with all their trumpery, in 1537. Musculus served the church of Augsburg till 1548, when Charles V. having entered the city, and re-established the Papists in the church of Notre-Dame, he found it necessary for his own safety to decamp. He retired to Switzerland, his wife and children following soon after; and was invited by the magistrates of Bern, in 1549, to the professorship of divinity. He chearfully accepted this invitation, and acquitted himself in this capacity with all imaginable pains: And, to shew his gratitude to the city of Bern, he never would accept of any employment, though several were offered him elsewhere. He died at Bern, the thirtieth of August, 1563. He was employed in some very important ecclesiastical deputations: He was deputed by the senate of Augsburg, in 1536, to the synod which was to be held at Eysnach, for the re-union of the Protestants upon the doctrine of the supper: he was deputed to assist at the conferences which were held between the Protestant and Roman Catholic divines, during the diet of Worms, and that of Ratisbon, in the years 1540 and 1541: He was one of the secretaries of the conference at Ratisbon, between Melancthon and Eccius, and drew up the acts of it: And he was sent to the inhabitants of Donawert, who embraced the Reformation in 1544, to form them into a church, and to lay the foundations of the true faith among them. Musculus was a man of great application and deep learn ing, and a considerable master of the Greek and Hebrew languages, although he was at the least thirty-two years of age when he began to study the latter, and forty when he first applied to the former. He published several books, and began with translations from the Greek into Latin. The first work of this nature which he published was, The Comment of St Chrysostom upon St Paul's epistles to the Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, printed at Basil in 1536. He afterwards published, in 1540, the second volume of the works of St Basil; and, after that, the Scholia of the same father upon the Psalms, several treatises of St Athanasius and St Cyril, the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Evagrius, and Polybius. 2. The 5. Romans. 6. Corin He also wrote commentaries, 1. On Genesis. Psalms. 3. Matthew. 4. John thians. 7. Philippians. 8. Colossians. 9. Thessalonians. 10. 1 Timothy. 11. His Common Places. 12. Upon the Commandments. 13. Of Oaths. 14. Of the German Wars. 15. Two Sermons preached at Worms concerning "concerning the "Popish Mass." Printed at Wittenberg. A little before his death, his biographer, Melchior Adam, says, he composed the following verses, to which we have added a translation taken from the Memoir of the late Rev. Mr Toplady, in which it has been given. Nil superest vita, frigus præcordia captat : Peccasti? scio: sed CHRISTUS credentibus in se My fainting life is nearly gone; My Frame is chill'd with dying Cold; < Canst neither sicken nor be old. Why tremblest, then, my parting Soul? That ANGEL waits to guide thy Way, Quit, then, O quit, this wretched House, GOD soon shall bind it up again, And bid it with new Lustre shine. But, art thou all defil'd with sins? Fear not, my Soul, thou ne'er shalt fall; The Blood of CHRIST can cleanse them all. Can death a thousand Horrors shew? And, like its Giver, sure and free. Lo! CHRIST, o'er Satan, Sin, and Death, Fly, happy Soul, with eager Wings; Away to JESUS, swiftly fly!' JOHN JOHN BALF, BISHOP OF OSSORY IN IRELAND. JOHN BALE was born the twenty-first of November, in the year 1495, at Cove, a small village in Suffolk, near Dunwich. His parents, whose names were Henry and Margaret, being in poor circumstances, and encumbered with a large family, by the advice of their then popish priests, entered young Bale, at twelve years of age, in the convent of Carmelites at Norwich; and from thence sent him to Jesus-College at Cambridge. He was educated in the Romish religion, but became afterwards a Protestant. "I wandered (says he) in utter ignorance and blindness "of mind both there [Norwich] and at Cambridge, having no tutor or patron; till, the word of GOD shining forth, the churches began to return to the pure foun"tains of true divinity. In which bright rising of the "New Jerusalem, being not called by any monk or priest, "but seriously stirred up by the illustrious the lord Went"worth, as by that centurion who declared Christ to be "the Son of GOD, I presently saw and acknowledged "my own deformity, and immediately, through the Di"vine Goodness, I was removed from a barren mountain "to the flowery and fertile valley of the gospel, where I "found all things built, not on the sand, but on a solid ❝ rock. Hence I made haste to deface the mark of wicked "antichrist, and entirely threw off his yoke from me, "that I might be partaker of the lot and liberty of the "sons of GOD. And that I might never more serve "so execrable a beast, I took to wife the faithful Dorothy, "in obedience to that divine command, Let him that can"not contain marry." This good woman was a great comfort to him in his future exiles and troubles, which not long afterwards were permitted to fall upon him. His conversion, and publicly preaching against the popish doctrines, however, greatly exposed him to the persecution of the Romish clergy; and he must have felt their keenest resentment, had he not been protected by the famous lord Cromwell, then in high favour with Henry VIII. But But upon the death of that nobleman, Bale, being pressed with the celebrated six articles, (commonly called the whip with six strings,) was forced to retire into the Low-countries, where he resided seven or eight days; during which time he wrote several pieces, chiefly against the Romish superstitions, in the English language. He was recalled into England by K. Edward VI. and presented to the living of Bishopstoke, in the county of Southampton. While our Author lived retired at Bishopstoke, about five miles from Southampton, (about which time he lived in great familiarity with the excellent bishop Ponet of Winchester,) the king went to Southampton, where Bale waited upon him. His majesty, who had been informed that he was dead, was surprised to see him, and, the bishopric of Ossory in Ireland being then vacant, summoned his privy-council, and appointed him, (August 15th, 1552,) to that see: Whereupon the lords present wrote the following letter to our Author. After To our very lovinge friende Doctour Bale. our hartye commendacyons. For as much as the Kinges Majestie is minded in consideracyon of your learninge, wysdome, and other vertuouse qualityes, to bestowe upon you the bishopricke of Ossorie in Irelande presently voyde, we have thought mete both to give you knowledge thereof, and therewithall to lete you understande, that his Majestie wolde ye made your repayre hyther to the courte ' as soon as conveniently ye may, to the end, that if ye be 'inclined to embrace this charge, his highnesse may at 'your comynge give such ordre for the farther procedinge with you herin, as shall be convenient. And thus we bid you hartily farewell. From Southampton the 16th daye of August 1552. Your lovinge friendes, W. Winchestre, J. Bedford, H. Suffolke, W. Northampton, T. Darcy, T. ( Cheine, J. Gate, W. Cecill.' Our Author tells us, in his piece entitled, "The Vo"cacyion of John Bale to the bishopricke of Ossorie in "Irelande, &c." that he refused this offer at first, alledging his poverty, age, and want of health; but the king not admitting this excuse, Dr Bale went to London about six weeks after, where every thing relating to his election, and confirmation were dispatched in a few days, without any manner of charge or expence. On the nineteenth of December, in the same year, he set out, with his books and other effects, and arrived at Bristol, where he waited twenty-six days for a passage to Ireland. On the twentyfirst of January, he embarked, with his wife and one ser vant, and in two days arrived at Waterford; and from thence went by land to Dublin. On the twenty-fifth of March following, he was consecrated at Dublin by the archbishop of Dublin, assisted by the bishops of Kildare and Down; and at the same time Hugh Goodacre, a particular friend of our Author, was consecrated archbishop of Armagh. He underwent a variety of persecutions from the popish party in Ireland, while he used his utmost endeavours, in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity, to correct the leud practices and debaucheries of the priests, to abolish the mass, and to establish the use of the new book of Common Prayer set forth in England; but all his labours of this kind were put a stop to by the death of K. Edward, and the accession of Q. Mary, and himself exposed so much to the rage and fury of the Papists, that his life was frequently endangered. Once in particular, they murdered five of his domestics, who were making hay in a meadow near his house, and would probably have attempted the same upon him, if the governor of Kilkenny, hearing of it, had not come to his defence with an hundred horsemen, and three hundred footmen. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that he expended the whole nearly of his episcopal revenue in acts of piety and beneficence. Yet no liberality or goodness could stop the rage of his popish adversaries, who were implacably offended at his preaching the doctrines of the gospel, and at the success which GOD was pleased to give it. At length, the bishop receiving intimations, that the Romish priests were conspiring his death, he withdrew from his see, and lay concealed in Dublin. Afterwards, endeavouring to make his escape in a small trading vessel in that port, he was taken prisoner by the captain of a Dutch man of war, who rifled him of all his money, apparel, and effects. This ship was drove by stress of weather into St Ives in Cornwall, where our prelate was taken up on suspicion of treason. The accusation was brought against the bishop by one Walter an Irishman, who was pilot of the Dutch ship, in hopes of coming in for a share of the bishop's money, which was in the captain's hands. When our Author was brought to his examination before one of the bailiffs of the town, he desired the bailiff to ask Walter, how long he had known him, and what treason he, [the bishop,] had committed. Walter replied, he had never heard of, nor seen him, till he was brought into that ship. Then said the bailiff, What treason have you known by this honest gentleman? For I promise you he looks |