tional inquiries into the doctrines and duties of Christianity, to which those disputes gave rise, had a greater tendency to eradicate from the minds of men the ferocity that had been so long nourished by the barbarous suggestions of unmanly superstition. It is also certain that at the very dawn of this happy revolution in the state of Christianity, and even before its salutary effects were manifested in all their extent, pure religion had many sincere and fervent votaries, though they were concealed from public view by the multitudes of fanatics with which they were surrounded."

The Tricentennial Anniversary of the Reformation was in 1817, celebrated by Churchmen and Dissenters, when some excellent sermons were preached and published, illustrative of the blessings of Religious Liberty.

As we quit the subject of the Reformation, it may not be improper to add and account of the Lutherans. It has already been said, that the Protestants were at first divided into the Lutherans, who adhere to Luther's tenets, and the Reformed, who follow the doctrine and discipline of Geneva. In other words, Luther was at the head of one party; Calvin the chief of the other. The tenets of the latter have been specified; those of the former, therefore, are the present subject of inquiry.

LUTHERANS.

The Lutherans, of all Protestants, are those who differ least from the Romish church, as they affirm that the body and blood of Christ are materially present in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, though in an incomprehensible manner; they likewise represent some rites and institutions, as the use of images in churches, the vestments of the clergy, the private confession of sins, the use of wafers in the administration of the Lord's Supper, the form of exorcism in the celebration of baptism, and other ceremonies of the like nature, as tolerable, and some of them useful. The Lutherans maintain, with regard to the Divine decrees, that they respect the salvation or mis

ery of men in consequence of a previous knowledge of their sentiments and characters, and not as founded on the mere will of God, which is the tenet of the Calvinists. Towards the close of the last century, the Lutherans began to entertain a greater liberality of sentiment than they had before adopted, though in many places they persevered longer in despotic principles than other Protestant churches. Their public teachers now enjoy an unbounded liberty of dissenting from the decisions of those symbols of creeds, which were once deemed almost infallible rules of faith and practice, and of declaring their dissent in the manner they judged most expedient. Mosheim attributes this change in their sentiments to the maxim which they generally adopted, that Christians were accountable to God alone for their religious opinions; and that no individual could be justly punished by the magistrate for his erroneous notions, while he conducted himself like a virtuous subject, and made no attempts to disturb the peace of civil society. Luther's works, collected after his decease, were published at Wittemberg, in seven folio volumes.

It may be added, that Luther's opinion respecting the sacrament, is termed Consubstantiation; and he supposed that the partakers of the Lord's Supper received, along with the bread and wine, the real body and blood of Christ. This, says Dr. Mosheim (himself an eminent Lutheran divine), was, in their judgment, a mystery, which they did not pretend to explain. But his translator, Dr, Maclaine, justly remarks, "That Luther was not so modest as Dr. Mosheim here represents him. He pretended to explain this doctrine of the real presence, absurd and contradictory as it is, and uttered much senseless jargon on the subject. As in a red-hot iron,' said he, 'two distinct substances, viz. iron and fire, are united, so is the body of Christ joined with the bread in the eucharist.' I mention this miserable comparison, to show into what absurdities the towering pride of system will often betray men of deep sense and true genius.'

Such is the account given of the Lutherans, and it appears to be founded in truth. I shall only remark, that,

according to the above sketch, Luther differed considerably from Calvin respecting election and reprobation; and as to the principle, that Christians are accountable to God alone for their religious opinions, it is a sentiment worthy of a great and elevated mind. It is the corner-stone on which the Reformatoin has been raised. It is the true foundation of religious improvemnnt, and wherever it is embraced, will check uncharitableness and persecution, and forward the blessed reign of love and charity amongst the professors of Christianity.

In Swift's well known "Tale of a Tub," he satirizes three distinct classes of religious professors-the Church of Rome, under the appellation of Peter, whose keys for an admission into heaven are supposed to be in their possession-the Church of England, under the name of Martin, because its reformation orignated with Martin Luther --and the Dissenters under the name of Jack, on account of the principles of John Calvin being so prevalent amongst them. It is fraught with that sarcastic wit for which the writings of the Dean of St. Patrick's are distinguished.

A volume appeared some time ago in vindication of Luther and the Reformation, written with candour and ability. It is entitled "An Essay on the Spirit and Influence of the Reformation by Luther." The author of the work, C. Villers, obtianed the prize for it from the National Institute of France. It closes with a note by Dr. Maclaine, taken from the fourth volume of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, who shows that the reflections on the selfish and ignoble motives of Luther, made in Hume's "History of England," must be pronounced a calumny invented by the enemies of the Reformation.

HUGONOTS.

The appellation Hugonots was given to the French Potestants in 1561. The term is (by some) supposed to be derived from a gate in Tours, called Hugon, where they first assembled. According to others the name is

taken from the first words of their original protest, or confession of faith-Hucnos venimus, &c. During the reign of Charles IX., and on the 24th of August, 1572, happened the massacre of St. Bartholomew, when 70,000 Protestants throughout France were butchered, with circumstances of aggravated cruelty. It began at Paris in the night of the festival of St. Bartholomew, by secret orders from Charles IX., at the instigation of his mother, the Queen Dowager Catherine de Medicis. See Sully's Memoirs, and also a fine description of it in the second canto of Voltaire's "Henriade."

In

In 1598, Henry IV. passed the famous Edict of Nantz, which secured to his old friends the Protestants the free exercise of their religion. This edict was cruelly revoked by Louis XIV. Their churches were then razed to the ground; their persons insulted by the soldiery, and, after the loss of innumerable lives, 500,000 valuable members of society were driven into exile! In Holland they built several places of worship, and had amongst them some distinguished preachers. Among others were Superville, Dumont, Dubosc, and the eloquent Saurin— five volumes of whose select sermons were translated into our language by the late Mr. Robinson of Cambridge, a sixth by the late Dr. Hunter, and a seventh as well as eighth by Mr. Sutcliff, of the Wesleyan connexion. one of these sermons Saurin makes the following fine apostrophe to the tyrant, Louis XIV., by whom they were driven into exile; it breathes the noble spirit of Christianity :-" And thou, dreadful Prince, whom I once honoured as my king, and whom I yet respect as a scourge in the hand of Almighty God, thou also shalt have a part in my good wishes! These provinces, which thou threatenest, but which the arm of the Lord protects; this country, which thou fillest with refugees, but fugitives animated with love; these walls, which contain a thousand martyrs of thy making, but whom religion renders victorious, all these yet resound benedictions in thy favour. God grant the fatal bandage that hides the truth from thy eyes may fall of! May God forget the rivers of blood with which thou hast deluged the earth, and which thy

reign hath caused to be shed! May God blot out of his book the injuries which thou hast done us, and while he rewards the sufferers, may he pardon those who exposed us to suffer! O may God, who hath made thee to us, and to the whole church, a minister of his judgments, make thee a dispenser of his favours, and an administrator of his mercy!"

See "An History of the late sufferings of the French Protestants in the South of France," by the Rev. Mark Wilks-and the "History of the Albigenses and Waldenses," with an account of the Christian Church in general, published by Mr. William Jones, written with neatness and accuracy.

About the time of the Revolution,1688, there were many controversies between the Protestant and Catholic divines. Tillotson and Burnet, two clergymen of the church of England, rendered Ptotestantism great service by their writings; and were, on that account elevated to the bench by King William. There are also two excellent volumes of Sermons against Popery, preached in the early part of the last century, by Dissenting Ministers, at Salter's Hall. Dr. Chandler's Discourse on the Notes or marks of the Church of Rome, to be found in this collection, is deemed a masterly production. Burnet's "History of the reformation," and the "History of his Own Times," published after his death by his son, throw light on the state of religion in the last and preceding centuries among Catholics, Chucrhmen, and Dissenters. The merit of these publications, particularly the latter, is appreciated by Dr. Kippis, under the article Burnet, in the "Biographia Britannica." To these may be added a "Defence of Protestantism," by the late Dr. Sturges, in his answer to the late Dr. Milner, (a Catholic bishop,) who, in his History of Winchester, takes every opportunity of reprobating Protestantism, and of erecting on its ruins the edifice of his own religion. Dr. S. animadverts with a spirit on the calumnies by which his antagonist had endeavoured to blacken the characters of the Reformers; and proves the Protestant religion, by its honourable views of the Divine Being, and by its sacred regard for the rights