found among us, or coming in upon us. For we, instead of reformation, are grown from one extreme to another, fallen from Scylla to Charybdis; from popish innovations and superstitions, to damnable heresies, horrid blasphemies, libertinism, and fearful anarchy; the worst of the prelates held many sound doctrines, and had many commendable practices; yea, the very papists hold and keep to many articles of faith and truths of God, have some order among them, encourage learning, have certain fixed principles of truth, with practices of devotion and good works; but many of the sects and sectaries of our days deny all principles of religion, are enemies to all holy duties, order, learning, overthrowing all. What swarms are

there of all sorts of illiterate mechanic preachers! Yea, of women and boy preachers! These sectaries have been growing upon us ever since the first year of our sitting, and have every year increased more and more. I beg the reader to pause over this extract, and to consider it well to mark it, learn it, and inwardly digest it. "Overthrowing all," says Edwards. The reader has heard the shouts of "Do away with them," "Down with them," "Pull it down," "Down with the Lords," "Down with the Bishops," that greet and cheer speakers at Radical gatherings; and doubtless the reader will recognise in the furious shouters thereof the worthy sons of sires who in the days of Edwards "overthrew all ;”—“ blew up the whole constitution, and buried king, Parliament, and Presbytery, in its ruins." "This land," says this same Edwards, in other place," is already become in many places a chaos, a Babel,

in the high way to Comment is needless.

another Amsterdam; yea, worse-we are beyond that, and Munster, if God prevent it not." The Independents, having obtained power, having become masters both in Church and State, turned their country into a Babel, a Chaos, and finally made it a scene of "damnable heresies, horrid blasphemies, libertinism, and fearful anarchy." After this admission by Edwards, a Puritan writer, we cannot in the least doubt the truth of the following extract which I take from a Church of England writer: "Thus the Knipper dollings of the age reduced a glorious and renowned University almost to a mere Munster, and did more in less than three years, than the apostate Julian could effect in a life time, viz., broke the heartstrings of learning and of all learned men. We are not afraid to appeal to any impartial judge, whether if the Goths and Vandals, or even the Turks, themselves, had overrun this nation, they would have more inhumanly abused a flourishing University, than these pretended advancers of religion have done?" "The results of the 'liberation' effected by the Independents in the seventeenth Century," says Carlyle, even under Cromwell's strong rule, were these. A hundred sects were tearing each other to pieces in every corner of the land, the Baptists wrote threatening letters to him from the army; the Fifth Monarchy men were preparing to be rid of his and every other human goverment; the Quakers penetrated into his apartments, at Whitehall, and taking his cap from his head tore it in pieces as a sign'; and this great man confessed, after experience of governing a nation where the fountains of

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the great deep had all been broken up, and scattering, divisions, and confusions came upon us like things that we desired, these which are the greatest plagues that God ordinarily lays upon Nations for sin,'-that He would rather keep a flock of sheep." "The wisdom of the nation is very reasonably supposed to reside in the parliament. What can be concluded of the lower classes of the people, when in one of the parliaments summoned by Cromwell it was seriously proposed, that all the records in the Tower should be burnt, that all memory of things past should be effaced, and that the whole system of life should commence anew?" Here was Radicalism with a vengeance ! I am always reminded of this proposition when I read in papers that the Rads. have been shouting at a political gathering, "down with them," "down with the Lords," "down with it," "pull it down," etc., etc.

ANOTHER DARK BLOT ON THE ESCUTCHEON OF NONCONFORMITY.-The late Edward Miall, the leader and spokesman of Nonconformity, be it remembered, wrote in his Nonconformists' Sketch Book these words: "The Establishment is a life-destroying upas, deeply rooted in our soil. It desecrates religion. In its eyes immorality and licentiousness are trifles." Now, a fouler and more diabolical slander than this was never uttered by the lips of man. Where did Edward Miall find anything like even the shadow of a pretext for making such a statement? It is impossible to be an Englishman and not be filled with a sense of burning shame on recalling such cowardly conduct. If cowards die many times before

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their death, deaths many and frequent must be the lot of great numbers of Dissenting preachers. To swell the amount of sittings alleged to be provided by the "Free Churches" for the people-"Temperance Halls," "Oddfellows' Halls," "Music Halls," 'Single rooms in cottages," a "bakehouse," a "malthouse," even a "railway arch," are to be found amongst the number of registered chapels of Nonconformity. "The Great Hall of the Freemasons' Tavern," London, "The Royal Agricultural Hall,” at Islington, "The Royal Amphitheatre," High Holborn, all figure in the list. Nonconformists have resisted successfully the only real test of progress—a Religious Census, and they have loudly proclaimed that the large increase of sitting accommodation-these "malt-houses," "single rooms in cottages," bakehouses," "railway arches," &c., &c., which cost half-a-crown each for registration-show how greatly of late years they have advanced in numbers! It often happens that the less one of these Dissenting bodies increases in numbers the greater is its activity in Chapel building! This has been the case with our pious friends, the Wesleyans. "In the ten years from 1852 to 1862, 709 Wesleyan Chapels were built, and the net increase in the Society's membership was 65,500. In the ten years from 1862 to 1872, no less than 1,214 Chapels were built, whilst the net increase of the denomination only amounted to 21,977.”—The London Quarterly Review. Here are more unblushing falsehoods. A Chapel in Leeds is registered as affording room for 200 persons; on Census Sunday, 1851, it returns its "worshippers" as-morning, 650; afternoon,

723; evening, 1,030! A chapel in Marylebone accommodates 198 persons; its returns were-morning, 277; evening 336 In Wales visits to three Chapels, impartially chosen, on a casual Sunday in 1870, verified the census returns as follows:-The three Chapels had returned 900 worshippers" between them. The actual attendance when visited, was found to be respectively, 19, 25, and 45!

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INDEPENDENT MARTYRS.-These are Thacker, Copping, Barrowe, Greenwood, and John Penry. We are told by Dissenting historians that these were some of "the most remarkable men that have ever engaged in religious controversy in the worst of times; "that they were instances of resistance to oppression by their courageous and enlightened minds ;” and that “ they were of great service by their talents, zeal, and Christian discretion, to the cause which they loved."" Barrowe, Greenwood, and Penry, were all just and holy men, but the character of Penry was of an order which only times of the fiercest persecution can produce; he seems to have stood the test until his soul was purified from all the dross of human nature."-Skeats. We are told that "these men were sacrificed by a blood-guilty Protestant hierarchy.”—“ Thus fell these two unhappy gentlemen a sacrifice to the resentment of an angry prelate."-Neal. In short, endless appeals to our indignation, to our pity, and to our admiration, are made by Independent historians and by Independent preachers in lectures and sermons, on behalf of these 'martyrs.' We are asked to believe that amid untold sufferings and hardships, they continued steadfastly to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ; and that finally