THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL. IN APRIL, 1866. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew. OT until the day of universal restitution will the infamous atrocity perpetrated on the eve of St. Bartholomew, 1572, by the Roman Catholics on the unoffending Huguenots or Protestants of France, cease to be remembered with the most intense horror. The coolness of the proceedings which instigated such a carnage, and the devilish passions which led Catholic nobles and statesmen to burst the bounds of humanity by heading the massacre, make the event unparalleled in the history of gigantic crimes. There is no shadow of doubt as to who the originators of the plot were. The Roman Catholics had conceived the bitterest hatred to the Huguenots, and were determined that the land should be rid of them. Catherine de Medicis, whose furious enmity to Protestantism made her an admirable mover in the dreadful design, controlled her son, Charles IX. sufficiently to make him a mere puppet in her hands. Admiral Coligny, one of the most prominent advisers of the King of Navarre, who was then at the head of the Huguenots, was invited to attend the Parisian court. Coligny was the especial object of the Catholics' resentment, and an unsuccessful attempt was therefore made upon his life. The Queen-mother, finding that this part of her scheme had failed, represented to the king that the Huguenots were clamorous for revenge upon the nobles of the court for the attack upon Coligny. These representations had the effect of frightening the weakminded king, who at once authorized the massacre of the offending Protestants. Our illustration represents the first attack of the murderous Catholics in the streets of Paris. Charles IX. is in the act of giving the first signal by firing a gun from the window of his palace. Coligny with his household was murdered, and his body thrown out to the mob. Everywhere the cry was heard, "Kill every man of them! Kill the Huguenots!" The streets were reeking with the blood of men, women, and children. Not an individual suspected of a leaning towards the Reformed religion was suffered to escape. While this scene was going on, the Protestants of Lyons, Rouen, and other cities, fell victims to the savage fury of the Catholics. The massacre was carefully planned so as to break out at the same hour in various cities and in their suburbs. By some it is supposed that at least 100,000 persons suffered death. The estimate given by Sully at 70,000, has, however, been adopted. It is pretty certain that at least 10,000 were destroyed in Paris alone, and this estimate does not include the 500 who belonged to the higher orders. It is said that "the roads were rendered almost impassable from the corpses of men, women, and children,-a new and appalling barricade." The monstrous deed received the high approval of the Pope and his Cardinals, and thanks were impiously made to Heaven for the distinguished favour that had been rendered to the Church. The then head of the English Church by law established (Queen Elizabeth) seemed to take the matter equally well; for we find her immediately afterwards receiving the French Ambassador, and accepting thankfully a loveletter from the Duke of Alençon; and, in a few months, standing at the font as godmother to the child of the murderous King of France. By the side of these facts we ought to place a few computations which will show that the unexampled outrage on St. Bartholomew's Eve is only a part of a line of policy which the Church on the Seven Hills has carried out during the twelve hundred years of its existence. Mr. D. A. Doudney, the incumbent of Bedminster, near Bristol, recently mentioned at a public meeting that at least fifty millions have been put to death by the Romish Church. That estimate gives us the number of martyrs annually at 40,000, or more than 100 a day for the last twelve hundred years. Spain especially has had her share in the responsibility of this iniquity, for under forty-five Inquisition trials, between the years 1481 and 1808, 31,658 were burnt alive, 18,049 were burnt in effigy, and 225,214 were condemned to galleys or imprisonment. It must not be supposed that in consequence of the respectable appearance which Catholicism is now necessitated to put on that the nature of Popery is changed. It is, and from its organization must continue to be, ambitious of supremacy. Even the Times, which looks upon the proselytising schemes of the Romanists with cynical indifference, believes that it is impossible not to recognise in the recent complaints of English priests and dignitaries "something of that perverse ambition which has always been the bane of Roman Catholicism. A purely religious power the Roman Catholic Church never has been, is not now, and it seems to have made up its mind that it never will be. Though it still embraces half Europe in its spiritual sway, it laments the loss of a few petty provinces in Italy with a bitterness far keener than that of the exiled dukes." That this ever-increasing ambition will not rest satisfied until England shall bow before the Beast may be readily believed; and that all the efforts now being put forth to weaken the progress of Protestantism in this country have as their central object the humiliation of a liberty-loving people is too plain a fact to withstand. To obtain its ends Popery would not despise the most atrocious and abominable means. If our Saviour's words, "By their fruits shall ye know them," have any significance whatever, they may be appropriately used in reference to this insidious Church. What have been the fruits of this fearful heresy during the period of its almost unlimited sway, but spiritual and political oppression as well as persecution in its grossest and most multifarious forms? Looking at the atrocities of this Church, one would feel tempted to question whether its character of being "Drunken with the blood of the saints " is not too mildly drawn. The only defence of God's true Church is in God. By the constant preaching of his Word, and by the uplifting of the cross, we hope the day will come when no invectives will be required to denounce the gross imposture which has for so long a time "made the people to sin." The Apostle of the North. T is a long and weary day's ride from Glasgow to London, but a good book has a marvellous power of shortening the journey. Our genial and generous host, Mr. Turnbull, of Huntingtower, put into our portmanteau the life of Dr. M'Donald, the Apostle of the North,* and we blessed him many times on the road home from Scotland for furnishing us with spiritual refreshment so enjoyable and strengthening. We have not the time to prepare the readers of the "Sword and Trowel," a cut and dried review after the regular orthodox fashion; but we feel that it would be a wickedly selfish eating of our morsel alone if we did not give our friends some slices from the goodly dish by cutting out a few of the anecdotes in the memoir. On the other side the Tweed we suppose everybody has read the volume, but in England we may do good service by bringing it before our constituents. In the dark days of the Moderates, Dr. M'Donald's father was one of the living in Zion who were faithful among the faithless found. Acting as a catechist in the parish where he lived, he taught the gospel as much by his actions as by his words. His outward deportment was after our own heart. "He was a cheerful Christian. Whatever his own state of feeling might be, none saw a frown upon his face. His desire ever was to commend Christ to others, and to exhibit the beauty of godliness. Often has he told to some that it was his prayer to heaven to be enabled to keep a cheerful face over a heavy heart. Many could testify that as he asked, so it was given to him; and verily this was the means of increasing his usefulness in the vineyard of the Lord. An affectation of seriousness-the grim face, and the querulous, heartless groan-he never could endure. He could distinguish between the fragrance of a broken heart and its counterfeit, and those who savoured of it were always dear to him. Clear was his discernment of a work of grace, and of the difference between death and life; but he was always charitable in his judgments, leaving it to Him to whom alone it appertains to make a perfect separation between the precious and the vile. He never loved to winnow with too strong a wind, lest wheat might be scattered with the chaff. He preferred to leave some chaff among the wheat rather than to send the seed away with the husk." As a Presbyterian, James M'Donald of course sought to have his child baptized, and the method of the youngster's receiving the rite was somewhat amusing and not a little prophetic. "On a cold December By Rev. J. Kennedy. T. Nelson & Sons. day the parents went to the manse. On reaching it they found that the parson was from home; he had started in the morning on a shooting excursion, and was not expected to return before sunset. Instead of waiting for the reverend sportsman, they started across the moor on their way home again. They had not gone far when the minister, in his shooting attire, met them, and at once decided to make short work of it by baptizing the infant on the spot. They were standing beside a frozen pool, and after muttering a few words of prayer, the minister broke the ice with the butt end of his gun, and fetching water from the opening, sprinkled it on the face of the infant as he repeated the solemn words of consecration. Such a baptism, if an early earnest of the treatment awaiting the Apostle of the North at the hands of the Moderates, seems now a presage of his future work as the great field preacher of his day." 66 The youngster, John Macdonald, who was thus summarily introduced into ministerial society, very early in life had other dealings with the religion or irreligion of Moderatism. He became a right clever lad, and was, on entering into his teens, frequently employed in making up annual accounts for the neighbouring farmers, and with a quick eye for the ludicrous he did not fail to observe the follies of the would-be religious. Being asked to make up the accounts of a farmer in a distant part of the parish, he was under the necessity of remaining for several days in his employer's house. The farmer had always kept up a form of family worship, though well known to be fonder of pence than of prayers, but he had never ventured, when on his knees, beyond repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer, on any former occasion. Thinking it necessary to get up something extra when the catechist's son was present, as he knew him to be a sharp youth who would be sure to mark the difference between his prayer and what he was accustomed to hear at home, he resolved to paraphrase the form which had stood him in such good stead before, that it might be decently long at any rate. Beginning with the invocation, he added to it the words, and also on the earth,' and an eke to each of the first three petitions; but having repeated the fourth, 'give us this day our daily bread,' there was a long pause. He evidently seemed to feel that this was but a very scanty allowance to ask, so, with an earnestness in which he let out the deepest desire of his heart, he added, but if Thou wilt give us more, we are quite ready to receive it."" Very different praying was this from that of John's grandfather, who was called the man who would fight only on his knees. The following incident explains this singular title:- "A misunderstanding arose between him and Mr. Gunn or M'Homish, his landlord, who not only threatened to eject him from his croft, but actually laid violent hands on his person. John Macdonald quietly bore his landlord's blows, and said good humouredly, 'I will not fight with you standing, but come and I will try you on my knees.' Hearing this, Gunn went away in a great rage, conceiving himself to be highly insulted. Meeting another of his tenants, he complained to him of the insult John had offered him by proposing to fight him on his knees. He will do it too,' the tenant said, 'and I fear you will have the worst of it.' 'How so?' asked M'Homish. John Macdonald,' he replied, 'has much to say with Heaven, and he usually gets whatever 6 |