ceptions, steadily governed by the prospects of another world. So far, at least, are they from being Deists, that they are one of the few Christian societies in Britain which support their discipline in such a manner as to disown those members who by word or writing profess or propagate deistical or Socinian principles; when, after due labour, such cannot be brought to acknowledge their error.

Mr. Leslie's heavy charges against them, in his "Snake in the Grass," were replied to in 1699, by Joseph Wyeth, in a tract, entitled "Anguis Flagellatus," or "A Switch for the Snake." Brown was answered by Barclay, in his Apology vindicated;" and Voltaire's remarks were animadverted on by Josiah Martin, in a printed "Letter" to the author.

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS.

We may well envy the mild creed, and universal charity, or fraternal love, of the Quakers; while we must allow with a sigh, that a nation of Quakers could not exist, except all nations were of the same persuasion. To this, however, it has been said by one of their writers, that any nation actually possessing and practising Christian principles, may be contented with the protection of Heaven, which can always find means to protect what it brings to pass; and by another, that much of the jealousy, the pride, the ambition, the high spirit of what is called honour, which are the causes of war, would not exist in a nation of true friends.

However few of other denominations may be disposed to think well of their religious opinions, or of many of their peculiar customs, it cannot be denied that the Quakers, as members of society, are a very respectable body; and that, though they have a church (if that term may be used in regard to their society), not only without sacraments, but even without a priesthood, and a government without a head, they are perhaps the best organized and most unanimous religious society in the world. They have the merit of having never contaminated their principles with acts of rebellion, nor polluted their hands with the blood of their fellow-subjects. They never disturb the peace of the church, nor shackle the wheels of government; and in all their tolerabiles ineptiæ, or harmless peculiarities, they are tolerated by a liberal and an enlightened nation*. Their benevolence, moral rectitude, and com

See "A Collection of Acts of Parliament, relative to those Protestant Dissenters who call themselves Friends, but who are generally known by the name of Quakers; from the year 1688."-W. Phillips, 1801.

mercial punctuality have excited, and long secured to them, very general esteem; and it has been well observed, that in the multitudes that compose the vast legion of vagrants and street beggars, not a single Quaker can be found.

They object to the common mode of solemnizing marriage; as, say they, no record is to be found in Scripture of marriage performed by a priest. They do not, however, consider it, as has been alleged, merely as a civil contract; and they quote William Penn, who says, that "it was the unanimous sense of Friends, that joining in marriage was the work of the Lord only." Hence, of all the sects in England, they are indulged with the peculiar privilege of being married in their own way, and in their own places of worship; and we seldom hear of adultery or divorce among them*.

To their leading principle of the all-sufficient light of Christ within, they have always been very desirous of making converts; and in their attempts to cultivate the large, and inexhaustible field of Christian benevolence, in 1795, they formed and engaged in a plan for civilizing the Indian tribes. of North America, which promises to have a happy effect on that barbarous and much neglected people, and will doubtless prepare them for the reception of the Gospel; an object which, I can readily believe, the Friends have ultimately in view.

Their efforts have, however, been much impeded, and in some respects frustrated, by the late war with Britain; by the influence of some incorrigibly bad characters among the Indian chiefs; and by the power of habit on a roving and capricious race. At the same time, the Friends continue their exertions among them, chiefly with a view to the education of their children; and some of the settlements they have formed remain and prosper. Considerable sums have been contributed towards this labour of love, and transmitted to America, by the Friends in this country; of whom it may be said, that they are among the most firm and strenuous supporters of Bible Societies and of the work of general

Their rules for proceeding in relation to inarriage, their form of marriage, &c. may be seen from pp. 62 to 72 of a 4to. vol. intitled "Extracts from the Minutes and Advices of the Yearly Meeting in London." Phil. lips. 1802. Their form is simply this: at the conclusion of a week-day meeting for worship, "the parties are to stand up, and, taking each other by the hand, to declare in an audible and solemn manner, to the following effect-the man first;-viz. “ Friends, I take this my friend D. E. to be my wife, promising, through Divine assistance, to be unto her a loving and faithful husband, until it shall please the Lord by death to separate us ;" and then the woman in like manner, “Friends, I take this my friend, A. B." &c.

education; and that they co-operate steadily in the measures which continue to be taken to ensure the total abolition of the Slave Trade. Nor does Slavery itself escape their serious attention, with a view to its final extinction in the British colonies, when, in the course of Providence, an opportunity shall be offered of proceeding to that object. To all this it may be added, that they have lately directed their attention to the improvement of prison discipline, both at home and abroad; and, that they have taken the lead in the benevolent exertions that are now making, to sooth the sorrows and relieve the pressing wants of the suffering, persecuted, and much injured Greeks.

THE HUGUENOTS, OR FRENCH
PROTESTANTS *.

THE Reformed religion was already established in Germany, and in a great part of Switzerland, while in France the number of its proselytes was yet small.

But through the aid, chiefly of Calvin and some other eminent reformers, it penetrated by degrees into every part of the kingdom. Francis I. though amiable in many respects, and at one time in a state of uncertainty whether he ought not to embrace it himself, soon attempted to arrest its progress, and with that view exposed its adherents to great severity of suffering. Henry II. more intolerant than his father, though he saw, even in his own family, and among the principal men of his court, zealous disciples of the Reformation, yet followed the same cruel policy; aud at length the Parliament of Paris sanctioned an edict, by which the Huguenots were placed out of the protection of the law, and liberty was granted to every Roman Catholic to hurt or to destroy them. Their cause, however, spread as a mighty torrent;

For the meaning of the term Huguenot, see above, vol. i. p. 344. I here adopt the common phraseology: at the same time, I admit that it is less correct, for the great Protestant body in France consists of two classes, the Huguenots or the Reformed, and the Lutherans; but the former class is so much more numerous than the latter, that the name of French Protestants is generally given to them.

Father Paul's" History of the Council of Trent," p. 279-80. Limborch's "History of the Inquisition," book i. chap. 28.

and, triumphing over those obstacles which human power and malice opposed to it, they not only began to form religious assemblies, but were soon able to establish numerous churches in the capital and in the provinces.

The massacre at Paris on the eve of St. Bartholomew, (24th August, 1572), perpetrated under the feeble reign of Charles IX., filled Europe, at least Protestant Europe, with indignation and horror. I have said Protestant Europe; for the adherents of the Church of Rome in general, instead of condemning and execrating a scene which fixes a deep stain upon human nature, displayed the utmost exultation; and even the pontiff himself, the vicar of Christ upon earth, regarded it as an unequivocal proof of the most sincere attachment to religion, and medals were actually struck for its commemoration! *

Under King Henry III. several edicts were passed, misnamed Edicts of Pacification, in which were granted to the Reformed much greater advantages than were expected, bu merely that by favour of these edicts their enemies might be better able to make war against them with greater success.

At length Henry IV., who tolerated and protected them during his reign, passed in their favour in 1598, the famous edict of Nantes, whereby they were allowed the free exercise of their religion, and to employ all the usual means of upholding their worship, and were admitted to various civil as well as ecclesiastical privileges. But after his death, though they also experienced the friendship of his son and successor Lewis XIII., they were often exposed to a variety of suffering, till 1685, when every reader of history is acquainted with the enormities which were perpetrated on the revocation of the above edict under Lewis XIV.

It is painful to dwell on such scenes: I shall therefore only here remark, that in the sufferings which were then inflicted, -in the murders that were then committed,-in the total extinction of all feeling and humanity, and in the detestable spirit which prompted the measure, there is too decisive evidence, that the antipathy to the Reformers had lost none

Rapin's "History of England," vol. ii. fol. p. 102, and note to that page. Institutiones," vol. vi. p. 600, by Venema, who thus expresses the recep tion which the Pope (Gregory XIII.) gave to the news of this horrid massacre" Incredibili gaudio accepit, Deo actis gratiis jubileo promulgato, Rege landato, aliisque lætitiæ signis. Quo ipso," says this anthor, se genuinum Antichristum probavit." See also above, vol. i. pp. 345; and Dr. Cook's "General and Historical View of Christianity," vol. iii. pp. 445, &c.

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of its strength, and the persecution of them none of its malignity *.

Their principles, however, survived even this violent shock, and have been embraced all along in France, though "per varios casus," by a million, or more of its inhabitants to the present day, when, notwithstanding the comparative privileges they now enjoy, a fresh melancholy and unexpected proof has been exhibited that the spirit of persecution still exists among those who profess to revere the tenets of Rome +.

DOCTRINES.

The Confession of Faith and the basis of an ecclesiastical government were drawn up for the Huguenots, by an assembly, composed of deputies from all the Reformed churches of France, and held in Paris in May 1559, in the midst of great danger. This Confession, which is Calvinistic, was then presented in their behalf, to Francis II. at Amboise, and again to Charles IX., and was at length published by the pastors of the French churches in 1566. It obtained a still greater authority from the synod of Rochelle, held in 1571, when it further received the approbation and the signatures of the most illustrious of the friends of the Reformation in France.

CHURCH GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE.

The Church of Geneva, to which all the Reformed in France were united by their doctrine, became also the model for their church polity and discipline.

The National Synods which were held, as opportunity offered, from 1559 to 1660, made those changes and improvements which circumstances required, founded upon the principle that it is necessary to have a police, or a discipline in the church as in every society, whose preservation and prosperity are desirable; and that this police, or this discipline is not an establishment of Divine right, but such as may vary according to general necessity, and the express desire of the church. The whole discipline of their churches consisted at first of forty articles; but those articles increased, as circumstances seemed to call for them, till the code that was enacted in 1660 comprised 222.

Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical History," vol. iv. p. 487; Jablonski "Institutiones," vol. ii. p. 305.

+ See Wilks's "History of the Persecution of the Protestants in the South of France."

Two manuscripts of it were signed by Jeanne d'Ablert Queen of Navarre, Henry IV. then Prince of Navarre, Henry de Bourbon Prince of Condé, Louis Compte de Nassan, Coligny, &c. &c.