The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-03 00:00:00

John Rogers. By Joseph Lemuel Chester. Long.

man.

A certain amount of interest is inseparably at-
tached
to this work, as it records the career of one
who was no less than the compiler of the first autho-
rised English Bible, the pioneer of the English
Reformation and its first martyr. In the preface
the author informs us of his motives in presenting
this volume to the public. He " discovered that
the only original account concerning him which has
been received as authentic for nearly three centu-
ries was full of the widest discrepancies,. and
grossest errors. Modest and humble—unambitious
of a record on the common roll of fame—actuated by
higher and holier motives than the attainment of a
name among men, while he lived he carefully
avoided all appearance of ostentation, and never
claimed the honours to which he was justly entitled.
The reader will be struck with the painful interest
of this man's life and the solemn lessons of his
death. In the following impressive passage we are
shown how he was in his final hour more than con-
queror. " All writers, both Protestant and Romish,
united in bearing testimony to the wonderful
patience, constancy, nay, even cheerfulness with
which he met his fearful doom. The spectators
were more numerous than upon any subsequent
occasion, and although he was not permitted to
speak much to them, he did succeed in exhorting
them to remain true to the faith which he had
taught and many of them had embraced, and in
defence of which he had not only been content to
suffer all that he had already endured, but now
gladly resigned his life in this cluel manner, as his
final testimony in its behalf. After this the fires
were lighted, and as they began to take effect upon
him, he passed his hands through tie flames, rub-
bing them as if in the act of washing, as though he
were thus ridding himself of the last impurities of
earth, and then lifting them up toward heaven, he
held them in that position until consciousness ceased
and his soul took its flight towards its eternal
home.' There is an interesting account given of
the spot where the stake was placed in Smithfield.
During the course of some excavations the workmen
found a quantity of ashes, in the midst of which
were discovered a few charred and partially de-
stroyed bones. This circumstance reminds one of
the lines of the poetess :

"It may be that each day we tread,
Where thus devoted hearts have bled ;
And haply all around lie strewed,
The ashes of that multitude."
"Here, then," exclaims the writer, "first the
martyr Rogers, and subsequently many others
in the same cause, yielded up their lives amid
such tortures as cannot be conceived without
enduring them ; and there with their blood gave
vitality to the then feeble existence of that Refor-
mation which was eventually to secure to this land
and to the world the blessings of religious liberty.
In every quarter of the overJgrown city that now
surrounds this hallowed place are to be seen me-
mentoes erected to the memory of statesmen, war-
riors, scholars, and philosophers, but no tall shaft
or even humbler cenotaph directs the curious visitor
or the anxious pilgrim to this spot, where scenes
were enacted at the memory of which humanity
still shudders, but; without which, perhaps, those
great ones since thus honoured would have had no
existence, or at least no such record as now exists
upon the page of history." There is considerable
interest in many parts of this volume ; the record of
a man so noted in his day, so fated to influence the
generations that came after him in regard to truths
of which this world could not see the extinction,
and which surmounted all transient notions of the
greatness and glory of the things of time and sense
in their relation to eternity and spiritual concerns,
is in itself of paramount importance. So long as
the Christian religion flourishes, so long will men
turn with regard and reverence to those who sowed
in tears that happier brethren might reap in joy,
and carried the cross through the darkest ways of
earth that others might follow to wear the crown
in heaven. The attention bestowed upon this book
is likely to ensure for it a considerable amount of
notice,and the various plates impart a characteris-
tic feature to its contents, and carry one back to
the earlier ages of superstition and bigotry. .Ap-
pended to this volume are biographical sketches of
the supposed descendants of John Rogers. It is
not to be wondered at that this is regarded as a
grand privilege, and a greater distinction could not
be claimed than the fact of being "the son of
parents passed into the skies." There is sufficient
material in this book to gain an attentive study
and an arrested notice. It treats of a lofty subject,
that of a man who gave up his life for his faith, it
descants upon a worthy theme, the gain effected
and the good promulgated by these early workers
in the far-off days of dawning enlightenment. Thus
it contains truths that may not be gainsaid and in.
formation that is in itself important and interest- 1
ing.

The Life of Arthur, _First Duke of Wellington.
By the Rev. G. K. Gleig, Chaplain-General to
the Forces, and Prebendary of fit. Paul's. Long-
man.

It is some time since we noticed the original
edition of this work, which, from its full and
accurlte account of the eventful life of the Great
Duke, could NeftrOOly fail to find favour with the
descendants of those who fought at Waterloo. The
work is drawn partly from the celebrated "Life of
the Doke of Wellington" by M. Ilrialmont, and
partly e from original documents. The author had,
;itl4::i
tsht,heireat advantage of a personal friendship
that .. rrn
lington for
hank°. and justly observes in his preface,
vde been the guest of the Duke of Wel-
listened to hisa3:orand nights together • to have
of questions, both ePt of wisdom in the 'discussion
the present; to have he
past, and of what was then
inothserved his habit in the
domestic circle, and
th6eearrchanged ideas with him
on many subjects;
well loe°,-Ireiposition in society
iffe
on which :my man, ~.._ecurrefices iu his own
1 I(ii
aNyittha
drawinga ti shfaacst innont.
rill,t iint vviniyil'earnst?' they entitle
'° sat
that the
personal knowledge
picture which I have assisted in
been completed without some