THE CHRISTIAN GUARDIAN, AND CHURCH OF ENGLAND MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 1844. "MEMORIALS OF THE ENGLISH MARTYRS." No. I. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."-REV. II. 10. "LORD, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them."* This was the question of an ignorant and misguided zeal, utterly unlike the spirit of Him, to whom the fierce and angry question was addressed ;-the two disciples received at once their answer, an answer which must stand recorded in the word of truth, while the world endures; "He turned and rebuked them, and said, ye know not what spirit ye are of, for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save." Thus the great preacher and apostle to the Gentiles gives, under the inspiration of God, this character of the Minister of Christ" The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." Here the plainest directions are written, as to the mode of treatment to be pursued by the minister of the gospel of love and peace, not only towards heretics or those holding errors in doctrine, but to the determined opposer of the truth as it is in Jesus. Where then, but in the violence of the natural heart, which in every nnregenerate man, is not only desperately wicked, but deceitful above all things, can we find any authority or any excuse for a spirit of persecution towards those who differ from us, nay, towards those who differ from and oppose the truth. Alas! the apostle Paul was as far sighted as he 1844. *Luke ix. 55, 56. B † 2 Tim. ii. 24-26. was clear-sighted when he wrote; "I know that after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." And thus it has too often happened, that men have called themselves the ministers of Christ, and taken upon them the awful commission of a herald of life and peace, who instead of being ensamples to the flock, have not only been "lords," but tyrants over God's heritage." Such thoughts as these, would naturally arise in my heart, when standing at night in the large open area of Smithfield, and looking upon the dark and dimly-defined objects which surrounded me. The mysterious gloom of night almost enabled me to suppose, that I was gazing round upon the same buildings, which had encompassed that memorable spot some hundred years ago. And as I stood there, quiet and alone, I thought of the various and conflicting feelings to which that spot must have borne witness, when it was made the scene of the horrible persecutions, and fiendlike cruelties of superstition. Surely a walk through Smithfield ought to awaken thought in every Englishman's mind, sad and serious thought, when he considers to what a depth of savage bigotry, even his own manly countrymen have been degraded by the deceivableness of unrighteousness" in that system which the godly Cecil has termed, not without having good reason for the strong expression, "the masterpiece of Satan;" which has never sprung up and grown to any height in this free soil, or indeed in any land upon the broad earth which we inhabit, without bringing forth its bitter and deadly fruit. Alas, notwithstanding the lapse of nearly three hundred years, a silent thoughtful walk at night across the great square of Smithfield, made me shudder as I felt that it was almost impossible to stand upon that common causeway of the busiest city in the world, without dark and dreadful associations, rising like hideous phantoms from that fatal spot. And why? There is blood upon the earth,—a foul, and horrible stain of blood. The soil has been drunk with the blood of martyred saints: and at that awful but approaching day, when "the Lord shall come out of His place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, when the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain ;"-O, what a sad, sad, tale shall the soil of Smithfield tell! How many a meek and pallid form shall arise, to bear witness against the ungodly deeds, which ungodly sinners have committed against them, and against the ungodly speeches which they have spoken against them; for the Master, in whose cause they suffered, counts every act of violence and cruelty committed against his little ones, as done unto Himself. Oh, should I not rather say, how many a blessed martyr shall come forth "clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands," belonging to the blessed number of those that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held," "having come out of great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Long indeed, is the list that might be given of those who have suffered for the truth in the horrid fires of Smithfield. There it was, that William Sautre stood first and foremost in that glorious band. There he suffered, after having been degraded from his holy office, to the rank of a layman, and given over to the secular power, with a frightful mockery of justice. We are told, that the civil powers were besought "to receive favourably 66 |