appeared; and very likely before that time, he and his companions had all gone to receive their reward in a better world. In 1546, Benedotto Locarno and John Biccaria exerted themselves to enlighten their fellow citizens. The latter commonly called the apostle of Locarno, was a man of good tal. ents and excellent character, who by reading the Scriptures without any help from other writings, discovered the corruptions of the Church of Rome. In four years the Protestants of Locarno increased so as to form a numerous church and had pastors of their own. Their flourishing state was a great eye-sore to the popes; and for some years they were subject to every kind of ill treatment, short of open violence. At last, the priests enraged at losing their gains, as they were no longer employed to bury the dead and baptize the children of the Protestants, raised a persecution against them, and put Biccaria into prison; from whence, however, he escaped. They then obtained an order from government that all those who would not conform to the Roman Catholic religion should be forced to leave Locarno, on pain of death, never to return. This was a dreadful blow to the Protestants; and some of them terrified at it, appeared the next day after it was issued, and asking pardon for their past conduct, promised obedience for the future. The greater part however, in the evening, walked in order to the council chamber; the men followed by their wives, the women leading or carrying their children. Having been admitted, one of their number in the name of the rest, said, that being accused of professing new opinions, they begged leave humbly to declare that they held only the faith which

we

we will die in it,"-while the words, 66 will never forsake it; it is the only true sav. ing faith, it is the only holy faith," continued for a considerable time to resound through the assembly. Before leaving the room they were ordered to give their names to the council, and two hundred persons immediately came forward, with the greatest readiness and with mutual congratulations. They entreated leave to remain till the winter was passed, but the deputies sternly refused to permit it, and they therefore prepared to leave their homes, and sent to beg an asylum at Zurich. Before their departure, however, they were harassed by the priests, who endeavoured to persuade them to re cant, and who procured leave to put in prison such as were most odious to them; when they found they could not succeed in their endeavours, the pope's nuncio was particularly enraged at three ladies, Catarina Rosalina, Lucia di Orello, and Barbara di Montalto; against the last he got a warrant to send the officers of justice to take her; they burst into her dressing room while she was dressing; the lady with great presence of mind, begged them to allow her to retire into another room to put on some article of dress; she then hastened down stairs to a concealed door which opened upon the lake where her house was situated, and where a boat was always kept in water to carry off the inmates of the house upon any sudden alarm. This door required the strength of six men to move it, but providentially had been opened the night before, in consequence of her husband having had a dream which alarmed him, concerning his own safety. She lept into the boat, and was Garried off in safety, before her enemies who

were waiting to receive her, perceived. They seized all her property, and also took a poor tradesman of the same faith, and tortured him first and then put him to death. On the fifteenth of March, the exiles set out on their journey; and their life had been so bitter for some time, that they looked for ward to their departure with joy: but their enemies bad got an order from the govern. ment of Milan, forbidding them to stay more than three days in that country; they ordered their subjects not to entertain them, thus forcing them to take a more difficult road and when they arrived at the Alps, they found them covered with ice and snow, and being unable to pass for many months suffered much inconvenience. At last the thaw allowed them to proceed, and they reached the county of Grisons, where their brethren of the same faith offered them a home which half of them accepted; and the other half went to Zurich, where the inhabitants came to meet them, and by their kind and brotherly conduct consoled the hearts of the sad and weary exiles, who repaid their kindness by the useful arts and manufactories they brought with them. While on the contrary, the town of Locarno having thrown from its bosom, its most industrious subjects, its trade began to languish; and as if to punish them for their cruelty, their country was desolated by a tempest and pestilence, and for many years they were tormented by continual calamities. Mc. Crie's Hist. of the reformation in Italy.

ANECDOTES OF CHILDREN.

A little boy reading to his mama about the Lion, in a book of natural history, said, mama, the Lion is a noble animal, but I

love the Lamb better and I will tell you" why I love it better; because Jesus Christ is called the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."

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A few days ago I visited a very poor widow whose youngest child, seven years old, was killed on the king's birth-day, by a horse, which had run off, being frightened by squibs. I was delighted to see her faith, and resignation; she blessed God that he had taken the child of whose salvation she had strongest hopes. When the child saw her mother weep, she said, "Job lost all his children, you have one left-and I go to Jesus, for he promised that those who seek him early shall find him.”

A very little girl who was frequently reading her Bible, often gave proof that she considered it her duty to obey its precepts, One day she came delighted to her mother, shewing some plums that a friend had given to her. The mother answered, "she was very kind and has given you a great many." "Yes," said the child, "very kind indeed; and she gave me more than these, but I have given some away." The mother asked to whom she had given them? when the child replied: "I gave them to a girl who pushes me off the path and makes faces at me." Upon being asked why she gave them to her, she answered, "Because I thought that would make her know, that I wished to be kind to her, and she will not perhaps be unkind and rude to me again."

How sweetly and simply did this dear little one obey the injunction to 66 overcome evil with good."