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soliciting them to return and find happiness in him. I wish I could retrace the impressions that this Divine message produced on my mind, the vivid emotions I experienced, and the thoughts and feelings (never, I trust, to be forgotten) excited by that reading."

"I was like a man born blind, and suddenly recovering his sight, in a magnificent room, lighted up by a splendid lustre, and by a number of bright lamps hung around. My feelings at least corresponded with those of a man under such circum

stances, were they possible. How glorious was the light of the Gospel to me! I sought for morality, and I found there the most simple, clear, complete, and perfect system of morality that could be conceived for conduct, and there I found precepts suited to every circumstance that could present itself in life, as a son, a brother, a father, a friend, a subject, a servant, a labourer, a man, a reasonable creature. My duty in every relation of life I there found inculcated in the most admirable manner. I could not imagine one moral duty for which I did not there find a precept: not one precept, unaccompanied by a motive; and no motive that did not appear to me to be either dictated by reason, or enforced by an authority against which I felt conscious that I had nothing to object." pp. 42-44.

Penetrated with this deep sense

of the perfect morality of the Gospel, he was led by that Divine Teacher, who we cannot doubt secretly guided his mind, to ascend to another question: "Was that code of moral doctrine dictated and inspired of doctrine dictated and inspired of God?" "Who," said he, in the workings of his vigorous mind,

"were the writers of this book?" "And when," adds he, "I reflected that they were poor uneducated mechanics, like myself, the question mechanics, like myself, the question immediately presented itself, How could fishermen, tax-gatherers, and tent-makers acquire such extraordinary sagacity, penetration, wisdom, and knowledge. Ah, I exclaimed, this is indeed a problem which can only be solved by admitting their own assertion, that the Spirit of God directed their pens, and that as they were inspired, so they wrote." From the inspired morality of the Scriptures, he proceeded to reason onward, to the inspiration of the doctrines.

"If God inspired the Apostles, and enabled them to give to the world the purest and most perfect system of morality CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 328

that can be conceived, is it to be supposed that in the remainder of their writings, he would leave them to their unassisted reason, and permit imposture to be confounded with truth? No: from the same source cannot proceed sweet waters and bitter. As the moral precepts of the Gospel are Divinely inspired, so likewise must be its doctrines." pp. 45, 46.

Thus ends the process by which this simple mechanic, under the unseen influences of that Divine Enlightener who has promised to instruct every sincere inquirer, was conducted to the full conviction that the whole contents of the New Testament were dictated by the Spirit of truth. If the subject were one of mere scientific discovery, Bayssiere's history would furnish a curious illustration of a mind, unaided by human learning, and unacquainted with the reasoning of others, working out, by its own vigour, a very remote and mighty truth. We are told that Pascal's father accidentally examining some figures which his son had drawn, found that he had proved the celebrated proposition, that the three angles of every triangle are equal remarked, that nothing was achievto two right-angles, and it has been ed in the after-life of that extraordinary man which might not have been expected from a child who, had picked out his unassisted way thus following truth step by step, less wonderful is it, that a man, to so noble a discovery. Scarcely living by the labour of his hands, and absolutely untaught in the science of divinity, should have groped his way from darkness to perfect light, from error to perfect have described. The distance is truth, by the simple process we vast, from the point at which he started, to the goal at which he arrived. He emerged from a system half infidel and half superstitious: of purgatory; then with the infallihe first grappled with the doctrine bility of the pope; then with the assertion of the real presence in the sacrament; and he proved, to the most perfect satisfaction of his mind, that none of these, whatever might

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have been their origin, were derived from the Bible. The works of the Creator were his next instructor: the heavens declared to him at once the glory of God and God himself. He saw the wonders of creation, and inferred a Creator. Paley's illustration, drawn from the mechanism of a watch, presented itself to his mind. He had never heard the name of Paley, but the philosopher and the mechanic seized the same premises, and arrived at the same conclusion. By a process of reasoning equally right, the first fruit which he gathered from the discovery of a God was a sense of his own unworthiness. He argued with the Psalmist of old, "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast made, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?" This humility of spirit prepared him for the reception of revealed truth; according to the inspired promise, "The meek shall he guide in judgment, the meek shall he teach his way:" " If any man will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine;" so that when the light of the Gospel burst in upon him,

"It seemed no less than God in every

line."

We can hardly refrain, at this stage of our narrative, from indulging in an episodical argument upon the incomparable value of that calumniated institution, the Bible Society; the "many-climed" and "much-suffering" institution, to borrow Odyssian epithets, which, in its efforts to build a more sacred Troy, might be well characterised in the familiar lines to which we allude: but we need not enter upon the argument, as our readers will have anticipated what we should have said upon it. If any persons

can doubt whether the Bible contains within itself irrefragable proofs of its own Divine origin; if they doubt whether the whole scheme of Christian truth is to be readily gathered from its pages, even by

the poor and uninstructed, when honestly inclined to study its sacred contents; if they doubt whether, even abstracted from all human comment, it is efficient for exposing the errors of superstition, the delusions of Popery and the hollowness of Infidelity; if they doubt whether its Divine Author is still present in his hallowed, though invisible, influences, to enlighten the understanding, and to open the heart of the ingenuous inquirer, as he did that of Lydia, to comprehend and embrace its heavenly disclosures; and if they doubt whether to give a copy of it to every person in the world, in all its native simplicity, is really a scriptural and hopeful project; they have but to read the narrative before us to correct, their false conclusion. To make the triumph for the Bible Society as complete as is the triumph for the principle on which that institution is founded, it would be only necessary to find, what is by no means improbable, that Peter Bayssiere's New Testament had the impress of its issues upon its covers.

But, after all, mere knowledge is not religion; nor would it have been of much spiritual value to this poor man that he had rejected a few errors of Popery, if he had gained nothing better in their place. But to the illumination of his understanding it pleased God to add the conversion of his heart. By the Bible, and the Bible alone, he became-not merely a nominal Protestant, but a Christian. He felt, he says, "the suitability between the wants of his soul, sinful and destitute of all peace and comfort, and the work which the Saviour had accomplished by his death upon the cross :" he viewed the promises of God as suited to his own case; he regarded Jesus Christ as a sacrifice offered for his sins; he trusted in him by faith for the expiation of them, and for reconciliation with God; and thus simply depending upon his Saviour he obtained peace of soul, a peace which was able to

support and strengthen him amidst all the afflictions of life. He thus feelingly sums up the dealings of God with him.

“In this manner you see how, a sinner and a prodigal as I was, my heavenly Father met me, and received me to the arms of his mercy! how he made known to me his free grace and heavenly gift, of which I was utterly unworthy. It is his grace which has accomplished all in me! He it was who began, who carried on, and who, I trust, will perfect this work of salvation. Without his Spirit operating on my heart, it never could have experienced

a real conversion." p. 47.

Bayssiere now began to feel desirous of intercourse with persons entertaining the same views and feelings with himself with those whom he calls "Gospel Christians;" but where to find them was the dif. ficulty. The thought glanced across his mind, that the Protestants might be the people of whom he was in search. "But instantly," he says, "I repelled an idea which early prejudice had rendered revolting to me. I had been brought up in the conviction that the term Protestant was synonymous with heretic, blas phemer, and reprobate." Soon, how, ever, the thought returned, and reflecting on the declaration of St. Paul, All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,”—possibly, said he, these Protestants may be calumniated, because their religion is in accordance with the Gospel, and he resolved to clear up his doubts upon this point; but there were no Protestants in the neighbourhood,

"I waited patiently," he says, "for some time, and applied myself diligently to reading and meditating on the word of God, which had become like necessary food to my soul. In all my prayers I entreated the Lord that he would condescend to direct me to those true Christians of whom his church was composed, and permit me to become one of their number: 1 felt a confidence, from all that I had experienced, that my Divine Benefactor would grant my request whenever He saw it good for me: this confidence quieted me, but could not remove my desire to ascertain what the Protestant religion really was.”

It happened, however, that his

wife in early life had known some, thing of Protestants, and those whom she had known evidently appear to have been persons of elevated piety. Her he consulted, and a very curious dialogue is given between the parties. He questions her, as to their character, their treatment of servants, strangers, and the poor; as to their conduct as parents, children, and brethren; as to the education they received, their morals, and the degree of harmony and affection which prevailed among them. Happily she was able to give satisfactory answers upon each of these points, and at each disclosure she made, he said to himself, "This is the morality of the Gospel."

From their moral conduct he proceeded with his inquiries on other subjects: How do the Protestants spend their Sabbaths and festivals? Do they ever assemble for prayer, or do they live without worship? What do they do at church? Tellme about their religious ceremonies: of these I most wish to hear. What does the minister say when he ascends the pulpit? We must refer our readers to the passage itself, and we are sure they will agree with us in thinking that we are much indebted to the wife of the saddler of Montaigut, for a very lively as well as favourable picture of Protestant worship. We give the result of her discourse on the mind of Bayssiere, in his own words :

"In this description of the Protestant worship, imperfect as it was, I thought I could recognize those traits of simplicity that characterised the worship of the primitive Christians: and when your mother had finished, I said to myself, This in indeed like the worship recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.'

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"Did you ever see them receive the sacrament?" was his next question: and her answers led him to exclaim, "This is indeed the Supper of the Lord."-A little work written by a Protestant minister then fell into his hands; and "it was," he says, "the very thing I wanted."

On Christmas day, (we believe in

1826), he was admitted at Néve into the bosom of the Protestant church; and we have the satisfaction of learning that he has remained a stedfast and worthy disciple of that church. He has learnt experimentally, and in his own person, the truth of that passage, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;" but this has tended only to give greater notoriety to the fact, and greater circulation to the history of his conversion. His little book has excited much attention in the south of France: a very considerable number of Catholics have embraced the Protestant faith; and there are some symptoms (and symptoms of a nature to inspire very joyful confidence), that pure and undefiled religion is gaining ground in that quarter. We do not despair of seeing, within our days, true Christianity spreading very widely amongst those who have so long been the professors and the victims of infidelity: and we think that no help could have been more opportune than this work, which gives so clear, and (if we may, on so serious a subject, use the word) so entertaining a history of the conversion of its author, from scepticism to natural religion, from natural religion to revealed; and to that form of revealed religion which we have the happiness to possess, and all this accomplished by the Bible; and moreover, as we have had the satisfaction to see, not a mere conviction of the understanding, but also a true conversion of heart to the faith of Christ, and the service of God. We think that great advantage might result from the circulation of this tract in Ireland. A strong disposition to inquire prevails among the Catholic population ; and we know that they have sometimes asked their priests with great significancy, Why will you not let us read the word of God? For a people thus disposed, a publication has been wanting so plain as to be quite

intelligible, and yet so powerful as to carry conviction along with it. The work of Bayssiere is short, familiar, clear, and cogent. The most ignorant among its readers can understand it, the most learned cannot refute it; and it has this preeminent recommendation, that it appeals to nothing but the Bible. If the Catholics of the sister kingdom can be persuaded to search the Scriptures, the result is not problematical. There is much truth, as well as naiveté in the exclamation of the French Catholic commander, in the times of Henry the Fourth, who threw away the Bible, saying, "That book ought to be suppressed-it is all against us."

We must not fail to add, in justice to the anonymous translator, who we understand is a young lady, that the translation is faithful, simple, and vernacular, the absence of which last quality renders many translations scarcely readable. Some of M. Malan's tracts, for example, are greatly disfigured, and are often almost unintelligible, for want of being made vernacular. We do not allude merely to such gross blunders as calling poor little itinerant image boys "stucco merchants," but to the general strain of the rendering, which is giving English words for French, but retaining the French idiom; so that "a week," becomes "eight days;" a fortnight "fifteen;" "thinking" is "finding;" the Bible denounces us as "fearful rogues,' instead of flagrant sinners; "credible " person becomes "creditable" person; we read of, "it is what I have not been able

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to make myself sure of;" in short, we have scarcely a complicated sentence which is not bald, confused, inelegant, or unintelligible. The translation of Bayssiere is executed in a very different taste, and we hope will shew the translators of tracts from the French how much is gained by putting them into a befitting dress.

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE,

GREAT BRITAIN.

&c. &c.

In the press, or preparing for publication : -Seven Sermons on the Temptation of Christ, grounded on those of Bishop Andrews; by the Rev. W. Kirby ;-Lectures on the Apocalypse; by Mr. Jones; -Poems; by M. A. Browne.

The mass of printing and publishing upon the Roman-Catholic question during the last two months has been almost incredible. We began compiling a list of pamphlets on the subject; but we could not make it coinplete, and it was already too long for our insertion. We have thought it most impartial not to attempt, to make a selection.

Mr. Hume, as rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen, has offered two prizes for essays on the following subjects:-"The Evils of Intolerance towards those who differ from us in Religious Opinions; and on the comparative Importance of Scientific and Classical Instruction in the general Education of Mankind."

Captain Sabine, after seven years, has repeated his experiments in the Regent's Park, on the dip of the magnetic needle; by which he finds a decrease of 17. 5. for that period, averaging 2. 5. annually.

To detect the fraudulent admixture of cotton in woollen fabrics, it is recommended to boil a sample in a solution of caustic alcali till the wool is thoroughly dissolved, leaving any cotton, linen, or other vegetable fibres which may be present, undecomposed.

At the last meeting of the antiquarian society Mr. Amyot read a translation of a curious epistle preserved in the British Museum, from Sultan Mohammed the Third to Queen Elizabeth, relating most bombastically the success of his arms in Hungary, for which he concludes her majesty would order cannon to be fired throughout her empire. Her majesty's Mohammedan ally concludes with his hearty congratulations for her majesty's success over the Spaniards.

In Wrexham church, Derbyshire, is an epitaph on a gentleman well known about a hundred years ago, as the wealthy and despotic Elihu Yale, president of Madras, who hanged his groom for exercising a favourite horse without his permission, and narrowly escaped the same punishment for the murder by means of a legal

quibble. The following two lines of the epitaph express a sentiment too common in similar productions, and which we quote in hopes that the startling impropriety of such a sentiment in this case may lead the reader to detect it in others, where, though less grossly revolting to the ear, it is not less unscriptural. "Much good, some ill he did; so hopes all

even,

And that his soul through mercy's gone to heaven!"

The last two Numbers of the Gentleman's Magazine exhibit some most portentous averments. First," An Old Clergyman" informs us, that the "revolting impression produced by evangelical preaching and saintship writings, is that our holy Saviour does not condemn vice; but only music, painting, the drama, poetry, profane literature, the mathematics, and the arts and sciences." Another correspondent maintains, that "the violent abolition of the slave-trade (we thought it had been abolished more than twenty years ago) would take from the British crown the West Indies;" that " Missionary Societies urged in the same manner would detach the East Indies from our empire, and occasion the flight or massacre of all the Europeans;" that "the Bible Society spreads spurious versions of the Scriptures;" that "evangelical preaching makes men regardless of their actions, and teaches them to depend upon profession only for future happiness ;" and that "religious enthusiasm," of which the above are meant as illustrations, leads to "the most atrocious crimes, even murder, arson, as at York Minster, and the like!" The conductors of the work inform us, that "they have heard that certain professors of divinity in our universities will not permit any students who are candidates for holy orders to attend their lectures, if they refuse to abjure Calvinism." As we have never ourselves heard this absurd story, and cannot find any person who has, we dismiss it with the above-mentioned modest fictions; only wondering that in the present day any respectable publication should be found to aver, or any reader to believe, such figments.

FRANCE.

We learn with much pleasure, that Mr. Horne's invaluable "Introduction to the

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