was, through his whole life, opposed to the establishment of any religious sects whatever by law. He uniformly advocated the principles of toleration, viewed in their most comprehensive and liberal aspect. And he alienated the several sects and denominations of his day by the comparatively low estimate he put upon all outward forms and ordinances whatever.* His opinion, justly interpreted, was this, that liberty could not exist securely in any nation, where the hearts and lives of the people were not in subjection to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If it be fanatical to hold this opinion, Sir Henry Vane was indeed a fanatic.

Time will test its truth and importance. Some signal experiments have already been made. And while I speak for myself, I will venture, at the same time, to speak for my readers, that it is true, that civil liberty can only be preserved by the prevalence of those virtues which the

* Sikes, in his "Life of Vane," informs us that Sir Henry did not entertain the views, commonly received respecting water baptism, but thought it was a temporary institution, and that having "served its season," it had " gone off the stage." Sikes also asserts, that he believed that the Jewish sabbath was abolished by the coming of Christ; and that that, "which is observed in the room thereof," was "rather a magistratical institution among Christians, in imitation of the Jewish, than that which hath any clear appointment in the Gospel."

Gospel inculcates. The spirit of Christianity is, after all, the only real and genuine spirit of liberty, that has ever visited the earth. Where the spirit of the Gospel is, there, and there only, is liberty. When Christianity shall have acquired its full dominion over the hearts and lives of men, then will the hope, in which the champions and martyrs of liberty have toiled and suffered, be fulfilled. In this hope Sir Henry Vane lived and died. When he went forth from prison to execution, foreseeing the interruptions which oc curred on the scaffold, he recorded, as his "last words" to his fellow men, the prediction, which will now be quoted, as an appropriate conclusion of his biography.

The reader will perceive in it an instance of his use of language, in speaking of all temporal and political blessings combined under the name of the "kingdom of Christ." And although the expressions seem to indicate the expectation of a more speedy consummation, than has actually occurred, or is likely to occur, it must be borne in mind, that to him who looks into futurity the sure is apt to be regarded as the near. Even the superior light of inspiration did not prevent the illusion, when prophets and apostles gazed in spiritual vision upon coming centuries. They were wont to speak of the far distant, not only as nigh at hand, but as actually present.

These are the words in which Sir Henry Vane embodied the glorious hope which had cheered his life of labor and suffering, and in the assurance of which he was going to a triumphant death.

"As the present storm we now lie under, and the dark clouds that yet hang over the Reformed Churches of Christ, which are coming thicker and thicker for a season, were not unforeseen by me for many years past (as some writings of mine declare); so the coming of Christ in these clouds, in order to a speedy and sudden revival of his cause, and spreading his kingdom over the face of the whole earth, is most clear to the eye of my faith, even that faith in which I die, whereby the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

APPENDIX.

No. I.

SIR HENRY VANE HIS SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, AT A COMMITTEE FOR THE BILL AGAINST EPISCOPALL-Government, Mr. Hide sitting in the CHAIRE. JUNE 11, 1641. LONDON, PRINTED FOR FRANCIS CONSTABLE. 1641.

MASTER HIDE,

The debate we are now upon is, whether the Government by Archbishops, Bishops, Chancellors, &c. should be taken away out of the Church and Kingdome of England; for the right stating whereof, we must remember the vote which passed yesterday, not only by this Committee, but the House, which was to this effect; that this Government hath been found by long experience, to be a great impediment to the perfect reformation and growth of Religion, and very prejudiciall to the civill State.

So that then the Question will lie thus before us, Whether a Government, which long experience hath set so ill a Character upon, importing danger, not only to our Religion, but to the civill State, should be any longer continued amongst us, or be utterly abolished?

For my owne part, I am of the opinion of those, who conceive that the strength of reason already set downe, in the Preamble of this Bill, by yesterday's vote, is a necessary decision of this Question. For one of the