With respect to this, my dear children, I arrived at an entire certainty before a long time. The 10th of last February, two writings entirely new to me, fell into my hands. One, written by a Catholic priest, attacked the Reformation. The other, in defence of the Protestant religion, was in answer to the first, written by a minister. These were the first lines of religious controversy I had ever read in my life. I devoured these two little works. That of the priest, written on the occasion of a respectable family having just embraced Protestantism, offered nothing solid, or to which I could not answer in the words of Jesus Christ and his apostles. This had therefore no effect upon me.

But the second, entitled a Letter to Melanie, at length presented to me what I had so ardently desired and sought, an exposition of the belief of the Protestants, at least on some essential points. It informed me that the Gospel was their only rule of faith, worship, and conduct; that they admitted all which the Holy Scriptures teach, but rejected all they did not teach, and especially what they prohibit, as the invocation of saints, the worship of images, relics, and of the holy Virgin. It informed me, that they adored God alone, through Jesus Christ his Son; that they expected salvation from his mercy, revealed in his sacrifice on the cross; that they recognize no other mediator, advocate or intercessor with God, than Him who is given for that purpose, and who alone is able to say to sinners," Come to me, and I will give you rest.” It informed me, that they believed no more than I, in purgatory, papacy, or the real presence, &c. It informed me, in short, that the Protestants wish to receive, and profess, no other than primitive Christianity.

It would be impossible to describe to you my joy at finding my own sentiments expressed by a minister of evangelical religion. I perceived by this, and by what your mother told me, that the Protestants, so unjustly accused and so falsely described by ignorance or wickedness, were true Christians according to the word of God, to whom the promises of the Gospel are addressed. I then received them as my true brothers in Christ, and I had desire but to be admitted to their communion.

I foresaw, my dear children, that in making an open profession of my religious principles, and declaring publicly for Protestantism, I should inflame against myself many violent passions, and expose myself to ten thousand inconveniences. But truth was dearer to me than life itself, and conscience spoke louder than the fear of the world. I resolved, without hesitation, to confess my Saviour before men, whatever might be the consequences; and wrote immediately to the pastor of Nerac, author of the letter I had been reading, to request the assistance of his learning and charitable counsels. Having corresponded eleven months with this respectable minister of the Lord; having been to visit him, that I might the better open my heart to him, and profit by his teachings; having several times been present at the different acts and ceremonies of the reformed church; having, with the greatest care, compared its doctrines with the only rule of all truth, the word of God; and being more and more convinced that they were perfectly conformed to it ;-I thought I ought no longer to delay. I requested, and obtained permission to be received a member of the Protestant communion.

The 23d of the present month, I returned to Nerac; and there, on Christmas day, in the presence of the assembled church, I ratified and confirmed my baptismal vow, receiving the sacred symbols of the body and blood of my Saviour, in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and promised to remain faithful unto death. I trust that he will deign to aid me to keep my promise, and display his strength in my weakness.

Thus, my dear children, I have become a member of the Christian reformed church. I have exhibited to you the true means, and the only motives, which have led me into his sanctuary: concerning which I appeal to the Faithful Witness, in whose presence these lines have been written.

It has been said, and some still wish to have it believed, that I have sold my conscience, and that the wealth of the Protestants has seduced me! God knows that this is a calumny, and all who are acquainted with me are not ignorant of it. It is not to justify myself that I here speak of it; but to declare a truth worthy of being fully believed. Gold and silver are no more employed to recruit the ranks of the evangelical church, than artifice, fraud, false miracles and compulsion. All other means than instruction, reasoning and persuasion, are rejected. This church was formed, it has subsisted notwithstanding the blows heaped upon it, and it will subsist forever, notwithstanding all the rage of hell, by the simple preaching of the Gospel, which alone Fules and nourishes it.

May the Lord deign, while I pray for the salvation of all men, and particularly for the conversion and prosperity of all my enemies, to give you grace, my children, to be added to the church, that you may be saved. Happy, if, being your father according to nature, I may become your father in the faith! Happy, if at last, in the great day when we shall appear before God to hear the decree of our final destiny, I may present myself with you without fear, and say, Here am I, Lord, and the children whom thou hast given me.

At Montaigut, December 31, 1826.

REMARKS ON THE PRECEDING LETTER.

P. BAYSSIERE.

Every intelligent and serious reader of the letter which forms an interesting part of the present and three previous numbers of our work, must be struck with the similarity of religious experience, among truly converted persons, in exceedingly different circumstances. This similarity does not respect the order of exercises, or emotions, nor the intenseness or constancy of feeling; but it relates to the general characteristics of the new moral state, into which real converts are brought. On looking minutely at the spiritual condition of indi viduals, who have derived their religious hopes from the Scriptures, read with seriousness and self-application, or from the plain preaching of the Gospel, it will be found, that genuine Christianity is everywhere the same. Whether the new convert be learned or ignorant, polished or rude, rich or poor; whether he derived his religious impressions from Calvin or Luther, Owen or Baxter, Edwards or Whitefield, Chalmers or Malan; or whether, without any human teacher, he took up the Bible, in his vernacular tongue, and studied it with an anxious desire to understand the plan of redemption, to be delivered from sin, and to obtain the favor of God,-when he comes to express his views and feelings plainly, without embarrassment from early associations, his account of his spiritual experience, his hopes and fears, his dangers and enemies, his joys and consolations, will agree, in all substantial points, with the experience of the faithful in every age. If this subject were candidly considered by those, who deny the existence of experimental religion, or of regeneration, they would find facts, which would be utterly at variance with every other system but the orthodox system. They would find the peasant at the foot of the Alps, the artisan in a populous city, the farmer, the merchant, the lawyer,-men of every class and condition, from the stupendous intellect of Bacon, to the child who had felt that he is a sinner, and that God is gracious, agreeing in a certain something, which they unite in calling experimental religion, or the religion of the heart. That this state of things arises from a reality, and not from a false theory, superstitiously communicated from teacher to pupil, from the pastor to his flock, or from one convert to another, is manifest from the fact, that, in numberless instances, this perfect agreement exists without any such communication. It is manifest, also, from another fact, of a most interesting character, which is commended to the special attention of Unitarians, and which is no other than this: that those who enjoy experimental religion, though their knowledge, mental cultivation, and manner of life, are diversified in a thousand forms, can understand each other, on spiritual subjects, immediately. They can all speak the language of Zion. Yet thousands of men, who have great discernment on other subjects, and who have heard orthodox preaching all their lives, cannot understand this language at all. Now and then, one of this description becomes a converted man; and he can instantly feel the force of mo-tives, which had never before had influence with him; and can perfectly understand at once, what had previously been unintelligible.

A second remark which we make upon the letter of Bayssiere, is, that in writing it for the ben fit of his children, and publishing it for the benefit of the world, he acted in the most natural manner, and in the manner to which gennine benevolence would be most likely to prompt him. There are some, who think it very strange, that a man, who professes to have been brought from darkness to light, should think it worth while to communicate his change, or the reasons of it. But nothing can be more natural, or more proper. Every such man feels a great solicitude for the welfare of others;-for the extension of divine truth;--for the awakening of careless sinners; for the dispelling of every delusion;-for the confirmation and consolation of the pious;-for the final triumph of Christ over every enemy. Feeling thus, he is constrained to take any likely measures for the promotion of these great objects; and nothing, which he can do, seems more suitable, than to give his own deliberate and decided testimony.

In the third place, it is an obvious remark, that a conversion to the true Gospel from any superstitious church, or any form of nominal Christianity, gives great offence to the adherents of error. So it was in the days of our Saviour; so it was in Germany, at the period of the Reformation ;—and in England, at several distinct periods in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. So it is in Germany, Switzerland, and our own country, at the present moment. A most striking example may now be seen in Syria also, under the preaching of the truth by the American missionaries. It is owing to this offence of the cross, that so many calumnies are often put in motion respecting any new convert, whose example, it is feared, may prove contagious; or whose testimony is calculated to produce a powerful effect. But it is very easy to perceive the reason of all this. The friends of truth perceive it. The calumniators perceive it. The Scriptures lead us to expect it, and fully explain its cause. Let every man, who is disposed to circulate injurious reports concerning those who may have relinquished his own way. of thinking for what they deem a stricter or a purer faith, examine well into the nature of the disposition which he cherishes. It may be, that he will make some important discoveries, in regard to the character of his motives, and the nature of the cause which he is opposing.

The views here taken of this subject do much towards explaining the reason of the opprobrium, which has always been cast upon the church of God by the world at large. The formidable array of the enemies of truth has, in all ages, included not only the openly wicked and abandoned, but a large proportion of the cultivated intellect, the philosophy, the science, the literature, the wit, the eloquence, to be found in the world. Many individuals, who have entertained a most thorough antipathy against the idea of spiritual conversion, and have cherished the most contemptuous feelings towards the professors of godliness, have been possessed of great intelligence and have discharged many offices of life, in public and private, with great urbanity and integrity. To persons of this class, the preaching of the Gospel has appeared to be foolishWhen speaking of experimental religion they have invariably misrepresented it; and that has arisen from two causes. 1. They knew nothing about it, and could understand nothing about it. 2. They were under the influence of a certain instinctive hatred of religion without being conscious of it. Hence it comes to pass, that some of the worst libels upon the church of God have been written by men of gentlemanly manners and habits, of fair reputation in the eye of the world, of keen and cultivated minds, of liberal education and endowments, professed preachers of the Gospel, decorated with the title of doctors in divinity.

ness.

HINTS ON THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, IN A MORAL

AND RELIGIOUS VIEW.

I AM aware that modesty forbids the praise of one's self. And an overweening partiality to one's own country, which leads a person to be ever obtruding its supposed superiorities, and disparaging the merits of other nations, must be disgusting to a foreigner, as well as irksome to any man of sense. But I know not that such improprieties should discourage a temperate discussion of the subject of this paper. As citizens of the United States, candor and the honor of our country require, that we should endeavor to take an impartial view of foreign nations, in the consideration of such a topic; though it might be expected, that our views of our own institutions and habits will be of a character, which it is possible may subject us to the charge of partiality. And this, doubtless, will be esteemed a venial offence, if not an amiable attribute, by all true patriots, whether devoted to this or any other country.

Under the head of moral, I shall consider myself as having a right to notice the political and civil character of our country, as all such institutions, on the grand scale, exercise an important moral influence. And these I desire to notice, only as I conceive they have a bearing on the moral renovation of the world. Nor would I occupy this ground simply as a political prognosticator. I confess myself to have more faith in the intimations of divine prophecy, than of human. Nor can I persuade myself, that the first settlement of this country by the Pilgrims, in connexion with the political and moral empire which they founded, is so unimportant an event, as not to have some traces on the pages of prophecy.

But, be this as it may, it must be acknowledged, that the settlement of this country was a prominent and grand event of divine providence, in the history of this world. The things which have JUNE, 1828.

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already grown out of it, prove it to have been such. There is a peculiarity, a purity, a simplicity, and I may add, a perfection, in our political, civil, literary, and religious establishments, which, taken as a whole, have no type in the history of nations. It were impossible, that they should be reduced to a form, more strictly popular. And that popular institutions are to be a universal model for the millennial world, I cannot, for a moment, entertain a doubt. That divine providence should have secured sufficient virtue in the people, for the maintenance of such institutions, by having planted such a race of men upon this soil, may, I think, well be marked, as one of the high designs of God, for the renovation of the world. That God should have made Europe, with her wealth and power, contribute to protect these infant colonies, till they were able to defend themselves; that he should have guided, with such a steady and unerring hand, the events which led to the revolution; that he should have controlled that struggle, in such a manner as to consummate, so speedily and so gloriously, the independence of the States; that he should have raised up instruments to lead on that struggle, and qualified men to invent and mature our national and State governments, so wise and perfect as they are, and to establish them upon such a basis; that he should so soon have given us such consequence and influence among the nations of the earth; that he should have given such a triumphant experiment of these popular institutions for half a century, with every reasonable prospect of unlimited duration and extension; and that he should, in the meantime, have blessed this whole nation with such unexampled prosperity, in the increase of population and of wealth, in the success of science and the useful arts, and in the prevalence of religion;-all these considerations corroborate the same impression of the high and especial designs of God in the establishment of this nation.

Next to the United States, among civilized nations, for moral virtue and civil liberty, stands Great Britain. And it is possible, that the relics of her feudal institutions, her aristocracy, and her monarchy, may yet be melted down without a radical convulsion. But Europe, as a whole, evidently presents a spectacle of portentous aspect. She contains within her bosom the elements of one mighty moral earthquake. Nothing but the mutual alliance of her States, at the present moment, can prevent their fearful explosion. And her intimate connexions with papacy, that scourge of the earth, and abominable thing in the eyes of heaven, and which heaven will not long endure, have interwoven the destinies of the one with those of the other. And not unlikely, yea, with a probability amounting to moral certainty, when the time shall arrive to blot out from under heaven this "great Babylon, this mother of harlots and abominations of the earth," the ministers of God's vengeance, decreed for such purpose, will be those very institutions,