of religion lie on the surface; their forms and feel- | BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF FELIX NEFF. FELIX NEFF was born in the year 1798, and brought up in a small village, near Geneva, under the care of his widowed mother. His early education appears to have been such as reflected great credit upon the wiscom and piety of his kind parental instructor. No fains were spared to impart to his youthful mind a taste for knowledge, and, above all, to impress him with a sense of Divine things. And it happens rarely, very nrely, indeed, that the feelings awakened, and the prindes imbibed, in the house of a pious parent, are ever entirely lost. On the mind of Neff, these early impressions appear to have been of the most salutary and lasting description. From childhood, his employments, and even his very amusements, were of a rational kind. With an ardent love of natural scenery, and a taste for Le sublime and beautiful, which the surrounding country tended so strongly to gratify, he delighted to wander among the mountains, or along the banks of the peaceful lake. The aspiring dispositions of young Neff led him at an early age to look forward to a life of military enterprise; and accordingly, although for a time he was employed in the nursery-grounds of a florist, he exchanged his peaceful profession for that of arms, and entered the military service of Geneva in the year 1815. As a so1dier, he conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of his superior officers, so that in the course of two years he was promoted to the rank of serjeant of artillery. By the rough discipline of the camp, Providence was preparing Felix Neff for the toils and privations which he was destined to undergo in the service of the Redeemer. And this fact is in beautiful accordance with the mode in which the people of God are usually fitted for the duties which the Almighty appoints them to discharge. Both in the peaceful occupation of a florist, and in the more active employment of a soldier, Neff was gathering up precisely that kind of information, and those peculiar habits which he afterwards required. Neff soon distinguished himself, in the corps to which he belonged, both by his undaunted courage, and his devoted piety. This latter quality appears to have been by no means agreeable to his superior officers, who are represented by his biographer as having wished him ou of the service, so much did they feel offended at the scrupulous strictness of his conduct. At length, so decided did his mind become in its preference of Divine things, that he was advised to quit the regiment, and dedicate himself to the work of the ministry. Before taking a step so important, however, he spent a considerable part of his time in meditation and prayer, that he might experience the direction of a wisdom far higher than his own. And the result was, that he left the army in 1819, and commenced a course of study, with a view to the sacred office. He read the Bible with deep and prayerful attention, and so anxious does he appear to have been to render Scripture familiar to his mind, that he made a concordance of his own, and filled the margins of several copies of the Old and New Tes tament with remarks and memoranda. "Some of these," says Dr Gilly, "are still in the possession of his friends, and are held in most affectionate estimation, and are consulted as the voice of one who being dead, yet speaketh." As a still further preparation for the practical duties of the sacred office, Neff was employed for two years as a catechist, or lay-helper, in the Swiss cantons of Neufchatel, Berne, and the Pays de Vaud. This office, which has been long existent in the Protestant churches on the Continent, forms an excellent probationary exercise for candidates for the holy ministry. And we are glad to hail its introduction to a certain extent in our own country; and we trust that, by the blessing of God, it will be the means of raising up in the midst of us a number of active, and energetic, and devoted pastors. Accustomed, before receiving ordination, to visiting families, and catechising the young, and comforting the sick, and, in short, all the other duties of a parish, with the exception of those which peculiarly belong to an ordained ministry-young men are the better prepared to enter upon the work of parochial clergymen with efficiency and success. In 1821, Neff removed from Switzerland, having been invited to officiate as catechist to a pastor at Grenoble, in France. After labouring faithfully there for six months, his services were requested at Mens, in the Department of the Isère, to supply, as far as possible, the place of an absent pastor Here, however, from various circumstances, and, among the rest, from the want of sympathy in religious feeling between him and the people among whom he was labouring, he felt his situation by no means comfortable, so that in one of his letters, written at this time, exhibiting the state of his mind, we find him thus expressing himself:-" I often retire to my chamber, ill at rest, and greatly dissatisfied with myself. I reproach myself, on the one hand, for having betrayed my sacred trust, and, on the other, for being a time-server, and afraid of pressing my opportunities." Yet, notwithstanding the complaining style in which this letter is couched, the labours of Neff at this time were unremitting, not confined to Mens, but extending to the whole department, which contained no fewer than 8000 Protestants, scattered over a surface of 80 miles square, with only three regular pastors, one of whom was absent. In these circumstances, Neff was employed chiefly in the work of a missionary. Felix Neff travelled to that inhospitable region which was to be the scene of his future labours. His first employment, on reaching the place, was to become acquainted with every village and hamlet within his extensive parish. Though in the depth of winter, and exposed to the utmost severities of wind and weather, he went forth in the cause of his Master, preaching the glad tidings of salvation from one end of the district to the other. An affecting incident which occurred in one of his excursions, may give some idea of the simple character of the people among whom Neff laboured. "Neff had been performing three services in the church of Dormilleuse, to a congregation which filled the little sanctuary, and he was afterwards proceeding towards Romas, the upper part of this mountain village, followed by many of the inhabitants of that quarter, who had been among his hearers. Suddenly they were alarmed by some loud cries behind them. These were After having faithfully discharged the duties of a occasioned by the sudden illness of a young woman of catechist for four years, and more especially as his la- the party, who was stretched upon the ground without bours at Mens were brought to a close by the return of any signs of life. In fact, the vital spark had fled, and the pastor for whom he officiated, Neff was desirous of thus a young person of twenty-six years of age, of a obtaining ordination to the office of the holy ministry. robust frame, who had been present at the three services in the course of the day, and who had been joining in In this, however, there was some difficulty. He was the psalmody with great animation but a few minutes unwilling to apply for ordination to the Established before, was now carried home a breathless corpse. The Church of Geneva, in consequence of the unscriptural consternation of her parents was extreme, for she had doctrines held by most of its ministers; and being a been the only strong and healthy member of the family, foreigner, he had no claim upon the Protestant Church and the principal support of it; but they bore their loss of France. In this dilemma he thought of visiting without a murmur, and what they most lamented, was England, where he had become known chiefly through the suddenness of her death, without having had time to commend her soul to God. The poor mother, in the medium of the Continental Society. Though quite particular, testified the utmost submission to the blow, unable to speak the English language, he proceeded to although she had three children nearly blind, and her London in the beginning of May 1823, and was ordain-husband was feeble and in bad health. During the two ed, on the 19th of that month, in Mr Clayton's chapel in the Poultry. During his stay in London, Neff felt himself very uncomfortable and solitary from his ignorance of the language, and accordingly he lost no time in returning to France, and to the scene of his former labours at Mens. His reception was exceedingly gratifying. The people "left their shops and their husbandry work to meet him. They crowded round him, some half-stifled him in their embraces, others kissed his hand, others wept with joy, and all signified the sincerity of their affection and respect." Though urged to remain among them, and to accept the office of pastor in the commune of St. Sebastian, he judged it prudent to decline the request. Neff em nights that the corpse remained unburied, the house His affections were set upon the section of the High Alps. He thought he would rather be stationed there, than in those places which are situated under the beautiful sky of Languedoc. At length his wishes were gratified. The elders of the Protestant Churches of Val Queyras and Val Fressiniere applied to the Consistory in his behalf, and the consent of that body hav-likely to forget." ing been obtained, he entered in January 1824 upon his pastoral duties. The charge assigned to this devoted man of God was such as most men would have shrunk from. It consisted of seventeen or eighteen villages, scattered over an extent of nearly 80 miles in the high passes of the Alps,—a region of barrenness and desolation, impassable during a great part of the year from the depth of the snow. Such was the scene of labour which Neff preferred to the cultivated plains and fertile valleys where his lot, had he so wished, might have been cast. It was in the midst of a most inclement season that All The indefatigable exertions of Neff for the spiritual welfare, and even the temporal comfort of his people, were truly exemplary. No opportunities were lost, no labour spared, to minister to their souls the bread and the water of life. A lively description of his varied endeavours to benefit their souls, is thus given by his worthy biographer, Dr Gilly :— "It was not on Sunday only, that he went the round of his churches, but he was ever visiting now one quarter, and then another: and happy did they esteem themselves at whose table he sat down, and under whose roof he lodged for the night. When his arrival was ex pected in certain hamlets, whose rotation to be visited was supposed to be coming round, it was beautiful to see the cottages send forth their inhabitants, to watch the coming of the beloved minister. Come, take your dinner with us. Let me prepare your supper. ⚫ Permit me to give up my bed to you,' were re-echoed from many a voice, and though there was nothing in the repast which denoted a feast-day, yet never was festival observed with greater rejoicing than by those, whose rye-bread and pottage were shared by the pastor Neff. Sometimes, when the old people of one cabin were standing at their doors, and straining their eyes to catch the first view of their guide to heaven,' the youngsters of another were perched on the summit of a rock, and stealing a prospect which would afford them an earer sight of him, and give them the opportunity of fering the first invitation. It was on these occasions, Lat he obtained a perfect knowledge of the people, questioning them about such of their domestic concerns as he might be supposed to take an interest in, as well as about their spiritual condition, and finding where he could be useful both as a secular adviser and a religious counsellor. Could all their children read? Did they understand what they read? Did they offer up morning and evening prayers? Had they any wants that he could relieve? Any doubts that he could remove? Any afflictions wherein he could be a comforter ?' "It was thus that he was the father of his flock, and master of their affections and their opinions; and when the seniors asked for his blessing, and the children took hold of his hands or his knees, he felt all the fatigue of his long journeys pass away, and became recruited with new strength. But for the high and holy feelings which sustained him, it is impossible that he could have borne up against his numerous toils and exposures, even for the few months in which he thus put his constitution to the trial. Neither rugged paths, nor the inclement weather of these Alps, which would change suddenly from sunshine to rain, and from rain to sleet, and from sleet to snow; nor snow deep under foot, and obscuring the view when dangers lay thick on his road; nothing of this sort deterred him from setting out, with his staff in his hand, and his wallet on his back, when he imagined that his duty summoned him. I have been assured by those who have received him into their houses at such times, that he has come in chilly, wet, and fatigued; or exhausted by heat, and sudden transitions from excessive heat to piercing cold, and that after sitting down a few minutes, his elastic spirits would seem to renovate his sinking frame, and he would enter into discourse with all the mental vigour of one who was neither weary nor languid." In all respects Neff showed himself the father and the friend of his people. He taught them to improve their houses, to cultivate their lands, and extend their temporal comforts as far as their peculiar circumstances would admit. And the earnestness of his anxiety on their behalf was met with a rich return of gratitude and confidence and affection. In one district of his parish, more especially, which had been in a more destitute endition than the rest, he felt a lively interest. "From the first moment of my arrival," says he, "I took them as it were to my heart, and I ardently desired to be unto them even as another Oberlin." And so he actually proved. Though he found it impossible to devote more than a week in each month to this half-barbarons district, a change for the better was very soon apparent. Indeed, so extraordinary was the improvement of the peasantry of the Val Fressiniere in social manners and family comfort, no less than in agriculture, to attract the attention of strangers; and so sensible were the people themselves of the advantage arising from their improved condition, that they looked upon their pastor with the most confiding affection and regard. They had received a counsellor from heaven, and these simple-hearted people appreciated the blessing. In the course of his labours, Neff found great difficulty from the imperfect education which the young received at school. He, therefore, resolved to endeavour, as much as possible, to introduce an improved system of education. This, however, might appear impracticable, there being no schoolmasters capable of Every obstacle only tended the undertaking the task. more to rouse the energies of Neff. He resolved to take upon himself the office of schoolmaster, a circumstance which is thus noticed by his biographer :— "Behold the preacher surrounded by his classes in a miserable stable, correcting the tone of one, the pronunciation of another, and the articulation of a third; patiently dinning sounds and sense into their ears, and making them spell the words, and divide by syllables, and repeat by sentences again and again, until he had put them into something like a fair training. Behold him also, to keep his pupils in good humour, and to mingle something pleasing with the dull routine of reading and spelling, putting aside his books and giving les sons in music. This was a most successful as well as agreeable expedient; it was soon found that the best singers were also the best readers, and application to the more attractive lesson was usually accompanied by proficiency in the duller acquirement." Encouraged by the success of his exertions in the cause of education, Neff resolved to erect a schoolhouse. The situation chosen for the building was the village of Dormilleuse, and his mode of proceeding is thus graphically described. "He persuaded each family in Dormilleuse to furnish a man who should consent to work under his directions; and having first marked out the spot with line and plummet, and levelled the ground, he marched at the head of his company to the torrent, and selected stones fit for the building. The pastor placed one of the heaviest upon his own shoulders,-the others did the same, and away they went with their burthens, toiling up the steep acclivity, till they reached the site of the proposed building. This labour was continued until the materials were all ready at hand; the walls then began to rise, and in one week from the first commence ment, the exterior masonry work was completed, and the roof was put upon the room. The windows, chim ney, door, tables, and seats, were not long before they also were finished. A convenient stove added its accommodation to the apartment, and Dormilleuse, for the first time probably in its history, saw a public school-room erected, and the process of instruction con ducted with all possible regularity and comfort." Having completed the school-room, the indefatigable pastor commenced his work as a teacher, dedicating his time chiefly to the Normal department of his plan, or the training of schoolmasters, who might afterwards conduct the education of the children on an improved system. The winter of 1826-7 was accordingly spent at Dormilleuse; and such was the anxiety of Neff to improve the pupils who had put themselves under his care, that fourteen or fifteen hours out of the twenty-four were spent in study. The spot which had been selected for this experiment, was the most secluded and dreary of the whole Alpine districts, and the season was remarkably severe and stormy. But nothing could chill the efforts As a last resource, he was advised to try the effect of mineral waters, and accordingly he resided for some time at Plombieres. While there, he preached regularly to the Protestants of the place. Having experienced a considerable revival of his strength, he returned to Geneva. On his arrival there, however, he began gradually to droop. His spirits failed him, his body became emaciated, and it was but too evident to his friends that his stay on earth would be short. 66 of Felix Neff. He persevered in his good work, until | ble, from his native air. The relief from his sufferings, the close of winter called for the return of the little which he rather hoped for than expected, was partially party of students to their different communes. The in-granted. Taking advantage of intervals of apparent rehabitants of Dormilleuse regretted the breaking up of a storation to health, he uniformly exerted himself in society, which, though small, spread a cheerfulness some pious work, which most frequently led to a throughout the secluded village. The account of the relapse. parting scene is thus beautifully given by Dr Gilly."On the evening before they took their leave, the young men of the village prepared a supper for their new friends, and invited them to the parting banquet. It was a simple and a frugal repast, consisting of the productions of the chase. The bold hunter contributed his salted chamois, the less enterprising sportsman of the mountain laid a dried marmot upon the table, and one or two of the most successful rangers of the forest produced a bear's ham, as a farewell offering, in honour of the last evening on which the conversation of this interesting group was to be enjoyed. It was at the same time a pleasing, and a melancholy festival, but I do not find, in the pastor's Journal, that either the achievements of their ancestors, who had garrisoned this rocky citadel, and had repulsed numberless attempts to storm it, or the exploits of the chasseurs, who had furnished the festive board, formed the conversation of the evening. It seems to have savoured rather of the object which originally brought them together, and when one of the party remarked,- What a delightful sight, to behold so many young friends met together-but it is not likely that we shall ever meet all together again!' the pastor took the words up like a text, and enlarged upon the consolatory thought, that though they might see each other's faces no more in this life, they would most assuredly meet again in a joyful state of existence in the world to come, if they would persevere in their Christian course. He then gave them a parting benediction, and, after a long and mournful silence, which each seemed unwilling to interrupt, either by uttering the dreaded good-bye, or moving from his seat, the valedictory words and embraces passed from one to another, and they separated. The next morning at an early hour, they were seen winding down the mountain path to their several homes; they of Dormilleuse gazed after them till their figures were lost in the distance, and the village on the rock appeared more dreary and desolate than ever." · Next year they again assembled, but, through the kindness of friends, in circumstances of greater comfort than before. Neff, however, found that his health was gradually declining. The severe labours and privations to which he had been subjected, began to prey upon a constitution never remarkably robust. In the winter of 1827, he performed his various duties with great difficulty. A total derangement of the digestive organs had taken place, and the internal pains to which he was in consequence subject, were greatly aggravated-by a severe accident which he had sustained in the knee. When his pupils had returned at the end of the second session, if we may so term it, of the Normal institution, Neff felt that his disorder had greatly increased, his stomach had entirely lost its tone, and refused to receive any thing but liquids. It now became evident that an immediate removal from the severe climate of the Alpine region was absolutely necessary. For a time he felt very reluctant to separate himself from a people among whom his labours had been so signally blessed. At length, however, after travelling over the greater number of the villages to bid an affectionate farewell to his flock, he set out for Geneva, with the view of deriving benefit, if possi "It was most heart-rending," said a spectator of his sufferings, to behold him, thus pale and emaciated, his large eyes beaming with an expression of fortitude and pain; covered, from head to foot, with four or five woollen garments, which he was obliged to change frequently; submitting, in silence, and with the greatest calmness, to the application of the moxas, a painful operation, which was constantly repeated; suffering the pangs of hunger; counting the hours, and at last venturing to take something, then waiting with anxiety till the food, such as it was, should digest, and thus passing all his days and nights during a long succession of relapses, and of physical prostration, which we sometimes looked upon as a relief." Even in the utmost extremities of his distress, his Alpine flock dwelt much upon his mind. He was now quite aware that his labours among them were for ever come to a close. Still, even on his death-bed, he pressed upon them, by letter, the precious truths which he had been privileged to urge upon them from the pulpit. And when unable to write, he employed his mother as amanuensis, to whom he dictated two letters, addressed to his beloved flock. Though unable, for want of room, to insert either of these beautiful and impressive letters, we cannot refrain from presenting our readers with an extract of the touching reply of the simple peasants of the Alpine valleys, to a letter which had been sent to prepare them for the mournful tidings which his friends would too soon be called to communicate. "It is we, it is we, who are the cause of your long illness. Had we been more ready to listen to you, you would not have had occasion to fatigue yourself in the deep snow, nor to exhaust your lungs, and all the powers of your body. Oh, how much pain has it cost you for our sakes. Dear pastor, sensible of the affection to teach us: like our good Saviour, you forgot yourself you have always manifested towards us, we desire, with all our hearts, to be useful to you. We can say, with truth, that if our lives could be of service to you, we would give them, and then we should not be doing more for you than you have done for us. May the Lord bless you, and grant you patience in this long trifrom on high, and recompense you for all the pains you al. May He shower upon you a thousand benedictions have taken of us! Your reward is in heaven: an im- by burning it on the part affected. all my friends the Pellissiers, whom I love tenderly; " The last night of his life, we and some other persons remained to sit up with him. Never shall we forget those hours of anguish, so well called the valley of the shadow of death.' It was necessary to attend to him constantly, and to hold him in his convulsive strug The closing scene was now fast approaching-it was in complete harmony with the whole course of his life. "Tell me not how the man died," was once the saying of a pious minister, “but tell me how he lived." We have seen "how holily, and justly, and unblameably," Felix Neff spent his laborious and useful life. Let us attend him in his dying moments, and listen with devout eagerness to the latest aspirations of this man of God. "We had the satisfaction," said a narrator of the dying scene," of being much with him towards the close of his painful career, and we never heard a murmur escape from his lips. He was grateful for the af-gles; to support his fainting head in our arms, to wipe the cold drops from his forehead, to bend or to straightfection shewn towards him, and returned it abundantly. en his stiffened limbs; the centre of his body only reOften, after our poor services, he threw his arms round tained any warmth. For a short time he seemed to be our necks, embraced us, thanked us, and exhorted us choking, and we dared not give him any thing: A few with all his soul to devote ourselves to God. 'Believe words of Scripture were read to him, but he did not my experience,' said he, 'He only is your sure trust, He appear to hear; once only, when some one was lamentonly is truly to be loved. If you should one day be eming to see him suffer so much, and said, 'poor Neff,' ployed in the preaching of the Gospel, take heed not to he raised his head for an instant, fixed his large eyes work to be seen of men. Oh, with how many things of full of affection upon his friend, and again closed them. this kind do I reproach myself! My life, which appears During the long night of agony we could only pray and to some to have been well employed, has not been a quarter so much so as it might have been! How much revived him, he made a sign that he should be carried to support him. In the morning, the fresh air having a little precious time have I lost!' He accused himself of una higher bed; they placed him on this bed in a sitting faithfulness in the employment of his time, and of having been vain-glorious: he, whose labours were scarcely hours we saw his eyes raised to heaven; each breath, posture, and the struggles of death began. For four known to a few friends! who had refused to marry, that escaped from his panting bosom, seemed accompathat his heart might be entirely devoted to his Master, nied with a prayer; and at that awful period, when the and whose ardent charity for his fellow-creatures had heaviness of death was upon him, in the ardent expresbrought him, at the age of thirty-one, to his bed of sion of his supplication he appeared more animated than death Knowing his love for sacred music, we freany of us. We stood around him weeping, and almost quently assembled in a room near his own, and sung, in murmuring at the duration of his sufferings, but the an under-tone, verses of his favourite hymns, and a power of his faith was so visible in his countenance, paraphrase on the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah, which that our faith too was restored by it; it seemed as though he had himself composed. This singing filled his soul we could see his soul hovering on his lips, impatient for with a thousand feelings and recollections, and affected eternity. At last we so well understood what his vehim so much, that we were obliged to discontinue it, hement desire was, that with one impulse we all exthough he did not see us, and he heard us but faintly. claimed: Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.' "About a fortnight before his death, he looked on a mirror, and discovering unequivocal signs of dissolution in his countenance, he gave utterance to his joy: Oh, yes! soon, soon I shall be going to my God!' From that time he took no more care of himself: his door was open to all, and the last hours of the missionary hecaine a powerful mission. His chamber was never empty, he had a word for every one, until he was exhausted by it. In the full enjoyment of all his mental faculties, every thing was present to his memory: the most trivial circumstances, even conversations which he had held many years previously, and he made use of them with extraordinary energy in his exhortations. On his mother's account only did he show the least inquietude: old, feeble, and devoted to him, she could not restrain her tears. Before her, he assumed a firmness which amounted even to reproach; then, when she left him, no longer able to refrain from weeping himself, his eyes followed her with tenderness, and he would exclaim my poor mother l' "He made presents to his friends, and set apart some religious books for many persons to whom he still hoped to be useful; after having underlined several passages, he thus wrote the address :- Felix Neff, dying, to "We shall have an indelible recollection of the last letter that he wrote; it was a few days before his death. He was supported by two persons, and, hardly able to see, he traced at intervals, and in large and irregular characters which filled a page, the lines which follow, addressed to some of his beloved friends in the Alps. What must have been the feelings of those who received them, with the persuasion that he, who had traced them, was no more! "Adieu, dear friend, André Blanc, Antoine Blanc, "Two days afterwards, (his death took place 12th tomb. Over his resting place were read some beautiof April, 1829,) we accompanied his remains to the ful verses of that Word which shall never pass away. We then prayed, and in compliance with his wish, his numerous friends, who were assembled at the grave, sang together those lines of M. Vinet, of which the stanzas conclude thus : "They are not lost, but gone before."" FIRST DISPENSATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER IN SCOTLAND AT THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION. (Extracted chiefly from Buchanan's History.) ON the morning on which Wishart was to be executed, the priests sent two Franciscan monks to acquaint him that the time of his death drew near, and to ask if he wished to confess his sins to them, as was customary; he replied that he had no need for friars, nor any wish to converse with them, but if they would gratify him so far, he would be happy to be visited by the learned man who had preached the day before. On this being reported, the sub-prior, after he had obtained the permission of the bishop, came to the prison in the Castle, where Wishart was confined, and held a long conversa|tion with him, intermingled with many tears. length, after he had ceased weeping, from which he could not refrain, he kindly asked, whether he would not wish to partake of the sacrament of the Supper? "Most willingly," answered the martyr, “If At John Winram, Sub-Prior of St. Andrews, who was at that time a friend to the Reformation, but not openly, for fear of the priests. |