held a synod at Montauban, and organized | colleges, etc., and the employment of such plans as they considered necessary, in defence of their religion. Their first movement was to ask for a new edict, which was granted to them, at Nantes, in 1589; yet, in reality, it was but a renewal of that which had been granted by Henry II. However, it was so faithfully observed by his successor, both in the spirit and the letter, that he has had the highest credit for it. Indeed, it would have been strange, if he who had professed the sentiments of the Protestant party, and probably still secretly approved of them, should have acted otherwise. The provisions of the edict of Nantes were, however, highly important to the Protestants, as it insured to them numerous places of certain security, the privilege of holding meetings for ecclesiastical purposes, permitted the establishment of faculties, academies, colleges, and schools, for themselves exclusively; and, while Henry v. lived, their church was in a free and prosperous state. But, in the succeeding reign of Louis XIII., when, in place of the Protestant alliances which had previously existed, Papist connexions and Jesuit influences at court succeeded, the affairs of the Reformed church took a different turn, and the unwise measures of its members, who, rashly confiding in their own strength, became active political partisans, naturally induced perplexity and distress within its pale. The capture of Rochelle, in 1628, was the commencement of the downfal of the French Reformed church; and, though cardinal Richelieu used no open violence to its injury, he permitted the stream of malevolence and injustice to beat upon it, until it became weak and undermined. During the minority of Louis XIV., his minister Mazarin committed no acts of enmity against the Reformers, and even appointed one of the most zealous of their church to a high government office; but, on his death, the hopes of the struggling church were crushed. The king determined to destroy it; and after some mean and unwarrantable misinterpretations of the edict of Henry iv., he revoked it altogether in 1686. All the preceding miseries of the Reformed church were inconsiderable with those which it endured at this terrible period. After a series of banishments, confiscations, the removal of children from parents, prohibition from practising liberal professions, the suppressing of dragoons, quartered in the Protestant towns and houses, with orders to make havoc and destroy, to compel the Reformers to embrace the Romish creed, the protecting edict was annulled, and more than half a million of disciples, faithful to their religion, became exiles from the land of their fathers. The remainder, having no root in themselves, in this time of persecution, fell away; and the dragooning suppressed the outward exhibitions of the Reformed faith. Yet a remnant remained, which, though suppressing the avowal of their creed, inwardly maintained it, and transmitted it to their descendants. The spirit of their religion was not yet extinguished; the light which had been kindled at the Reformation, though hid, still burned; and, when seasons of less darkness and violence succeeded, it shone again; feebly and flickering it might be, but still affording some light. Even of those who had nominally been converted to the Romish church, some were soon struck with sorrow and remorse at their backsliding, and reassembled together, reading the word, and speaking to themselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs; and praying together; and some of their pastors, braving danger, returned to their congregations. But the hand of intolerance and force was soon raised against this remnant of the church. Their faith, which, in the hour of temptation, had been found deficient, was renewed with greater vigour ; their former apostasy filled them with shame and humility; and now they were in reality prepared to say, "Though all men deny thee, yet will not we. In some of the provinces, they resisted the rigours of a persecuting government; became more and more combined in sentiment, and formidable in numbers; and, during nine years, combated for liberty of conscience. Those contests, which were called the wars of the Camisards, (from a kind of smock frock which the Huguenot peasantry wore over their coats,) did more harm, however, than good to the cause of truth. That profligate and unchristian monarch Louis xv., pursued the sanguinary course of the former reign, and even added to its rigorous enactments. Several of the pastors were hung, many hundreds of their flocks were condemned to the galleys, and thousands consigned to the prisons; and every village and town accused of hav ing held Protestant assemblages was in some way visited with punishment. Yet, through all these tribulations, the hand of God kept together a portion of his people. The pastors visited their congregations in secret; and, since 1715, the consistories and synods have been reestablished, though their proceedings were frequently conducted in the recesses of a forest. The Protestant princes were led to form an academy at Lausanne, for the education of new pastors, who were disciplined for the trials of the cross and the martyrdom which so frequently became their inheritance, until 1762, when the public feeling, awakened by the increasing spread of general knowledge, and particularly affected by the execution of Calnas and others, at Toulouse, took a new direction, and favoured the principle of toleration. Prosecutions against the Reformers became gradually less frequent, and ceased altogether in 1787, when the mild and benevolent Louis xvI., with the advice of Lafayette and Malesherbes, gave to the Huguenots the privileges of citizens; their wives were no longer to be considered as concubines, nor their children as illegitimate, in the eye of the law. The National Convention, in 1789, decreed universal liberty of conscience; but soon afterwards the reign of infidelity commenced in France, and the nation made the insane experiment of substituting human wisdom for Divine: but the Protestants were no longer persecuted as religionists, however they as royalists might have been obnoxious to destruction on the grounds of incivisme and honouring their king. Napoleon, in 1802, organized the system of Protestant worship; and his law was recognised by the charters of 1815 and 1830; and, blessed be God, Protestants in France are now entitled to the free exercise of the Reformed religion. A traveller, judging from appearances, in the north of France, would form very erroneous opinions of the extension of Protestantism in the kingdom at large. If he should inquire regarding this subject in many of the populous towns, he might probably be told that there are few, if any Protestants in them. He may hear of half a dozen individuals, (among many thousand nominal Roman Catholics,) belonging to the Reformed church of France, and ascertain that they are seldom visited by a pastor; and he will find, perhaps, that, out of those six individuals, one or two have intermarried with Roman Catholics, with the understanding that the male children are to follow the religion of the father, and the female that of the mother. He might then depart with the impression, that the French Protestants are but as a few drops of water in a bucket. The actual condition of the Protestant religion is as follows. It is professed in fifty-six departments, principally in the east, west, and south; and the aggregate number is about two millions, including Wesleyan Methodists* and all Dissenters. There are for this body 656 pastors, of whom 192 are for the eastern side, (and principally Germans,) and of the Lutheran creed. At Strasburg there is a faculty of theology, founded in 1808, with five professors, at a salary of 1207. sterling each, and at present fifty-eight students. The theological establishment at Montauban, which Calvinistic, has seven professors and sixty-eight students, and from this seminary the churches of the south and the west are principally supplied. The government paid, in the year 1840, for the two seminaries, and all other expenses attendant on the Protestant worship in France, (the stipends of the clergy included,) 1,004,050 francs. The appointment of a pastor or minister to any locality depends upon the importance of the place and its population, and the clergy of all denominations are paid accordingly. They are divided into three classes, with salaries proportionally. Thus: first class, for a population of thirty thousand or upwards, 80l. per annum, with 20%. to 247. for house or lodgings; second class, for a population of five thousand to thirty thousand, 60l. per annum, and 127. for lodgings; third class, for a population under five thousand, 487., and 87. or 10%. for lodgings. The suffragan, or assistant pastors, who are included in the gross return above, have only 247. a-year each. There are several societies for spreading the gospel, and promoting the interests of the Reformed church in France, and for diffusing the knowledge of the truth among the Jews and heathen nations. The first Protestant Bible Society was established at Paris, in 1818; this has now several auxiliary ones, and there are other independent ones, for the more general circulation of the word of truth. * The number of these is about eleven hundred, with twenty missionaries to preside over them. The Tract Society was formed in 1822. The other associations for evangelical purposes, and for promoting primary education among Protestants, etc., have been established at different subsequent periods, and some of them within five years. It is cheering to see an increase in the means of usefulness. May the Lord afford them his blessing!—M. D. THE ONLY SOURCE OF SATISFACTION. THERE is nothing out of God that is sufficiently capacious and permanent to fill the heart of man. The natural heart forms to itself ideas of happiness that never will be realized, notions of felicity to which there is nothing answerable in the whole circle of created things. It dwells, as it were, in a land of shadows, and images to itself a greatness which the infinite abysses of space are not able to comprehend. Nothing can satisfy that general thirst after happiness which exists where God is not apprehended and enjoyed. Ask that man who has been the most successful in his worldly affairs, whether he has had his heart filled with its objects. Ask the avaricious man, whether he has accumulated wealth So NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. NATURAL theology shows there is a God, and that we are in danger. Letters of terror are written on the tables of conscience. Hence arise many fears and many anxious inquiries, as to how we may regain the favour of that God whom we have offended, escape the wrath which is to come, and be brought in safety, through the bogs, difficulties, and over the dark mountains, to the land of rest and blessedness. To such inquiries the book of nature furnishes no the book of revelation. The book of reply: but they are fully answered by nature teaches that there is a God, the book of the gospel reveals a God for us, and not against us; and if God be for us, who can be against us? The light of nature in the conscience may stir the inquiry, "What must I do to be saved?" The gospel answers in a word, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." The book of nature and the book of the law unite to raise a thou sand terrors in the human heart; but the gospel removes them all by asking the question, "Who is he that condemneth?" How majestic is that faith which removes a mountain of fears, and turns the shadows of death to morning light! It even apby whom the worlds were made, and asks, proaches that Divinity and eternal Power "Who is he that condemneth?" It is that died, yea, rather that is risen again enough to fill the void in his heart. He has engrossed much of it, but he is not satisfied. Ask the ambitious man, whe-Christ the power and wisdom of God, ther he is satisfied with honour, whether he has enough of the applause of the world, whether power has poured itself upon him in a sufficiently copious stream. far from it, it has only irritated his pas sions, and rendered him more susceptible of censure, more touched by contempt, more affected by reproach. The void in his heart widens, and he becomes more eager after glory. Thus it is that there is a void in the human heart, which is never completely satisfied until the love of God is shed abroad there. The chasm widens in proportion as created objects fall into it. The particular appetite may be satisfied for the moment, but the thirst after general happiness is increased. But God is sufficient to fill the heart of man, yes, of all men; and to diffuse rapture and joy over the inhabitants of heaven itself. No mind is so capacious, no heart is so large and extensive, that God cannot fill it; no desire so great, but there is sufficient in the beneficence of God to satisfy it. -Robert Hall. A PRACTICAL QUESTION. It is one of the nicest points of wisdom to decide how much less than complete knowledge in any question of practical interest, will warrant a man to venture on an undertaking, in the presumption that the proficiency will be supplied in time to prevent either perplexity or disaster.-Foster. ENGLISH HISTORY. CHARLES I. The Star Chamber. THE French king proceeded with activity against Rochelle; a fleet under the earl of Denbigh was sent to relieve the Protestants; but returned without success; it was refitted, and Buckingham prepared to take the command: a private understanding having been made by the aid of the Venetian ambassador, that, on his appearing off Rochelle, a correspondence with Richelieu should be entered into, and a treaty of peace should follow. Buckingham's unpopularity was now at its height. A well-known dependent, Dr. Lamb, his physician, was murdered by the populace in a street of London; placards were affixed to the walls, threatening his master with the same fate; but the duke disregarded the threats, and proceeded to Portsmouth. While there, one morning, after a warm discussion with some of the leaders of the French Protestants, Buckingham was proceeding to his carriage, when he was stabbed to the heart, and instantly expired. In the confusion which followed, Felton, the assassin, was not perceived, till he drew the notice of the bystanders, and declared that he was the man. On examination, he stated the he had been wronged by the duke, by arrears of pay and promotion being withheld; but that his motive was the desire to remove one so injurious to the JULY, 1842. country as Buckingham was declared by the House of Commons to be. As no accomplices could be traced, the king recommended torture to obtain evidence ; but the judges declared such an infliction illegal-an important advance in the right administration of justice. The folly of such proceedings was shown by the prisoner, who, when threatened by the earl of Dorset, told that nobleman, that if tortured he should accuse him. The duke was buried privately, for fear of popular outrage; but no interruption was given to a splendid ceremonial the following day, which attended an empty coffin. Felton was brought to confess his guilt and error, and was executed, expressing sorrow for his delusion and wicked ness. Buckingham was only thirty-six years of age when murdered; but in his short life he did much to bring forward the national evils which, at his death, were already gathering heavily around. Deficient in abilities, rash, and self-willed, keeping away any real friend, or competent adviser, he urged on a course which, at every turn, placed the monarch in collision with his people. The hatred of the nation being excited, the king suffered from his favourite's unpopularity, while his own unbending temper induced him to support his minister against his subjects. The death of Buckingham was a U relief to Charles; but he had other ad- | formers considered must prove favourable visers, who soon became still more hateful. The fleet sailed, but after ineffectual attempts to relieve Rochelle, it returned to Portsmouth. Another attempt was ordered; but Rochelle surrendered in the interim, being reduced to the last distress by the famine. This gave additional strength to the king of France, and was a severe blow to the Protestant cause of Europe; while it reflected much disgrace upon the English rulers, who had first excited the French Protestants into conflict with their king, and then allowed them to fall. The serious part of the English nation was deeply pained by this disaster. to Popery, if carried out, and destroy much of the glorious fabric they had been privileged to rear. Laud and his followers, among whom Montague, Andrews, aud Cosins, were especially active, laboured to effect three things, which placed them in opposition to their predecessors, namely, to diffuse the doctrines just mentioned; to restore many matters of outward form and ceremonial used in the church of Rome, and laid aside by the Reformers: these were sought to be restored, as having been practised by the primitive church, though they were unknown in the early and purest days of the Christian dispensation, and included some matters of popish origin, and far later date. The third was supporting the The Parliament met on January 20, 1629. The Commons again required attention to grievances; and, in the first in-high notions of prerogative assumed by stance, to those connected with religion. The execution of the laws against Popery evidently had been relaxed; while a new spirit influenced the leading divines of the established church. Some of the clergy advocated from the pulpit, very strongly, the highest claims for kingly prerogative, and received marks of the royal favour. Bishop Laud was the most influential of this party. He had been favoured by Buckingham, and being appointed bishop of London in 1628, he became an active member of the council. After Buckingham's death, the king regarded him with still more favour, and listened to his counsels; while Laud endeavoured to promote the favourite measures of the king. It was evident that the leading clergy now differed much from those who had been the Reformers of the English church, and their immediate successors. Their doctrinal views were in conformity to that system, which is generally termed Arminian; of which it is sufficient to say, that on the solemn subject of, "How shall man be just with God?" it takes different views of the natural state of man, and of his own powers to bring him into acceptance with God, than had been taught by Cranmer, Ridley, and their successors, down to Abbot. Hereon the Reformers and their successors appealed directly to Scripture, where they found, among many equally strong and decisive declarations, By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God," Eph. ii. 8. Arminius and his followers, without opposing the authority of Scripture, took views which the descendants of the Re the Stuarts. The Reformers and their successors had been undeviatingly loyal; they had, in many of their writings, maintained the authority of the monarch against the Papists, who never scrupled to attack any ruling power opposed to their ecclesiastical usurpations, desiring to make the civil authorities and rulers bow to the mandates of the pope, and court of Rome. But the present monarch openly advanced new claims to authority, which the Laudian clergy advocated in the strongest terms, and in a way that showed their desire was not only to establish the royal authority over the people, but that of the church above the king. One testimony of this was, that in a new edition of the thirty-nine Articles, a clause was again introduced, which had not appeared in the original copies, and only in a few of the subsequent editions, previous to this period; it stated, The church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies, and authority in controversies of faith." 66 Sir John Eliot spoke at considerable length in the House of Commons against innovations, and the introduction of new ceremonies. Laud was evidently referred to in particular, and the House of Commons recorded upon their journals a "vow," in which they "claimed, professed, and avowed for truth, that some of the articles of religion, which were established in parliament in the thirteenth year of Elizabeth, which, by the public acts of the church of England, and by the general and current exposition of the writers of that church, had been declared unto them, and that they rejected the sense of the Jesuits, Arminians, and all |