dence, this persecution has opened the eyes of a great number of ancient Catholics, as they are called. That which we tell you is no conjecture or fiction, 'tis that which we know upon good testimony; so that it is certain that the Church of God has gained more souls than it has lost. These seeds will bring forth in their time. Every day we see persons arrive here who abjure the Roman religion, and amongst them there are such as are eminent by their merit, by their birth, by their parts, and by their learning. When we know that they will not take it ill, if we name them, we will do it; for 'tis necessary that all the world know it, that the depths of Divine Providence and his judgments may be admired thereby."

Το

Do any, surveying the dread persecution which we have been contemplating, as a whole, ask the question, why God gave up his saints to suffer so long and so severely? The question is a delicate one, and if answered at all, should be answered with humility and caution. We know little of God's reasons. We see the immediate or proximate causes, and that those alleged by Roman Catholics, in the present case, are not the real ones. One party said that it proceeded from the king's zeal for the truth. This is notoriously false, and would be no vindication though it were true. use the language of Bayle regarding persecution in general, it is nothing "but ferocity, rage, brutal passion, ambition, and principles of a similar nature." In short, it is hatred to the holy Gospel of Christ. As regards Louis XIV., probably the Marquis de Louvois, one of his ministers, described the animating motive pretty accurately, when he ascribed it to royal pride and self-will." It is the king's pleasure that such as refuse to conform to his religion, should be punished with the utmost rigour." Voltaire confessess that the prevailing spirit of the court at the period was, "that every thing ought to submit to the will of Louis XIV."- But whatever may have been the instrumental, what was the efficient and procuring cause of so much woe? It must be sought for in the character of the sufferers. While God has wise and gracious reasons for every step which he takes in the treatment of his own people-while He means to do them good by every stroke which he inflicts, it must never be forgotten that error or sin of some kind lies at the foundation of his afflictive discipline. What was the evil which provoked in the French Reformed? It is to be feared that the comparative quiet which, as a Church, they enjoyed during a con

siderable part of the reign of the Edict of Nantes, lulled them, as peace at an after-day lulled a greater body—almost all the Protestant Churches of Christendom-into a state of carnal security or spiritual carelessness. Men who were active in days of trial, became relaxed in days of prosperity. Then there must have been a want of correct scriptural principle on the part of many of them. A number of years before the Revocation, not a few ministers-in the course of a year sometimes as many as twenty-recanted their Protestantism, and went over to the Church of Rome, moved by such arguments as the doctrine of "apostolic succession" supplies. Very many of the people enlisted, at the same time, as soldiers in the armies of Louis, though it was notorious that his object was, the aggrandizement of the power of France, in order better to cripple the Protestantism of Europe. There must have been something very defective, in point of principle, which allowed Protestants to choose a profession, which not only might bring them into deadly war with brother Protestants, but which raised up a power for the express purpose of crushing their cause throughout the world. Worst of all, the entire Church seems to have been culpable in the low ground which it took in its dealings with the State, contenting itself with asking for mere freedom of worship for its members, instead of holding out before the nation the supremacy of Christ as King of nations, as well as King of the Church, and calling upon men to acknowledge Christ, by renouncing the countenance of idolatry, and recognising the worship of the true God. The ground occupied by the French Protestants, however excellent very many of the ministers and people were, was comparatively timid and selfish. They asked peace and protection for themselves which was all proper; but they ought to have asked more: they should have pleaded for the honour of Christ. This was the ground which, under the guidance of the illustrious Knox, was occupied by the Protestants of Scotland; and doubtless they conquered in this sign. High principle is always at one with true safety. If the Church honours Christ, He will honour the Church in return. It is not improbable that the narrow and timid views to which I have alluded formed some of the reasons why God visited his people with the rod. He would teach a bolder confidence in himself and in his Son; and probably, had the French Church possessed such a counsellor as Knox, she would have pursued that course.

KNOWLEDGE, DISSOCIATED FROM TRUE RELIGION, UTTERLY UNABLE TO PREVENT OR NEUTRALIZE THE SPIRIT OF PERSECUTION EXEMPLIFIED IN THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV.

Looking over the long and bloody history of persecution which we have been contemplating, and remembering that a chief part of it occurred, not in a dark and barbarous age and country, but in the heart of Europe-in the seventeenth century during the reign of Louis XIV., celebrated as the Augustan age of French literature-it is impossible not to ask the question, Is there any connection, and if so, what connection, between knowledge and persecution? It seems strange that these should co-exist in the same place and time. Many imagine that the persecution of others for their religious opinions is the mere effect of ignorance and barbarism, and that, were these removed by the spread of knowledge and refinement, so hateful a crime would speedily disappear; but the case of France and other quarters show that persecution is founded more deeply-not in mere ignorance or barbarity, but in the very nature of unrenewed man. The progress of civilization, and the experience of its inexpediency, may restrain it, or mitigate its features; but it is the spirit of all by nature. It is only true religion which can dispel it; and even the faithful servants of God, from various unfavourable circumstances, may long remain under its influence, in spite of their better principles. Its essence consists in hatred to the Gospel of Christ. Other things-systems philosophical or religious-may be persecuted; but this is accidental. The hatred and accompanying persecution of the Gospel of free salvation, and its adherents, are essential to the character of the natural man.

There can be no question that there were many learned men-much literature-no small general knowledge and refinement in France during the persecuting times which we have been surveying. Any one who has read the Memoirs of Huet, one of the tutors of the Dauphin of France, the son of Louis XIV., and afterwards bishop of Avranches— memoirs which stretch over a period of nearly ninety years -must be persuaded of this. Not a little of the literature and learning might be trifling or useless. There may have been much poetry, which has perished-elaborate editing of ancient authors, who did not deserve such care-large at

tainments in history and antiquities, which were of no great value-oriental acquisitions, which were not applied to any important purpose; but after making every deduction, hundreds of names could be referred to in most departments of literature and science, ancient and modern, which are highly creditable. The Jesuits then flourished, many of whom were eminent for classical and other attainments. The French Academy, too, was founded, and gave a powerful impulse to the pursuit of knowledge. Indeed, the most illustrious names in France are to be found in the age when the Protestants were most severely persecuted.

The question presents itself, how did these enlightened men-men of large and capacious minds--of great learning -familiar with the past experience of the world-how did they feel and act toward the injured and oppressed Protestants of their own land? Did they combine together to defend and vindicate their cause? As patriots, as friends of humanity, as men of knowledge and refinement, they were called to this course-they could not have found a finer field for the display of their talents, energies, and sympathies. It was far superior to that on which they expended so much care and labour; and doubtless their influence, even on the highest councils of royalty, would have been very powerful. But to the disgrace of mere literature and human knowledge, the learned and civilized classes of France did nothing, and attempted to do nothing, to arrest the hand of oppression and violence upon their own brethren. They were utterly inefficient and powerless for good. They were not only, like too many literati, ignorant of true religion, and so full of mean jealousies, and torn with petit quarrels among themselves; but, while vaunting of their civilization and philanthropy, they allowed the most shocking barbarities and bloody persecutions to go forward for years, under their very eyes, unchallenged and unrestrained: nay, many of them went over, for miserable mercenary bribes, to the side of the royal oppressor. Louis, who has been so much lauded as the disinterested patron of learning and art, was most partial and exclusive in his favours. No Protestant, however largely endowed with talent, however accomplished in the walks of literature, had any prospect of success in his calling as a man of science or literature, unless he conformed to the Church of Rome. Indeed, it was the only mode of passing a peaceful and unsuspected life. Hence the number of Protestants of literary taste and acquirement, who, in the

course of the reign of Louis, externally at least, professed themselves of the Roman Catholic Church. While in Huet's Memoirs we read of only one Papist becoming a Protestant, Lefevre, subsequently a professor at the Protestant College of Saumur, and no great credit to the body, we read of very many Protestants, for the sake of literary encouragement, becoming apostates. The bishop's own father was one; the Duke of Montausier another; Fontanier, who was bribed to become his flattering historiographer, another; beside many others. This was disgraceful both to the king and to those whom he thus prevailed upon to abandon the religion of their fathers. What a contrast were they to those faithful Protestant ministers who were as well educated-as eminent in their literary tastes and talents as they, and yet preferred not only to bear the frown of royal discouragement, but the pressure of royal persecution, sooner than sacrifice their religious principles! What a contrast is piety in its operation to mere literature!

This brings me to notice, that the conduct of the literary men of France, in reference to the Protestant persecution, was the more inexcusable, yea, reprehensible, inasmuch as the parties who were oppressed were not a small or contemptible body of ignorant rustics. Even that would be no apology for indifference to cruelty. But it is well known that the Protestants formed a large and influential body. A remonstrance to Pope Pius IV., on the part of Charles IX., in 1565, spoke of them in such language as the following; and there is no reason to believe that they had very seriously fallen off in numbers or character in the time of Louis:

"A fourth part of the kingdom is separated from the communion of the Church, which fourth part consists of gentilhommes, (men of noble blood,) men of letters, chief burgesses in cities, and such of the common people as have seen most of the world, and are practised in arms: so that the said separated persons have no lack of force, having among them an infinite number of gentilhommes, and many old soldiers of long experience in war. Neither do they lack good counsel, having among them three parts of the men of letters. Neither do they lack money, having among them a great part of the good wealthy families, both of the nobility and the tier etat," &c.*

*See Mr. D. D. Scott's important work on the Suppression of the French Reformation, page 12, recently published.