We are led, in the next place, to observe how much more valuable are the labours of good men, when devoted to grand and commanding truths, than when exhausted on subordinate and perhaps doubtful topics. Supposing our author to have given all this mass of attention to the defence of his own amiable, but to our view erroneous, body of Christians: what would have been the result? how jejune his own mind, how, feeble in comparison all his efforts, how narrow the benefit conferred, how imminent the danger of a spirit of party, of overstatements, of irritation, of division and heart-burning. The Christian would sink into the combatant and the partizan, as was in some degree the case with so eminent a man as Robert Hall. But now every thing vies with the topic he has selected; the discussion becomes large, useful, permanent, catholic and invaluable. The Christian stretches himself to the measure of his gifts, employs himself on what will be effective, teaches the whole Christian church, and insensibly draws nearer together those whom other topics would have alienated and separated. This is a point which we would earnestly press. Subordinate matters are for subordinate bounds, and subordinate places and occasions. They are best left as they are.

Let

each Christian body employ to purpose, and with all diligence, its several means of doing good; instead of merely endeavouring to set other bodies right, let each labour to improve itself, to benefit the universal church, to glorify God, to save souls, and to promote godly union and love in the world.

These things are needful for this end, not to overstate our own particular points of doctrine and discipline, not to attack other bodies, and not to mingle a spirit of secular politics and unlimited agitation with our discussions. He that errs in these points, will do little good in his generation, and may do much mischief. The magnifying of inferior matters, the assaulting all who differ from us, the imbibing a political temper which will carry a point at all hazards; these are the evils which are eating as doth a canker in the present day.

We proceed to a third observation. If a member of an unfettered society which subscribes to no human articles nor confession of faith, comes forward with this boldness to maintain the Divinity of our Lord, how much more should the members of Christian churches which avow this great truth be clear and decisive in their doctrines! The Deity and Atonement of the Son of God form the centre point of Christianity. Let them be more prominent in our discourses, our published works, our habitual converse. How many professed churchmen are wanting in the manliness and decision of this our unpretending author. We noticed, in our Number for September, the deplorable errors of Dr., now Bishop, Maltby. It is impossible for us not to feel keenly, that this very Cappe whom the churchman recommends, is exposed by the Friend in his true deformity: that while Dr. Maltby is obscure, ambiguous, and even dangerous in his language on the subjects of the Atonement and Divinity of Christ, Mr. Gurney is clear, express, and determined: that while the first discourages the circulation of the Scriptures and impugns their plenary inspiration, the second supports both: that while the one is self-righteous, worldly, secular, temporizing, unsound, and, to say the least, all but heretical, the other is humble, spiritual, and sound, and maintains the full truth of the Gospel: in a word, that while Dr. Maltby is overthrowing the church

and the established religion of which he is made a defender; Mr. Gurney, though a sectarian (not, however in spirit), is upholding the great doctrines on which all true churches are built. These things ought not so to be. They should put us to shame; they should do more, they should make us dread an apostasy in our National Church, and the infliction of those Divine punishments which will inevitably follow.

Lastly, we would notice the safety with which the Sacred Scriptures may be committed to the hands of men in general. We always thought it an impiety approaching to the guilt of blasphemy, to deny the safety of circulating that book which the Almighty thought it right to send to men as their instructor and guide. We always felt an instinctive horror at withholding from a perishing world that blessed charter and compass of salvation which was revealed for the very purpose of being made known. We always thought it a reflection on the wisdom and goodness of God, to suppose that the language he was pleased to employ was not intelligible to man, the creature to whom it was sent. But such works as that before us, add to our repose of mind, if, indeed, any thing human were necessary to do so; since they increase, if it were possible, our persuasion that the vital truths of Christianity are so intermixed with the whole scheme of revelation, enter so intimately into the very texture and first elements of the inspired Scriptures, that nothing but good can, upon the whole, follow from the widest circulation of the Bible.

We acknowledge the incidental mischief which false glosses may occasion; we allow the imperfection of translations, the corruption of men, and the arts of spurious criticism which that corruption may generate and applaud, and the fallibility of the best interpreters; but, after all these admissions, we still have not a shadow of doubt that the Bible, in almost any translation honestly made,

(if no better is attainable) ought to be circulated as widely as possible, and would work eventual good: and for this plain reason, that God has pleased to reveal his will in this manner, and that he who knew what was in man has adapted his own revelation to the necessities and faculties of the creature for whom it was designed. If false translations are made, inquiry will soon be instituted and the stratagem exposed. If one particular body of persons assemble to issue an Unitarian, under the guise of an "Improved," version, other bodies will examine and hold up to just reprobation the evil.

The works of God in nature and his revealed will resemble each other. They both display the Divine glory, when honestly examined and studied. They are both spread wide open for the perusal of mankind. There are just laws of prosecuting inquiries into nature, as there are just canons of interpreting Scripture. Facts are first principles in the one, not to be argued about but received; doctrines, that is, spiritual and invisible facts, are first principles in the other, not to be argued about, but admitted on the authority of Him who revealed them.

The wisdom of God is discernible in the works of nature, in proportion as they are known; whether we extend our view to the starry heavens and calculate the revolutions of worlds, or whether we scrutinize the organization of the smallest insect. A higher wisdom is discoverable in revelation, whether we contemplate its grand and sublime discoveries, and its effects on the happiness of myriads, or examine the smallest trait in the life of our Lord, or the precepts of his holy law, or the experience of an individual believer. Both books are liable to abuse, through the ignorance and corruption of man. What mischievous inferences do the false philosophers of the age deduce from the works of nature; what profane controversies, what impious contempt of the Deity; but on the whole the result is safe,

salutary, most beneficial,-the good infinitely outweighs the evil. It is thus with the book of Scripture, all the corrupt perversions, all the abuses, all the mistakes, all the false inferences, are lost in the contemplation of the incalculable good which it is producing.

The works of nature are accompanied and upheld by a creative power, which continues the first mighty act of production, and preserves the universe in its beauteous order. All is life, increase, creative and preserving goodness, beneficence in active operation. If the Divine Architect were to withold his support, all would rush into confusion.

The book of grace is accompanied and upheld by a gracious influence, a new creating power, a Divine operation upon the heart of man. It is not merely truth, but truth vital, truth which influences, truth attended with the hand of the Divine Author, truth with a Comforter as its promised Agent and sacred Guide. Were the Holy Spirit to withdraw his influences, all would be cold, frigid, and uninfluential on man.

But there is this difference in the

two series of works: the book of grace is to supply the defects of the book of nature; it is designed to repair the ruins of the Fall; it is intended as a means to make up the loss of the original revelation given to man, to reveal those facts which nature never could devise, and which till the Fall nature did not need. The incarnation, redemption, the sacrifice of the cross, the highpriesthood of Christ, the Holy Spirit, regeneration, love to Christ, crucifixion of the old man, the spiritual life, humility of man before God, these are facts and principles which are peculiar to the written word of God, and which render it the supplement and finish of that first book, which fails now, through the disorder of sin, to be a sufficient guide to salvation.

May the time be hastened, when wide as the sun sheds its beams, the Sun of Righteousness may extend his spiritual light, and far as the heaven and earth declare the glory of God the Book of Revelation may carry that brighter effulgence, which shines in the face of Jesus Christ.

under the late government, the bigotted jealousy with which their proceedings were watched, and the eagerness with which every pretext would have been seized upon to thwart and persecute them. But the late revolution has emancipated them from this odious supervision; they are now free to act as they please for the promotion of their religious principles, provided they commit no offence against the peace of society; they may raise their heads as men and Christians, and boldly avow their brotherhood with the friends of religion in Great Britain and the United States of America, without any fear that this hallowed friendship will expose them to obloquy or political suspicion. It is no reproach to them that, being comparatively few in number, and often indigent in circumstances, they need, in many ways, the fraternal assistance of their fellow-Protestants in other lands. They have not, like ourselves, basked in the sunshine of worldly prosperity: they have been a scattered people, exposed as sheep among wolves: never have they recovered the effects of the cruel and unjust revocation of the edict of Nantz, the barbarous outrages which followed upon it, and the less marked, but scarcely less injurious, persecutions which have harassed them, in one form or another, almost ever since. We wish that we could add, that the comparative scantiness of their numbers and resources is the only reason why they need the friendly efforts of sister churches; but too true it is, that, as a body, their church has for many years been sunk to a low level both as regards purity of doctrine and holiness of life. That perverted system of modernized Christianity, which has caused such evils in Germany and Switzerland, has not spared Protestant France; and much do the members of that once pure and exemplary church need to be excited, with affectionate and respectful solicitude, to arise and do their first works. A revival, we bless God, has begun; and we trust we may add, that, under his Divine favour, it is in rapid progress; and we are anxious to stir up our readers to take such an interest in the subject as may lead them to use their efforts to promote the object, in every way consistent with the respect and attachment we owe to an ancient and independent church. Our brethren, though anxious to do what they can themselves, are not unwilling to receive from their British and American friends the tokens of sympathy and communion in Christ: their schools, and Bible institutions, and tract societies, are yet in their infancy; and large demands are at this moment pressing upon their pastors and pious laymen, for building new chapels and providing for the faithful preaching of the Gospel.

The following extracts from letters and other communications will exhibit the actual condition of the French Protestant

Church, and the plans in progress, in faith and prayer, for its revival. We commence with some recent remarks of a pious French pastor, because, while they shew that the openings for usefulness are favourable, they also prove that the difficulties are great; and thus tend to prevent that recoil of disappointed hope which might follow from too sanguine an esti

mate.

"In England, and in America, Christians have thought that our late political revolution would be a powerful means of advancing the kingdom of God in France. I remember myself to have read in a number of the New-York Observer of the last year, that you propose to profit by our change of government, and to spread thousands of copies of the Bible among the French people. But these hopes of the friends of the Gospel are premature: Christianity had not more enemies in France under the old government than it has under the new. With us Christianity is always blended with Catholicism, and Catholicism with the priests by whom it is taught. But, as the priests are generally opposed to the new order of things, and as they boldly avow their opposition, it follows that the liberals, who form the inore enlightened part of the nation, conceive a hatred for every kind of religion, and become infidels as a consequence of their political system. They consider the Gospel of God our Saviour as responsible for all the faults committed by some intriguing and ambitious priests.

"It ought also to be said, that the French Catholic clergy neglect no means of exciting the people. They declaim aloud from the pulpit against the new institutions; and sometimes have ventured to raise the colours of the ancient dynasty. A few days since, in a small village in Normandy, the priests went in procession at the feast of St. Stephen with two white flags; and great excesses might have been committed, had not a citizen, more prudent than the clergy, hastened immediately to bring into the train a tri-coloured flag. Meanwhile this citizen has been ill-treated by the priests, and his children have been driven from the religious schools where they were placed. Scenes of this kind have occurred within a month, in many places in France; and it is easy to conceive that the friends of liberty feel indignation against the Roman-Catholic clergy, who wish to preserve their old customs which existed in the middle ages, and under the reign of the Bourbons. They aim to take part in the government of the state; and this gives immense force to infidelity.

"Some of the Catholics have attempted to abandon their ancient traditions. In Paris they have united under the direction of M. the Abbé Châtel, in order hereafter to perform mass in the French language. This unexpected innovation

at first excited much curiosity: the ultramontane clergy were somewhat alarmed; they feared they should witness the sudden crumbling of the columns of their ancient edifice. But the result of this attempt was trifling. Three or four villages among the thirty-eight thousand communes of France have called into their bosoms Neo-Gallican priests; and even in these villages, the new mode of worship is little observed. For, on the one hand, the devoted Papists do not wish to go to the mass of those priests who are regarded as heretics; and on the other, the indifferent Catholics do not attend mass of any kind, whether performed in Latin or in French. It is probable that this secession will die of its own accord. Already it has ceased to be spoken of in the journals; or to excite in the public any interest. Our country is too little religious, it is too much absorbed in politics, to give to any attempt of this sort the importance which it merits. In the sixteenth century, the idea of a mass in the French language would have kindled an extensive flame in France; now, with our sceptical and infidel population, it has been but a mere flash which has thrown a feeble light upon the horizon."

The writer of this letter goes on to notice the rumour, which has already been refuted in our pages, of large bodies of the French priests being converted to Protestantism.

"Not a single Catholic priest, at least so far as I know, has become Protestant since the late revolution. We know only of some villages in the north of France, and some workmen at St. Quentin, and in the neighbourhood of Lyons, who have abandoned the Roman Church to embrace the Reformed."

"These details will suffice to shew that the Gospel is still far from meeting with a favourable reception among the mass of the French nation. But if, from this general view, we pass to the particular condition of the Protestants of France, the prospect is much more animating. Of late years a new spirit has pervaded the Reformed churches of our country. We have the happiness to reckon a large number of Evangelical pastors; and the labours of many of them have been abundantly blessed. At Paris, too, Christians are labouring with success. Lately many Sunday schools have been opened in that vast capital, and the number of children who attend them begins to be considerable. Many laymen of distinguished piety and learning, are at the head of these schools. Chapels are also opened where the Gospel is preached by pastors who are not paid by the state. My friends at Paris write me that these chapels are always filled with hearers, and among those who resort to them are men of science and learning and officers of go

vernment. No doubt curiosity attracts a great many; but we may hope that all the seed will not fall in vain, but that it will find a good soil in some minds.

"The religious benevolent societies of the Protestants continue to be supported by many of our churches. The Society of Missions particularly excites a lively interest in France. A new missionary, M. Pelissier, has gone to join the three other French missionaries now at the Cape of Good Hope. We receive animating accounts of their labours in that country: some conversions are already the fruits of their preaching among the heathen.

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Many new religious publications have been commenced in France. Some friends of the Gospel have issued a religious journal, entitled The Sower [le Semeur], which is published twice a week. This is an important enterprise for us, for the journals in this country exert a powerful influence upon the people; and we hope that by means of the Sower, the truths of Christianity, now too little known, will be spread among the intelligent part of the community. Another publication is also announced, entitled La Concorde, and which will appear every

month.

We

M. Amand Santes, formerly a Catholic ecclesiastic, but now a Protestant minister, will be the principal editor of La Concorde. There is also to be published at Geneva a journal entitled, The Protestant of Geneva."-The writer expresses his fear that this last journal would be under Socinian or Neologian influence; and we lament to say, that the early numbers which we have seen go far to countenance the foreboding. take the opportunity of this passing allusion to Geneva, to mention with much pleasure, that some friends of religion in that city are founding a theological seminary, to counteract as far as possible, the neological influence which has of late years prevailed in the university. Many difficulties are to be encountered; but the proposers of the plan hope, by the blessing of God, to be able to open their institution next January. We have not the prospectus at hand, but purpose noticing it in a futnre Number. The design is highly important, especially after the recent proceedings towards that pious and excellent pastor, M. Gaussen. Pecuniary assistance is greatly needed; and we trust that the friends of scriptural education in this country will feel disposed to lend their aid towards the accomplishment of so momentous an object. Our publisher would remit any subscriptions for the purpose, to M. Scholl, the minister of the French church in London.

To return to France: The following is a passage from a letter of another French Protestant pastor, dated some months earlier than the preceding.—

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A new era as to religion has begun in