sum almost immediately raised for this object was not less than £400, 2s. Nor did the Church only collect for her own people overrun by rebels-she made provision also for the poor Irish Protestants fleeing from the Popish massacre. In 1642, a general collection was appointed throughout all the parishes of Scotland, for "the distressed Christians who are fled from the cruelty of the Irishes and Papists in Ireland, and who have come to the west country;" £50 were raised for seven of the number who had taken up their residence at Dunfermline. Livingstone bears testimony to the liberality with which these refugees were treated in Scotland. As he was minister at Stranraer, whither many came, and had moreover been a minister in Ireland, and so was well known to not a few of the Irish, his brethren placed £1000 Scots at his disposal, for distribution among them. They were so numerous, as to be glad of such humble sums as 1s. and 1s. 6d. Scots. The Presbytery of St. Andrews alone, raised for this object £500. In 1719, the small parish of Morham, in Haddingtonshire, collected for the distressed Protestant brethren of Franconia, in Germany, the sum of £8, 9s. 11d. Scots. The parish of Govan, in 1739, raised money for the persecuted Christians of Piedmont; and there can be little doubt that such parochial collections were general, if not universal. In 1752, the poor Protestants of Breslau, in Silesia, received from the Church of Scotland the munificent sum of £1100 sterling. The Ecclesiastical Records of Dunfermline alone, abound in many pleasing traces of Christian sympathy and zeal. Thus, in 1718, a contribution is ordered for the distressed Protestants of Lithuania. In 1721, £20, 10s. Scots are collected for the French Protestants of Saxony. Next year, 30s. are given to John Stancher, a French Protestant refugee recommended by the Synod. In 1724, a

voluntary contribution is appointed in aid of the Scots Presbyterian congregation of New York. In 1730, there is a similar contribution ordered in favour of the Reformed French and German congregations of Copenhagen. A few years later, the Reformed Church of Breslau, in Silesia, receives £27 Scots; while in 1752, the German Protestants in the British Colonies of Pennsylvania receive a gift of £2, 5s. 6d. sterling. Three years after, there is a collection in behalf of the College of New Jersey, which amounted to £2, 13s. 4d. sterling. In the meantime, repeated contributions were made in behalf of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. I have been led beyond the period more

immediately under review; but I have thought it not amiss to collect together the evidence under one view. It might have been greatly enlarged. The sums sent for the relief of the suffering, and the propagation of the Gospel, are almost incredible in number and amount, when the poverty of the country, and the manifold demands of home are taken into

account.

Such are a few illustrations of the sympathy and benevolence manifested by the Protestant Church of France to those who are in suffering and affliction; and such, also, are a few parallel specimens of the same dispositions exhibited in the character and history of the Church of Scotland. And what do such facts prove? They prove how fallacious and untrue is the common allegation of the world and of infidelity, that religious men, in their zeal for the forms of piety, are indifferent to the temporal wants of man. On the contrary, they are the best friends of mere humanity, and, in point of sympathy and liberality, will not only stand a comparison with, but will be found immeasurably to out-distance, all the devices and doings of the irreligious, by whatever name they may be called. If any entertain doubt upon this point, let them ask and ascertain what mere worldly men really do for others, and they will doubt no longer.

Another inference deducible from the facts presented is, that true Christianity is expansive in its liberality. Infidels have often objected to the Gospel, that even its virtues are narrow and confined, and have talked of a universal benevolence, a citizenship of the world as far nobler, and have hoped to work this out from theories of their own. Let the kindness shown by the poor Protestant Churches of France and Scotland to the afflicted, wherever they might be found, however far removed, contradict so foolish an assertion. What have infidels, what have the irreligious done to realize their own speculations? Where are the distressed whom they have succoured-where the record of their liberality? What did they do for those afflicted parties whom impoverished Christian Churches were so forward to aid? truth is, that though the Gospel lays great stress upon domestic virtues and relative duties, and may be said to start with individual affections, yet it is so truly expansive in its character, that ere long it embraces in its benevolent regards, the whole human race in their noblest interests; while the aim of infidelity to begin with general and do away with particular affections, as narrow, is not only unsuited to the

The

weakness of our nature, but frequently terminates in intense selfishness, nay, must do so, from drying up the very source of large and expanded affections.

SECTION V.

THE CHURCHES OF FRANCE AND SCOTLAND ARE THE ADVOCATES OF CHRISTIAN UNION.

The next feature which I shall mention in the character of the Protestant Church of France, indicative of her decided Christianity, was HER ANXIETY For peace among CHRISTIANS

AT HOME, AND UNION AND CO-OPERATION AMONG CHURCHES OF

CHRIST ABROAD. There is no call addressed to Christians, more frequent or earnest, than to be one in mind and affection. Compliance with it is one of the best evidences of genuine religion. But the reader does not need to be reminded that, to the reproach of Christians, in every age of the Church, few calls have been less attended to. Though, in the hostility of a fallen world, and in the identity of their leading views and hopes, as well as the authority of their Master, Christians have the strongest motives to unity and peace; yet such is the imperfection of their attainments in the present life-such the power of remaining depravity, that the history of the Christian Church has too often been the history of discord and alienation. Those who should have been united as brethren, have been separated as if they were enemies, and that upon inconsiderable points. In saying this, I am far from meaning to join in the infidel's cry as to the perpetual war among Christians, and of Christianity sowing dissension in society, and of the impossibility, amid so much strife, of ascertaining what is truth, and of the supreme value of peace, no matter what its kind or foundation. I have no sympathy with such a spirit. It is exaggerated and unreasonable, and proceeds upon false and dangerous grounds. Infidels as really differ from each other, and sometimes as hotly, as any Christians can do. The points in which Christians are at one, are far more numerous and important than those in which they are at variance; and the superior moment of these points to any about which mere men of the world are concerned, is the very reason why contests among Christians are so many and long continued. It is easy to have peace and agreement where the mind is dealing about what it considers comparative trifles. But while

I hold the objections of infidels against Christianity, from the divisions and discord of Christians, to be utterly unreasonable, and that they themselves are inexcusable in the sight of God, I desire not to be blind to the existence and the evils of that religious dissension which has prevailed so widely in the Christian Church. It dishonours the name of Christ and reproaches his Gospel, weakens the influence of Christians, abridges their resources for the good of others, and so hardens the ungodly against the truth, that the Saviour expressly assures us, till his followers are "one," the world will not believe the Father has sent Him, indubitable as may be the evidences of his divine mission. Most mischievously as separation and strife among Christians may have wrought, we are not to imagine that such an unhappy experience has been uniform and unbroken. There have been periods, rare, alas! but real, when Christians generally have been united in understanding and heart, and made it their study and prayer to diffuse abroad the blessings of a universal religious concord. Such was the case with the Christians of the earlier apostolic days, of whom it is recorded, that they were of "one heart." This was the fruit of their living Christianity; and, indeed, the more simple and sincere one's religion is, the stronger will be his love of peace. It is when the cold, and the selfish, and the self-righteous obtain an influential place in a man's religion, that he will be most ready to quarrel with his Christian brother, and to treat him injuriously. The force of violent persecution, too, from without, has frequently concurred, with the presence of true Christianity within, in bringing about harmony and love. In seasons of trial, Christians individually and as churches are driven together; they become better acquainted with each other; points of inferior moment, which separated, are sunk, and thus union is created. It is humbling to think that nothing short of persecution should avail to teach Christian love; but such seems to be one of God's great intentions in permitting persecution; and both in primitive times, and in the early days of the Protestant Church of France, such seems, in part at least, to have been its operation. Though the motive may have been mingled, I am happy in being able to refer the infidel, the scoffer, and the worldly, to indubitable proofs that all Christians are not, as they allege, given to strife, and division, and hatred-that the Gospel is the grand healer of the dissension which obtains between man and man, and that if they would have the peace and

charity which they professedly love so much, they must have recourse to that maligned doctrinal Christianity for which the primitive Christians and the early French Protestants were distinguished.

To allude, in the first place, to the anxiety which the Protestant Church of France manifested for peace and unity in her own borders, we have a striking illustration in the proceedings of the Synod of Privas in 1612. It would seem that, in spite of all the motives to union which a state of partial persecution supplied, considerable division prevailed among the Protestants of France. It does not very clearly appear what was the cause; probably it was owing to their Popish enemies, who laboured to sow discord among the Protestants, as one of the ways of weakening their power. Whatever might be the cause, as soon as the Church was generally aware of the evil, her representative body, the Synod, drew up a long and earnest recommendation, entitled "The Act of Reunion," in which all the members of the Church, and especially those in influential situations, are called upon to exert themselves, with all zeal and affection, to bring about complete and universal harmony. Men of infidel leanings have alleged that Christians delight in strife and war, and have turned this as an argument against Christianity; but not to inquire whether multitudes of those whom they account Christians are really so, and deserve any weight in the question, let the following sentences, from the Act of the Synod of Privas, be considered, and then let the reader judge whether true Christianity holds any connection with dissension and warfare:-"The present National Synod of the Reformed Churches in this kingdom desiring to secure the peace and union of the said churches, and inflamed with the zeal of God's house and glory, and grieved to see Satan sowing the seeds of discord amongst us, which redound to the weakening and infamy of said churches, and may, in after times, produce worse and more dangerous effects, moved with charity towards the members of our body, and being willing to make some provision for a fraternal concord, the indispensable duty of all the faithful, hath, and doth now resolve to exert itself, even unto the utmost, for the compassing of a blessed and holy peace and reunion among ourselves, under their Majesties' authority." All persons are exhorted to labour that the memory of past differences be buried in oblivion, and that all may become peace-makers, "that so the several humours, and different opinions risen up in the