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distance, its many towers and spires, and the huge dome of the Radcliffe Library rising above the billowy sea of verdure of its sylvan surroundings. A nearer approach only heightens the effect of this architectural magnificence. Probably no city of its size in the world presents so many examples of stately and venerable architecture as this city of colleges. Look in what direction you will, a beautiful tower, spire, or Gothic façade will meet the eye.

As we walk the smooth-turfed quadrangles and traverse the ivy-clad cloisters and the long rows of collegiate buildings, and visit the alcoved library, the great halls and the college chapels, we gain some suggestions of the atmosphere of learning by which the founders of Methodism were surrounded.

Christ Church College, of which the Wesleys and Whitefield were students, is the largest and most magnificent college at Oxford. It owes its splendour to the munificence of Cardinal Wolsey, by whom it was founded when he was in the zenith of his prosperity. One enters Christ Church through Wolsey's "Faire Gate," well worthy of the name.

St. Mary's Church, in whose pulpit John Wesley often preached, is invested with some of the most memorable associations of the Reformation. From its pulpit Wycliffe denounced the Romish superstitions of his day, and maintained the right of the laity to read the Word of God, the true palladium of their civil and religious liberty. Two centuries later, when Romish influence was in the ascendant at the University, the martyr-bishops, Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer,

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ENTRANCE TO HALL OF CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE, OXFORD.

were cited here for trial before Cardinal Pole, 1555; and hither the following year the venerable Archbishop Cranmer was brought from prison for the purpose of publicly recanting his Protestant opinions.

"He that late was Primate of all England," says Foxe, "attired in a bare and ragged gown, with an old square cap, stood on a low stage near the pulpit. After a pathetic prayer, stretching forth his right hand, instead of the expected recantation he said: 'Forasmuch as my hand offended in writing contrary to my heart, my hand, therefore, shall be first punished, for it shall be first burnt.' Having thus 'flung down the burden of his shame,' he was dragged from the stage, with many insults, to the place where he glorified God in the flames, after having been compelled to witness the martyrdom of Latimer and Ridley."

The Wesleys were familiar with this sacred spot. With Whitefield and others of the "Holy Club," they also regularly visited the felons in the public prison. Within these gloomy dungeons the martyr-bishops, Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley, were confined, and from it they walked to their funeral pyre. Here, we may be sure, the Wesleys often mused, catching inspiration from the example of those heroic men, and willing, if need were, to die like them for the Lord they loved so well.

The ivy-mantled gateway of St. Mary's Church is an object of strikingly picturesque beauty. The image of the Virgin above it gave great offence to the Puritans, and was one of the causes of the impeachment of Archbishop Laud.

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