RELIGION THE CHIEF BUSINESS OF LIFE.

RELIGION must be the profession, the occupation of every one who seeks salvation through Jesus Christ. What, then, is the nature of this profession, of this occupation? What duty does it require of us? What sacrifices does it enjoin us? In a word, what is it to make religion our business? To answer this question, look to our Lord's sermon on the Mount. There, after warning his disciples against attempting to serve God and mammon at the same time, He concludes his instructions on this subject with teaching them how they might devote themselves to God, and yet pay sufficient attention to their worldly interests. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God;" that is, do not mistake the meaning of what I have said, when I call you to "behold the fowls of the air" how they are fed without

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thought or labour, and the "lilies of the field," how they are clothed more gloriously than Solomon, without any toil of their own, it is not that I would have you neglect your sowing, or lay aside your spinning, I wish you only, while you feed and clothe the body, to look first to the interests of your soul. Keep worldly cares subservient to religion; earthly business in subordination to the kingdom of heaven. It is with the Christian, on his journey through the world, as it is with the mariner on his passage over the tempestuous sea. The harbour he is bound for is ever the object uppermost in his mind. Winds or currents may drive him, for a time, out of his direct course, but when the storm is over, and the sea is calm, he steers directly for his port. Heaven is the Christian's harbour, Scripture is his compass; worldly cares may distress and harass him on the way, but, in the hour of temptation, the Holy Spirit is his pilot, and, after many wanderings, guides him to that land "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.” I have been often told by some of my poorer neighbours, that they are indeed willing to devote their thoughts to heavenly things; that they know it is their duty to do so, but that the cares of a large family, or the necessity of passing the whole day in labour, draw off their thoughts from God, and keep them fixed upon the world. To try the sincerity of such excuses, I might ask these persons, whether, if some worldly business or pleasure were in view, they would not find means for following their inclinations? but, supposing that their families or their labours do, and must necessarily, occupy every hour of the day, still has not a sincere Christian numberless opportunities of showing that God is in all his thoughts,-that whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, he does all to the glory of God? Does he seek first the kingdom of heaven, by beginning every day with prayer, and teaching his children to do the same? Is he careful, during his labours in the field, to abstain from idle or profane words, and to rebuke those that use them? Does he, after every meal, return thanks to the Great Author of this and every other mercy? Before he lies down to rest at night, does he humbly commend himself and family to the care of

God? Above all, does he keep holy the Sabbath-day? that day which God has set apart peculiarly for himself, and the violation of which He will dreadfully punish? In a word, my friends, do you fear the anger of God more than the anger of your earthly master? If any one should tempt you to leave undone any of those duties which you. ought to have done, would you resolutely answer, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Let every one reply to these questions before he makes the cares of a family, or the toils of poverty, an excuse for negligence in religion. David's prayer is, "Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear." It is this devotion of the life to God which constitutes the essential beauty of Christian holiness. To the poor, the Gospel is especially addressed; and can we, therefore, suppose that their situation of poverty and constant occupation are an hindrance to their receiving its blessings? Can we think that the very circumstance which makes them more acceptable in the opinion of their blessed Lord, renders them, at the same time, less capable of doing Him service? Oh, my friends, put away such idle thoughts! The very poorest of you, my readers, have as much time to serve God as the richest in the land, and are far more likely to serve Him faithfully; for "riches choke the word, and make it unfruitful." "Use this world," says St. Paul, "as as not abusing it." And who are they that abuse it? They who give it the first place in their affections; they who place their treasure in it; they who suffer it to draw away their hearts from God. We have a race to run which admits of no loitering; every weight must be laid aside, and more especially the weight of that besetting sin, whatever it may be, that has hitherto perplexed and hindered us in running the race which is set before And yet let no one dare to suppose that the Gospel discourages honest industry, or calls upon us to sacrifice the duties of social life; on the contrary, every duty is enforced by higher sanctions, and invested with a higher character; only put them in their proper place. "Seek first the kingdom of heaven." Follow all your occupations in the world with a heavenly mind, "and all these things shall be added unto you;" all the objects which the

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worldly man covets and strives for, shall be supplied in sufficient abundance to the faithful Christian, "for his heavenly Father seeth that he hath need of these things." G. S. R.

LIFE OF BISHOP LATIMER.

EVER after the death of Wickliffe, the doctrines of the Reformation continued to make certain though silent progress, like the leaven hid in three measures of meal. (St. Matthew xiii. 33.) Persecution slept, comparatively, though it occasionally broke out, as in the case of Lord Cobham, related in our last number; but after his death, the reigning monarchs were not unfavourable to its doctrines; indeed, the short reign of the youthful and pious Edward the Sixth re-animated the Reformation; and during this period it was that the Church of England was established, in the main, as we now see it. The young prince, who was brought up a Protestant, was himself eminently calculated to recommend the cause; but, ere he had completed his sixteenth year, it pleased God to remove him from his earthly kingdom, when the crown came into the hands of his sister Mary, in whose reign Popery again lifted up its head with redoubled vigour, and persecution was carried to a far greater pitch than ever. It has been calculated that nearly three hundred persons perished in the flames during this reign. Among these, the most conspicuous, from their position in the Church, were Archbishop Cranmer, and Bishops Ridley and Latimer. The last-named of these, Hugh Latimer, was the son of a respectable farmer at Thurcaston, in Leicestershire, a condition in life which qualified him in a peculiar manner for spreading the doctrines of the Reformation amongst the people, whose tastes and mode of speaking, as well as their failings and faults, he, of all the leading Reformers, seems to have best understood; and he was accordingly honoured with the title of the Apostle of England. His father appears to have taken considerable pains with his education; and his early progress in learning was such, that, at the age of fourteen years, he was sent to the university of Cambridge, where he gave himself chiefly to the study of divinity.

He was then zealous in the Popish religion, and a determined enemy to the professors of Christ's Gospel, especially to Mr. George Stafford, reader of the divinity lectures, against whom he used to rail spitefully, and endeavoured to persuade the youth of Cambridge not to believe him. Notwithstanding, such was the goodness and merciful purpose of God, that in his own good time He caused Latimer to be (as the historian expresses it) "caught in the blessed net of God's word." For Mr. Thomas Bilney, being at that time a trier-out of Satan's subtleties, and a secret overthrower of Antichrist's kingdom, seeing Latimer to have a zeal for God, though without knowledge, was struck with a brotherly pity towards him, and bethought by what means he might best win this zealous ignorant brother to the true knowledge of Christ. Wherefore, after a short time, he came to Mr. Latimer's study, and desired him to hear him make his confession: which thing he willingly granted; by hearing whereof he was (through the good Spirit of God) so touched, that hereupon he forsook his former studying of the school doctors, and became an earnest student of true divinity: so that, whereas before he was an enemy and almost a persecutor of Christ, he was now a zealous seeker after Him, changing his old manner of cavilling and railing, into a diligent kind of conferring both with Bilney and others, and also came to Mr. Stafford before he died, and desired him to forgive him. After this his winning to Christ, he was not satisfied with his own conversion only, but, like a true disciple of the Saviour, pitied the misery of others, and therefore became both a public preacher and also a private instructor to the rest of his brethren within the university, for the space of three years, teaching partly in the Latin tongue among the learned, and partly amongst the simple people in his natural and vulgar language. His preaching caused a great sensation, and made a violent stir in Cambridge. As Satan never sleeps when he sees his kingdom begin to decay, so, perceiving that this worthy member of Christ would be a troubler of it, he raised up enemies to molest and harass him. It is impossible, in this short account, to relate all the persecutions which this faithful servant of