ing time, when, probably, the recollection, that he had been instrumental to a similar death in others, wrought his frame to agony. Who does not feel, that love of life is one of the strongest principles of our nature; and who does not shrink from death, even under the most alleviating circumstances? Surrounded by an affectionate household, the hand fast locked in the hand of a friend, and the soul borne upwards on the wings of fervent and devout prayer, yet, there is still a fearful looking forward to the final moment, to the last death-struggle. But, when the soul is to be separated from the body by lingering torments, is it strange that the inward man should faint and perish in the conflict?

There have been men, nay, women, too, so constituted, that they have sung hosannas of glad joy," while the flames were curling round them. Others have yielded, for a time, to the insanity of terror, and, under its influence, felt that exemption from torture could hardly be obtained too dearly.

Jerome of Prague, one of the most zealous of the early reformers, rushed into danger to save his friend, John Huss. Finding he came too late, that the sentence had been pronounced and executed, and his ashes thrown into the Rhine, he felt himself compelled by prudence to return to Bohemia. On the road, he was arrested and

sent back to Constance.

"At his first appear

Away with

ance, a thousand voices exclaimed; him! Burn him, burn him!' Consigned to the horrors of a lonely and protracted imprisonment, in a noxious dungeon," he yielded to that weakness, which springs from nervous distress, and made a temporary submission. But, when restored to the light and air of heaven, his spirit grew strong, his feverish and fluttering pulse resumed its calm and regular movement, the insanity passed away, his faith and fortitude returned, and, like his friend Huss, he died a martyr and a hero.

Let us remember the agony of him, who, in the garden, prayed that, "if it were possible, the cup might pass from him "; and, amidst these sunny days, when we may go in glad throngs to the house of God, when we are not called to "weep by the rivers of Babylon," or "hang our harps upen the willows," let us try to place ourselves, for a moment, in the situation of Cranmer. Who will not tremble for his own fortitude? who will not fear, that, like Peter, he may deny and weep? Let not the weakness of human nature destroy our sympathies, but, rather, prove a bond to bind us, who share it, closer to each other; to make us more charitable, more patient, and more ready to forgive. So shall the old world and the new, Catholics and Protestants, find one

common bond of relationship; and, while they conscientiously adhere to what they believe to be the true faith, remember, that there is but one God, and one Father over all.

THE END.