ceiving the Holy Eucharist, she was greatly strengthened and filled with heavenly consolation; and like a faithful soldier of the Cross, she took courage, and set herself to the work before her. By the advice of this holy priest and true pastor of her soul, she employed herself in continual meditation upon the Passion of our LORD, dividing the Gospel narrative into seven parts, corresponding with the seven hours of prayer; so that, day and night, the hours brought with them their several subjects for meditation; and as she looked unto her suffering but now risen LORD and SAVIOUR, and offered up herself to suffer in oneness with Him, peace took possession of her soul. His tears seemed to drop upon her like the dew of heaven, and oil and wine were, as it were, poured into her rankling sores; and though her affliction increased, and her emaciated body had to be bound together by cloths, to enable others to move her in the bed, she found all her bitterness and affliction changed into sweetness and heavenly consolation; so that she was well content to suffer the will of GOD, Whose will is our sanctification.

A good and celebrated physician in Holland, whose name was Godfrey Scuderdank, came to visit the sufferer, and was greatly edified by her patience. He inquired minutely into the case, which he said was far beyond all the known powers of medicine. "In my opinion," said the good man, "GOD is about to show the riches of His grace in this maiden in a manner beyond His wont. Would only that it had pleased Him so to order events, as that she had been a daughter of my own." It was indeed so ordered, that those by whom she was surrounded were to her rather a source of trial than of comfort, yet she possessed her soul in patience, and gave thanks unto GOD when any opportunity was granted her of returning good for evil. Her mother was taken from her, and though left in great poverty, Lydwina found in self-denial the means of ministering, by the hands of others, to the poor. And is it not most true, that there is no charity like the charity of the poor? What bounty of the rich can equal the two mites of the poor widow? What can come up to His example, Who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we, through His poverty might be made rich? Unlike the way of this world, is CHRIST'S way of making rich! And so His apostles, who followed in His steps, were as poor, yet making many rich!"

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Of the alms and presents sent to Lydwina, she reserved but little for herself, begging that the remainder might be given to the poor. Her greatest joy was to receive from time to time the Holy Communion, strengthened by which she could say, in the greatest suffering, "It is not I that suffer, but CHRIST that suffers in me!"

She had never learned to read, and but for her practice of meditation on the sufferings of her LORD and SAVIOUR, the days and nights would have dragged on wearily; but now she had only to look unto her LORD, and light, and life, and love poured into her soul, and she gave herself unto prayer and intercession for others; and many were the heavenly comforts vouchsafed unto her, as she lay on her lowly straw bed, like a sister of the suffering Lazarus. Now and then a cloud was permitted to pass over her spirit, to purify and try her; but she had only to look unto Him, Who cried as He hung upon the Cross, "My GOD, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and she was helped.

Earnestly did she desire to be hidden from the sight of men; but those who heard of her almost incredible sufferings, and far more marvellous patience, came to see her from time to time, and her holy words were blessed to the conversion of many. We are told that the gifts of the HOLY GHOST abounded in her, but she herself was the greatest miracle; and thus, for thirty years, she continued, hardly tasting solid food, and almost without sleep, suffering from dropsy for nineteen years, and for the last seven years of her life, unable to move any part of her body, except her head and her left arm.

The Countess of Holland hearing of her case, came with her physician to visit the sufferer, but earthly skill was of no avail, and it was not needed; for the Heavenly Physician was ever with her, making all things work together for her good. Her faithful pastor, John Pott, fell on sleep before her; but another priest, of the name of John Walter, ministered to her in his stead, and he, with one or two others, have left us memoirs of her saintly life.

The

A proposal was made to rebuild for her the poor cottage in which she lived, but she declined the offer for herself, only observing, that if, after her death, any one would found a hospital upon that spot, it would be far more serviceable; and the son of the good physician, Godfrey Scuderdank, who had succeeded to his father's wealth, took care that her wishes should be attended to some time after her death, which took place on Easter Tuesday, the 14th April, 1433, in her fifty-third year, having passed thirty-eight years in constant suffering. chapel in which her body lay, in a marble tomb, in the parish church of Schiedam, began to bear her name in 1434, and her father's house, the cottage I have spoken of, was used for religious purposes. It is rather remarkable that, when the Calvinists demolished the chapel where she lay, and from which her remains were conveyed to the cathedral church of S. Gudula, at Brussels, the cottage was still appropriated as she had wished, to works of charity, and was only changed into a hospital for orphans.

Her life has been abridged by Thomas à Kempis, whose book on the Imitation of CHRIST is well known to many readers.

Many a sufferer on his sick bed has found the blessedness of following the plan suggested to Lydwina by her pastor, and more than one little child have I known soothed to stillness by reading to them the Gospel narrative of the Passion of our LORD. "Read on," said one dear little boy, when the reader stopped, thinking he must be weary, "Read on, if you please, it makes the pain better!"

THE TEARS OF THE CHURCH.*

"THE Tears of the Church" is indeed a fitting title for a work that treats of that sad blot in the pages of history-the great Rebellion. It is distressing even at this distance of time, to peruse the chronicles of days in which Puritanical fury raged unbridled, and vented itself upon all who wooed and sought the old paths. The destruction of the Church was the one great object to be accomplished in whatever manner, and by whatever means. And consequently, every effort was made to abolish Church government, and to render extinct the line of Bishops. No respect was paid to things holy and sacred. The Church was robbed of her funds, which were applied “to the defence of the commonwealth, to carry on war against the king, and to pay for preaching lectureships. The consecrated and venerable structures of our Christian forefathers, from the solemn majestic cathedral down to the sequestered, unobtrusive parish church-memorable monuments of piety-were now to be seen in almost every county in the nation more or less defiled and profaned." Sacrilege was unblushingly committed; the holy sacrifices of prayer and praise derided, and forbidden; all in our Churches that could speak of an unselfish spirit, all of architectural beauty, was removed or trampled under foot, and their zeal in the destruction of the cross," wherever found, was only equalled by the daring presumption which prostituted the holy name of religion, and used it as a cloak for their evil deeds. And, as might be expected, miserable was the lot of those faithful men, who would not yield to the onslaught of rebellion and heresy, but remained true, honest Church-of-England men. Banished from their benefices, and hunted from place to place, they were indeed, like their Master, made perfect through suffering. None could escape. The gray hairs of the aged veteran in CHRIST's service could not win that protection which even the untutored savage would grant them; the sad

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* Lachrymæ Ecclesiæ, by the Rev. G. Wyatt. London: Cleaver.

wailings of feeble women, and the piteous cries of helpless and unoffending children, touched not the hard hearts of these maddened fanatics. In various lives that have appeared in our pages, frequent allusions have been made to this sad period. And now we avail ourselves of a second edition of Mr. Wyatt's book, to bring before our readers some more examples of the suffering clergy. And first, we select the case of

DR. MORTON, BISHOP OF DURHAM.

"There are some very affecting incidents attached to the sufferings of this venerable prelate, which entitle him to hold a memorable place among the victims of Puritanical hatred. He was not far short of threescore years and ten when he was advanced to the See of Durham. He had for several years exerted himself in that diocese in acts of munificence to both Church and laity, and had lived in the highest esteem and reverence among all his Clergy and gentry. The breaking out of the Rebellion in 1640 drove him of necessity to more privacy and retirement. But nevertheless he became an object of jealousy to the Puritans, and very soon after their power obtained the mastery, Bishop Morton was singled out for persecution and suffering. The Parliament, even so early as in 1640, made an order for seizing his rents, a marked intimation of the troubles and privations which further awaited him. These were not long delayed, his own dwelling at Durham being soon afterwards made a garrison for the parliamentary troops, and himself and family pitilessly turned out of it. His very private and social offices of religion according to the Anglican Reformed Church were watched, and laid criminally to his charge; one instance of which was, his being taken into custody for privately baptizing a child of the Earl of Rutland according to the rites of that Church.

"The savage violence and insolence with which Bishops were publicly assailed by the London populace during these mad and gloomy times has been already alluded to in the foregoing pages. Bishop Morton did not fall short of his share of ill-usage on these occasions. His life was once, and probably more than once, in no small jeopardy by them. He was discovered to be a Bishop. 'Pull him out of his coach,' said one. 'No,' said another, he is a good man.' 'Tis no matter,' said the mob, 'he is a Bishop.' He escaped further molestation only through the rough, and perhaps honest indifference of one of the mob-leaders, who contrived to let him pass by crying out, Let him go hang himself.' This might have been a personal deliverance for the venerable prelate, but it afforded no consolation to his Christian spirit to behold in the people so little of Christian uprightness, charity, or knowledge. After the dissolution of his bishopric, the Parliament

moved by some very unusual lenity and consideration, voted him an annuity of £800. But like many other pretences of the same kind towards other suffering ecclesiastics, it was a vote which was never fairly realized; and Bishop Morton therefore lived long on the benevolence of his friends, dying in 1659, at the advanced age of ninety-five, and during his residence at the house of Sir Henry Yelverton in Northamptonshire.

“This Sir Henry was himself a man distinguished for extensive learning, together with sound and orthodox principles in religion, a very great portion of which he acquired under the tuition and superintendence of the venerable Bishop Morton. The incident which brought on the connection between these two excellent persons is of an interesting nature, and affords no incorrect picture of the simplicity of the Bishop's character, and of the sad distraction of those unhappy times. Sir Christopher Yelverton, the father of Sir Henry, whilst travelling to London, overtook a venerable looking person on the road. He asked him • What and who he was.' The Bishop, who happened to know the person of Sir Christopher, replied, "I am that old man, the Bishop of Durham, going up to London to live a little longer, and then to die.' Sir Christopher, though of politics rather opposed to loyalty, was so struck with the incident, that he took the good and venerable man home with him, and made him tutor to his son, thereby laying the foundation of a friendship which ended only with the Bishop's life, and was afterwards the occasion of bringing forward one of the most accomplished men of his age, Sir Henry Yelverton."

The second case we select is that of

BISHOP HALL.

“This was an eminently good, learned, pious, and acute-minded man. His equal in all these desirable qualities is seldom to be met with; his superior, perhaps never. He was made Bishop of Norwich (being translated from Exeter) in 1641. That dire and ruthless Rebellion, which in a few years so savagely crushed both Church and monarchy, was then just beginning to show_its turbulent spirit. But Bishop Hall was not a party-man. Few of the Bishops of his time pursued so sound, clear, patient, unbiassed a course. Still Hall was a member of the hierarchy, and a sound one too. He was moreover a dutiful, stedfast, affectionate son of the One Holy Catholic Church, nor could he be persuaded to descend from that position by any allurements, or any threats, nor even by any disposition he might feel to live peaceably with all men.' He was therefore unscrupulously imprisoned by the Parliament, being one of the twelve protesting Bishops.