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EFFUSION OF THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ON THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH. The experience of every thoughtful tourist confirms that of the servants of God in all ages, that man can do nothing of himself; the torrent of human corruption rolls too wide and too strong for his puny arm to stop its course. After all the means we can use, superstition and infidelity—or in the words of Scripture, "the minding of the flesh"-will carry away the various petty boundaries which can be reared against them. God alone has the key of the human heart-Our Lord Christ was "manifested to destroy the works of the devil"-The Divine Spirit is "the Lord and Giver of Life."

What we want is a LARGER GIFT OF THE INFLUENCES OF GRACE. I speak not of the miraculous powers of the Spirit of God; these ceased by the close of the third century. We renounce all pretensions to them. I speak not of dreams or visions, or sensible influxes, or direct inspirations, or new and extraordinary revelations. All these we utterly disclaim. I speak of the ordinary, secret, sanctifying work of God the Spirit, in illuminating, converting, and consoling fallen man; that work which unlocks the understanding, which liberates the will, which purifies the affections, which unites the whole soul to Christ in faith, love, and obedience. The gifts of this blessed agent have been bestowed from time to time in a peculiar manner on the church.

Such a period was that of St. Augustine in the fifth century, to whose conversion I have already referred. Again, under Claudius of Turin, in the ninth century, and Peter Waldo, of Lyon, in the twelfth, a considerable light burst forth, and the followers of Christ, under the name of the Waldenses, were planted throughout Europe. The era of grace and truth returned at the glorious Reformation. Gradually weakened and obscured by human darkness since, it is again needed as much as ever in the present day. Nay, may I not say it has commenced?

Are there not blessed indications that the grace of the Spirit is revisiting the churches? Does not the revival of the doctrines of St. Austin and of the Reformation, or rather of the BIBLE, mark this? Does not the present general acknowledgment of the doctrine of the HOLY GHOST, and the wide circulation of THAT BOOK which He inspired and never fails to bless, indicate it? Do not the increasing number of awakened and converted clergymen in every communion, the diffusion of religious feeling and interest in the higher ranks of society in our own country, the rise and astonishing progress of our religious institutions, mark this? Especially, does not the blessed temper of LOVE AND CHARITY which is so much prevailing, denote it? Do not the favor and aid afforded to pious efforts by our own and other governments, the eagerness of mankind to welcome the benefits we offer them, the men raised up suited for various difficult duties, the translation of the Scriptures into all the languages of the earth, the dispersion of missionaries amongst the heathen and Mahommedan nations, betoken this? Does not the surprising success of the Bible Society in the world generally, and of the various missionary bodies in their particular labors in Western Africa,

in the South Seas, in the East and West Indies, and in Caffraria, lead to the same conclusion?

Is is true, there is much remaining to be done -we overrate, perhaps, the comparative amount of what is performed. Deduct as much as you please on this account; I take the remainder, and then ask, whether there is not still enough confessedly accomplished, to assure us that a new era of grace has begun, and to encourage us to fervent prayer for that LARGER EFFUSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT which can effect every thing we yet desire? Already has the attention of the Protestant churches been called to this momentous subject. In many parts of England, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, America, treatises have been widely circulated, courses of sermons preached, and meetings for prayer instituted, to excite attention to the importance of this great blessing. Were it once granted, it would include every other. And surely the position of the spiritual church, espccially in England, in parts of Germany, and in America; the feverish state of many of the nations of the continent; the open and surprising successes in Greece and the Southern Americas; the commotions and discontent throughout Spain and Italy; the rapid diffusion of literature and of religious knowledge over the world; the general strain of divine prophecy; the spirit of inquiry excited among the Jews; and the impenetrable obstinacy and corruption of the eastern and western apostacies, as connected with the near flowing out of the three prophetic synchronical periods of 1260 years surely all this may lead us to "lift up our heads because our redemption draweth nigh." For the three great events of the fall of Papal Antichrist, the overthrow of the Mahonmedan imposture, and the conversion and return of the houses of Israel and Judah, are considered by most Protestant expositors-Joseph Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Hurd and Horsley; Mr. Scott, Mr. Faber, &c.—as approaching, yea, AS AT THE DOORS.

What

But to leave this general view of the subject, I observe that prayer for the Holy Ghost would, at all events, tend to sanctify and bless our own hearts, our families, our houses, our children, our projects, our labors amongst others. It would thus make us a blessing wherever we travelled. I knew not that any reflection was more frequently excited in my mind during my tour than this, of the necessity of prayer for DIVINE GRACE. I could myself actually do, was little; but where I could not help by my efforts, I could pray.Many painful scenes of superstition or infidelity, I could only lament over-but God I knew could bring the remedy for them. The divine doctrines which I wished to hear from Christian pulpits, I could not supply-but the Holy Spirit, I believed, could implant them in the heart, and pour them from the tongue of every individual minister.The moral chains of thousands and tens of thousands I could not break-but I was assured the blessed Spirit could dissolve them gradually, or even at once, by his secret power. The miseries, and sufferings, and persecutions, which I saw around me, I could not alleviate-but the Holy Ghost, I doubted not, could effectually arrest and heal them.

Prayer, therefore, for God's Spirit, is the duty,

the interest, the happiness of every Christian, both at home and abroad. If Englishmen travel in this temper, the more intercourse they have with the continent the better; they will benefit all whom they visit-a fragrance, so to speak, yea, "the savor of the knowledge of Christ" will be diffused around them, and incalculable good be communicated and received. In any other temper than that of prayer, let no one venture on a ground which must be to him sown with dangers and temptations. He will injure, instead of assisting, both himself and others. The prejudices against the Protestant doctrine and evangelical truth, which the ill conduct of Englishmen abroad has implanted or confirmed, are deplorable: whilst the mischiefs which many young Protestants have brought home with them, as to moral and religious habits, are perhaps still more to be lamented. I cannot, therefore, conclude this series of Letters more suitably, than by saying that, if the Christian needs the support of prayer and the grace of the Blessed Spirit at home, where he is surrounded with pious friends, aided by habit, and stimulated to his duty by abundant means of grace; much more will he require this assistance abroad, where, many of his usual safe-guards being removed, and numberless distractions and snares presenting themselves, he will often find that his only effectual means of safety are the solitude of his closet, meditation of Holy Scripture, and prayer for the sacred Spirit of God.

I am, yours affectionately,

POSTSCRIPT.

D. W.

THE delay in the publication of the French Translation of Mr. Scott's Comment on St. Matthew has not only arisen from the causes stated in the note, (p. 111): but from the necessity of each sheet being sent to London, and the impracticability of finding type sufficient to allow of this journey, without intervals in the progress of the work. Four sheets are set up together (the type required for which is immense) and the proofs are worked of on their return to Paris as quickly as possible, and the type released for the subsequent parts of the copy. But still about six weeks elapse between the printing of a first proof and the final working of it off. A portion of the delay arises from the numerous corrections in each sheet, demanding twenty or thirty hours of intense application. In the meantime, what is done, is, I have every reason to believe, WELL DONE; and in a work of so much importance, I have preferred the inconvenience of delay to the ruin of the whole enterprise by an inaccurate translation. Half the Gospel, or nearly so, is now printed off, and the subscribers may rely on no exertion being spared on my part to see this first division of the workthe Gospel of St. Matthew, actually published this

summer.

I have thought it right, in the meantime, to place this undertaking under the care of a public society with a responsible committee. The SPANISH AND FRENCH TRANSLATION SOCIETY, (instituted in 1825, and of which the monthly meetings are held

for the present at No. 13, Guildford street,) has the disposal of the funds in hand and conducts the design.

Whether the Gospel when published will excito public attention and be attended with any considerable benefit, must depend on the Divine Mercy which alone can produce such an effect. But I have a confidence that great good may be expected ultimately to follow from it. The inconsiderate objections raised on the ground of the levity of the French character, and the solid, ponderous qualities of Mr. Scott's writings, have little weight. It is not for the nation of France or its general readers that any comment would be designed; but for the ministers and Pastors of churches, for the serious and inquiring scholars and students, for the sedate and pious heads of families. And does any one who is at all acquainted with the writings of Mestrezat, Faucheur, Dobose, Drelincourt, and others of the French Protestant school, doubt whether long and grave discourses on religion can fix the attention of French Protestants and engage their esteem? Or can any one, who looks into the mass of comment in De Sacy or Calmet-the one in 32 thick 8vo. volumes, of 8 or 900 pages each, the other in 9 folios, and both of them unwieldly compilations of mystical and feeble and inapplicable religious glosses, without any approach to an evangelical, manly, sensible, clear exposition of the mind of the Spirit throughout the Holy Scriptures,-doubt of the success of a work not by any means so heavy in its form, and in its matter so incomparably superior? A revival of religion is a revival of seriousness, of solidity of character, of readiness to study, and solemnity of mind to examine, the Holy Word. The frivolity of Voltaire is the frivolity of irreligion. But I need not enlarge-the deliberate opinion of all the leading scholars and ministers whom I have met with in France and Switzerland, and the 500 subscribers already obtained to this first publication, are at the least a sufficient authority for the essay, the trial, the experiment of circulating throughout every part of the world where the French language is spoken, the best practical comment which has appeared in these later ages of the Christian church.

The proposed Translation of Milner's Church History into French, has, I am sorry to say, been suspended by the continued inroads of illness and pressure of engagements on the friend who had undertaken the work at Brussels. But into the Spanish language the first volume is already translated by the society which I have mentioned, for the benefit of the Spanish American; and the French Translation will be prosecuted as the funds may allow, and suitable translators present themselves.

As I am giving these explanations, I will just add that the state of the German Protestant churches to which I have alluded in my account of Franckfort (p. 20) has been fully developed, since the publication of the third edition of this tour, by a masterly work from the pen of the Rev. Mr. Rose of Horsham. I had no conception, from the brief remarks which my valuable Franckfort friend made to me, of the extent and inveteracy of the evil. What a portentous defection from the faith! What a feeple, corrupt, wayward thing is the human

J. Scott in continuation of Milner's Church History, gives a most interesting summary of the History of the Vaudois at the time of the Reformation.

mind, when it once leaves the plain rule of the divine word! I rejoice to hear that things are on the whole again improving. In the meantime, let no young Christian be moved in his faith by these pretended discoveries of a spurious philosophy in If I were to say any thing further before I conTHE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE, any more clude this postscript, it would be to express my than the reformers were three centuries back, by regret if any expressions in the course of the work the pretended discoveries of a spurious religion have unnecessar✔ wounded the feelings of indiAS TO THE RULE OF FAITH AND THE AUTHORITY viduals. I have endeavored to guard against any OF TRADITION. Skepticism and superstition are reproach on this score by omitting such circumbut two diseases of the same fallen heart. To stances as would lead to the fixing of any of my reexplain away by sophistry the obvious meaning marks on particular persons. But it is possible of the Scriptures-and to forbid the reading of that some reflections when read in the circles them by a claim of authority over the conscience, where they are supposed to be most applicable, are evils of a kindred nature. Satan our great may still be regarded as personal and severe. I enemy works by the folly of human learning now, can only therefore thus in general testify my soras he did by the folly of human ignorance three row if I have unintentionally laid myself open to or four centuries back. The PRIMARY TEACHER Such misinterpretations. My desire has been to will guide sincere and humble souls through the speak, frankly indeed, and honestly, without dismazes of each kind of error, to the truth and bles-guise or concealment, but still with the considerasedness of redemption in the divine person and sufferings of the Son of God, and the mighty transforming operations of his grace.

I may as well add, on the subject of the Waldeness before mentioned, that a valuable work * just published by the Rev. T. Sims will give the reader the latest accounts of these important churches. The renewal of the royal grant, the endowment of an hospital, the establishment of schools, and the supply of books, are all benefits of the very last moment, obtained for them by the exertions of the committe to which I have referred-the amount of subscription is between £4000 and £5000. The excellent volume of the Rev.

tion due to the just feelings of every individual with whom I had the pleasure of any intercourse when abroad. Perhaps the language which I have occasionally used on the subject of the Roman Catholic superstitions may, after all, be thought the most liable to objection-as being both too general and too strong. After an interval of nearly four years, I will confess that I think such an objection is not without its force. At the same time, truth is truth; and the warmth of a description flowing from the heart, at the first witnessing of the corruptions of the great apostate church, is perhaps excusable, so far as the motive is concerned. And possibly the very strong language used in the Divine Revelations of St. John, as to this portentous "An historical defence of the Waldeness or Vau- defection from the faith, may warrant much of dois, inhabitants of the Valley of Piedmont, by Jean that language of adhorrence which might otherRodolphe Peyran, late pastor of Pomaret and Mo-wise be excessive, or harsh and unkind. But in derator of Waldenesian church, with an introduction this, as well as in every thing else, the candid and appendixes by the Rev. Thomas Sims, M. A. reader will judge. Rivingtons. 1826."

Islington March, 1827.

CONTENTS.

LETTER I.

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LETTER VI.

Zurich, July 18.-Basle, August 1, 1823.

Bridge. Swiss Customs. State of Religion. Professor. Fall of Rhine. Eglisau. First View of Alps. Zurich. Reformers. Inn L'Epée. Antistes Hess. Mr. Wilberforce. Zuingle. Documents of Reformation. Clergy. Bible Society. Lavater's Forgiveness of his Murderer. Aarau. Good done by an English_Clergyman. Balse. M. Blumhardt. Stoves. Fountains. A Divine. Tombs of Erasmus and Ecolampadius. Holy Alliance. Council of Basle. Likeness of Eras

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Furca Alp, August 18.-Bern, August 24, 1823.
Glacier of Rhone. Furca Alp. Realp. Capuchin
Friar. Hospital. Cold. Valley of Reuss. De-
vil's Bridge. Amstag. New Road. Altorf.
William Tell. Fluellen. Lake of four Cantons.
Switz. Mount Righi. Storm. Mount Pilate.
Ruin of Goldan. Strangers' Book. King of
England. Italians and Russians. Küssnacht.
Lucern. William Tell. Wooden Bridges. Père
Girard. Luther. Zofingen. Herzogenbuchs.
Bern. Sunday. Fast. English Service. Go-
vernment of Bern and England .
. 42

LETTER X.

LETTER XV.

Moral, August 25.—Lausanne, August 31, 1823. Pont-beau-voisin, Sept. 20.-Lyon, Sept. 28, 1823.

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Poligny, Oct. 7, 1823.-Paris, Oct. 11, 1823. Nyon. Calvin and Fletcher. Catholic Lady. Conversation on Popery. Geneva. Prohibited Books. Auxonne. Irish Catholics. Dijon. Miraculous Image of Virgin. Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy. Bossuet. Waggons. Auxerre. Joigny. Cardinal de Retz. Fontainebleau. Apartments of the Pope. Bonaparte's Abdication. Place of Madrid. Character of Bonaparte. Sens. St. Bernard. Manners of People. Catholics receiving Tracts. Arrival at Paris. 103

LETTER XVIII.

Brighton, April 14, 1824.

Paris Bible Society. Deaf and Dumb Institution. French Preachers. King's Almoner. Nobleman. Translation of Scott. Friends to whom Author was introduced. Baron de Sacy. Count d'Hauterive. Marquis de Jaucourt. Reflections on the whole Tour: 1. Supreme Providence of God. 2. Opposite Evils of Superstition and Infidelity. 3. Scenes of Reformers' Labors. Luther. Beza. Bucer. Ecolampadius. Bullinger. Authenticity of 1 John v. 7, 8. 4. Duty of advancing the Age of CHARITY. 5. Importance of every Traveller being active. Advice to Invalids. Anecdotes. 6. Gratitude to God. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Origin of Vaudois. Expulsion from Valleys. Return. Need of Aid. 7. Prayer for Grace of HOLY SPIRIT.

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