us. we will praise thee, for though thou wert angry with us, thine anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted Behold, God is our salvation: we will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song: he also has become our salvation." And then, though the love of God to us in Christ Jesus will ever be uppermost in our thoughts, and will call forth the warmest ascriptions of praise "to Him who loved us, and gave himself for us; instead of shutting our eyes to his wisdom and goodness, as ma nitested in the works of creation, we will contemplate them with high, because sanctified, delight, as the wonderful works of our heavenly Father's hand. And while our hearts glow with gratitude in beholding "the fair profusion that o'erspreads" the earth, the language of our hearts will be, Sof. roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, THE PERIODS INTO WHICH TIME IS DIVIDED: A DISCOURSE. BY THE LATE REV. GEORGE HILL, D.D., Pracipal of St. Mary's College, and one of the Ministers of St. Andrews. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness."--LAMENT. iii. 22, 23. Ir was the lot of the prophet Jeremiah to witness the accomplishment of the threatenings which he had been sent to denounce against the children of Israel, and to behold his countrymen carried into captivity. Amidst his lamentations over their misery, he intersperses distant intimations of deliverance; he renews the exhortations to repentance which, in their better days, they had neglected; he teaches them quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord; and, in the words of the text, he cherishes those sentiments of gratitude, trust and hope, which flow from just views of the all-ruling providence of God. The words are beautifully conceived, so as to recal to those who consider them, many circumstances which the bustle and the sorrows of life frequently banish far from our thoughts. There are here presented in one view, the past, the present, and the future. The link which binds them together in this representation is the continual operation of one gracious Being, whose energy pervades all the three, and upon whom our dependence will be as entire in the future periods of our existence, as it was in the days that are past, or as it is in the present time. If we keep hold of this link, we may catch the spirit of the expression in which the prophet has slightly, but strikingly, marked the three periods into which time is divided. 1. Of the past the prophet says, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed: because his compassions fail not." He is speaking in the name of his countrymen, a captive nation, who, because they disregarded the repeated warnings of heaven, had been torn from the inheritance which God gave to Abraham, and were compelled to sing the songs of Zion in a strange land. But although the righteous Lord employed Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to inflict upon them this national judgment, yet “he made them to be pitied of those who carried them away captive," and they continued to exist as a nation under the government of their own chiefs, in the land where their conquerors placed them. Of the general condition of the human race we may say, in the words of the prophet, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed; because his compassions fail not." Adam was warned against breaking the commandment of the Lord God, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The commandment was transgressed. The forfeiture was incurred, and the first pair might have been dismissed from the earth which God had given them. It was of his mercies that they were not consumed, before a son was born to them. Their posterity have multiplied and replenished the earth, not in virtue of any right derived from them, for our inheritance is a sentence of death, but by the long-suffering of Him who spares us in the land of the living, because his compassions fail not. We cannot expect that the life thus mercifully preserved will possess all the comforts which entered into the original portion of man. We receive, together with the grant of life, that inheritance of toil and sorrow, which the righteous Lord, at the time when he gave the reprieve, ordained for man as a continued memorial of the evil of sin. But the same compassion which at that time dictated the promise of a second Adam who was to repair the evils introduced by the first, extends to the inheritance of toil and sorrow, alleviates the sufferings which flow from sin, and by the grace of the Gospel, converts the punishment of a fallen race into a medicine for their depravity. In the whole constitution of nature there are mercifully interwoven mitigations and abatements of evil. Man is not left to expire without help under the diseases which are incident to his frame. Scattered throughout his habitation there are palliatives and remedies, by the skilful application of which, his pain is relieved, his sinews are braced, and he is often lifted up from the gates of death. His spirit, which might have sunk under his infirmity, is cheered and revived by the kindly attention of his neighbours; his heart is made better by the sorrows of his lot; his soul is roused by difficulties; his powers are called forth in the hour of danger; his character is ennobled by the display of patience and magnanimity; and although the tranquillity of his mind, and the ordinary tenor of his employments, are often disturbed, yet these interruptions render human life a more trying and a more interesting scene. When this general view of the condition of mankind is applied to individuals, every one of you, looking back upon the days of the years of his pilgrimage, and filling up, with the events of his own lot, the picture, of which I can give only the outlines, will acknowledge that it is of the Lord's mercies he is not consumed. Recollect the many instances in which your conduct has been imprudent, your words have been idle or hasty, evil, the full possession of which they deserve to bear-but they daily receive many comforts: and the same Being, who has upheld their souls in life during the past, continues to bless the present. "The sun ariseth; man goeth forth unto his returns, with fresh vigour of body and mind, to the repetition of those offices which minister to the health of the individual, to the comfort of society, and the improvement of life. He finds every thing beautiful in its season. His toils and his employments, adapted to the changes in the face of nature, vary as the year revolves, and his own ingenuity diversifies still farther his occupations and enjoyments. While his understanding is enlarged, and his views expand, by improving upon the attempts of those who went before him, the age in which he lives sets an example to that which is to come. Arts, which had been lost, revive in different forms. Opinions, measures, fluctuating, and something new is coming in its place. But, amidst all these vicissitudes, the great storehouse of nature furnishes an ample provision of materials for labour and enjoyment; and man, whose condition upon earth is never stationary, finds, in all the stages of his progress, the mercies of the Lord new every morning. and your passions ungoverned, and think if all your indiscretions, to speak of nothing else, had been published, if every one of them had received an immediate retribution, or if the natural effects of all had been allowed to accumulate upon your heads, how different your condition, your reputa-work, and to his labour, until the evening." He tion, your connections might have been at this moment! Had no affliction, or disappointment, or chastisement, brought back your mind to serious thought, how completely might giddiness, or vanity, or vice, have supplanted in your breast every holy and pious affection! Had no friendly counsellor, no warning of providence, no seasonable address of the Word of God alarmed your conscience and recalled you from folly, with what security might you have advanced in wickedness, till your heart was wholly depraved, and the hatefulness of your iniquity called for vengeance! Had no comfort been poured into your soul in the hour of sorrow, no encouragement sent to revive your languor, no prospect opened in the days of dark-government, every thing human, is perpetually ness, no friend raised to extricate you from difficulties, to support your tottering steps, or even to listen to your tale of woe, the weight of suffering might have pressed you to the ground, and the spirit which God gave might have failed before him. The journey of life has to many of you been, in some respects, irksome. There are losses, which gold and silver cannot repair; there is a bitterness, which your own heart only knows. But "wherefore doth a living man complain?" Could you have charged God with injustice, although these evils had been aggravated? Had you any title to demand from him, the strength which enabled you to bear them? And is it not because his compassions fail not, that you are yet spared? Let not the children of sorrow, brooding over the evils of their lot, forget to number the comforts which remain. Let those whose days have glided smoothly on, trace the kind hand which has led them through much good; and let both proceed from the devout recollection of the past, to join with the prophet in saying of II. The present, "Thy compassions are new every morning." The prophet wishes to reconcile his countrymen to their condition. They were indeed removed from the land of their fathers, and from the services of the temple; but they were not forsaken of God. Instead of the desolation and oppression which they expected in their melancholy journey from Judea to Babylon, they had the satisfaction of seeing Daniel, one of their brethren, raised to be the first minister of the prince under whom they lived. His influence was generally able to defend them from violence, and to protect them in the exercise of their religion, and, under the fostering care of his indulgent administration, they multiplied and prospered. To the whole human race the compassions of the Lord are new every morning. Wherever men dwell, they are not only preserved in existence when they might justly have been consumed, they not only experience many mitigations of that When we descend from this general view of human life to particular cases, we find the words of the prophet equally applicable to the present. Those who are led, by official duty, or by Christian benevolence, to visit the abodes of human misery, often find that, in dwellings from which earthly joys appear to have fled, the mercies of the Lord "are new every morning." He who imposes the burden, gives strength to bear it. He renders distress less pungent, by being long endured. He soothes the troubled spirit, by the promises of religion. He speaks a word in season to the weary soul; and he supplies the place of every other comforter, by coming himself to dwell with the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. If you are visited with an ordinary measure of human suffering, you have still more reason to say that the compassions of the Lord are new to you every morning. In sickness, he sends friends to smoothe your pillow, to hear your complaints, to supply your wants, and to accommodate their attentions to your demands. In sorrow, he raises up other objects to divert your thoughts from the melancholy one over which they brood, and thus to steal from you a part of your griefs. In difficulties, he supports the firmness of your spirits, and blesses your exertions. In changes of situation, which seemed to render you desolate, by tearing you from habits and enjoyments without which you thought that you could not exist, he enables your mind to adapt itself to its condition; and, amidst connections and pursuits which had never entered into your calculation, he teaches you to say with the prophet, "Thy mercies are new every morning." If this expression is literally true even with regard to the unfavourable conditions of human life, how much more significantly may it be adopted by the great body of mankind, who engage in the active business of society, enjoy health, and spirits, and domestic tranquillity, and do not feel the want of any necessary, or the pressure of any severe affliction! Can they number the mercies which are new to them every morning? If they look up to the heavens, they behold an object of unceasing and delightful admiration. If they cast their eyes abroad upon the earth, they see it replenished with the riches of God, which he has permitted them to taste, and which he has put it into their hearts to enjoy. If they have leisure to search his works, or to trace the operations of his providence, they find the most interesting and improving exercise for their reasonable powers. If they read the Scriptures, or observe the ordinances of religion, there are impressed upon their minds those views of the Father of all, which give a new relish to the blessings of their condition. In many of the employments which fill up their time, there is that bodily exertion which gives a brisker flow to the spirits, that exercise of ingenuity and skill which is pleasing to the mind, that satisfaction which arises from the consciousness of being usefully engaged. And if they are at ease within, how are their mercies multiplied by the esteem and kindness of their neighbours, by the cheerfulness of their habitation, and the gladness which good affection inspires! The God of love has implanted in the heart of man those kindred feelings by which souls are knit together. He makes the journey of life new to a parent in watching over the progress of his children. He doubles our comforts by participation, or renders that which we possess of much greater value to our own enjoyment when it is freely given, than when it is closely kept. A selfish being is often weary of existence, because, with the most abundant means, his enjoyments are uniform and limited, while there is endless variety in the pursuits, the expectations, and the returns which compose the life of the liberal man" who "deviseth liberal things." Even cares, anxieties, and toils are amply compensated by good affection. And the interest which we take in the happiness of others, although it often multiplies disappointments and sorrows, diversifies and enlivens our whole condition, and substitutes, in place of any complaint of the repetition of the same objects, a constant feeling and a grateful acknowledgment, that "the mercies of the Lord are new every morning." III. Of the future the prophet says, "great is thy faithfulness." The Almighty had said, "I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them, and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely." The prophet reminds his countrymen that the faithfulness of Him who had given the promise opened a sure prospect of their return. And the promise was in due time fulfilled. Da niel was preserved during the seventy years' captivity to mitigate the distress of his countrymen ; and at the end of the seventy years Cyrus the Great, listening probably to the advice of this aged counsellor, issued an edict permitting the Jews to return to the land of their fathers, and to rebuild the city of their God. The faithfulness of God, which revived the spirits of the captives in Babylon, enables man in every situation to look forward with hope. His happiness is often more affected by his opinion with regard to the future, than by his experience of the past, or his feelings of the present. And of all opinions concerning the future there is none so consoling, or so delightful, or so invigorating, as that which the faithfulness of God conveys. It gives us assurance that the same Almighty Being, whose compassions have not failed, and whose mercies are new every morning, is to be our protector and guide in the remaining periods of our existence. This expectation is suggested by the unchangeableness of his nature, by the uniformity of his providence, by the inexhaustible fulness of his treasures. The expectation is confirmed by his Word. We obey his command when we cast our care upon him, and he fulfils his promise when he cares for us. The promise is, indeed, inseparably connected with the discharge of duty. For a wicked man, amidst his enjoyment of what the world accounts good, derives no security from the past, and does not feel in the present any ground of hope. He has broken, with regard to himself, the link which connects the three periods of his existence. Having chosen to walk in the ways of his heart, and the sight of his eyes, he advances, in his own wisdom and strength, to encounter the perils and difficulties that lie before him; and instead of looking up to the faithfulness of God for future blessings, he beholds an offended Judge, whose word may scatter the good that he enjoys, and punish his transgressions by the speedy arrival of those unknown evils, the foreboding of which embitters his portion. Seek, then, my friends, to "be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and created after God in righteousness and true holiness." Examine whether there is anything in your temper, in your discourse, in the government of your passions, in the management of your family, or in your intercourse with one another, contrary to the law of God. Whatsoever it be, it will estrange you from God, and prevent you from considering his faithfulness as your shield and buckler. But every effort which divine grace enables you to make for disentangling yourselves from the pollution of the world, diminishes, with regard to you, the distance which separates man from God. Every holy endeavour improves your resemblance to the Father of Spirits; and the gracious discoveries of the Gospel, resting our acceptance upon the all-perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus, inspire confidence towards God, encourage the followers of that which is good, with all humility of mind, to rely upon the faithfulness of God, and enable them to experience, amidst personal, domestic, or national calamities and fears, that sweet composure which this reliance imparts to the soul. You know not the mixture of good and evil, the changes of place, of connection, and of situation which are to enter into your future lot. Every scheme of yours may fail; every plan of happiness which you form may be disappointed; every friend in whom your soul delights may be taken from you; but "there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother," a wise, almighty, faithful friend, who never fails them that trust in him, who, by the light of his countenance, can put gladness in your heart under every pressure, and who, by steps that may appear to you unlikely, is guiding you to that state where the discipline of this life has its termination, where every tear shall be wiped from your eyes, where you shall receive a portion of unmixed and unchangeable good, and shall rejoice in the everlasting love of your Father. Thither, Lord, do thou lead us in the way that to thee seems best; and to thy name be praise. Amen. THE EARLY PROTESTANT CHURCH OF FRANCE. No. IX. BY THE REV. JOHN G. LORIMER, Minister of St. David's Parish, Glasgow. THE different features in the character of the Protestant Church of France, during the ninety years of the continuance of the edict of Nantes, which I have already presented, are, I humbly conceive, in no small degree, interesting and decisive of her truly Christian spirit. The feature to which I have now to call the reader's attention is scarcely less interesting, while it is, if possible, a still more striking illustration of her attachment to the Gospel of Christ. The feature to which I allude is, her manly protest against the corruptions of the Church of Rome. Many, especially at the present day, have light views of Popery. They look upon it as one of the many forms of Christianity, and see nothing very serious in its evils. Widely different are the views of Scripture upon the subject. The Word of God describes Popery as the great enemy of Christ, and of his Church, and denounces against it the most dreadful doom, reaching to nothing short of utter destruction. Popery runs, throughout, directly counter to all that is peculiar and vital in the truth of God, subverting the law, and marring the gospel, and perverting ordinances. Indeed, it seems a grand device of Satan to neutralize the whole scheme of divine revelation. The Reformers, and the Churches which they planted, were familiarly acquainted with it in its true spirit and operation from sad experience, and so they drew up their Confessions of Faith, armed against it at every point. Instead of cultivating any alliance with the Church of Rome, they dreaded the most distant approach to union, and constructed their most important measures of Church discipline, schools, &c., in such a way as to weaken and counteract Popery on every hand. We do not greatly wonder at their zeal. Just as men know, and value, and love the Gospel of the grace of God, must they hate Popery; while a thorough acquaintance with Popery seems almost essential to the enlightened appreciation of the Gospel, the dark ground of the picture setting off the illuminated figures the more brightly and impressively. The early Church of France, though seated in the heart of a great Popish country, with comparatively few adherents, subjected to many privations and oppressions, and in danger of provoking fresh assaults, yet lifted up a bold protest against the errors and corruptions of the Romish Church. She inserted among her articles of faith the following strong, but just, representation of We give the form in which it was put by Antichrist. the Synod of Gap in 1603one-and-thirtieth in order in our Confession of Faith, and shall be thus worded: Whereas the Bishop of Rome hath erected for himself a temporary monarchy in the Christian world, and usurping a sovereign authority and lordship over all Churches and pastors, doth exalt himself to that degree of insolency, as to be called God, and will be adored, arrogating unto himself all power in heaven and in earth, and to dispose of all ecclesiastical matters, to define articles of faith, to authorise and expound at his pleasure the Sacred Scriptures, and to buy and sell the souls of men, to dispense with vows, oaths, and covenants, and to institute new ordinances of religious worship. And in the civil state he tramples under foot all lawful authority of magistrates, setting up and pulling down kings, disposing of kings and of their kingdoms at his pleasure: We therefore believe and maintain that he is truly and properly The Antichrist, the Son of Perdition, predicted in the holy prophets, that great whore clothed with scarlet, sitting upon seven mountains in that great city, which had dominion over the kings of the earth, and we hope and wait that the Lord, according to his promise, and as he hath already begun, will confound him by the Spirit of his mouth, and destroy him finally by the brightness of his coming." Again, "That article treating of Antichrist shall be the "Divers pastors and members of several Churches remonstrated in this Assembly, how they had been troubled and prosecuted for calling the Pope Antichrist in their private and public discourses. This Synod protesting that this was the common faith and confession of all our Churches, and of this present Synod, that the Pope is the Great Antichrist, and one of the principal causes of our separation and departure from the Church of Rome, and that this confession was contained in, and extracted out of, the Holy Scriptures, that it had been scaled with the blood of a world of martyrs: Therefore, all the faithful, be they pastors or private Christians, are exhorted constantly to persist in the profession of it, and openly and boldly to confess it; yea, and this very article shall be inserted into the body of the Confession of our Faith, and the general deputies of our Churches at court are required to petition his majesty, that none of his officers, in any sovereign or other inferior courts of judicature, may be suffered to infringe our liberty of conscience, granted us by his edicts, of making a free confession of our faith, and that none of them may trouble or vex us, as divers of them have done for this very matter. And whoso are now prosecuted and molested, on this account, or may be hereafter, they shall be supported and defended by the whole body of the Churches in the best manner that can be, according to that firm bond of union which is established among us. And letters shall be written to our lords, the judges in the mixt courts, to exhort them vigorously to maintain this article of our common Confession." It would seem that this bold statement gave great offence. The king, led on by his Popish priests, was highly displeased, and expressed his displeasure to the Synod of Rochelle, which met four years after; but while every disposition was manifested to avoid unnecessary offence, the Protestan Church strictly adhered the service of God. Moreover, the consistory of those places where such scandals de fall out, is enjoined to rebuke them with an holy vigour, who give such an evil example; and all Synods are to proceed against them with all ecclesiastical censures; and if they be pastors or elders, who, by their connivance and dissimulation, have, or for the future may favour such offenders, they shall not only be suspended, but deposed also from their offices." of principle had brought upon their family. A few years later, we meet with the case of a minister who was deposed for attempting, in an elaborate work, to reconcile the differences in doctrine between Popish and Protestant Churches. This was justly considered most dishonouring to the truth of God. But strongly as the Protestant Church of France was opposed to Popery and to all that savoured of it, she cherished no hatred to Roman Catholics themselves. Many seem to think these two are inseparable--that hatred to a religious system must make us hate its professors but the very reverse is the truth. It is pity to the honest confession which she had made. Having reweighed the article, she unanimously approved of its form and substance, "as very true, and agreeing with Scripture prophecy;" on which it was resolved, that it should continue in its place, and be printed in every copy which came from the press. This was decided ground, and long after was steadily maintained. Above fifty years later, in 1659, when persecution became more oppressive, as the day for revoking the edict of Nantes approached, we find the Protestant Church of In the same spirit those Protestants are severely reFrance struggling for her old principles. "As for those proved who showed respect to the Popish host as it words Antichrist," say they, "in our liturgy, and idol- passed along the streets, by taking off their hats. Proatry and deceits of Satan, which are found in our con- testant lawyers are forbidden to plead those causes for fession, they be words declaring the ground and reason Papists which were intended to suppress the Word of of our separation from the Romish Church and doc- God, and set up the mass. Nor were they allowed to trines, which our fathers maintained in the worst of give their assistance in any case which might be turned times, and which we are fully resolved as they, through to the oppression of the Protestant Church. In 1637, the aids of Divine Grace, never to abandon, but to we read of a M. Fourneaux and his wife being suspendkeep faithfully and inviolably to the last gasp." Unlike ed for a time from Church privileges for allowing their the latitudinarians of later days, the Christians of France daughter to marry a Roman Catholic. Nor were they were not afraid to call things by their right names. absolved until they had publicly confessed, in the conThey were not frightened, by charges of uncharitable-sistory, their sorrow for the sin which their compromise ness, from applying the language of Scripture to the enemies of the Lord. Nor did they content themselves with putting on record a general declaration against Popery they were forward to denounce and expose particular errors as often as the circumstances of the times required it. It might have been expected, that the harsh treatment which, with a few exceptions, they had ever experienced at the hands of the civil power, would have prejudiced them against kingly authority; but, No. Regarding civil rule as the ordinance of heaven, and their great protection against the usurping power of an apostate Church, they used their best exertions against the doctrine of the Jesuits, so fatal to the true estates and authority of sovereign princes. In 1614, the Synod of Tonniers "detesting that abominable doctrine, together with its authors, exhorts all the faithful of our communion to abhor and execrate it, and all our ministers and professors are to teach and preach against it powerfully, and to batter it down with force of arguments, and to defend, at the same time, conjointly together, the rights of God, and those of the higher powers ordained by him." This showed noble superiority to prejudice, enlightened regard to the authority of the Word of God. Passing from strong statements against Popish doctrines, we may now proceed to notice the actual discipline of the Protestant Church of France as illustrating the same decided and scriptural attachment to sound principle. While far from being rigid in small and indifferent matters, she forbade her members lending the least countenance or encouragement to Popery, in any of its forms. Hearing that some of them, in 1631, hung their houses, and lighted candles in honour of a Popish festival, the second Synod at Charenton are deeply concerned that any Christians should have awarded to the creature the self-same honour which is due to the Creator, and express themselves in the following strong language:-Would to God that the Christians of this country would speak out against the British encouragement which is at present yielded to the superstitions and idolatry of the East in the same bold strain!___ "This Assembly wanting words with which it may express its just grief and resentment for such an inexcusable cowardliness, doth adjure the consciences of those persons, who have fallen into sins so repugnant unto true piety, by the fear of the living God, by the zeal of his glory, by the bowels of his mercy in the Son of his dearest love, and by that special care the faithful ought to have of their salvation, that they would revive the zeal, and show themselves loyal followers of the faith and constancy of their fathers, and testify, by their perseverance in well-doing, the sincerity and soundness of their repentance, and of their affection to and love for the souls of men which makes us detest the more the fatal errors which would destroy them. Just in proportion to our love for the one is our hatred to the other. Accordingly we find, that the French Protestants showed the utmost kindness to their poor Roman Catholic brethren, and gave every encouragement to them in abandoning the pernicious system in which they had been educated. In 1614, we have the following statement, and till Protestant Churches nowa-days favour converts from the Church of Rome with a better protection against starvation than they often receive, the cause of Protestantism cannot be expected to prosper as it deserves. "John de Luna and Laurens Fernandez, both Spaniards, presented themselves before this Assembly, with valid testimonials from the Church of Montauban, declaring their abjuration of Monkery and Popery, and approving of their conversation ever since their conversion; as also Stephen Conversett of the Franche Comté, who had quitted the order of the Dominicans, and Peter Mercurin, a provincial, who had also abandoned Popery. This Assembly granted unto the said Fernandez, Conversett, and Mercurin, an hundred and forty crowns a piece; and farther ordaineth, that the said Mercurin shall be put into the catalogue of Proposans, and be first of all employed in the ministry in Provence. And as for John de Luna, who desires leave to retire for some time into Holland, there be sixty livres granted him for his voyage. And whereas one called Buisson, born in the Lower Guyenne, is lately converted from the Popish religion unto the Reformed, thirty livres are given him towards his relief until the next Provincial Synod, wherein he shall be particularly cared for." But while the French Protestants gave all due encouragement to serious inquirers, and to proselytes from the Romish faith, they were extremely cautious and guarded in receiving converts, and especially in intrusting them with the office of the ministry. They knew well in what a system of falsehood the Roman Catholics had been born and brought up,-what varied tempta |