others; and he testifies what was otherwise well known, that Robert Rollock, a minister in Edinburgh, and principal of the university, was "very learned," that John Scrimzeor, of Kinghorn, "was very learned, especially in the Hebrew," that Robert Boyd was "a man thoroughly learned, and had a great turn for poetry, as his Hecatombe Christiana shows,"-that David Calderwood lived long in Holland, "and wrote his learned book, entitled, Altare Damascenum, in Latin, and some other pieces in English, which helped to keep many straight in that declining time." After speaking in the highest terms of Samuel Rutherford, he relates, that "he wrote his Lex Rex, asserting the lawful liberties of the subject, and that it is reported, when King Charles saw it, he said it would scarcely ever get an answer; nor did it ever get any, except what the Parliament, 1661, gave it, when they ordered it to be burnt by the hand of the hangman." Of George Gillespie, he says, that when a probationer, he "wrote that elaborate piece, entitled The English Popish Ceremonies;" and when member of the Westminster Assembly, "displayed great learning and a deep judgment, and debated with perspicuity, strength of argument, and calmness of spirit, above any man in his time." Other testimonies to the learning of the ministers of the Church of Scotland might be referred to, such as Robert Baillie's Opus Chronologicum and David Dickson's Therapeutica Sacra, in Latin, and the published Discourses of the Scottish Commissioners, which were preached before Parliament, as compared with those of their English brethren; but this were to enter on a wide field. I would simply refer to what Mr Row, the biographer of Blair, states of "The New Explication of the Holy Bible,” which the General Assembly resolved upon. It would appear, that, as the commentaries on the Scriptures in English, if there were any, were expensive, and inaccessible to the great body of the people, the Church determined to write a Commentary

* Beza having met with his commentary on the Romans and Ephesians, wrote to a friend, "I have got a treasure of incomparable value, having never before met with the like for brevity, elegance, and sound judgment."

for them herself. With this view, the several books were divided amongst a number of the most godly and learned of the ministry. Blair wrote on the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes; Dickson, on the Psalms, St Matthew, the Romans and Hebrews; Hutcheson, on Job and the 12 minor Prophets, and the Gospel of John; Fergusson, on several of the Epistles, &c. This Commentary, intended as it was for popular use, may not have afforded much scope for learning, though there are sufficient indications that the writers were no strangers to it; but it presents a fine specimen of the full and thoroughly scriptural style of instruction in which the ministers of those days so largely dealt, and which doubtless paved the way to that general religious knowledge, which, even among "the commonality," filled Bishop Burnet with wonder, and which enabled the people of Scotland so heroically to brave the persecutions and the martyrdoms of eight-andtwenty years of tyranny.

SECTION IV.-THE CHURCHES OF FRANCE AND SCOTLAND CHERISH SYMPATHY AND BENEVOLENCE FOR

THE SUFFERING.

In several of the former sections I have endeavoured to bring out some interesting features in the Christian character of the early Protestant Church of France, and especially in the period in which the edict of Nantes might be said to be in considerable force. I have now to direct the reader's attention to another, an additional feature, and that one of great interest and beauty, viz.— THE SYMPATHY AND BENEVOLENCE WHICH THE FRENCH REFORMED CHURCH MANIFESTED FOR THOSE IN SUFFERING, PARTICULARLY SUFFERING CHRISTIANS. Few aspects of character are more affecting, or more indubitably indi→ cative of Christian principle. It may be added, that, in reference to the French Church, few are less known. The Saviour went about doing good to the bodies and the souls of men, sympathizing with the afflicted, and administering suitable relief. So has it been, so will it

ever be, with his true followers, according to their circumstances and opportunities. The Protestants of France were not hardened by their own sufferings into a selfish insensibility to the sufferings of others. This is generally the way of the world. As became Christians, their own afflictions only served to make them more alive to the afflictions of those who claimed their sympathy. We have many proofs of this. Not only as individuals, but as a Church, they took up cases of all sorts of distress, individual and collective: those which proceeded directly from the providence of God, and those which were the result of the persecuting wickedness of man. To select a few illustrations: In 1620, Quevedo, a Spaniard, who had escaped from the Inquisition of the Romish Church, applied to the Synod of Alez for some relief, that he might live in the profession of the Gospel, for which he had suffered. The Assembly ordered him 100 livres from the common funds of the Church. The same was to be continued as long as his deportment justified his profession. It was to be put into the hands of the consistory of Montpellier, and paid quarterly, "that so he may learn some honest trade, whereby to gain a livelihood." I need not remark on the union of good sense and Christian principle and benevolence which such charity discovered.

About 1630 and 1645, the Mediterranean was infested with Turkish pirates, who made a prey of all who came within their reach, carrying them to the coast of Africa, and shutting them up in hopeless slavery. Thus did wronged and miserable Africa make reprisals, as it were, upon Europe. The Protestant Church of France, sympathizing deeply with the sufferers, issued the following beautiful declaration and resolution, which acquires a fresh interest when we remember how early it was proclaimed, and how narrow and impoverished were the circumstances of the Church at the period:-"The maritime provinces making great complaints of the vast number of captives detained in Algiers, Tunis, Salee, and other places of Barbary and Morocco, and of their

sad and woful condition, and that they do indispensably need all the charitable assistance of the faithful to redeem them out of misery-this Synod adjureth, by the bowels of compassion of the living God, and by that fellow-feeling which all members of our Lord Jesus ought to have of one another's straits and necessities, all the provinces, and all the Churches, and every particular individual professor of our religion, to yearn, with bowels of pity, over the affliction of these our poor brethren, and to contribute liberally towards their redemption." After stating in what manner the money is to be collected, the Synod go on to say, "Every province shall send unto the consistory of Paris a list of their captives, and an account of their alms, that so these monies may be employed in the redemption of those captives who are natives of provinces, before any other, and after them, as a supplement of charity, for others also, that so this whole work of love may redound to the glory of God, the common edification, and particular consolation of these our poor afflicted brethren." This is a noble resolution, worthy of a Christian Church. While the French Protestants were moved by the claims of humanity and country, their motive was still, in a chief degree, religious. They were drawn out in sympathy and compassion, especially because their brethren were "poor afflicted Christians." Nor did they allow their charity to evaporate in empty words; they embodied it in liberal doings. They collected considerable sums of money, and continued to do so for many years. In 1659, or 14 years after the date of the resolution which we have quoted, we find them testifying, that the alms obtained from the faithful for this pious work had been most beneficially employed, and they determine that, seeing there is still a great necessity for this noble charity, they will persevere in it, and press its claims upon all the provinces. Under the influence of Christian principle, they continued in well-doing.

Highly honourable as was this course in reference to their European and Christian brethren, their conduct

towards the poor negro slave was, if possible, more noble still. It could not be expected that at so early a period, just views should be entertained upon the subject of slavery. It is only a very short time since proper sentiments became prevalent in our own country; and it is well known, that nations professing Christianity do at the present moment revel in all the atrocities of negro slavery; but as Christianity was the first religious system to condemn slavery, and the Christian fathers the first courageous men to contend for the abolition of slavery, so the Protestant Church, under the influence of that principle which requires man to do to others as he would have them to do to him, stood forward in behalf of the slave. The Protestants of France may rather have denounced the abuses of the slave system, than the false principle upon which it proceeds; but they showed their humanity and Christianity, when they exhorted the faithful, 200 years ago, not to abuse their liberty contrary to the rules of Christian charity, "nor to transfer those poor infidels into other hands besides those of Christians, who may deal kindly and humanely with them; and above all, may take a special care of their precious immortal souls, and see them instructed in the Christian religion." Had this pious exhortation been sincerely and heartily carried into effect by all who held property in slaves, who can doubt that long ere now slavery would have been every where and peacefully abolished?

But leaving illustrations of sympathy and kindness in cases of outward and bodily bondage, we may turn to other manifestations of Christian benevolence. Not unfrequently some particular church in France was visited with a special affliction of Divine Providence; and in such cases, the Church, as a body, immediately discovered the most open-hearted and open-handed generosity. In 1620, the magistrates and consistory of the town of Privas represented to the Synod of Alez, "the great losses, damages, and afflictions," sustained by them since the death of their pastor, M. Chambaud, so that