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holy scripture of a holy sacrament; but do you then agree with the words of I have read of the supper of the Lord. James? (She repeated the scripture which referred thereto.)

Council. Be silent; for the devil speaks by your mouth.

Eliz. This indeed, gentlemen, is but a small matter; for the servant is not better than his Lord.

Eliz. Yes, truly, gentlemen. How could I not agree with them!

Council. Has he not said, "Go to the elder of the church, that he may anoint you and pray for you?"

Eliz. Yes, gentlemen. Do you then mean to say that you are of such a

Council. You speak with a proud church? spirit.

Council. The Holy Ghost has already

Eliz. No, gentlemen; I speak with saved you; you need neither confession freedom of spirit. nor sacrament!

Council. What did the Lord say when he gave the supper to his disciples ? Eliz. What did he give them, flesh or bread?

Council. He gave them bread.

Eliz. Did not the Lord then continue sitting there? Who then could eat the Lord's flesh ?

Council. What do you hold concerning infant baptism, that you should have had yourself baptized again?

Eliz. No, gentlemen; I have not been baptized again; I was baptized once on my confession of faith; for it is written that baptism belongs to believers.

Council. Are our children then lost, because they have been baptized?

Eliz. No, gentlemen; far be it from me that I should condemn the children. Council. Do you not expect salvation from baptism?

Elis. No, gentlemen. I acknowledge indeed that I have transgressed the command of the pope, which has been confirmed by the emperor's proclamation. But show me any article in which I have transgressed against the Lord my God, and I will say, "Woe is me, poor miserable creature."

This is recorded as the first confession.

She was afterwards brought again before the council, and led into the torture tower, the executioner, Hans, being present. The council then said, "We have thus far proceeded with mildness, and if you will not confess, we will treat you with severity. The procureur-general spoke : "Master Hans, lay hold of her." Hans answered, "Oh no, gentlemen, she will confess voluntarily." And as she would not make a voluntary confession, he put thumb-screws on both her thumbs and fore fingers, so that the blood sprang out from her nails. Elizabeth exclaimed, "Oh, I cannot longer bear it!" The council said, "Confess and we will ease your pain." But she cried Council. Have the priests power to to the Lord her God, "Help O my forgive sins? God, thy poor handmaid: for thou art a helper in time of need." The council cried out, "Confess, and we will ease your pain; for we spoke to you of confessing, and not of calling on God the Lord." And she continued stedfastly calling upon the Lord her God, as

Eliz. No, gentlemen. All the waters in the sea cannot save me; but salvation is in Christ; and he has commanded me to love the Lord my God above all things, and my neighbour as myself.

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Eliz. No, gentlemen; how can believe that? I say that Christ is the only Priest through whom is the forgiveness of sins,

Council. You say that you believe all that agrees with the holy scripture:

above related. And the Lord relieved |
her pain, so that she said to the council,
"Ask me and I will answer you; for I feel
no longer any pain in my body as before."
Council. Will you not yet confess?
Eliz. No, gentlemen.

They then put on two iron screws,
one on each ankle. She said,
“Oh,
gentlemen, put me not to shame, for my
person has never been touched by man.
The procureur-general said, "No, Miss
Elizabeth, we shall not treat you in-
decently." She then fainted; and they
said one to another, "perhaps she is
dead." Coming to herself, she said, "I
am alive, and not dead." They then
loosened all the iron screws, and spoke to
her with entreaties.

Thus they drew not from her a word to the injury of her brethren in the Lord, or of any individual.

Council. Will you recant all the things you have before confessed?

Eliz. No, indeed, gentlemen; but I will seal them with my blood.

Council. We will no longer distress you, if you now freely tell us who it was that baptized you.

Eliz. Oh no, gentlemen. I have already told you that I will not confess that to you.

After this, the sentence was pronounced upon Elizabeth, in the year 1549, the 27th of March, and she was condemned to death by being drowned in a sack. And thus she offered up her

Eliz. Why do you thus entreat me ? body a sacrifice to God. They deal so with children.

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THE UNION OF DIVINE INFLUENCE AND CHRISTIAN DILIGENCE.

BY THE REV. BENJAMIN COOMBS.

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."-PHIL. ii. 12, 13.

THERE are two perilous extremes, to one or other of which professors of religion are continually exposed, and against both of which it behoves us prayerfully and vigilantly to guard. These are, on the one hand, the rock of pharisaical pride; and, on the other, the gulf of antinomian presumption. In the one case, the individual relies wholly on his own works for salvation; in the other, he does nothing. The former excludes the doctrine of Divine grace from his creed; the latter admits, but perverts it. The one attempts to build without a foundation; the other raises no superstructure. The one, in short, thinks of inheriting heaven by virtue of his own performances, regardless of the declaration of Him from whose decision there is no appeal, "Without

me ye can do nothing;" the other concludes that, because apart from the Redeemer's gracious intervention we can do nothing to merit the divine favour, we are under no obligation to spiritual activity; that because it is the righteousness of Christ, by which alone we can be justified in the sight of God, our salvation is therefore altogether complete and already certain, irrespective of internal holiness and personal obedience. Against each of these fatal errors we would earnestly and affectionately warn you. And nothing can supply a more effectual antidote to each than this solemn exhortation of the great apostle of the Gentiles, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good

pleasure;" in which we see how closely Christian doctrine is associated with Christian duty, and are reminded of the inseparable union subsisting between divine influence and personal diligence in the work of salvation-a subject this always, and especially in the present day, of paramount importance, and one which naturally suggests the following observations.

It has to do with the heart. It is not correct action alone; but also willing the action according to the will of God. The mere performance of any work of benevolence, however beneficial to man, were not sufficient to ensure its acceptableness to the Searcher of hearts. It must proceed from love to him, and be in consequence the fruit of Christian principle; the motive must be pure

I. That our salvation involves a great and evangelical. Hence our Lord's moral change.

This change, or salvation, is here represented as a work; and it is confessedly the greatest of all works, comprising, as it does, deliverance from hell, the enjoyment of God, and dwelling for ever in his high and holy place. Now, this great salvation, in so far as it requires and involves a substitutionary atonement, has been fully accomplished. "It is finished!" exclaims the dying Conqueror; and all heaven echoes with the reverberated and enrapturing word, "finished," in joyful attestation of the perfection of the work to which it refers; whilst hell trembles to its centre, and all the powers of darkness confess in mute despair that they have lost, for ever lost, the battle-field. Inexorable justice, in view of that one offering, instantly relaxes his rigid frown and sheathes his avenging sword; divine law, honoured and magnified by the great propitiation, involuntarily opens the prison door and lets the insolvent debtor go free ; every obstacle, in fine, is taken out of the way of the sinner's access to the throne of infinite mercy. That work, therefore, admits of neither addition nor diminution; it is complete. But, then, there must also be an application of that atoning sacrifice to the heart as a cleansing fountain, and, in consequence, a thorough transformation of character induced. The change, or work, therefore, to which the apostle refers, is spiritual, visible, progressive. 1. It is spiritual and radical.

decided and uncompromising sentence, "Ye must be born again;" in perfect keeping with which is the statement of the apostle, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.

The necessity of this universal, this spiritual and radical change, will immediately appear when we consider the appalling obliquity which in our native state characterises and deforms the whole of our motives and propensions; controling all the operations of the mind; influencing all the passions of the heart; swaying the will, by perverting the judgment, darkening the understanding, and corrupting the affections. How, then, can we be capacitated for communion with the Father of spirits, and the enjoyment of the inheritance of the saints in light, unless our faith in Jesus as an atoning sacrifice have a transforming influence over the whole of the inner man?

2. It is visible and practical.

The certainty of the commencement of this spiritual work, and the reality of the internal change it induces, are demonstrated by correspondent and external effects. Not only does it consist in willing, but in doing, likewise, that which is acceptable to God. Not only are there mental and ardent aspirations after holiness and heaven; but those aspirations, instead of evaporating in mere desire, are embodied in action; prompting their possessor to walk with

God and work for him; to set out and persevere as a pilgrim towards the celestial city. Hence we are taught the way of ascertaining the actual possession of genuine faith. "Faith without works," saith James, "is dead." And here, too, we see the delightful consistency of divine grace. It raises a beautiful superstructure on an adequate basis. It removes the rubbish, clears away (so to speak) the ruins of the fall, lays a broad and firm foundation, and rears thereon a sacred edifice, a holy temple for the eternal celebration of His perfections and praises whose grace has planned the method, and will ultimately perfect the work of salvation. It fixes faith in the heart, and enables the believer to add to his faith fortitude (aperny), for the exemplification of his faith to others; and to fortitude knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. Hence,

3. It is progressive and gradual. The apostle speaks of working out your salvation. The term (carɛpyážeσ0e), thus rendered, is very strong and beautifully significant; containing, as it does, a metaphor taken from agriculture, or other hard labour; and imports, as the great John Howe observes, "Labour it out even till it be finished; till you come to the very end of your faith, the salvation of your soul." Now, there could be no propriety in such phraseology as this if our salvation were already and in every point of view accomplished. We have seen that there is a work, not only without, but also within us; that whilst the outer work of salvation, or that which relates to the satisfying of infinite Justice and securing the returning sinner's accept ance with God, is finished and in every respect complete; the result of that acceptance, or the sanctification of

our nature, is at present in an incipient and progressive state.

That it is so may be argued from analogy. In all the works of God in nature, and in all the dispensations of his providence, we observe a gradual and beautiful development, a constant progress towards maturity and perfection. And can the work of divine grace be the only one to stand still, or at once to reach its meridian splendour ? Certainly not. "The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." As in nature, so in grace, there is first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. Scripture also speaks of babes in Christ, and of attaining the fulness of the stature of a man in Christ.

Besides which, the spiritual experience and personal concessions of the most eminent saints tend to the same result. "Not as though I had already attained," saith Paul, "either were already perfect but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. The more a Christian knows of himself, of the Divine character, and of the spirituality of that commandment which is "exceeding broad," the more is he convinced of his own defects, and of the consequent need, in order to his growth in grace, of the most assiduous attention to all the means which the God of grace has furnished.

II. That to effect this great moral change, divine influence is indispensable. It is God that worketh in you. "From him all holy desires, good counsels, and just works do proceed." It is he who gives the power both to will and to do. It is he who by his Spirit implants every spiritual principle, and prompts to every holy action. Without his intervention all human attempts to effectuate a transformation of the inner man were nugatory and vain.

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Whatever degree of mental culture, | my law in their inward parts, and write education, combined with genius and it in their hearts; and will be their God, taste, may confer, whatever amiable and they shall be my people." qualities may adorn the life, the heart, in the absence of divine influence, will continue unrenewed still; still will sin rage there like the pent up fire of a volcano that nevertheless presents a verdant and beautiful surface, until at length the hidden and struggling flame finds a vent and explodes, when all the lovely scenery is swept away. Is not this matter of fact? What has ever been achieved towards the regeneration of our apostate race by the best systems of speculative philosophy, or the most strenuous efforts of man practically to apply them?

What has moral suasion done, apart from almighty influence? The most powerful arguments and the most affecting appeals fail of ensuring any permanently salutary result. They may, and often do, produce a temporary excitement. But there is nothing lasting. There is no real vitality or spiritual energy. They are only like the experiments of galvanism on a corpse, that occasion muscular contortion and momentary motion; but all without life! "Can a well composed oration," asks the excellent Charnock, "setting out all the advantages of life and health, raise a dead man or cure a diseased body? You may as well exhort a blind man to behold the sun, and prevail as much. No man ever yet imagined that the

would raise it to life; no more can the urging a man spiritually dead with eloquent motives ever make him to open his eyes, and to stand upon his feet. The working of mighty power is a title too high for the capacity of mere moral exhortation. A mere suasion does not confer a strength, but supposes it in a man; for he is only persuaded to use a power which he hath already."

What has human legislation accomplished? Doubtless it has frequently answered its design, and done good service in restraining public and deluging outbreaks of depraved passion, dam-strewing a dead body with flowers ming up the sluices of sin, and affording a safe-guard to society. Yet in many instances it has failed in its attempts to oppose any adequate barriers, even to the open inundation of moral pravity at all events, it has proved incapable of preventing the bitter tide from secretly oozing through those barriers, and forming itself into many silent streams, which have no less effectually, though more imperceptibly, injured society by sapping its foundations, than when, like a mountain torrent, it has occasionally, with alarming violence, openly invaded its rights and overwhelmed its fairest institutions. But supposing that any code of human laws were completely and invariably successful in securing public morals and reforming human manners, it could only take cognizance of overt acts; it could not control the mind, could not influence the motives or regulate the springs of action. We must look to a far higher source of legislation for this. "Behold, saith the Lord,... I will put

What are the best resolutions without divine aid? Unquestionably they are of consequence when made in the exercise of humble dependence on power from on high. And we are called upon to resolve in the strength of divine grace, to serve the Lord, and to pay our vows unto him. But, if made in our own strength, our resolutions will prove no better than fences of sand before the whirlwind of passion, or of snow beneath the heat of temptation.

III. That divine influence is sovereign and gracious in its bestowment.

It is sovereign. It is of God's pleasure as to when he will bestow his

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