shall we suffer in vain. Our trust is in the Lord, and our chastening shall bring forth the peaceful fruits of righteousness, and make us happy partakers of his holiness. Though our living stones are now so dispersed, and though so severe the blows by which they are fashioned, yet let us not grieve. Soon shall they be taken from the desert of this world, and transplanted to the heavenly Jerusalem. Then shall they grow into an holy temple to the Lord, and he shall dwell in the midst of them for ever and ever. Again, farewell! and now I commend you to God, and his blessed keeping. The Lord bless and keep you, the Lord make the light of his countenance shine upon you, and bestow his peace which surpasses all understanding, to keep your hearts and minds. Your assured friend and disciple CLAUDE LANCELOT, Christmas Eve, 24th Dec. 1667. JEAN DU VERGER* DE HAURANNE, THE ABBÉ DE ST. CYRAN, WAS born at Bayonne, in 1581. His family was both noble and ancient. The Du Vergers originally came from Thoulouse. Two brothers of that name were appointed by the King to establish a mint at Bayonne. The family afterwards divided into three branches. The eldest subsisted at Bayonne long after the destruction of Port Royal. It is mentioned by Lancelot, in his Mémoires de St. Cyran, as one of the most considerable in the place. The third centered in an heiress of immense wealth, who intermarried with the noble house of Urthubie. The second branch was engaged in extensive commercial concerns. From it sprung M. Jean du Vergier, afterwards the celebrated Abbé of St. Cyran. M. du Vergier, although heir to the estate of Hauranne, received an academical *Indifferently spelt Verger or Vergier, by different Authors, education. He accomplished his studies with the greatest distinction at the universities both of Paris and of Louvain. In 1620, M. Du Verger was appointed to the abbacy of the monastery of St. Cyran (or Serigannus). This benefice was resigned to him by Henry de la Rochepozay, Bishop of Poitiers, under whom he officiated as Grand Vicar, and who was also his zealous patron. The Abbé de St. Cyran had formed one early and intimate friendship. Cornelius Jansenius was only four years younger than himself. Both had been educated at Louvain. The similarity of their pursuits, and a coincidence of circumstances, cemented an union which their mutual piety had at first formed. The health of Jansenius had suffered by intense application. He was advised on leaving college to try the air of France. The house of M. de St. Cyran at Bayonne was soon opened to him. Both parties embraced with pleasure so favorable an opportunity of continuing their intimacy. Al though their education was completed, the ardour of each for improvement was unabated. They applied themselves to the study of the Fathers. Their assiduity was unremitting, their researches were extensive. The industry which distinguished their theological studies, was alone exceeded by their perseverance and fervor in prayer. The foundation of their subsequent greatness was laid in a deep sense of their own insufficiency, accompanied by a firm reliance on divine goodness and power. But the chief foundation of the exalted piety which distinguished M. de St. Cyran; was laid in an unremitting study of the Holy Scriptures, and in the supereminent degree of reverence with which he regarded the word of God. M. Lancelot observes of him, "One may justly say of this great servant of God, that the Holy Scripture was his sole treasure; there he placed his heart, truly feeling in his own soul, the same disposition by which David confessed, that he loved the word of God beyond every treasure, or precious thing the world con tained."* "His manner too of reading Scripture was altogether holy. He often remarked, that in order to profit by it, Scripture must be read, with a portion of the very same spirit by which it was Written: with a deep prostration of heart, and with a supreme reverence for the Divine Majesty which resides there. Indeed, he had so supereminent a reverence for Holy Writ, that he continually told his disciples, they ought to read scarcely any thing else. The Fathers," observed he, " read the Scriptures alone, and we likewise, should find ALL there, if we in truth searched them as we ought. Every word in Scripture," said he, deserves to be weighed more attentively than pieces of gold."+ "The best method," he used to say, " of reading Scripture, is to do it simply, applying it to one's own heart, and sedulously reducing them all to practice." In his after-life, M. de St. Cyran was *Lancelot's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 87. + Ibid, pp. 85 and 86. ‡ Ibid, p. 87. |