the gifts of nature, and such goodly qualities as win unto them that have them the favour and commendation of men; wherewith he was plenteously endued, and this I unfeignedly say unto you: he was a man of a very perfect life, and, if I may so speak, of an angelic conversation, approvedly learned in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues, and such a one as had, through his painful labours, obtained singular knowledge in the mysteries of God's most blessed word.

"By his industry, labour, pains, and diligence, he seemed of a dead man to make blessed Paul alive again; and putting away all unseemliness, set him forth in his native colours, so that now he is both seen, read, and heard with great pleasure by them that labour in the study of his most godly epistles. And as he beautified the letters of blessed Paul with his godly expositions, so likewise he learnedly set forth in his lectures, the native sense and true understanding of the four evangelists; restoring unto us in a lively manner the apostle's mind, and the mind of those holy writers, which so many years before had laid unknown and obscured through the darkness and mists of the pharisees and papists.

“He was a faithful and prudent servant, giving meat to the Lord's household in due time. He cast away profane and old wives' fables, and as the good servant of Jesus Christ, he exercised himself unto godliness. He was an example to the faithful in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. He gave his mind to reading, to exhorting, to doctrine. He studied to show himself unto God a laudable workman that needeth not to be ashamed, dividing the word of truth justly. He was gentle unto every man, and with meekness informed them that resisted the truth, if God at any time would give them repentance for to know the truth, and to turn again from the snare of the devil. He fought a good fight, he fulfilled his course, he kept the faith: therefore is there laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give him in that day, and not to him only, but to all them that love His coming.

"With master Latimer, that true preacher of God's word, I was somewhat acquainted in Warwickshire, which was to me

for he got the infection, went home, and died. Fox relates this on the authority of bishops Ridley and Grindal.

no small comfort; not with him only, but with divers others, whereof some were men of worship, well inclined towards the holy scriptures; some were men very godly learned in the laws of the Most High, and professors of the same. So oft as I was in their company, methought I was clearly delivered from Egypt, and quietly placed in the glorious New Jerusalem, which is described in the revelation of blessed John: so sweet a thing is it to be in the company of godly learned men.

"While I was training up youth, and fashioning their minds unto true godliness in that country, behold, unexpected letters were sent to me from my most dear mother; in which she required me to return to my native country, and to be a staff of her old age, as my father-in-law was departed from this vale of misery. Considering my duty, and the honour which I owe unto her by the manifest commandment of God, I immediately after, not without the friendly consent of my well willers, departed from Warwickshire, and with all haste repaired home.

"In this my long absence I wrote divers treatises, but as yet three only are published. The Governance of Virtue, an Invective against Whoredom, and a Dialogue of Christ's Nativity, between the angel and the shepherds. The others shall be set forth, if the Lord will, hereafter at a convenient time. I translated out of Latin into English, divers little treatises, The Shield of Salvation, The Solace of the Soul, The Commendation of Death, &c."*

This extract is long, but the reader will hardly fail to be interested with its contents, which present some valuable delineations of the state of England in the early days of the Reformation. At that time many of the inland secluded districts were scarcely accessible to travellers, and far less known to the inhabitants of the southern counties than some parts of the continent. We cannot help regretting that the author has not left us a full delineation of his life from his own pen. The particulars respecting himself and his contemporaries which such a

* In the Jewel of Joy, the foregoing particulars are communicated in a dialogue between Philemon, (Becon himself,) and some friends, to whom he relates what had befallen him. A part of Latimer's character is put into the mouth of one of the other speakers; but it is evident that Becon himself is describing his own personal intercourse with that venerable father. As the dialogue contains much extraneous matter, it seemed desirable to condense the above extract in Becon's own words.

narrative would have contained, would have made it one of the most valuable pieces of the reformers.

When Edward VI. came to the throne, the people of Canterbury were particularly opposed to the Reformation. This induced Cranmer to place in that city six preachers, distinguished for their piety and learning. Becon was one of them, and from the numerous sufferers for the truth among the inhabitants during the reign of queen Mary, their labours appear to have been made useful to many. Becon was also chaplain to the protector Somerset, and for some time an inmate in his family at Sheen. Of the death of this distinguished nobleman, and some other events of that period, Becon spoke thus in his epistle to the persecuted sufferers for the gospel in England: "We had divers signs long before, besides the godly admonitions of the faithful preachers, which plainly declared unto us an utter subversion of the true christian religion to be at hand, except it were prevented by speedy and hearty repentance. What shall I speak of that godly and mighty prince, Edward, duke of Somerset, who, in the time of his protectorship, so banished idolatry out of this our realm, and brought in again God's true religion, that it was wonder so mighty a matter should have been brought to pass in so short a time. Was not the ungentle handling of him, and the unrighteous thrusting him out of office, and afterwards the cruel murdering of him, a man, yea, a mirror of true innocency and christian patience, an evident token of God's anger against us? The sudden taking away of those most godly and virtuous youths, the duke of Suffolk and his brother, by the sweating sickness, was it not also a manifest token of God's heavy displeasure toward us? The death of those two most worthy and godly learned men, I speak of Paulus Fagius and Martin Bucer, was it not a sure prognostication of some great mishap concerning the christian religion to be at hand? But I may pass over many others and at the last come unto that which is most lamentable, and can never be remembered by any true English heart without large tears; I mean the death of our most godly prince and christian king, Edward the sixth; that true Josiah, that earnest destroyer of false religion, that fervent setter up of God's true honour, that most bounteous patron of the godly learned, that most worthy maintainer of good letters and virtue, and that

perfect and lively mirror of true nobility and sincere godliness -was not the taking away of him (alas for sorrow!) a sure sign and an evident token that some great evil hung over this realm of England?"

That Becon was an eminent preacher of the reformed doctrines appears from his having been committed to the Tower, with Bradford and Veron, within a fortnight after the accession of queen Mary. He was at that time rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, in the city of London. After a severe imprisonment of seven months, he was released, but was deprived of his living by the early proceedings of the queen against the married clergy; it is indeed most surprising that he should have been liberated, while many persons far less distinguished as preachers of the truth, were detained in prison under different pretences until popery was fully restored, when they were burned. These early proceedings, however, warned him of his danger, and after remaining in concealment for some time, he escaped to the continent, where he continued till the death of queen Mary-he was, to use Strype's expression, "a man mightily tossed about."

Becon's writings were included by name in the proclamation of Philip and Mary against the writings of the principal reformers, and many copies doubtless were destroyed. While upon the continent he was not idle, but wrote several of his tracts. In an epistle to the persecuted brethren in England, he directed them to their only refuge and deliverer; it was read in the private meetings of the protestants, and, with similar writings of other reformers, imparted edification and comfort to many.

In the preface written in 1563, Becon says, "The cross of Christ was laid upon the true christians of this realm not many years past, so that divers of our countrymen were most grievously persecuted, most cruelly apprehended, imprisoned, stocked, chained, manacled, brought forth, accused, condemned, and burnt to ashes. Divers were secretly famished, and murdered in prison, spoiled of all their goods, exiled and banished into strange countries.-I, at that time being partaker of exile and banishment, after long and that most miserable imprisonment, (to let pass my other afflictions, wherewith I was daily encumbered, besides the deceitful assaults of satan and his ministers, wherewith I was without ceasing troubled and disquieted, not only outwardly, but also inwardly,) oftentimes called unto

remembrance the most wretched and pitiful state of England, sometime flowing with the knowledge of God's word, as the sea with waters, but then wrapped full of blind ignorance and ignorant blindness, I considered with myself what I might do to help the miseries of my poor countrymen, especially such as were afflicted for the gospel's sake. Not knowing how otherwise to gratify them, I wrote an epistle and sent it to certain godly brethren, declaring in it the causes of all the miseries and calamities which were fallen upon England: again, how they might be redressed; and finally, what a merciful Lord our God is to all faithful penitent sinners that unfeignedly turn unto him. This epistle was not read of the brethren without fruit. I added a humble supplication unto God for the restoring of his holy word unto the church of England, wherein the devout christian complains his grief and sorrow unto the Lord for taking away the light of Christ's gospel, and most humbly acknowledging his fault and deserved punishment, most heartily wishes for the subversion of Antichrist's kingdom, and the restitution of Christ's most glorious kingdom to the realm of England."

At this period several of Becon's tracts relative to the Romish controversy were written; among them an epistle to the popish priests, showing the difference between the Lord's Supper and the mass, which he declares to be "a wicked idol."

When queen Elizabeth came to the throne, Becon returned to England, and again laboured zealously and successfully to promote the truth. In 1560, he was appointed to the rectory of Buckland, in Hertfordshire, and subsequently to that of Christ Church, Newgate, which he afterwards resigned; and in 1563, was appointed to the living of Dionis Backchurch, in London. Like many of the exiles and most excellent characters of that day, he desired that greater liberty as to uniformity should be permitted than was then allowed; and he was one of the large minority in the convocation, which supported a petition for greater freedom with respect to some rites and ceremonies.*

In January 1564-5, the clergy of London attended at Lambeth: they were required to subscribe to the recent ecclesiastical regulations, but several declined. Strype relates in his

* See Strype's Annals. Fifty-eight, including proxies, supported the petition, fifty-nine opposed it; the majority of the individuals present voted for it.