WHAT IS TRUTH?

FATHER FULGENTIO, the friend and biographer of the celebrated Paul Sarpi, both of thein secret friends of the progress of religious reformation, was once preaching upon Pilate's question, "What is truth?" He told the audience, that he had at last, after many searches found it out; and holding forth a New Testament, said, "Here it is my friends; but added, sorrowfully, as he returned it to his pocket, "It is a sealed book." It has been since the glory of the reformation to break the seal which priestly craft had imposed upon it, and to lay its blessed treasures open to the universal participation of mankind.

LAY PREACHER.

In the year 1555, a Mr. Tavernier, of Bresley in Norfolk, had a special licence signed by King Edward the Sixth, authorizing him to preach in any place of his majesty's dominions, though he was a layman; and he is said to have preached before the king at court, wearing a velvet bonnet or round cap, a damask gown, and a gold chain about his neck. In the reign of Mary, he appeared in the pulpit of St. Mary's Oxford, with a sword by his side, and a gold chain about his neck; and preached to the scholars, beginning his sermon in these words: "Arriving at the mount of St. Mary's in the Stony Stage where I now stand, I have brought you some fine biscuits, baked in the oven of Charity, Carefully Conserved for the Chickens of the Church." This sort of style, especially the alliterative part of it, was much dmired in those days, even by the most accomplished of scholars; and was long after in great favor both with speakers and hearers.

At the time that Mr. Tavernier first received commission as a preacher, good preaching was so very rare, that not only the king's chaplains were obliged to make circuits round the country to instruct the people, and to fortify them against popery, but even laymen, who were scholars were employed for that purpose.

REIGN OF MARY.

On the accession of Queen Mary to the throne, all the Protestant pulpits were shut up; the most eminent preachers in London were put in confinement, and all the married clergy throughout the kingdon were deprived of their benefices. Dr. Parker calculates that out of sixteen thousand clergymen, not less than twelve thousand were turned out. A few days after the queen had been proclaimed, there was a tumult at St. Paul's, in consequence of Dr. Bourne, one of the canons of that church, preaching against the Leformation. He spoke in praise of Bishop

Bonner, and was making some severe reflections on the late King Edward, when the whole audi ence rose in confusion. Some called out," Pull down the preacher; others threw stones; and one person threw a dagger at the doctor, which stuck in the pulpit. Had it not been for the exertions of Mr. Bradford and Mr. Rogers, two popular preachers for the reformation, he had certainly been sacrificed. These men, at the hazard of their lives, rescued him, and conveyed him in safety to a neighboring house. This act of kindness was afterwards repaid by their imprisonment and death at the stake.

SINCERITY.

La Bruyere is strong in his commendation of Father Seraphin, an apostolical preacher. The first time (he says) that he preached before Louis XIV., he said to this monarch, "Sire, I am not ignorant of the custom according to the

prescription of which I should pay you a compliment. This I hope your majesty will dispense with; for I have been searching for a compliment in the scriptures, and, unhappily, I have not found one."

CONTRAST.

Carracciolo, a celebrated Italian preacher, once exercised his talents before the Pope, on the luxury and licentiousness which then prevailed at court. "Fie on St. Peter! fie on St. Paul!" exclaimed he, "who having it in their power to live as voluptuously as the Pope and the cardinals, chose rather to mortify their lives with fasts, with watchings, and labors."

NOVELTY.

When M. le Tourneau preached the Lent sermons at St. Benoit, in Paris, in the room of Father Quesnel, who had been obliged to abscond, Louis XIV, enquired of Boileau if he knew anything of a preacher called Le Tourneau, whom everybody was running after? "Sire," replied the poet, "your majesty knows that people always run after novelties; this man preaches the gospel." The king then pressing him to give his opinion seriously, Boileau added, "When M. le Tourneau first ascends the pulpit, his ugliness so disgusts the congregation, that they wish he would go down again; but when he begins to speak, they dread the time of his descending.'

It is a singular fact, that this very successful preacher, after he had entered into orders, thought himself so ill-qualified for the pulpit, that he actually went and renounced all the duties of the priesthood; but was afterwards, by the earnest persuasions of M. de Sacy, induced to resume them.

Boileau's remarks, as to the novelty of "preaching the gospel" at that period, brings to remembrance the candid confession of a preacher at Mols, near Antwerp, who, in a sermon delivered to an audience wholly of his own order, observed, "We are worse than Judas; he sold and delivered his master; we sell him to you, but deliver him not.' ""

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

With all the strength of mind which Queen Elizabeth possessed, she had the weakness of her sex as far as related to her age and her personal attractions. "The majesty and gravity of a sceptre," says a contemporary of this great princess, "could not alter that nature of a woman in her. When Bishop Rudd was appointed to preach before her, he wishing in a godly zeal, as well became him, that she should think some time of mortality, being then sixtythree years of age, took his text fit for that purpose out of the Psalms, xc. 12- O teach us to number our days, that we may incline our hearts unto wisdom;' which text he handled most learnedly. But when he spoke of some sacred and mystical numbers, as three for the Trinity, three times three for the heavenly hierarchy, seven for the sabbath, and seven times seven for a jubilee; and, lastly, nine times seven for the grand climacterical year (her age), she perceiving whereto it tended, began to be troubled with it. The bishop discovering all was not well, for the pulpit stood opposite to her majesty, he fell to treat of some more plausible numbers, as of the number 666, making Latinus, with which, he said, he could prove Pope to be Antichrist, &c. He still, however, interlarded his sermon with Scripture passages, touching the infirmities of age, as that in Ecclesiasticus, 'When the grinders shall be few in number, and they wax dark that look out of the windows, &c., and the daughters of singing shall be abased;' and more to that purpose. The queen, as the manner was, opened the window; but she was so far from giving him thanks or good countenance, that she said plainly, "he might have kept his arithmetic to himself; but I see the greatest clerks are not the wisest men;' and so she went away discontented."

ROYAL WIT.

Fuller has enrolled among his Worthies, Dr. Field, Dean of Glocester, a learned divine, "whose memory," he says, "dwelleth like a field which the Lord hath blessed." He was an excellent preacher, and used often to preach before James I., especially in his progress through Hampshire, in 1609. The first time his majesty heard him, he observed in the same punning spirit with Fuller, and which was indeed characteristic of the age, "This is a field for the Lord to dwell in." His majesty gave him a promise of a bishopric, but never fulfilled it. When he heard of the doctor's death, his conscience appears to have smote him. He express.

The noted Daniel Burgess, the non-conformist minister, was by no means of puritan strictness, for he was the most facetious person of his day; and carried his wit so far, as to retail it from the pulpit with more levity than decency. Speaking of Job's "robe of righteousness," he once said "If any one of you would have a suit for a twelvemonth, let him repair to Monmouth Street; if for his lifetime, let him apply to the Court of Chancery; but if for all eternity, let him put on the robe of righteousness." The sermons of Burgess were artfully adapted to the prejudices as well as the opinions of his hearers -wit and whiggism went hand in hand with Scripture. He was strongly attached to the House of Brunswick, and would not uphold the Pretender's cause from the pulpit. He once preached a sermon about that time, on the reason why the Jews were not called Jacobites, in which he said, " God ever hated Jacobites, and therefore Jacob's sons were not so called, but Israelites." The preacher's love of a joke here triumphed over the truth, and his knowledge of chronology.

ELEGANT COMPLIMENT.

Dr. Balguy, a preacher of great celebrity, after having delivered an excellent sermon at Winchester Cathedral, the text of which was, "All wisdom is sorrow," received the following extempore, but elegant, compliment from Dr. Watson, then at Winchester School:

If what you advance, dear doctor, be true,
That wisdom is sorrow, how wretched are you.

STEADFASTNESS.

Dr. Harris, the minister of Hanwell, during the civil wars, frequently had military officers quartered at his house. A party of them being unmindful of the respect due to the minister of religion, indulged themselves in swearing. The doctor noticed this, and on the following Sunday preached from these words: "Above all things, my brethren, swear not." This so enraged the soldiers, who judged the sermon was intended for them, that they swore they would shoot him if he preached on the subject again. He was not however to be intimidated; and on the following Sunday, he not only preached from the same text, but inveighed in still stronger terms against the vice of swearing. As he was preaching, a sol

dier levelled his carbine at him; but he went on to the conclusion of his sermon, without the slightest fear or hesitation.

SEA CAPTAIN MADE BISHOP.

Dr. Lyons, who was preferred to the Bishopric of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, during the latter part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, held the benefice for twenty years, though he never preached but once, which was on the death of the queen. On that melancholy occasion, he thought it his duty to pay the last honors to his royal mistress, and accordingly ascended the pulpit in Christ Church, Cork, where he delivered a good discourse on the uncertainty of life, and the great and amiable qualities of her majesty. He concluded in the following warm but whimsical manner. "Let those who feel this loss, deplore with me on this melancholy occasion; but if there be any that hear me, who have secretly wished for this event (as perhaps there may be), they have now got their wish, and may it do them all the good they deserve."

The bishop's aversion to preaching, is supposed to have arisen from his not having been intended for the church. His promotion is very singular; he was captain of a ship, and distinguished himself so gallantly in several actions with the Spaniards, that, on being introduced to the queen, she told him that he should have the first vacancy that offered. The honest captain, who understood the queen literally, soon after hearing of a vacancy in the See of Cork, immediately set out for court, and claimed the royal promise. The queen, astonished at the request, for a time remonstrated against the impropriety of it, and said, that she could never think it a suitable office for him. It was, however, in vain; he pleaded the royal promise, and relied on it. The queen then said, she would take a few days to consider of the matter; when examining into his character, and finding that he was a sober moral man, as well as an intrepid commander, she sent for him, and gave him the bishopric, saying, she "hoped he would take as good care of the church, as he had done of the state."

SOUTH.

The celebrated Dr. South, one of the chaplains of Charles the Second, preaching on a certain day before court, which was composed of the most profligate and dissipated men in the nation, perceived in the middle of his discourse, that sleep had gradually taken possession of his hearThe doctor immediately stopped short, and changing his tone of voice, called out to Lord Lauderdale three times. His lordship standing up, "My lord," said South, with great composure, "I am sorry to interrupt your repose, but I must beg of you that you will not snore quite so loud, lest you awaken his majesty."

ers.

On another occasion, when preaching before the king, he chose for his text these words: "The lot is cast into the lap, but the disposing of it is of the Lord." In this sermon he intro

duced three remarkable instances of unexpected advancement, those of Agathocles, Massaniello, and Oliver Cromwell. Of the latter he said, "And who, that beheld such a bankrupt beggarly fellow as Cromwell, first entering the Parliament House with a threadbare torn cloak, greasy hat (perhaps neither of them paid for), could have suspected that, in the space of so few years, he should, by the murder of one king, and the banishment of another, ascend the throne?" At this the king is said to have fallen into a violent fit of laughter; and turning to Dr. South's patron, Mr. Lawrence Hyde, afterwards created Lord Rochester, said, "Odds fish, Lory, your chaplain must be a bishop; therefore put me in mind of him at the next death."

Bishop Kennet says of South, that "he labored very much to compose his sermons; and in the pulpit, worked up his body when he came to a piece of wit, or any notable saying."

His wit was certainly the least of his recommendations; he indulged in it to an excess which often violated the sanctity of the pulpit. When Sherlock accused him of employing wit in a controversy on the Trinity, South made but a sorry reply: "Had it pleased God to have made you a wit, what would you have done?"

FENELON.

When Fenelon was almoner to the king, and attending Louis XIV. to a sermon preached by a capuchin, he fell asleep. The capuchin perceived it, and breaking off his discourse, said, "Awake that sleeping Abbé, who comes here only to pay his court to the king; " a reproof which Fenelon often related with pleasure after he became Arcbbishop of Cambray.

At another time the king was astonished to find only Fenelon and the priest at the chapel, instead of a numerous congregation as usual. "What is the reason of all this?" said the king. "Why," replied Fenelon, "I caused it to be given out, sire, that your majesty did not attend chapel to day, that you might know who came to worship God, and who to flatter the king."

When Louis appointed Fenelon chief of the missionaries, to convert the Protestants of Sausonge, his majesty insisted that a regiment of guards should accompany him. "The ministers of religion," said Fenelon, " are the evangelists of peace; and the military might frighten all, but would not persuade a single individual. It was by the force of their morals that the apostles converted mankind; permit us then, sire, to follow their example." But, alas!" said the king, "have you nothing to fear from the fanaticism of those heretics?" "I am no stranger to it, sire, but a priest must not let fears like these enter into his calculation; and I take the liberty of mentioning again to you, sire, that if we would draw to us our diffident brethren, we must go to them like true apostles. For my own part, I had rather become their victim, than see one of their ministers exposed to the vexations, the insult, and the almost necessary violence of our military men."

Not long before he died, Fenelon ascended the pulpit of his cathedral, and excommunicated in person such of his own works as the Pope had interdicted. He placed on the altar a piece of sacred plate, on which were embossed some books, with the titles of the alleged heretical ones struck with the fire of heaven.

TROPE FOR TROPE.

A clergyman preaching in the neighborhood of Wapping, observing that most part of his audience were in the sea-faring way, very naturally embellished his discourse with several nautical tropes and figures. Amongst other things, he advised them to be ever on the watch, so that, on whatsoever tack the evil one should bear down upon them, he might be crippled in action. "Aye, master," muttered a jolly son of Neptune; "but let me tell you, that will depend upon your having the weather gage of him." A just, though whimsical, remark.

WITTY PERVERSION.

Dr Williamson, vicar of Moulton, in Lincolnshire, nad a violent quarrel with one of his parishioners of the name of Hardy, who showed I considerable resentment. On the succeeding Sunday, the doctor preached from the following text, which he pronounced with much emphasis, and with a significant look at Mr. Hardy, who was present: "There is no fool like the fool HARDY."

SINGULAR DISTINCTION.

Mr. Mossman, a Scotch minister, preaching on the sin of taking God's name in vain, made this singular distinction: "O, sirs, this is a very great sin; for my own part, I would rather steal all the horned cattle in the parish, than once take God's name in vain."

READING THE ATHANASIAN CREED.

The Rev. Mr. Wright, a curate in the West of England, refused to read the Athanasian Creed, though repeatedly desired to do so by his parishioners. They complained to the Bishop of the Diocess, who ordered it to be read. The Creed is appointed to be said or sung; and the curate accordingly, on the following Sunday, thus addressed his congregation. "Next follows St. Athanasius' Creed, either to be said or sung, and with God's leave I'll sing it. Now, clerk, mind what you are about." They immediately commenced singing it in a fox-hunting tune, which having previously practised, was correctly performed. The parishioners again met, and informned their curate that they would dispense with the Creed in future.

SUBLIME INCIDENT.

When the well-known Dr. Barth preached for the first time in his native city of Leipsic, he

disdained the usual precaution of having his ser mon placed in the Bible before him, to refer to in case of need. A violent thunder storm suddenly arising, just as he was in the middle of his discourse, and a tremendous peal of thunder causing him to lose the thread of his argument, with great composure and dignity he shut the Bible, saying, with strong emphasis, " IWhen God speaks, man must hold his peace." He then descended from the pulpit, while the whole congregation looked on him with admiration and wonder.

TRUTH WILL OUT.

Aubrey says, that Dr. Babington, who was chaplain to the celebrated Robert, Earl of Leicester, being employed by that nobleman to preach the sermon at the funeral of his first wife, whose death it is now almost historically certain, was foully accomplished by the earl's desire, in order to promote his ambitious hopes of an alliance with Queen Elizabeth, the honest parson "tripped once or twice in his speeeh, by recommending to their memories that virtuous lady so pitifully-murdered, instead of saying, so pitifully slain."

SERMON BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

A clergyman, a friend of Mr. Opie, declared to him, that he once delivered one of Sir Joshua Reynolds' discourses from the pulpit, as a sermon, with no other alteration, but in such words as made it applicable to morals instead of the fine arts. "Which," says the relater, " is a proof of the depth of his reasoning, and of its foundation being formed on the principles of general nature."

WHIMSICAL INTERRUPTION

When Dr. Beadon was Rector of Eltham, in Kent, the text he one day undertook to preach from was, "Who art thou?" After reading the text, he made (as was his custom) a pause, for the congregation to reflect upon the words; when a gentleman, in military dress, who at the instant was marching very sedately up the middle aisle of the church, supposing it a question addressed to him, to the surprise of all present, replied, “I am, sir, an officer of the sixteenth regiment of foot, on a recruiting party here; and baving brought my wife and family with me, I wish to be acquainted with the neighboring clergy and gentry." This so deranged the divine, and astonished the congregation, that though they attempted to listen with decorum, the discourse was not proceeded in without considerable difficulty.

DR. KENNICOTT.

After Dr. Kennicott had taken orders, he went to officiate in his clerical capacity at Totness, his native town, where his father filled the humble situation of parish clerk. When his fa

ther, as clerk, proceeded to place the surplice on his shoulders, a struggle ensued between the modesty of the son, and the honest pride of the parent, who insisted on paying that respect to his son, which he had been accustomed to show to other clergymen. Nor was this the only affecting circumstance which occured on this occasion. His mother had often declared, she should never be able to support the joy of hearing her son preach; and she was now actually so overcome, as to be taken out of the church in a state of temporary insensibility

APOLOGY FOR FLATTERY.

James II. once asked a preacher, how he could justify the commending of princes when they did not deserve it? He answered, that princes were so high in station, that preachers could not use the same liberty in reproving them as other men, and therefore by praising them for what they were not, taught them what they ought to be.

The king was pleased with the ingenuity of the answer, but observed that, for himself, he did not desire to be complimented into his duty; they had his full permission to tell him plainly of his faults; he desired their prayers, and not their praises.

PURITAN COURT PREACHERS. Edward Deering, a puritan divine of the sixteenth century, was much celebrated for his eloquence in the pulpit. He appears to have carried his resistance to the established religion, to a greater height than most of his brethren, and did not spare even the queen herself (Elizabeth). On one occasion, when preaching before her majesty, he told her that, when she was persecuted by Queen Mary, her motto was "tanquam ovis" (like a sheep); but now it might be "tanquam indomita juvenca" (like an untamed heifer). The queen, with a mildness not usual with her, took no other notice of his rudeness, than merely to order that he should not preach at court again.

ARRESTING ATTENTION.

A party of clergymen were one day in conversation, pleasantly talking of their success in preaching. One of them said, "Gentlemen, I once converted a man with my eyes." When requested to explain, he added, "a straggler once entered my church, and casting his looks towards me, he thought I was staring him in the face. To avoid my observation, he removed from door to door, but to no purpose. At last he resolved to stare me out of countenance; his attention was thus fixed upon what was said, and his sentiments and conduct from that day underwent a complete change."

"LOVE ONE ANOTHER."

A Welsh parson preaching from this text, "Love one another," told his congregation, that in kind and respectful treatment to our fellow ||

creatures, we were inferior to the brute creation. As an illustration of the truth of this remark, he quoted an instance of two goats in his own parish, that once met upon a bridge so very narrow, that they could not pass by without one thrusting the other off into the river. "And," continued he," how do you think they acted? Why, I will tell you. One goat laid himself down, and let the other leap over him. Ah! beloved, let us live like goats."

NONCONFORMITY.

When Oliver Heywood was about to quit the living in Coley Chapel, in the parish of Halifax, Yorkshire, on account of the laws of conformity, one of his hearers was very earnest in expressing his desire that he would still continue their preacher. Mr. Heywood said he would as glad ly preach, as they could desire it, if he could conform with a safe conscience. "Oh! sir," replied the man, niany a man now-a-days makes a great gash in his conscience, cannot you make a little nick in yours?"

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ABSENCE OF MIND.

A very absent divine finding his sight begin to fail, purchased a pair of spectacles, and on the first day of using them, preached for a brother clergyman, but was observed to have them at the top of his forehead during the whole sermon. "So you have, at last, taken to spectacles, doctor?" said a friend after the service. "Yes," returned the unconscious absentee, "I found I could not do without them, and I wonder now I never used them till to-day!"

SCORNERS REBUKED.

Whitefield being informed that some lawyers had come to hear him by way of sport, took for his text these words: "And there came a certain lawyer to our Lord." Designedly he read, "And there came certain lawyers to our-I am wrong, a certain lawyer,' I was almost certain that I was wrong. It is a wonder to see one lawyer; but what a wonder if there had been more than one?" The theme of the sermon corresponded with its commencement, and those who came to laugh, went away edified.

BURNET AND SPRAT.

Bishop Burnet and Bishop Sprat were old rivals. On some public occasion, they both preached before the House of Commons. There prevailed in those days an indecent custom; when the preacher touched any favorable topic in a manner that delighted his audience, their approbation was expressed by a loud hum, continued in proportion to their zeal or pleasure. When Burnet preached, part of his congregation hummed so loudly and so long, that he sat down to enjoy it, and rubbed his face with his handkerchief. When Sprat preached, he was also hon. ored with the like animating hum; but he stretch