THE LEGEND OF ST. MARTIN. From the German of Johannes Daniel Falk. BY THE EDITOR. While Cæsar Theodosius This happened, as the legends say, A trooper bold, he onward rode, A trembling beggar bade him stay, Our Martin would have gladly dressed The beggar, then, a rich reward The beggar said his "Gratias!' It happened strangely in the night: With thousand angels at his side "Do'st see the mantle that I wear?" And when St. Peter sought to know, Then when our Lord these words had said, BREAD ON THE WATERS. A Christmas Surprise. BY REBECCA H. SCHIVELY. Two faces, very different, yet very much alike. Two faces, at which the thoughtful passer-by might well wish for a second glance, though they were only those of a poor old woman and a little child. The crisp air of December vibrated with the merry peal of Christmas bells, and the frozen snow gave out the crackling sound that children love, under many passing feet. People were hurrying about on all manner of festival business, driven to unwonted briskness by the cold atmosphere, as well as by the shortness of that most crowded day of the year. Expressmen, lettercarriers, bakers' and confectioners' boys, men, women and children, bound on their errands and on other people's, with eager eyes and faces, red from the kisses of the rough north wind, were jostling each other like the restless waves of an unquiet sea. But amid ail the ebbings and flowings of the throng that filled the streets of the great city, there were steady streams that flowed hither and thither as if drawn by those vibrant echoing bells,-treams that flowed toward the open doors of God's houses, and into them, and there subsided into a holy and joyous calm. Such was the destina'ion of the two The to whom I have alluded-a woman of had been a carpenter; but several perhaps sixty-five years, and her little months before, in descending from a granddaughter. Tears and cares had high scaffolding, had made a mis-stepsilvered the old lady's head, and fur- had fallen-and that moment ended rowed her face with wrinkles; still her active work for him forever. figure was upright, her step even somewhat elastic, and her dark eyes bright and earnest. And although there was a shade of sorrow upon her face and the firm lips were occasionally compressed as if by pain, yet her prevailing look was one of settled peace, or serenity, like that of the upper atmosphere, too perfect for any passing cloud to disturb. mother's industrious hands had hitherto been able to provide for the wants of her two children; but on Christmas Eve the factory in which she had found employment had closed, on account of financial troubles. The times were hard, provisions dear, and Sara was almost a stranger in the city, to which they had come in the preceding spring, when Carl entered upon his last "job.' The little girl, who held her hand, No wonder that the fine old face was and came along beside her with an oc-clouded, though it was Christmas morncasional hop and skip, had to judge ing. from her wistful glance now and then She bowed, as was her wont, in silent cast upward, a dim perception of the prayer, and then sat reverently waiting shadow on the dear old face; yet, with for the portion that was to be her's that instinctive delicacy, she asked no ques-day. It was not long in reaching her. tions, but only held the toil-worn hand From the opening of the service, in the tightly in her soft fingers, and prattled name of the Triune God, every word on as if trying to beguile her grand-sauk into her heart like good seed into mother out of her sad thoughts, what-long prepared soil. The lessons comever they might be. mencing with the Word that was in the "Hither, ye faithful!" rang the beginning, and ending with that grand bells. "To us this day is born a Prince outlook into eternity to come: and Saviour. O come, and let us worship. "Thou remainest,-Thou art the at His feet!" Then the chimes pealed same, and Thy years shall not fail!" again, and quickly, and more quickly, seemed to lift her up, as on eagles' till the whole air seemed to be filled with wings, to the beholding of the glory of waves of melody. As the grandmother the Word, "full of grace and truth." and child crossed the sacred threshold, all The care that lay on her mind was not, was still for a second or so; then a lit could not be forgotten, but every tle bell, high in the octave, uttered one thought concerning it was crystallized soft sound, and the organ responded into a prayer. with a joyful voluntary. The child's eyes shone with solemn delight at the dearly-loved music at the beautifully decorated church, and the throng of glad worshippers around. Her grandmother smiled down upon her upturned face; but the shadow still rested upon "We bless Thee for Thy conception by the Holy Ghost, and for Thy birth of the blessed Virgin, whereby Thou hast become the true seed of Abraham, and didst take upon Thyself all our sins and infirmities." "Thou didst become a little child, O her own. my Lord!" her heart responded. What was the trouble of old Sara" And what am I, but a little child beHeldinn? A heroic heart, it is true, fore Thee? My threescore years are throbbed beneath her threadbare gray but infancy to Thee, who art from shawl; but not even a hero's heart can the beginning. Lead Thou me, as I contemplate unmoved that sorest of lead my little Bertha! Hold us all in trials, the sufferings of the beloved. It Thine hand, for my work is Toine! was the old story, so o'ten repeated. Thou hast provided for to-day, Thou Here was her little Bertha, her eight wilt provide for to-morrow!" years' old darling, and at home lay the With "salvation from sin and eternal child's father, her widowed son Carl, life" in Carist, all things, she felt, were long her only support, but now the included. The shade of care passed hop-less victim of a spinal disease. He from her soul and from her face, and higher and more joyously her thoughts as one "Home" was but three little rooms in a tenement house. it is true; but they were bright with cleanliness, and the brighter to the returning worshippers, for the welcome of Carl Heldinn's patient smile. From day to day, in the intervals of pain, his fingers were busy fashioning delicate bits of wood-carving. It had been his amusement as a boy, and was now his only hope for lightening his mother's cares. They had not, it is true, found very ready sale for his work, as yet, but with true German perseverance he still went on with it. On a small side table stood a little Christmas tree, and under it lay two pieces of his work, carefully wrought for gifts to his mother and his child. A head-plate with ears of wheat, and the motto "Unser täglich Brodt gieb uns heute," the dear old German words he knew would be sweet to Sara,—was the gift that with most unconscious appositeness he had made her. A little figure of the Lamb bearing the cross was the delight of Bertha's eyes. mother's own fingers. All these treesures were lighted up, on Christmas Eve, with a few carefully preserved candle ends. was There was a Christmas dinner, too; but certainly it was no subject for an appetizing description. There en ugh of potatoes and salt; there was as careful crockery and as delicate service as though these had been all the luxuries of the season; and that was the whole feast. For the rest there never was a better illustration of the superior excellence of the "dinner of herbs, where love is." For dessert they had the two apples, which unselfish lit tle Bertha insisted should be divided, so that her grandmother and her father might share them. The short winter afternoon passed rapidly away in reading, and in quiet, happy talk. It was twilight, and Sara Heldinn, who could not long be idle, sat near her son, knitting while she talked. Their recollections had gone back to Carl's boyish days, and the Christmas trees that had grown along the path of his childhood. "I cannot remember a Christmas without one," remarked Carl. "But oh, mother, do you remember Will Fenimore, and how he looked the first time he saw me at our house?" "Poor Will!" replied Mrs. Heldinn, "his first ten years must have been hard indeed!" "Yes; and but for you, Mütterchen, and father, I suppose he would have known many more such. There would have been no refuge for him but the poorhouse. It is so strange that we have not heard from him for so many years!" "If he is living, I am sure he never forgets us!" answered Sara, her motherheart swift to defend even the fosterson of her charity. "I hope not!" Carl replied, but a little doubtfully. The poor Christmas tree had a history of its own. It had seemed a special providence to Sara, whose festival would have been sadly incomplete without this small pleasure for the child. Bertha herself had brought home the hemlock bough from the church, where the Sunday-school children were permitted to assist in the decoration, and carry home the remaining greens, if they wished. The bite of red and His mother was prevented from_anwhite candy, and the two ruddy "Bald-swering by a knock at the door. Berwins" had been given to Mother Hel- tha ran to open it, and they heard a dinn by the woman who kept the green deep voice, asking, "Does Mrs. Heldgrocery where she dealt, expressly for inn live here?" Bertha-the child being an especial Sara came forward, and looked infavorite with the storekeeper. The lit-quiringly at the stranger. tle crimson mittens and stockings had "Oh, Mutter Heldinn, do you not been knit at night by the grand- know me!"' "Oh, Carl, it is Will himself, our boy! Welcome, welcome, mein Wilhelm!" cried the good mother, mixing her English with her mother-tongue, in her excitement. "I said you had never forgotten us?" 66 Forgotten? not easily, unless I had lost my memory of all that is good! Thank you, mother, that you did not mistrust me. Nor you either, I hope, brother Carl?" "Forgive me, Will, if I doubted you a little! We have moved twice since we left the old village, but we wrote, both times, to let you know. Yet now, believe me that I repent my mistrust, it is all gone, without your explanation!" "Thanks, brother Carl! I never received your letters, and have had hard work to find you. But the story will be long, and before I tell it, I must know how you have fared." All the history of the few last years was soon told; all, except that Sara still kept shut up in her own heart this last sore trial, the loss of her employ ment. concealing his own pain in seeing what should have been his work for her in the hands of another. He had his reward. In the mother's eyes stood tears, that all her cares and perplexities bad failed to bring there; but her face shone with holy gratitude. "Shall we go, my son?" she cried. "For the Lord, who came to earth for us and for our salvation, has surely sent Will home to us at this time to keep us from di-tress. For oh, Carl, I can tell you now what I could not bear to let you know before-the factory is closed, and I have no more work there for this winter, at least. But God provided for to-day, and now He has taken care for to-morrow, even before it comes! My children, never let us mistrust the tender mercy of our Lord!" BEGINNINGS OF THE REFORMED NO. VIII. BY THE EDITOR. "And now, mother Heldinn, I have a great request to make of you! I have not come back a wealthy man, as Relations with the Church of England. I fancied I should, when I went from It is not our intention to give an acyour care out into the world. But I have tried to make my life worthy of count of the English Reformation. There the lessons you and Father Heldinn are, however, some facts in connection taught me. And now I have come to with that great movement which, though be the working partner, to superintend frequently ignored, are sufficiently ina new woolen-mill in the dear old vil-portant to claim our attention. Though lage. Mother, you will come and keep the Reformed Church of England diflage. Mother, you will come and keep fers widely from other Protestant bodies, house for me, will you not? I have bought back the old home, and we will especially in external organization, it is all be together there. Carl can have easy to show that at the beginning it the loveliest models for his wood carvstood in the most intimate relations with ings, and I know I can find sale for them all. And Bertha will grow up tall and rosy and strong. And we shall employ young women from the city here, and you will be a good mother to them, as you were to me when I was a poor little waif! What good Christmas days we shall make for them! You will not say No, Mother Heldinn, am I not your other son, and Carl's brother?" Poor Carl looked a little pale and sad while the young man poured out this long, impetuous speech; but smiled like the hero he was, upon his mother, the churches of the Continent. Indeed, it history it was generally recognized as is not too much to say that in its earlier one of the branches of the Reformed English Church," says Stilling. "is only Church. "The Anglican, that is, the different from the rest of the Reformed Church in this, that it has an Episcopal form of Government. Are the Swedish and Danish Churches not Lutheran because they have bishops? Does the garment make the man ?”* English writers have asserted, on the basis of tradition, that Christianity was *Warhrheit in Liebe, p. 228. been converted to Protestantism in Germany, and was privately married to a German lady, a niece of the celebrated Osiauder. It was not, however, until after the death of Henry that Cranmer was able to take active measures for the organization of the Protestant Church of England. CRANMER AND BULLINGER. introduced into England by St. Paul, and that the Church of England had at all times a right to assert its independence of the See of Rome. However this may be, it is certain that, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the authority of the Pope appeared to be more firmly established in England than in any other country in Europe. Henry VIII., who became king in 1509, was an enthusiastic defender of the Papacy, In 1536, just after the king of Eng. and when Luther, in 1521, published land's marriage to Jane Seymour, Cranhis book on The Babylonish Captivity," mer was introduced, by Prof. Simon Henry condescended to write a very Grynæus, of Strasburg, to Henry Bulviolent reply, which he called, "The linger, antistes of the Reformed Church Defence of Seven Sacraments." In re- of Zurich. In August of the same year turn for this service the Pope gave Cranmer sent to Zurich three young Henry the title of "Defender of the Englishmen, John Butler, William Faith," but Luther read him such a lec- Woodruff, and Nicholas Partridge, for ture as had never been heard by a the purpose of studying theology and crowned head before. He called him becoming acquainted with the Swiss "a crowned ass," and said that he had churches. They remained more than a the habit of spitting poison like a cross mackerel." Afterwards, when Henry quarrelled with the pope, Luther was willing to become reconciled, but the king rejected all his advances. The circumstances which occasioned the alienation of Henry from the Pope are well known, and need not be related in detail. It is a scandalous history, beginning with his divorce from Queen Katharine, and his marriage with Anne Boleyn, and continuing through all his domestic relations. In 1534 the Church of England was, by Act of Parliament. declared independent of Rome, and Henry was acknowledged as the head of the Church; but to the end of his life the King maintained the Roman faith, while he remorselessly persecuted all, whether Catholics or Protestants, who refused to acknowledge his supreme authority in spiritual as well as temporal matters. It is wrong, therefore, to regard Henry as having introduced the Reformation into England, but it is true that his alienation from Rome rendered the Reformation possible. year, and on their return to England they were accompanied by Rudolf Gualter, who studied for some time at Oxford. Gualter was afterwards married to Zwingli's daughter Regula, and became the third antistes of the church of Zurich. From this time the relations of Cranmer and Bullinger were very intimate. The works of the latter were translated into English, and a letter from Bishop John Hooper is still extant, in which he declares that he had been greatly profited by reading them. On the death of Henry VIII., in 1547, the succession devolved on his son, Edward VI., who was but ten years of age. The government was, however, really in the hands of the king's uncle, the Duke of Somerset, and a council of state, of which Craumer was a member. Every effort was now made to organize the Church of England on a Protestant basis. The king was a precocious boy, and soon took a profound interest in the movement. In 1550 he sent Christopher Mont to Zurich, with a letter to BullinWhile the king occupied this schis- ger, in which he desired a closer conmatic position, Protestantism was quiet- nection between the churches of Engly advancing throughout the kingdom. land and Switzerland. During this His third wife, Jane Seymour, was at period Bullinger corresponded with heart a Protestant, and did all in her Warwick, Dorset, and other English power to advance the cause. Thomas statesmen, and constantly counselled Cranmer, who had been made Archbi-moderation and mildness. He did not shop of Canterbury on account of his ac- object to the Episcopal form of governtivity in the matter of the divorce, had ment as a matter of expediency, but ad |