martyrdom on Friday, 6th October, 1536, at Villevorde or Villefort, near Brussels. "At last" (writes Foxe), "At last" (writes Foxe), "after much reasoning, when no reasoning would serve, although he deserved no death, he was condemned by virtue of the Emperor's decree, and upon the same brought forth to the place of execution; was there tied to the stake; and then strangled first by the hangman, and afterwards with fire consumed, crying thus at the stake with a fervent zeal and a loud voice, “Lord, open the King of England's eyes. The dying martyr's prayer was thus far answered, that the King of England's eyes were opened to the folly of continuing to fight against the circulation of Tyndale's versions of the Scriptures. Before the waning year had come to its close, the first volume of Holy Scripture ever printed on English ground came forth from the press of the King's own printer, and that volume was a folio Testament, Tyndale's own version, with his prologues too, and with the long proscribed name of Tyndale openly set forth on its title-page.

JOHN WHITGIFT, D.D., Archbishop of Canterbury, 1583. The family of Whitgift was of good antiquity in the West Riding of the County of York. John, the eldest son, was born at Grimsby in 1530 or 1533, and was entrusted for his education to his uncle, the abbot, who perceiving the quickness of his nephew's parts, placed him for a time at St. Anthony's School in London, then in high repute. In 1548 or 1549 he was sent to Cambridge, and placed in Queen's College, but afterwards migrated to Pembroke Hall, where Bishop Ridley was Master, and Grindal and Bradford at that time Fellows, the latter becoming his tutor. In 1553-54 he commenced B.A., and was elected Fellow of Peter House in 1555. Dr. Andrew Perne, then Master of the College, proved a kind patron and fast friend of young Whitgift, and shielded him in 1556, during the perilous visitation of the University by the commissioners appointed under Cardinal Pole's authority. Better times were approaching; and after the accession of Queen Elizabeth he was ordained in 1560, and preached his first sermon at St. Mary's. His degrees were M.A. 1556, B.D. 1563, and D.D. 1567. He was Margaret Professor of Divinity in 1566. In 1567 Whitgift succeeded Dr. Hutton in the Mastership of Pembroke Hall, but there he stayed but a few weeks, for [July 4] he was made Master of Trinity. The Queen took a liking to him, and punning upon his name said that he had a white gift indeed. She in consequence appointed him one of her Chaplains. Having been Chaplain to Cox, Bishop of Ely, he was by that prelate

appointed to the Rectory of Teversham, and 5th December, 1568, to a Prebendal Stall in Ely Cathedral. In 1572 Whitgift had resigned Teversham; in 1576 he was nominated to the See of Worcester, and consecrated, 21st April, 1577, at Lambeth. It seems the Queen intended him for the See of Canterbury, Grindal the primate being then under her displeasure, but Whitgift distinctly refused to step into his place during Grindal's lifetime. But a vacancy occurring by the Archbishop's death 6th July, 1583, the Bishop of Worcester was nominated to succeed him, and was confirmed September 23, in the same year. The Archbishop was highly esteemed by Queen Elizabeth, though he had faithfully remonstrated with her as to the alienation of Church property. Her Majesty is said to have called him her "little black husband,' and to have expressed the satisfaction she had in devolving her clergy cares upon him. She not unfrequently dined with him at Lambeth. The Archbishop attended his royal mistress on her death-bed; and placed the crown upon the heads of King James and Queen Anne at Westminster, 25th July, 1603. His days, however, were now drawing to a close. He was present at the famous Hampton Court Conference held 14th, 16th, 18th January, 1604. Soon afterwards he took cold by going in his barge to Fulham. On the following Sunday he was at Whitehall, and had some discourse with the King; but, on leaving his Majesty, he was seized with a paralytic stroke, which disabled his right side and deprived him of speech. He was immediately carried into an apartment by the Lord Chancellor, the Bishop of London, and others, and afterwards conveyed to Lambeth. On the following Tuesday the King came to visit him, and said “that he should beg him of God in his prayer; which if he could obtain, he should think it one of the greatest temporal blessings that could be given him in his kingdom." The dying prelate attempted to reply; but all that could be understood was, "Pro ecclesia Dei, pro ecclesia Dei." After the King's departure he made signs for ink and paper; but after two or three trials he found he could not hold the pen, and with a sigh lay down. The next day at 8 p.m., 28th February, 1604, he expired. He was solemnly buried at Croydon, 27th March, Dr. Babington, Bishop of Worcester, preaching the funeral sermon from 2 Chron. xxiv. 15, 16.-See Biographical Memoir (Parker Society's Works), and Foxe.

יהרה

JANUARY 1.

THE MYSTICAL NAMES OF GOD.

Α Ω

“I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.”—Rev. i. 11.

Among all the names of God, that is the most excellent which they call Tetragrammaton, that is (if we may so say), the fourlettered name: for it is compounded of the four spiritual letters, and is called Jehovah. It is derived of the verb-substantive, Hovah, before which they put Jod and make it Jehovah, that is to say, "Being," or, "I am ;" as he that is abrovcía, a being of himself, having his life, and being not of any other but of himself; lacking nobody's aid to make him to be, but giving to be all manner of things; to wit, eternal God, without beginning and ending, in whom we live, we move, and have our being. To this do those words specially belong, which we find to have passed betwixt God and Moses in Exodus iii. : “And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, to whom thou dost now send me, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall ask me, saying, What is his name? What answer shall I make them? And God said to Moses, 'I am that I am;' or, 'I will be that I will be :' and he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, 'I am,' or 'Being,' or 'I will be,' hath sent me unto you." That is, I am God that will be, and he hath sent me, who is himself Being or Essence, and God everlasting. For their future tense containeth

three sundry times-He that is, He that was, and He that will be, hath sent me. Truly the evangelist and apostle John seemed in his Revelation to have had an eye to these words of the Lord, which also he went about to interpret, saying in the person of God: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, or the first and the last, saith the Almighty Lord, which is, and which was, and which shall be " (Rev. i.).

BULLINGER, 1524-1575.

JANUARY 2.

THE "I AM."

"I am, and none else beside me."-Is. xlvii. 8.

"Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?” HAB. i. 12.

That there is but one God who is "living, true, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness," is a truth which may be gathered from the all-holy and sacred Scripture: and is agreeable to the doctrine of the reformed churches. For both God's Word giveth us to know that God is One (1 Cor. viii. 4) and no more, the living (2 Cor. vi. 16) and true God (1 Thess. i. 9) everlasting (Dan. vi. 26), without body, parts, or passions (John iv. 24); of infinite power (Rev. xi. 17), wisdom (Rom. xvi. 27), and goodness (Ps. cvi. 1): and God's people in their public Confessions from Ausburgh, Helvetia, etc., testify the same. Some in place of God worshipped beasts unreasonable, as the Egyptians did a calf, an ox, vultures, crocodiles, etc. Some as gods have adored men, under the names of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and such like; and some even at this day for God do worship kine, the sun, and what they think good. That the world and all things visible and invisible therein, both were made and are preserved by the almighty and only power of God, are truths grounded upon the Holy Scripture. For, touching the creation of the world, we read that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," etc. (Gen. i. 1). He made heaven and earth; "by him were all things created which are in heaven, and which are in earth, things visible, and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him, and for him" (Col. i. 16); by his Son he made the worlds, and all these acknowledged by the churches, primitive and reformed, at this day. And touching the preservation of all things by him created: "My soul, praise thou the Lord" etc. (saith the Psalmist), "which covereth himself with light as with a garment, spreadeth the heavens like a curtain; which layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters, and maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind," etc. (Ps. civ. 1).

TH. ROGERS, A.M., 1576-1615.