"Poor sinner, from thy hand sin's cup I took;

I died for thee; what hast thou done for Me?"

With quiet step, with thoughtful face and sad,

Many would turn and leave that solemn spot;

But though they went once more their sev'ral ways,

That picture of "The Christ" was ne'er forgot:

Whilst at their toil at morn, their rest

at eve,

Or when they journey'd on the lonely road,

Upon the mountain top, and in the vale, They ever heard this question of their Lord

"I died for thee; what hast thou done for Me?"

And some of these, by faith in Jesus Christ,

Resolv'd to count earth's treasures dung and dross;

For His dear sake they gave up ev'ry sin,

Content to suffer hardship, pain, and

loss;

They told the blissful news to all around, That on the Lamb of God their sin was laid;

Gladly they bade earth's weary children

rest

On Him Who to their inmost souls had said

"I died for thee; what hast thou done for Me?"

Reader! for thee Christ left His Father's

throne,

For thee He suffer'd hunger, thirst, and pain;

For thee the Lord of Life was crown'd

with thorns,

For thee He died, for thee he rose again;

And now He asks thee for thy guilty heart;

THE tower of this edifice is an object of attraction and deserved admiration to strangers visiting the town. A local publication states that, "The first beginnings of All Saints' are lost in high antiquity. A heathen temple probably stood upon the site in our Lord's time; and about A.D. 100 it was very likely transformed into a Christian church, in which men who had seen and spoken to St. Paul may have ministered." Hutton, a quaint local historian of the last century, favours this view. He remarks, "A church in Derby, where the stone is not of a loose texture, will endure much more than a thousand years. As time has worn out one church and one steeple, we may fairly suppose this was erected early in the Saxon Government; and is the oldest in Derby, being the only one known to have been rebuilt, St. Werburgh's excepted; nor is it to be much doubted, as this spot is the most inviting, that the Romans had a temple here."

The present tower, which is a most beautiful piece of fine Gothic architecture, is supposed to have been erected in the reign of Henry VIII. It is about one hundred and eighty feet high, exclusive of the four pinnacles and vanes, each of which is thirty-six feet from the roof of the tower to the top of the vane. The height of All Saints' tower is exceeded by few other celebrated towers of

parochial churches in the kingdom; that of Boston, in Lincolnshire, however, is said to be about three hundred feet from the ground to the summit.

Speed asserts that the tower of All Saints', in Derby, was erected at the expense of the young men and maids of VOL. XIX.-Second Series.

66

the town, and in corroboration of this statement adduces the inscription of 'Young men and maidens," which, it is said, still remains on a fascia running round three sides of the tower. A tradition to the like effect was believed in Hutton's time; but we are inclined to Y

think, on the authority of another historian, that the words are nothing more than a quotation from Psalm cxlviii. 12, 13: "Young men, and maidens; old men, and children: let them praise the name of the Lord."

The tower is richly ornamented with Gothic tracing, and is about fifty feet square at the bottom, and forty feet square at the flat, leaded roof. The steeple contains a set of ten good bells, and chimes; but between the tower and the body of the church there exists an uncommon architectural incongruity, for to this beautiful specimen of Gothic architecture, is added a Grecian body, of the chastest proportions and most classical design. It is one hundred and thirty feet long, by eighty-three feet wide. In its present form, the body of the church was opened for public worship about one hundred and fifty years ago. Underneath are vaults containing the remains of the Earls and Dukes of Devonshire, (with one or two exceptions,) besides many of the younger branches of this noble family, to whose memory there are several monuments in the church. There is also a splendid mural monument to the memory of the celebrated Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, who also lies buried here. The monument was erected during her lifetime and under her own inspection. This remarkable lady built the houses of Chatsworth and Hardwick; she buried four husbands, and lived nearly ninety years. She died in 1607. Lodge, in his "Illustrations of British History," thus speaks of her: "She was a woman of masculine understanding and conduct, proud, furious, selfish, and unfeeling. She was a builder, a buyer and seller of estates, a money-lender, a farmer, a merchant of lead, coals, and timber."

Connected with this church are some facts associated with the life and martyr

* Vide "A Collection of Fragments illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Derby, compiled from Authentic Sources." By Robert Simpson, M.A. 1826.

dom of Joan Waste, a poor blind woman, twenty-two years of age, who was sentenced to be burned to death in 1556, because she would not conform to the dogmas of Popery. Foxe, in his "Book of Martyrs," has given the particulars of this atrocious deed; and the spot where this poor pious woman sealed the truth with her blood, in the town of Derby, is still identified. It is near the Burton-road, a south-west portion of the borough, and is called Windmill Pit.

Joan Waste was born blind; her parents were in humble life, and lived in the parish of All Saints, or Allhallowes, as sometimes called. Her father was a barber, but seems to have eked out his livelihood by rope-making, at which labour his blind daughter assisted. This was in the reign of Edward VI., when she attended the daily service at All Saints', which was conducted in the vulgar tongue. Her memory became stored with Gospel truth, and her heart impressed by it. She made an effort to purchase a New Testament, and when she had procured it, she ingeniously contrived to get portions of it read to her, so that in a short time she was able to recite many chapters, whilst her life and conversation gave proof of her sincere and heartfelt godliness. Meanwhile the King died, and Mary succeeded to the throne. Then came persecution, and the Scriptural piety of a poor blind girl proved an object of dread and hatred to the ecclesiastics of that day, who were anxious to gain favour from their Popish Sovereign. Joan Waste was charged with denying transubstantiation, but fearlessly asserted that she believed with respect to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as much as the Scriptures taught her, and according to what she had heard preached unto her by divers learned men, of whom some suffered imprisonment and others death for the same doctrine. After the delay of a month or five weeks, during which she refused to recant, on August the 1st, 1556, the mockery of a service took place in the church, and this poor blind

creature and servant of God was brought and set before the pulpit, from which Dr. Draicot fulminated a sermon, inveighing against divers matters which he called heresies. He declared unto the people, that this woman was condemned for denying the blessed Sacrament of the Altar to be the very body and blood of Christ really and substantially, and was thereby cut off from the body of the Catholic Church; he said that she was not only blind of her bodily eyes, but also blind in the eyes of her soul; and that as her body would be presently consumed with material fire, so her soul would be burned in hell with everlasting fire, as soon as it should be separated from the body, and there to remain world without end. He added that it was not lawful for the people to pray for her. With many terrible threats he made an end of his sermon, and commanded the bailiffs and others to see her executed. The poor woman, in company with her brother, Roger Waste, (her parents at that time being dead,) was then conducted to Windmill Pit, and there burned to death.

Whilst preparations were being made, she desired the people to pray with her; and offered up such prayers as she had before learned, calling upon Christ to have mercy upon her to the last. Dr. Draicot, it is said, went to his Inn, for great sorrow of her death, and there laid him down and slept during the whole time of her execution!

He

The exploits of the famous political clergyman, Dr. Sacheverell, are also connected with All Saints' Church. was born exactly two hundred years ago. He took his degrees in Oxford, where he was chamber-fellow with Joseph Addison, who long continued his intimate friend. His first preferment was the living of Cannock; and in 1705 he was appointed preacher of St. Saviour's, Southwark. We are not reviving a notice of this turbulent spirit which caused so much excitement in the reign of Queen Anne, on account of any great abilities he possessed, or for any distinguished services conferred on his

country, for all the books we have been able to refer to about Sacheverell speak of him in similar terms to the following: "He owed his reputation neither to his talents and learning, nor to his virtues, but to his foolish and violent attack on the principles of the Revolution and the Act of Toleration." He published two sermons, the first of which was preached at the Derbyshire Assizes in All Saints' Church, Derby, on the 15th of August, 1709; and the second before the Lord Mayor at St. Paul's, on the 5th of November of the same year. The Derby discourse is entitled, "The Communication of Sin," and was published at the request of the gentlemen of the grand jury. The text is, "Neither be partaker of other men's sins." We have an extract before us, and feel almost tempted to give it as illustrating the fiery spirit of the man, and of the times in which he lived. A few lines shall suffice. "Who would have thought," says Sacheverell, "threescore years ago, that the romantic and silly enthusiasms of such an illiterate and scandalous wretch as George Fox should, in the small compass even of our own memory, gain such mighty ground, captivate so many fools, and damn them with diabolical inspiration and nonsensical cant?" The discourse at St. Paul's is entitled, "The Perils of False Brethren, both in Church and State." It is said to be long, able, and eloquent, but at the same time rabid and almost frantic. This firebrand sermon, from which it is needless to make extracts, was delivered before the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London. The main drift of the discourse was to point out the existing Ministry as these "false friends." The Government of that day had been remodelled, by an admission of some of the old and liberal Whigs, who are here held up as the most ruinous enemies of the Church, and all classes are incited against them. He defends most manfully the doctrine of non-resistance, and reviles the Dissenters as a nest of vipers, to whom no mercy should be shown. For these things

The

Sacheverell was called to account. Government, in a moment of weakness, made a martyr of him-the very thing that he and his party desired, and hence his name and his sermons are still remembered, which otherwise might have sunk into comparative oblivion. On the assembling of Parliament in 1709, a resolution was passed by the House, to the effect that both sermons"were malicious, scandalous, and seditious, highly reflecting upon Her Majesty, and her Government, the late happy Revolution, and the Protestant Succession as by law established." Sacheverell was ordered to attend the House, and on the 14th of December went to Westminster, where he was accompanied by one hundred of the most eminent clergymen then resident in or near the capital, including the Queen's own chaplain. The doctor was taken into custody, and impeached at the bar of the House of Lords of high crimes and misdemeanours. The trial took place, and lasted more than three weeks. The House of Lords found Dr. Sacheverell guilty. Three days after the sentence was pronounced, to the effect that he should not preach during the three years next ensuing, and that his two printed sermons should be burned before the Royal Exchange by the hands of the common hangman, in the presence of the Lord Mayor of London, and of the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex. The Rev. Luke Tyerman, in his interesting work, "The Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, M.A., Rector of Epworth, and father of the Revs. John and Charles Wesley, the Founders of the Methodists," regrets to find, on the authority of John Wesley, that Sacheverell's defence was written by his father, the Rector of Epworth. This is stated in John Wesley's history of England, who no doubt had the information from his father. It was a noticeable circumstance in the trial of Sacheverell, (who was allowed to speak for himself after his counsel had been heard in his defence,) that the speech he recited differed so widely from the

inflated style of his sermons and other productions, as to be evidently the work of another. It was published by Sacheverell himself, and is a small octavo of twenty-four pages. "Knight's History of England' suggests that Sacheverell was assisted in this matter by Dr. Smalridge and Dr. Atterbury, both of whom stood by his side during the lengthened trial. To the latter Sacheverell bequeathed five hundred pounds. Bishop Burnet and Defoe have said hard things of Sacheverell. The former described him as 66 bold, insolent man, with a very small measure of religion, virtue, learning, or good sense; who forced himself into popularity and preferment by the most petulant railings at Dissenters and Low Churchmen."

a

In 1713 Queen Anne presented Sacheverell to the valuable rectory of St. Andrew's, Holborn. The first sermon which he preached in the church of that parish he sold for one hundred pounds, and forty thousand copies of it were speedily bought by eager purchasers. After this he gradually dwindled into insignificance, and only signalized himself during the remainder of his life by contemptible squabbles with his parishioners. He died in 1724.

The living of All Saints' is not a wealthy one. It is in the gift of Simeon's trustees. It is at present held by the Rev. S. D. Campbell-Douglas, B.A., whose ministrations are thoroughly evangelical, and practically revivalistic in their tendency and aim. The church is attended by the judges and corporation of Derby during the Assizes, and is also available for other special religious services, such as the annual sermon preached by some popular clergyman in aid of the Derbyshire Infirmary, during the month of October, when the Mayor and Corporation attend.

The premises to the left of the Engraving, the entrance to which is denoted by a gateway and trees, consist of a large and handsome chapel, schools, and minister's residence belonging to the General Baptists, situated in St.