various parts of Germany and Switzerland. At Strasburgh, whither Nowell first retired (though afterwards he went to Frankfort, these two being the chief places of resort of the exiles), there was a college of English, who had a common table, and devoted themselves to the pursuit of literature with great zeal and mutual affection. Here was Jewel, and Nowell, and Grindal, and Sandys (the two latter being, afterwards, successive Archbishops of York), with several learned laymen,-among them Sir John Cheke and Sir Peter Carew," who did not disdain to hear Peter Martyr expounding Aristotle's Ethics and the book of Judges." But the harmony which first marked this exiled Church did not continue. Some of these men, who settled at Frankfort, soon shewed symptoms of a willingness to lay aside the form of an English Church. The first thing they did was to promise that they would not dissent from the French in doctrine or ceremonies; next they framed a liturgy, which cost them no great trouble-for they did little else but expunge. The responses, the litany, the surplice, and many other things, they did away: they altered the confession for "one of more effect," and suited to their present state; they had "a psalm in metre in a plain tune," instead of the psalms and lessons of the day; then followed a sermon; after this "a general prayer for all estates, and for our country of England," with the Lord's prayer; then, the rehearsal of the articles of faith, and another psalm; and lastly, they were dis

missed with the "blessing." "This was the meagre and disorderly form, which they endeavoured to impose on all the English abroad, and afterwards to obtrude on the whole Church of England." They invited the exiles at Strasburg and other places to join them at Frankfort, "where," they said, "God's providence had given them a Church free from all dregs of superstitious ceremonies. The answers they received from Scory (bishop of Chichester), Grindal, and Sandys, gave them little satisfaction; they were temperate and firm, that "they would adhere to the order last taken in the Church of England," and were "fully determined to admit and use no other." It is said of Nowell, that in this controversy he was one of the sons of peace, and "the mouth for the rest." They had successively two forms of discipline, the old and the new. "In this new discipline, assuming truth of doctrine and the right ministration of the sacraments and common prayer, as principal signs and marks of a visible Church, and holding for true doctrine, full and sufficient for salvation, what is contained in canonical Scripture, and briefly summed up, as concerning faith, in the three Creeds, they pledged themselves to observe and keep the form and order of the ministration of the sacraments and common prayer, as set forth by the authority of blessed King Edward of famous memory, but with omission of certain rites and ceremonies, as things indifferent." Nowell was among those who subscribed this new discipline: if it be said of him that he yielded too much to the presbyterian party, he did so for the sake of peace; but, at last," with equal wisdom, moderation, and firmness, he pressed unity in essentials, and submission, in smaller matters, to authority duly appointed and legally exercised."

ments.

class of men.

After the death of Mary, and the accession of Elizabeth, he was the first of the Protestant exiles who returned to England, and soon obtained several preferHe was first made Archdeacon of Middlesex, then Canon of Westminster, and in 1560 was elected Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. Besides this dignity he was collated to a prebend in the same cathedral, and ere long presented to the rectory of Hadham in Hertfordshire. In the preceding year, the spire of St. Paul's (of which he was dean) suddenly took fire and was burnt down. On the following Sunday, Bishop Pilkington (bishop of Durham) preached on the occasion, "exhorting men to repentance; bidding them regard what had happened as a warning to all, not as a judgment on any individuals or particular He took occasion also to condemn the inveterate and shameful practice of walking, talking, quarrelling, and fighting," (the two former violations of that sacred place would be fit topics in a modern discourse within those walls,) "in St. Paul's, in time of sermon and prayers." Dean Nowell also preached an excellent sermon at St. Paul's Cross, the following Sunday, on the late disaster, in the presence of the lord mayor, aldermen, most of the companies, and a large audience besides. About this time a book was published, which is now very scarce and almost unknown, but which was a notorious book for fifty years after its publication, called "A sword against swearers and blasphemers, shewing the lawfulness of an oath, and how great a sin it is to swear falsely, vainly, or rashly; -enlarged with sundry examples of God's judgments upon perjured persons, and blasphemers of his holy Nowell was not the author of this book (as has been supposed): it was only dedicated to him. To the preface, in which the author speaks of Nowell as having promoted the Reformation, are added certain lines, the initials of which form the word "Alexander," and then follow three stanzas, addressed to Nowell, and beginning with his name.

name.

"Nowell, God speed thy tongue,

And guide thee with his grace;

That when to preach thy course shall come, This vice thou maist deface.

And as S. Ridley did

Procure the poore some joy,
When good King Edward did from him
Perceive their hard distresse;

So God give thee to move,

That sharp lawes may destroy
This filthie sinne, and thine attempts
God blesse with good successe."

Being thus quietly settled again in his own country, he became, as Anthony Wood tells us, “a frequent and painful (painstaking) preacher," who "for thirty years together preached the first and last sermons in Lent before the queen, wherein he dealt plainly and faithfully with her without dislike; only at one time speaking less reverently of the sign of the cross, (or, as Nowell himself says, he spake of "crucifixes or other images,") she called aloud to him from her closet-window, commanding him to retire from that ungodly digression, and to return to his text." The queen was much offended, and it was long before Nowell was completely restored to her favour.

At the recommendation of Archbishop Parker, he was chosen prolocutor of the lower houses of convocation in 1562, the year when that famous synod was held, in which the Articles of Religion were revised and subscribed, and a second Book of Homilies framed. The plague in France (in the year 1563) communicating to England, Dean Nowell was desired by the Bishop of London to "write an homily meet for the time," which he did with this title, "An Homily concerning the justice of God in punyshyng of impenitent synners, and of hys mercies towards all such as in theyr afflictions unfaynedly turne unto hym. Appoynted to be read in the tyme of sicknes."

Disputes soon arose between the churchinen and the puritans about the use of canonical vestments; the lawfulness of the surplice, square cap, and hood, was earnestly contested. Nowell took a moderate part on this occasion; proposing that the use of these habiliments should be continued, but with a protestation, that it were desirable these differences of garments should be taken away, "for fear of the abuse they might occasion; to express more strongly a detestation of the superstitions of the papists; for a fuller profession of Christian liberty; and to put an end to the disputes between the brethren." They were not, however, altered; nor any discretion in the use of them permitted. An interesting passage in the life of Nowell occurred not long after; his attendance on the sick-bed of Roger Ascham, celebrated for having been the tutor of Queen Elizabeth. Ascham had been his intimate friend, and during his illness Nowell frequently visited him, and set before his mind the great truth, "that when our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." At the conclusion of the visit, Ascham would say, that the "excellent dean had sustained his soul with food that would never die; and he rehearsed, before the dean and other surrounding friends, a variety of passages expressive of the mercy and love of God to mankind, and of his blessings bestowed on them. I am in great pain,' said Ascham, and my disorder is heavy. This is my confession and faith, this my prayer and all I long for-I desire to depart, and to be with Christ.'" In his funeral sermon, Nowell said of him," that he never saw or heard of a person of greater integrity of life, or that was blessed with a more Christian death."

Nowell did not forget the county of his birth; for in 1572 he founded a free school at Middleton, in Lancashire, for teaching the then rude inhabitants the principles of learning and true religion. This school is called Queen Elizabeth's school. This same year, Nowell attended the execution of the Duke of Norfolk, who had been "found guilty of treasonable practices with Mary Queen of Scots." After acknowledging himself guilty, having desired

the people to pray for him, he read two or three penitential psalms; and when he said, "Pray for the peace of Jersusalem," Nowell reminded him that Jerusalem meant the Church of Christ. "I know it, Mr. Dean, and mean it so; the Church of this land, and all that believe in Christ." The fame of Nowell's talents and virtues had reached Rome, from which place soon issued measures of deadly hatred against him. His works were proscribed in the " Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and his name, with those of Fox, Fleetwood the recorder, and others, was inserted at Rome in a "bede-roll, or list of persons that were to be despatched, and the particular mode of their death, as by burning or hanging, pointed out." Two men, named Campion and Parsons, landed in England, and travelled in disguise; the former of whom was apprehended and sent to the Tower, where Nowell, with other divines, held certain "conferences" with him, which were afterwards published. In 1582, Dean Nowell was appointed to preach the spital sermon on Easter Monday. It was on Eph. ii. 8-10. "For by grace," &c. It was divided into three parts: "the first whereof, is the matter, and that is salvation: the second is the means whereby we are saved; and that is also divided into two parts, the first whereof is grace, the principal cause of our salvation; the second faith, the instrument whereby (being God his gift and liberality mercifully bestowed upon us) we apprehend this grace, the principal cause of our salvation. The third and last part is the caution or adversity, which the schoolmen call antithesis, that, namely, by the which we are not saved, which is neither by ourselves nor by our works." He chose this Scripture, he says, not to "maintain an old grudge and quarrel, but to quit and clear ourselves from the opprobrious slanders, wherewith Stapleton hath slandered us in his book, saying, that we teach that good works are pernicious, and not availing to salvation; as also to defend my God against vile dust and ashes, and the mercies of the Lord against man his presuming merits." The year 1588 is ever memorable for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Dean Nowell preached twice on that occasion at St. Paul's Cross, before the lord mayor, aldermen, and city companies. The learned Thomas Gataker, in a sermon on the anniversary of the defeat of the Arinada, (which sermon was dedicated to the son and heir of the founder of that lecture which he was then preaching), says that Mr. Thonias Chapman, a worthy citizen of London, in order " to revive" the memory of "this blessing, (which ought never to be forgotten,) and for it to eternize God's praise amongst us," instituted during his life, and left large legacies at his death, for three sermons at St. Pancras, Soper's Lane; one on the 17th of Nov., on "the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and of the establishment of the truth of the Gospel and discipline of the Church, which we now enjoy:" the second, on the 12th of August, for our deliverance from the Spanish Armada; and a third, on the 5th of November, for "the preservation of our king and state from that damnable powder-plot, as yet unparalleled in any age since the world began." When Nowell was now very nearly ninety years of age, he was chosen principal of Brasenose College, Oxford; an appointment "intended or accepted rather as a compliment than with a view to the performance of much actual service; for it is certain that he resigned in the December following his election, having, in the interim, been created doctor in divinity, with allowance of seniority over all doctors in the University, not only out of regard had to his age, but likewise to his dignity in the Church." After having reached the 90th year of his age, and enjoying at this uncommon age the perfect use of his senses and faculties, he died in 1601-2, and was interred in St. Mary's Chapel, at the back of the high altar in St. Paul's. There is a fine picture of him (though not the original) in the hall of Brasenose

College," in which he is drawn (as Izaak Walton tells us) leaning on a desk, with his Bible before him. and on one hand of him his lines, hooks, and other tackling, lying in a round; and on his other hand are his angle-rods, of several sorts."

History of Nowell's Catechism.

The

Dean Nowell wrote some controversial pieces against the papists; but his "Catechism" is the work for which his name is famous. It should be noticed, however, that he wrote three Catechisms. The first, called the "Larger Catechism," in 1570: in the preface to which he announced it to be his intention," for the sake of those that are fond of brevity, soon to publish the same Catechism, reduced into a shorter compass;" which he accordingly did the same year. object of both the longer and shorter (or middle) Catechism was the same, "to retrieve and recover, if it were possible, the manners of a corrupt age, by laying a good foundation in the religious institution of youth, while their minds were ductile, and untainted with vice." He wrote them in Latin. Both these Catechisms were translated into English by Thomas Norton, a literary man in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and into Greek by his nephew, Whitaker. The third Catechism (which is more rare than either of the other two) "is in substance the Church Catechism, as we now have it, including the part upon the sacraments." The two first Catechisms (the larger and the middle) were enjoined by the canons agreed on by Abp. Parker, and the bishops of his province, in 1571. It was directed that "schoolmasters should teach no other Latin Catechism, but that which was published in the year 1570; and that such children as did not understand Latin should learn the English translation; and when the canons of the Church were drawn up in 1603, under Bancroft (then bishop of London), the seventy-ninth canon ordered that "all schoolmasters shall teach in English or Latin, as the children are able to bear, the larger or shorter Catechism heretofore by public authority set forth." They were afterwards commended by Cooper, bishop of Winchester. and by Archbishop Whitgift. The esteem in which, at a still later period, and in our own time, Nowell's "Catechism" has been held, appears from the fact, that it is placed (the larger Catechism) at the head of the second volume of the Enchiridion Theologicum, a collection of short tracts, published in 1792, by Bishop Randolph, then regius professor of divinity at Oxford, with a view" to shew the genuine sense of the Church of England in her earliest days, both as to the grounds of separation from the Church of Rome, and the doctrines which she at length finally adopted and ratified." Three years after, Bishop Cleaver revived both the larger and middle Catechisms, for the benefit of Brasenose College (of which he was principal), as well as for candidates for holy orders in his diocese.

DEATH OF LUTHER.*

D.

On that day, February 17, 1546, his friends, perceiving more repose to be desirable for him, persuaded him to keep quiet in his study; which he did, frequently walking up and down, in an undress, but conversing with animation. "From time to time," says Justus Jonas," he would stop, and looking out at the window, in that attitude (as his custom was) address fervent prayers to God, so that I and Cœlius, who were in the room with him, could not but perceive it: and then he would say, I was born and baptized here at Eisleben: what if I should remain or even die here?" " Another of his friends, Razeberg, the elector's physi

From Scott's History of the Church of Christ.