true that several of the persecutions which took place were avowedly based on political grounds; but few can see that the spirit which has been so commonly, and, it may be, not unjustly, condemned in the case of Pole, Gardiner, and Bonner, lived and energized in those persecutors who had ranged themselves on the Protestant side, and whose many victims find a record in this volume.

The history of the Reformation, it may reasonably be maintained, has yet to be written; for too much of what has hitherto been accepted as gospel on the subject, has turned out, after proof of the most conclusive character, to be little more than fiction. Of old, the statements of "Foxe the Martyrologist," received without question, gave a tone and character to the thought of many succeeding generations, which, only in the present day has undergone quite a revolutionary change. Heylin's Records of the period in question still appear fair and faithful, in comparison with the intricate special

which seek dai bi dai to crucefy the Lorde anue. God, of His infinit goodnes and mercy, abate the pryd of thes damnable heretickes, so that thereby the Lord may be glorefied in His members. The rest untill our next meeting, in respeckt the tymes ar dayngerous. The xxviijth of July.— Yours, in the Lord. F. B. F."

pleading of Bishop Burnet, the well-known Erastian prelate; but other writers had so implicitly followed Foxe in their general estimate of the policy of the Reformation Conservatives, that, now his statements are generally repudiated, and his conclusions taken cum grano, their own lucubrations have little weight. Dod and Lingard have set forth their own side of the historical question with marked impartiality and striking fairness. Froude, in his more recent History, though making a hero of a monster whose true character can never be cleared of its natural blackness, has, at all events, corrected several collateral errors of fact and logic, and given a clue, here and there, to the solution of many historical difficulties which still exist. Moreover, the publication of literary treasures in the shape of public and private documents, the contributions of learned societies, and the investigations of individual independent authors, have all tended to assist the future historian in making preparation for a religious history of the sixteenth century, which shall do justice to many unjustly-tarnished reputations, and in several cases make the rough places plain.

The Compiler of this volume has, at all events, placed before Church-of-England

people a reliable and interesting record of the sufferings and death of many of our Roman Catholic fellow-Christians. These latter were faithful souls, who loved truth rather than peace, and manfully refused to repudiate their principles in times of the fiercest trial; resolved to go down to the Dark Valley of the shadow of Death, amid woes the most bitter, rather than change one iota of their ancient faith. They merit our warmest admiration and respect.

More than heroes, they were Christian witnesses to the Divine character of the Church Universal. Their names have been

cast out as evil; their good deeds disparaged; their intense faith laughed at ; their loftiest motives and last hours misrepresented. But they are not less worthy of our admiration. They were Englishmen. They were English Churchmen. They were sufferers for righteousness' sake. Therefore are they surely blessed. May we all be led to see how craftily the enemies of God's eternal and unalterable Truth have put darkness for light, and light for darkness; sweet for bitter, and bitter for sweet; and how successfully souls have been ruined and lost in the process. May we, furthermore, mark what is required on the part of each of us

to bring about once more a good understanding between all portions of the Western Church. Unbelief, ever dangerous, is waxing stronger and bolder in these latter days. May we, therefore, be led to range ourselves on the side of Christianity, and resolve to do nothing to hinder, but everything to promote, the Corporate Reunion of the One Family of Christ-as the one cure for our complicated evils-that there may be, as of old, so, in these latter days, a clear trumpetvoice heard to point out the narrow way to the nations, and a compacted army of united soldiers of the Crucified to withstand the assaults of the enemy, even of the Antichrist and the Lawless-one.

6, LAMBETH TERRACE, LONDON.

St Matthew's Day, 1870.

F. G. L.

INTRODUCTION.

Who knows not that One, well named "the Prince of Peace," once trod this strife-torn world, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps? Yet, which of us has followed them?

Who is there that has not read His divine prayer, that all His adopted children should "be

one

in Him; and that, among His immediate disciples, he who was even more nearly and tenderly allied to Him than his fellows,-when his divine Master's course was long ended, and his own fast winding up,-breathed forth again and again the fatherly injunction

"Little children, love one another!

Yet, once more we ask, who has laid these charges to heart? and how has Christendom, for the last thousand years, been influenced by them?

The early days of the Church were such as to "sift her as wheat ;" and between the faithful of all nations, as companions in tribulation, there was then a double tie of brotherhood; rendering obedience to this supreme command of comparatively easy fulfilment.

Time passed on, and days of peace succeeded those of pagan persecution. The dens and caves, and the upper rooms, whither they resorted for fear of the enemy, were superseded by glorious temples; and the agonised cries to God for help,