faults of either. They have the warmth and vivacity of the French, without being superficial; and the depth and comprehensiveness of the English, without being dull. They contain weighty thoughts, clothed in powerful language. There are passages of thrilling eloquence and touching pathos which open the deep founts of feeling, and bear the soul towards heaven as in a chariot of fire; and there are trains of cool and dispassionate argumentation, which rivet the attention, and convince the judgment of the most cautious inquirer after truth. There are some sermons which charm the most uninstructed minds by their beautiful simplicity; and o others, which dazzle and awe the most cultivated, by their splendour and sublimity. There are parts in which lamb might wade, and others in which an elephant might swim.'

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The plainness of Tillotson, the onction of Massillon, the richness of Barrow, the fire of Bridaine, the power of Horsley, and the evangelical faithfulness of Du Bosc, are all (in a degree) mingled and concentrated in the sermons of our Author.

But the chief excellence of these sermons is their fidelity to the great prin ciples of divine truth. If they were more distinguished for beauty of compo sition, brilliancy of imagination, richness. of illustration, depth of thought, and power of eloquence, than they have been now represented to be, and yet opposed, or even concealed, the great doctrines of the cross, they would be worthy of execration, rather than of praise, from the lips of a Christian minister. But, blessed be God the powerful mind of Saurin was sanctified by the grace of the gospel; and the brightest efforts of his genius, and the most precious gems he had collected in the mines of literature and science, were consecrated to the noble work of maintaining and adorning the truth as it is in Jesus. Here truth appears arrayed in the most attractive robes which genius and learning could throw around her.

It is not intended by these remarks to sanction every sentiment advanced in the following sermons of Monsieur Saurin. The writer of this preface, as an Episcopalian, entertains views in relation to the constitution and ministry of the Christian church, and also certain points of doctrine, which, of course, can derive no countenance from the writings of a Presbyterian divine. But he may safely declare that few things will be found in these sermons, which will not receive the hearty concurrence of evangelical christians of all denominations

A particular notice of the subjects discussed in these sermons, is here deemed unnecessary, on account of the full analysis given by the translators and editors of the English editions. Suffice it to say, that some of the most important subjects in the whole circle of christian doctrines and duties are here

discussed, illustrated, and enforced. Here God's character and governmentare displayed in all their perfection and glory; his law, in all its extent and. spirituality; and his gospel in all its grace and consolation. Here the LordJesus, as the God-man mediator, fulfilling the law by his obedience, and atoning for sin by his death, is set forth as the only ground of hope-the"end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." The Holy Ghost; the third person in the adorable trinity, is here recognized and glorified as "the Lord and giver of life," who by his divine energy quickens and renews the sinner's heart, çomforts the soul of the believer under the sorrows' of this life, and prepares him for the joys of that which is to come." Here the sceptic may be convinced, the heretic confuted, the worldling confounded, the sinner alarmed, the penitent comforted with the hope of pardon, and the "man of God, thoroughly furnished unto every good work."

May the blessing of Him, without whom Paul may plant and Apollos water in vain, accompany this new edition of these admirable sermons, and make it the instrument of salvation to multitudes of souls.

BALTIMORE, MAY 30, 1832.

J. P. K. HENSHAW.

MEMOIRS

OF THE

REFORMATION IN FRANCE;

AND OF

THE LIFE OF THE REV. JAMES SAURIN.

THE celebrated Mr. SAURIN, author of the following sermons, was a French refugee, who, with thousands of his countrymen, took shelter in Holland, from the persecutions of France. The lives, and even the sermons, of the refugees are so closely connected with the history of the Reformation in France, that, we presume, a short sketch of the state of religion in that kingdom till the banishment of the Protestants by Louis XIV. will not be disagreeable to some of the younger part of our readers.

verts, she gained nothing in comparison of what she lost. She increased the number, the riches, the pomp, and the power, of her family: but she resigned the exercise of reason, the sufficiency of scripture, the purity of worship, the grand simplicity of innocence, truth, and virtue, and became a creature of the state. A virgin before; she became a prostitute now.

Such Christians, in a long succession, con verted Christianity into something worse than paganism. They elevated the Christian church Gaul, which is now called France, in the into a temporal kingdom, and they degraded time of Jesus Christ, was a province of the Ro-temporal kingdoms into fiefs of the church. man empire, and some of the apostles planted Christianity in it. In the first centuries, while Christianity continued a rational religion, it spread and supported itself without the help, and against the persecutions, of the Roman emperors. Numbers were converted from paganism, several Christian societies were formed, and many eminent men, having spent their lives in preaching and writing for the advancement of the gospel, sealed their doctrine with their blood.

In the fifth century, Clovis I., a pagan king of France, fell in love with Clotilda, a Christian princess of the house of Burgundy, who agreed to marry him only on condition of his becoming a Christian, to which he consented, A. D. 491. The king, however, delayed the performance of this condition till five years after his marriage; when, being engaged in a desperate battle, and having reason to fear the total defeat of his army, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and put up this prayer, God of Queen Clotilda! Grant me the victory, and I vow to be baptized, and thenceforth to worship no other God but thee! He obtained the victory, and at his return, was baptized at Rheims, December 25, 496. His sister, and more than three thousand of his subjects followed his example, and Christianity became the professed religion of France Conversion implies the cool exercise of reason, and whenever passion takes the place, and does the office of reason, conversion is nothing but a name. Baptism did not wash away the sins of Clovis; before it he was vile, after it he was infamous, practising all kinds of treachery and cruelty. The court, the army, and the common people, who were pagan when the king was pagan, and Christian when he was Christian, continued the same in their morals after their conversion as before. When the Christian church, therefore, opened her doors, and delivered up her keys to these new con

They founded dominion in grace, and they explained grace to be a love of dominion. And by these means they completed that general apostasy, known by the name of Popery, which St. Paul had foretold, 1 Tim. iv. 1. and which rendered the reformation of the sixteenth century essential to the interests of all mankind...

The state of religion at that time, A. D. 1515, was truly deplorable Ecclesiastical government, instead of that evangelical simplicity, and fraternal freedom, which Jesus Christ and his apostles had taught, was become a spiritual domination under the form of a temporal empire. An innumerable multitude of dignities, titles, rights, honours, privileges, and pre-eminences belonged to it, and were all dependent on a sovereign priest, who, being an absolute monarch, required every thought to be in subjection to him. The chief ministers of religion were actually become temporal princes, and the high-priest, being absolute sovereign of the ecclesiastical state, had his court and his council, his ambassadors to negotiate, and his armies to murder his flock. The clergy had acquired in mense wealth, and, as their chief study was either to collect and to augment their revenues or to prevent the alienation of their estates, they had constituted numberless spiritual corporations, with powers, rights, statutes, privileges, and officers. The functions of the ministry were generally neglected, and, of conse quence, gross ignorance prevailed. All ranks of men were extremely depraved in their morals, and the Pope's penitentiary had published the price of every crime, as it was rated in the tax-book of the Roman chancery. Marriages, which reason and scripture allowed, the Pope prohibited, and, for money, dispensed with those which both forbade Church-benefices were sold to children, and to laymen, who then let them to under tenants, none of whom performed the duty, for which the profits were