and more peaceful thoughts, men who would not have lis tened to any other intercessors. There is no doubt that these good men, and the Christianity which they taught, were the principal means of correcting the furious temper and revengeful habits of the Scottish nation, in whose eyes bloodshed and deadly vengeance had been till then a virtue." And with respect to the later period more immediately before us, we have the testimony of Bishop Burnet. Speaking of the age of Cromwell, he says, "There was good justice done, and vice was suppressed and punished; so that we always reckon those eight years of usurpation a time of great peace and prosperity. The unhappy dissensions and party spirit among the ministers, under the names of Resolutioners and Protesters, were, of course, at once unseemly and adverse; and Popery, doubtless, made some progress, under the guise of Quakerism and other sects which Cromwell's army introduced; and the prohibition of the meeting of the General Assembly for years, which might have repressed disorders; these things were all injurious to the moral and religious character of the nation; but still, after making every abatement, no candid student of the period which we have been reviewing, can question that there was a vast amount of the power of true religion in the land, and that it would be a happy day for Britain which witnessed its revival.

In concluding this period, I may, as in the case of the Protestant Church of France, just allude to the leading ministers. They were eminent for their talents, learning, and devoted zeal. Much did many of them sacrifice and suffer for Christ and for his Church. Such names as the following would have done honour to any Church. Indeed few, if any, Christian Churches of the same limited extent, could, in the same period, point to higher or more estimable names than Andrew Melville, Robert Boyd, John Welch, Patrick Simpson, Robert Bruce, David Calderwood, Robert Blair, David Dickson, Alexander Henderson, Robert Baillie, Robert Douglas, Samuel Rutherford, John Livingstone, George Gillespie, James Durham, Hugh Binning, Andrew Gray, Alexander Nisbet, James Fergusson, George Hutchison, the Guthries, William and James, and many others. I might dwell upon the special merits of each, and their rare combinations. I might show how the same man who was honoured of God to stand at the head of a religious revival, which gathered in five hundred souls to the fold of Christ, was eminent as an oriental scholar, and was among the first to conceive the idea

of a Polyglot Bible, and to amend the Latin versions of the Old Testament. How another, who held a prominent place in the learned controversies and public business of his time, was the author of a volume of Letters, whose piety and profound spiritual experience have converted it into one of the treasured books of the Christian Church in all subsequent times. I might refer also to the rare qualifications of the Scottish clerical commissioners to the Westminster Assembly, men whose learning and acuteness in debate, and wisdom in council, and power in preaching, were the admiration of that famous Assembly, and of the most eminent Christians in England. I might refer to the influence which they exerted on English Presbyterianism, a Presbyterianism which afterwards showed its sincerity and strength in the sacrifice of two thousand church livings in a single day. But I have been betrayed too far from the work in hand already, and this would betray me still further. Suffice it to say, that the providence and grace of God were remarkably conspicuous, in raising up men worthy of his cause, and meet for the trying times in which they lived.

SECTION I.

THE CHURCHES OF FRANCE AND SCOTLAND ENCOURAGE KNOWLEDGE.

1. One of the first and most interesting features with which one is struck, in contemplating the early Protestant Church of France, at this period, IS THE WARM ENCOURAGEMENT

WHICH SHE LENT TO THE PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION OF

GOOD BOOKS. The Church of Rome had been the great enemy of the press; but the Protestants had nothing to fear from the diffusion of knowledge. In early days they had experienced the value of printing to their cause, and had published tracts against Popery, serious and humorous, to a considerable extent, and with great success. The Queen of Navarre, with the ladies of her court, had, even through tapestry, representing a fox's head looking out from under a monk's cowl, and other devices, dealt some hard blows at the Church of Rome; and so, when the Protestant Church became more consolidated, she did not fail to work the press. It were well that the Protestant Churches of modern times acted more largely on the same principle. It is certain that the opposing force of infidelity has owed almost all its success to the unwearied plying of the press. And the interests of religion

seem too sacred to be left to random advocates or interested politicians.

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Like pious men, the Protestant ministers of France sought to perpetuate the memory of what God had done in their behalf. So early as 1603, the thirteen provinces into which the Protestant Church was divided, are charged to collect the memoirs of those remarkable events which had taken place in the course of the previous fifty years, and to transmit them to Monsieur D'Aubigny, to be inserted by him in the history. which he was writing. Nine years later, the same provinces are exhorted carefully to collect the history of those ministers and other Christians, who, in these last times, have suffered for the truths of the Son of God," and to transmit them to Geneva, to be inserted in the Book of Martyrs, and be published by the pastors of that Church. In compliance with this exhortation, we read that the deputies of Bearn brought with them the history of the martyrs of that vince, and that it was sent on to Geneva, "to be added to the next impression of our Martyrology." It would seem that at this period the Protestants were not permitted to publish, in France, the account of their martyrs; and hence, sooner than lose the memory of those they so sacredly revered, they had recourse to Geneva. So impressed were they with the importance of such an undertaking, that in the last General Assembly which sat, in 1659, ministers are blamed for not sufficiently attending to this express article of ecclesiastical appointment; and all provinces and particular churches are required to keep an exact record of memorable events connected with the Protestant religion, and to send them, by a careful hand," to the person who had been appointed to compile them into a volume. Nay, a particular pastor is nominated in every province, to whom the account of these remarkable providences was to be directed. Such care as this was at once a proper expression of gratitude to God for his distinguishing goodness to the Church, and also an important mean of preventing that misapprehension or misrepresentation to which Church history is too frequently exposed in the hands of the mere worldly historian. How much error, as to the early history of the Church of Scotland, might have been prevented or neutralized, had the Church more carefully collected and preserved the memorials of her most prominent events.

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But it was not about her own history alone that the Church of France discovered so much interest. She encouraged va

rious theological works, and, among others, a history of the persecuted Albigensian and Waldensian Christians, by M. Perrin. He is entreated to finish his history of their true condition; and all having memoirs of the "doctrine, discipline, or persecution of these poor saints of Christ," are charged to transmit them with all diligence and care. Two years after, a draught of the history was laid before the Synod, and warmly approved, and five of the brethren were appointed to assist. At the same time, the Synod agreed to aid in bearing his great expenses in books, and in bringing out the first impression. This shows how warm was the interest which one Protestant Church, in those days, took in the welfare of another, and how anxious that of France was to vindicate the character of the unjustly aspersed. There were many similar cases of encouragement to authors. The thanks of the Synod of Tonniers was given to the Rev. Andrew Rivet for his learned works against the adversaries of the truth, and six hundred livres out of the common stock of all the churches were awarded, "as a testimony of love and honour;" while M. Blondel, an eminent minister of the Church, "because his great excellency lieth in Church History and antiquity, he is earnestly desired to follow his genius, and to combat and confute the adversaries with that weapon." One thousand livres are awarded him to buy books; and the Synod promise to defray the charges of the first edition of his works. A Scotchman of the name of George Thomson, who was a minister of the French Church, received in the same way three hundred livres, to assist in printing a book in French, on the Romish controversy. Mr. Daniel Chamier, a still more eminent controversial writer, was requested to print three large volumes of his works at once, and two thousand livres were advanced by the Church as a compensation for his labour. So highly were his works valued, that the Synod of Vitrè entered into a bargain with the printer about their publication, and advanced eight thousand livres for that end, anxious that the book should be sold "unto the pastors of our Church at a very moderate price, and reserving always twelve complete copies to be presented unto their revered and learned author, free of all costs and charges whatsoever." The character of those works shows how sound the Church was on the great doctrines of the gospel, as opposed to the errorrs of Popery, and how desirous of spreading abroad the truth as it is in Christ. Chamier dying before his work was completed, several of the most

eminent ministers were appointed, in 1645, to finish it at the public expense. Various other works were undertaken and encouraged in the same way; such as Drelincourt's, and the answers to Cardinal Baronius' Corruptions of History, and to Bellarmine, the great advocate of Rome. But we have time to refer only to one, that of the Lord Du Plessis, on the Eucharist. The author was a most eminent layman, the Governor of Saumur, and the Church manifested the deepest interest in his work. It would seem that he had consulted the Synod assembling at Gergeau, in 1601, about the publi cation; for they write-" We advise him to send his book unto Geneva, because of the advantage of libraries; and letters shall be sent to our brethren, the pastors there, recommending to them the examination and the verifying of all the quotations in it." Two years after, we find, that the pastors and professors at Geneva gave their very honourable testimony, and the National Synod rendered their hearty thanks to his lordship, for his great zeal and affection for the truth of God, and for his worthy labours in its defence. At the same time, they order it to be printed out of hand, believing that the Lord will give his blessing to it." The Jesuits of Bordeaux were so incensed, that they petitioned the Parliament of that town publicly to condemn it to the flamesa request which it does not appear was complied with. Many and important were the services which Du Plessis rendered to the Protestant cause. In 1590 he built a church for the Protestants of Saumur, and obtained a grant from the King (Henry IV.) for instituting a university there, which was afterwards carried into effect. He wrote an earnest remonstrance to the king on the change of his religion, entreating, at the same time, the continuance of his favour to the Protestants. He was instrumental in healing a controversy between Du Moulin and Tilenus, of the University of Sedan, upon the effect of the union of the natures in Christ; and he so intimidated Cardinal Du Perron, by his knowledge of the Romish controversy, that the Cardinal, though urged by the king, was unwilling to encounter him, pleading, as an apology, that he was "waiting for some manuscripts from Rome" -an expression which the king came afterwards to apply as a proverb to those who made idle excuses, saying, "I see you stay for manuscripts from Rome too."

The Protestant Church of France, however, did not only, by all wise means, encourage the publication of important works; she took steps for the collecting of books into libra