ter- I am not speaking of him politically than the fanatic or hypocritical Cromwell, as his life is so much purer than the libertine Prince of a profligate Court, Charles the Second; - for Charles the First had been instructed by the Church of England - Charles the Second was a secret infidel of the Church of Rome — and Cromwell learned his "experiences," and the "impossibility of falling from grace," of the Church of Geneva !

To say nothing of the more frantic and bloody hypocrites, let us only think of Mrs. Milton, and her lofty LORD, who wrote his voluminous Tetrachordon to prove that incompatibility of temper was a cause of divorce!

"Homo sum, nihil humani a me alienum puto," says the humane voice of Antiquity. "CHRISTIANUS sum," replies the humble CHRISTIAN! but, in reviewing the characters most conspicuous in the eventful tragedy of Cromwell and Charles the First, when Charles, the rightful Sovereign, appears

Fallen from his high estate,

And weltering in his blood!

and the other, born in comparative obscurity, raised by circumstances to the throne of British monarchs, illustrious and feared in his transient elevation nothing is more striking than the difference of Christian character between the two parties.

I will not call Cromwell a hypocrite, because, in what he professed to believe, who shall say he was

not sincere? but the times and scenes at least required a master-dissembler.

Tempestuous public times elevate those only who are the most artful and unshrinking. Milder spirits scarce dare appear; and, if they appear for a moment, they sink and disappear as the conflict increases. Far different characters are required to

Ride in the whirlwind, and direct the storm!

In Cromwell there was an union, suited to the times, of the most cautious dissimulation and the sternest resolution; and he would have been lost if he had failed in either character.

Those who acted subordinate parts under him in this melancholy and bloody drama of real life, with few exceptions, scarcely ever excite respect, never veneration-whether we take our estimate from the Church, the Camp, or the Senate, or the illustrious literary characters with whom the Lord Protector surrounded himself.

Every one knows the ecclesiastical character of Dr. Owen, as a metaphysical reasoner; but what comparison, in the estimation of any sane judge, does such a man bear as a Divine, to say nothing of his eccentricities, with Jeremy Taylor?

Having spoken of the Clergy, let us next take an estimate of Cromwell's godly Lords, Lord Lambert, &c. Whom can we compare, in virtuous magnanimity and nobility of heart, with Falkland, Capel, Derby?

Who, as country gentlemen, with Evelyn, and

thousands of that description, acting their silent parts, in the troubles of the times, like the good and humble Isaak Walton?

Amongst literary characters, we can oppose none to John Milton, REPUBLICAN- but, oh! how different, was Milton, the amiable and ingenuous youth of high intellect and virtue- from Milton, the unsocial and implacable polemic and repub

lican! *

Many of the characters of those who professed this Calvinistic piety were not only "unlovely in their lives," they were brutal.

Ken has been spoken of with harshness, and we shall prove how unjustly, because he is said to have preached "passive obedience" on the scaffold to the dying Monmouth! If the eloquent historian of James the Second had read the LIFE OF KEN " by his relation,” he would have found how baseless was this accusation; but if the bare mention of this circumstance excites any feeling of disrespect, towards the humane and christian Ken, let us think only of such a NOBLEMAN as that Earl of Pembroke, selected for his hatred of the Episcopal Clergy, to VISIT and PURIFY Oxford- the descendant of the noble, generous, and brave Montgomerys - calling

* No doubt, it will be triumphantly said, "you speak of Milton with delight when he was an Episcopalian!" I only. ask, was he an Episcopalian when he coldly pronounced his withering curse? It may be said I am a high priest of the Establishment: I answer-perish the establishment, if incompatible with charity!

the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his fallen fortunes, whilst sitting in judgment on him, the "greatest rascal in England!" Let us think of a Clotworthy, when the grey-haired victim to fanatical fury stood on the scaffold, with the terrible apparatus of death before him—taking that opportunity to ask Laud what text would give him most comfort at such a time?" Cupio dissolvi et esse cum Christo," majestically answered he who was about to die! "Aye," replies the puritanical inquisitor, "there must be AN ASSURANCE! an assurance!" The poor victim turned for refuge to the bloody executioner, and meekly entreated him to do his duty!

Nothing so fiendish, in the times of the greatest intolerance, can be charged on the abused Clergy. After the King's return, the Presbyterians indeed were harshly and unjustly treated, in being classed among the very sects whose names they abhorred, being thus condemned in the gross. Granting they had been intolerant and persecuting granting,

which cannot be denied, that they had refused all accommodation, all compromise, yet, by the terms of the Declaration from Breda, they were entitled to a much fairer measure than they received.

They were learned- they had no matter from what motives-joined in recalling the King-without their voice he could not have been seated on

the throne again every indulgence had been promised, a Bishoprick had been offered and accepted by one among them and yet they, who stood

proudly apart from all sects, were classed as part of those sects which they abhorred, and for no other purpose than that their arms should be pinioned and their power crushed.

This was as "hard fare" as any of which Hall complained, and the Government and Church, as far as the Church was concerned, stand inexcusable before God and man.

A reconcilement was ineffectually attempted at the famous Savoy meeting, where Gunning* and Baxter were the Ajax and Ulysses of the discussion.

Since then, with the fullest and unquestioned LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE to all, under later acts of toleration, the beautiful cathedrals of the National Church have raised their fronts uninjured, save by acts of occasional fanaticism, as at York. Her services have been performed without disturbance — her affecting and solemn choirs

Peal through the aisles the note of praise!

These beautiful buildings, having weathered many a storm, still rise majestic in our cities, to create the thoughts of another world amidst the noise and smcke of thronged and commercial streets. They still lift their calm brows above the clouds, as the associated thought is elevated above this "pinfold here," to the precincts of eternal day. ́ ́

In the beautiful Cathedral of Salisbury reposes that Bishop Jewell who unanswerably established the grounds of the Church of England's title to the * Bishop of Peterborough.