religious spirit in himself, and to encourage it in others. He was particularly anxious to promote the great cause of the Reformation, and to get rid of those errors, which the Roman Catholics had grafted on the religion of the Bible; and, during his reign, the superstitious practices of the Church of Rome were almost wholly laid aside. The nation was glad to receive this change, and rejoiced to see the king so earnest in his support of the truth. The people, now, were encouraged to think for themselves, and were able to judge what was the true doctrine of the Scripture; for the Bible was translated into the English language, and they could now read it themselves; and this led them to see that many of the ceremonies, which were taught by the Romish Church to be necessary, had no foundation at all in Scripture, and that they ought, therefore, not to be continued. There were, besides, many learned and enlightened bishops, who strove earnestly to promote the Protestant religion. You have heard of archbishop Cranmer, and bishops Ridley and Latimer, who, with other good men, took great pains to make known the Gospel of Christ, and to bring the people to the knowledge and love of

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the truth. The young king took great pleasure in hearing these good men preach, and in reading the books which they wrote, for he wished to know the doctrines of the Gospel, and the duties which belonged to his station; and he was anxious that his subjects should learn the same things. We have reason to be thankful, even at this day, that it pleased the Almighty to graft in the heart of this young prince, the love of his name. mercy has come down to ourselves, we are ourselves partakers of it,-the vain ceremonies of Popery are laid aside by us. But we have all need to examine ourselves, to see whether we really, from our hearts, embrace the religion which we profess, and whether we are really anxious to live according to those divine instructions, which it is our happiness, and our great privilege, to have now within our reach. The great object of the Reformation was to get rid of those abuses which had been introduced into the Church. There are, no doubt, good and excellent men among the Papists; and such persons, being naturally attached to the religion in which they have been educated, are inclined to defend those practices in the Romish Church,

which we condemn; they tell us, that these practices either have their foundation in Scripture, or that they were introduced for some good purpose. Whatever might have been the original intention of the Roman Catholic ceremonies, that religion had certainly introduced many practices among the people which we cannot at all consider to be scriptural, and many which lead to very mistaken notions of the religion of Christ. They had their churches filled with images, and pictures of saints, and of the Virgin Mary; and to these the people would kneel down, and offer a sort of worship, which we consider to belong only to the Supreme Being himself. Then they thought, that, by inflicting punishment on themselves, and undergoing severe mortifications, they could atone for their past sins; and this was an opinion which would naturally lead them to trust to their own penances for the forgiveness of sin, and thus draw their thoughts from the only true atonement made for sin,-the sacrifice of Christ. On the merits of our blessed Saviour we are to depend for the pardon of our sins ;—and, whilst we receive this, our atonement, for our past sins, we are to make it our great desire and endeavour,

for the time to come, to forsake sin;-for, unless this be our aim, we are not living in a state of preparation for that kingdom which Christ hath purchased for us. The Gospel of Christ teaches us, that we are to cultivate a spirit of holiness, and of obedience to the will of God, and shews us, that, from him, we are to derive our help, to enable us thus to live to his service.

How thankful, then, ought we to be, that, in this country, the Protestant religion is established, which teaches us to search the Scriptures, and thus puts us in possession of those important truths which concern our everlasting happiness! And how anxiously ought we to endeavour to live according to the teaching of those Scriptures, which are now within the reach of us all!

When king Henry the Eighth died, his son Edward was too young to govern the nation, and the business of the state was committed to the management of executors and guardians. At the head of these was the duke of Somerset, the king's uncle, who was called the Protector. This nobleman was an earnest supporter of the Reformation; and his exertions were of great service to the cause. It flourished in a wonderful manner,

and was favoured by nearly all the nation, although there were some persons who still adhered to the ancient opinions, and tried to check the progress of the reformed religion. Some disturbances were excited by these, and some blood unhappily was shed. Two bishops, Gardiner and Bonner, of whom we shall hear more by and bye, still clung to the Romish faith, and, for their opposi tion, they were sent to the Tower. We cannot help lamenting, when we see that not only Papists, but Protestants also, should have recourse to violence, for the sake of propagating their opinions. The Papists, we know, were dreadfully cruel towards those who differed from them. ought to shew a better spirit. So good a cause does not require to be supported by oppression and force. This king's short reign, though so happy for the nation, was one of much grief and trouble to himself. You recollect that he had two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth; and, in case of the king's death, the crown would naturally belong to the eldest of these sisters. But, it was said, that the late king had set them both aside by his will, declaring that they were not born in lawful wedlock, as he acknowledged neither of

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