pity and tenderness towards such as they view in error, as to infuse sentiments of aversion, abhorrence and contempt. When therefore we see children growing up with the latter sentiments, we may safely infer that such are the unkind, unchristian feel. ings of their parents or instructors. The influence of education in producing love and hatred, will be particularly considered in a future section. EVENTS UNDER THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. QUEEN MARY was the daughter of Henry VIII. Henry had been, in regard to religion, a kind of mongrel, half papist and half, protestant. While he seceded from the papal church, he still retained some of its grossest erFors, assumed to himself the power of the pontiff in his own kingdom, and indulged the spirit of intolerance and persecution. The doctrines of the Reformers, however, gained considerable ground in England, during the reign of Henry. A great portion of the clergy and of the parliament, favored the protest ant interest. Mary was a thorough papist; "She possessed all the qualities fitted to compose a bigot; and her extreme ignorance rendered her utterly incapable of doubt in her own belief, or of indulgence to the opinions of othShe of course elevated the papists to office, both in church and state, and degraded or destroyed such protestants as were persons of rank and emi ers." nenee. Gardiner, Bonner and Tonstal, who had been confined for adherence to the pope, were set at liberty and restored to office. Archbishop Cranmer and sever. al other bishops were imprisoned. On the pretence of discour aging controversy, áll the preachers were silenced, except such as could obtain particular license. The protestants were of course excluded, and every thing in respect to the reformation, bore the most dismal aspect. Bishop Gardiner and Cardinal Pole were two principal characters in that reign. They were both professed papists; but they were of different tempers and opinions on the subject of toleration. This subject was frequently debated by these men in the presence of the Queen. Pole was in favor of toleration, and Gardiner against it. It may be useful to give a concise view of the principal arguments on each side. On the side of Pole it was said, the practice of persecution is the scandal of all religion. The universal prevalence of one opinion on religious subjects, can be owing at first only to the stupid ignorance of the people, who never indulge themselves in inquiry; and there is no expedient for maintaining that uniformity, but by banishing forever all im provement in science and cultivation. Whatever may be said in favor of suppressing heresy in its first beginnings, no solid argument can be alleged for extend ing severity and capital punishments to extirpate an opinion which has diffused itself among men of every rank and station. Besides the extreme barbarity of such an attempt, it commonly serves only to make men more obstinate in their persuasion, and to increase the number of proselytes. Open the door to toleration, and mutual hatred relaxes among the sectaries, their attachment to their particular modes of religion decays, the common occupations and pleasures of life succeed to the acrimony of disputation. If any exception can be admitted to this maxim of toleration, it is only when a religion altogether new is imported from foreign coun. tries, and may at one blow be eradicated without leaving any seeds of future innovation. But as this exception would imply an apology for pagan persecutions, and the extirpation of christianity from China and Japan, it ought surely to be detested and buried in eternal silence. To such reasoning, Gardiner and his party replied: The doctrine of liberty of conscience is founded on the most flagrant impiety; and supposes such an indifference in all religions, such an obscurity in theological doctrines, as to render the church and the magistrate incapable of distinguishing with certainty the dictates of heaven from the mere fictions of men. If the Deity reveals principles, he will sure. ly give a criterion by which they may be known. A prince who allows these principles to be perverted, is infinitely more eriminal, than if he permitted poison to be sold for food to all his subjects. Persecution may indeed seem better calculated to make hypocrites than converts; but experience shows, that habits of hypocrisy often turn to reality; and that the children, at least, may happily be educated in orthodox tenets. Where sects arise, whose fundamental principle on all sides is, to execrate, abhor and damn and extirpate each other, what choice has the magistrate but to take part, and by rendering one sect entirely prevalent, restore the public tran quillity. The protestants, far from tolerating the religion of their ancestors, regard it as impious and detestable idolatryWhen they were masters, they enacted severe laws against the catholic worship. "Nor are instances wanting of their endeavors to secure an imagined orthodoxy by rigorous executions. Calvin has burned Servetus; Cranmer brought Arians and Anabaptists to the stake; and if persecution of any kind be admitted, the most bloody and violent will surely be allowed the most justifiable, as the most effectual. Imprisonments, fines, confiscations, whippings, only serve to irritate But the stake, the wheel, and the gibbet, must soon terminate in the extirpation or banishment of all the heretics inclined to give disturbance, and in the' in tire silence of all the rest." Mary adopted the opinion of Gardiner and rejected the counsel of Pole. England was soon filled with scenes of horror. Rogers, of whom all have heard, was the first victim. Hooper was sent to his own diocese to be executed, to strike terror into his flock. He was three quarters of an hour tortured in the flames; he was heard to pray and to exhort his people till his tongue was so swollen that he could not speak. The crime for which most of the protestants suffered, was their refusing to acknowledge the doctrine of transubstantiation, or the real presence of Christ in the sacrament. Gardiner vainly expected that a few examples would strike terror into the protestants; but finding his mistake, he employed Bonner, as chief agent in this dreadful business. "Bonner, was a man of profligate manners, and of a brutal character, who seemed to rejoice in the torments of the unhappy sufferers. He sometimes whipped the prisoners with his own hands till he was tired with the violence of the exercise. He tore out the beard of a weaver, who refused to relinquish his religion; and that he might give him a specimen of burning, he held his hand to a candle, till the sinews and veins shrunk and burst.” Persons condemned to these dreadful punishments, were first seized on suspicion; articles of faith were then offered them to subscribe, and if they refused they were sentenced to the flames. Young people and women were among the mumber thus destroyed. The persecu Two He tion was continued during a course of three years. hundred and seventy seven persons were brought to the stake, beside those who were punished by imprisonments, fines and confiscations. Of those committed to the flames, there were 21 clergymen, 8 lay gentlemen, 100 husbandmen, 55 women and 4 children. Archbishop Cranmer was among the sufferers. had been long kept in prison; and while he was known to be thus confined, he was cited to appear for trial at Rome; and condemned as contumacious, because he did not attend. After he was condemned, he was seduced by the Queen to sign a recantation. But this did not save him from the vengeance of his persecutors-To punish himself for the crime of signing-when he was brought to the stake-he stretched out his hand, and held it in the fire until it was consumed, saying, this hand has offended. He bore his sufferings with the greatest composure and fortitude. It would be easy to fill many pages with accounts of the cruelties and sufferings of that period, but we must forbear. Of such shocking blindness and barbarity, a short sketch is enough, to fill the mind of any christian of the present day with wonder and with pain. “And they spread their garments in the way, crying, Hosanna to the Son of COME to the table Christ prepares, David." For those that love his rest. Come, weary pilgrim, cast your cares Upon his faithful breast. If christian zeal, and trust are yours, O come, and spread your garments here; The King of grace draws nigh: And let hosanna's, loud and clear, Again ascend the sky. Jesus, the Son of David, reigns! Let every heart rejoice, And strive in elevated strains, To join the angelic voice. By the Rev. Dr. Byles, St. John, New-Brunswick, Jan. 18, 1814. died suddenly, March 12, 1814, aged 79 years and 2 months. Не RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. Annual Report of the Rev. Peter Nurse, to the Evangelical Missionary Society in Massachusetts. Ellsworth, May 17, 1814. To the Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, Secretary of the Evangelical Missionary Society. DEAR SIR. se YOUR Society, I think, hold their annual meeting in October. Previous to that time you may expect as faithful a report of the state of things in this place as I am able to make. In the mean time I send you a copy of a report, of the state of my school, which I have just closed, to the Society for propagating the gospel among the Indians and others in North America. I would inform your Society that I have not bestowed less attention and labor on the school the last year, than any year since I first came here. The pressure of the measures of our gov. erminent was so sensibly and verely felt in this part of the country the last year, that the inhabitants of this town, did not feel able to pay any money for the support of women schools. I wish your Society to understand, that the central school under my care is not designed ultimate ly for children, who are just entering upon study. It has been open hitherto however to children of every age and every condition. But the design of the people is, whenever they feel able to do it, to have schools in the summer in all parts of the town for small children, taught by well educated young women, and to have the scholars, when in the judgment of a school committee they are qualified in age and learning, to pass up to the central school, to attend to higher branches of education. In these hard and trying times I have felt disposed to take as much of the burden on my self as I had strength to sustain. I have encouraged the school's being opened freely to all of every age. My school has under these circumstances been large. The number has varied from about forty to eighty and upwards. The method, which I have adopted, in order to get along In the past year I have kept the school ten months. The government of the school I endeavor to render paternal; to mingle mildness with authority, and to chastise in mildness and mercy. I have nothing in par ticular to add to what I have already said to the Society on the means em. ployed to impart to the school religious instructions and impressions. It is my custom to pray with my scholars at the opening and close of the school; and before prayer to read a portion of the scriptures myself, or to hear my first class read one. I frequently, perhaps generally, call on my scholars to give some account of the facts related, or of the duties inculcated in what has been read. I often make some observations on the portion read, with a view to make it better understood by my little folks; to make them see the reasonableness of the duties enjoined; the happy effects which will attend a sincere and faithful discharge of them and the dreadful consequences which must follow the neglect of them. In this way their knowledge of the interesting facts and momentous doctrines of the Bible is constantly increasing. I hope and pray, that the good seed thus sown in the spring season of life will be made by the gracious influence |