were re-opened, chapels were consecrated, the Sabbath-day had its old place assigned to it, and obtained the same homage, scanty and imperfect indeed, which it now has in that country.

When Bonaparte received the address of the Protestant ministers he made them an answer which spoke a spirit of ample toleration, while it was couched in that peculiar style by which so many of his edicts and dispatches were distinguished. It will not perhaps be an uninteresting record to present to your readers.

"Je vois avec plaisir rassemblés ici les pasteurs des églises Reformées de France. Je saisis avec empressement cette occasion de leur temoigner combien j'ai toujours été satisfait de tout ce qu'on m'a rapporté de la fidélité et de la bonne conduite des pasteurs et des citoyens des différentes communions Protestantes. Je veux bien que l'on sache que mon intention et ma ferme volonté sont de maintenir la liberté des cultes. L'empire de la loi finit où commence l'empire indéfini de la conscience; la loi, ni le prince, ne peuvent rien contre cette liberté. Tels sont mes principes et ceux de la nation, et si quelqu'un de ceux de ma race, devant me succéder, oubliait le serment que j'ai prété, et que, trompé par l'inspiration d'une fausse conscience, il vint á le violer, je le voue á l'animadversion publique, et je vous autorise á lui donner le nom de Néron."

A code of discipline for the Reformed Church was next drawn up. It is founded upon the ancient synodal acts, and partakes of what its author, M. Portalis, calls the "forme severe" of those acts. The articles of faith are not stated in it; nor is there any clear reference to the doctrines held by the ancient church, except in the appointment of ministers and professors, who are required to acknowledge what their forefathers believed. Although, under all the circumstances of the case, the government could not be expected to enter into minute distinctions of

doctrine and discipline, yet the code was on the whole well framed. It is divided into fourteen parts.-As a specimen, I will select a few passages from the first portion, which is on the character and office of the ministry, and which is divided into fifty-seven heads. Those which I shall transcribe are on the examination of candidates, and the manner of preaching, catechising, and writing.

"The examination of the candidate shall begin with a theme in French on certain texts which shall be given him from the Scriptures, and another in Latin, if the conference or synod shall judge it to be expedient; for each of which discourses twentyfour hours shall be allowed for preparation. If the Company are satisfied with these, they shall examine him in a chapter of the New Testament, to ascertain how far he understands and can interpret Greek; and in the Hebrew language they shall examine whether he knows enough of it to enable him at least to make use of valuable works to assist him in understanding the Scriptures. To these shall be added a trial of his knowledge of the most necessary parts of philosophy; but all in a spirit of kindness and without aiming at thorny and useless questions. Finally he shall make a short confession of his faith in Latin, and shall be examined on it by oral discussion.

"Those who shall be elected shall subscribe the confession of faith agreed upon amongst us, and also the code of ecclesiastical discipline in the churches in which they shall be elected, and in those to which they shall be sent.

"The duty of ministers is chiefly to preach the Gospel and declare the word of God to their people. They shall be exhorted to abstain from every mode of instruction which is not conducive to edification, and to conform themselves to the simplicity and general style of the Spirit of God, taking care that there shall not be any thing in their discourses which can detract from the authority of the

holy Scriptures, which they shall generally follow, and from which they shall take a text which they shall explain to the best of their ability: abstaining from all unnecessary amplifications, from long and irrelevant digressions, from quoting a mass of superfluous passages, and from a useless repetition of various interpretations. They shall quote the writings of the ancient doctors but sparingly; and still less profane histories and authors. They shall not treat of doctrines in a scholastic manner or with a mixture of languages: in short, they shall avoid every thing which may lead to ostentation, or excite a suspicion of it.

"The churches are enjoined to make more frequent use of the catechism, and the ministers to explain it by succinct, simple, and familiar questions and answers, adapting themselves to the ignorance of the people, without entering upon long discus sions of common-place subjects. It will also be the duty of ministers to catechize every individual of their flocks once or twice a year, and to exhort every person to come carefully to the examination.

"Those to whom God has given talents for writing are exhorted to do so in a modest manner, becoming the Majesty of God; consequently not to write in a light and injurious strain; which propriety and gravity they shall also maintain in their ordinary style of preaching."

When the Protestant Church was re-established in France the dominion of that country extended to far wider limits than those of the old or the present government. It included a vast population of Protestants, principally of the Confession of Augs burg, and also of the Reformed Church, belonging to the city of Geneva and the valleys of Piedmont. In the registry made of the ministers in the empire, it was found that there were 557 attached to the Reformed, and 481 to the Lutheran, Church. They were spread over the whole empire from Brussels to the Pyren. nees, and from the utmost west to

Turin. During the reign of Bonaparte the Protestants received the protection and encouragement of the Government. Many of the old and dilapidated churches which had belonged to Catholics before the Revolution, were given for the Reformed worship. As numbers were gathered into their communion principally from the scattered remains of those who had survived the persecutions to which the church had been subjected, new ministers were appointed and paid by the Government. The number of these, both in France itself, and in other parts formerly dependent upon it, but now separated from it, have since the year 1802, very much increased. No other change of importance has taken place in the situation or circumstances of the Reformed Church since the time of Bonaparte. The provisions which had been adopted for its support and security were included in those fundamental laws which formed what is called the Charter, and which were solemnly recognized when the Bourbons reascended the throne. This, it is to be hoped, will experience no material abridgment or violation. time, the church experiences a state of peace, and not only have its numbers been enlarged but a sounder bulwark is every day erecting for its permanence and prosperity in the character of its members. It may be hoped indeed that a church which it has pleased Providence to preserve through so many extremities of danger, will still be upheld by the same Almighty power, and be made a burning and a shining light to illuminate the moral darkness which surrounds it.

In the mean

(To be continued.)

FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CXCVI. Luke xxii. 48. But Jesus said unto

him, Judas, betrayest thou the

Son of man with a kiss?

Or the miserable and wicked man whom our Lord addressed in these

words, nothing is known except what is recorded in the Gospel narrative. Respecting his education, his early history, and habits of life before his call to the holy office of the Apostleship, from which he so awfully revolted, we are not informed. He is first mentioned on occasion of our Lord's choosing twelve individuals from among the multitudes which attended his ministry; the three Evangelists who give us an account of that transaction, all concluding their catalogue with the name of "Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him." Some time after this we find him endued, in common with the eleven, with the power of working miracles, and commissioned to go and preach the Gospel to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The next time we hear of him, is on that memorable occasion when many professed disciples having forsaken our Lord, he put the question to his Apostles, "Will ye also go away?" and received from the lips of St. Peter the reply of every heart but that of Judas, " To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." In answer to which, Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" that is, as the term literally signifies, "an accuser;" alluding, says the Evangelist, to Judas, who should betray him. We next hear of him when the box of precious ointment was poured upon our Saviour's head, shortly before his agony. He affected to be indignant that the ointment had not been sold, and the money given to the poor; not, adds the sacred historian, "that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein."

These brief events in this wicked man's life prepare us for the dreadful deed which blackened his closing days, and has consigned his memory to eternal infamy. We shall not dwell upon the particulars

of this awful narrative. Behold him contracting with the priests and leaders of the people to betray the Innocent Blood; yet afterwards sitting at the table of his Master listening to the prophetic declaration of his own treachery, witnessing the overwhelming grief of his fellowdisciples at the dreadful thought, hearing their impassioned exclamation, "Lord, is it I?" daring, even with a hypocritical hardihood, himself to utter the same condemning question, and receiving from the Searcher of all hearts, the fearful reply, "Thou hast said; what thou doest, do quickly." See him, in the hour of his Master's agony in the garden, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, advancing with an armed band to seize the guileless victim of his perfidy; pointing him out by the kiss of pretended friendship; then with bitterest remorse returning to his employers, casting down at their feet the base reward of his treachery, and plunging himself in despair into eternity, with all his aggravated transgressions on his head! Many and awful are the reflections to which the particulars of this narrative may well give rise; but we pass them by to allude more particularly to that part of the transaction mentioned in the text; and this not for the purpose of venting our grief and indignation upon the traitor Judas, but of applying the subject to our own hearts; asking ourselves whether we too have not betrayed the Lord of life and glory by a spirit and conduct unbecoming those who profess themselves his disciples; and whether we also have not too often, like Judas, "wounded him in the house of his friends;" yea "crucified him afresh, and put him to an open shame."

There are four circumstances connected with the crime of Judas, which greatly aggravate his guilt: First, The character of Him whom he betrayed, called in our text, "The Son of Man;" Secondly, The despicableness of the

inducement for so doing; Thirdly, His neglect of the warnings he had received, and which ought to have put him on his guard against temptation; and, Fourthly, The base treachery under which he perpetrated his crime, and which is so affectingly referred to in our Lord's expostulation in the text, "Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? These several circumstances we shall briefly refer to, adding to the consideration of each a few applicatory remarks by way of warning to ourselves.

I. The first aggravation of the crime of Judas, was the character of the sacred Personage whom he betrayed. When our Lord, in the passage under consideration, spake of himself so emphatically as the "Son of Man," Judas could not but have recollected that remarkable conversation, in which his Divine Master had twice used this very expression, with a prophetic reference to the crime of his betrayer. "The Son of man," said he, "goeth, as it is written of him; but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed." This was the title by which our Lord habitually spoke of himself; and Judas well knew its import. "Betrayest thou Him who has ever been to thee so kind a master, so faithful a friend? Him whose whole course of life thou knowest to have been pure and blameless, full of mercy and good works? Him whom thou hast seen going about doing good; comforting the afflicted, and healing the sick; restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and life to the dead? Him, above all, who is the promised Messiah; the Lord of life and glory; the eternal Son of God, the omnipotent Saviour of the world?" Had not Judas been fearfully hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, how deep must have been the emotions of penitence and remorse which this tender expostulation must have awakened! For his offence was committed against the greatest and best of Beings; against Him CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 280.

"in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily;" but who had assumed our frail and degraded nature, though without sin, from a disinterested love to mankind, that in that nature he might expiate our transgressions by the sacrifice of himself, and redeem us to God by his own most precious blood.

Let us learn, each of us, to view our transgressions in their true light, as offences against God himself. Besides any injury that may arise to ourselves or to our fellow-creatures, from our conduct, every evil thought, and word, and work, is a violation of the law of our Creator, whose we are, and whom it is our duty and privilege to serve. "How shall I do this great wickedness," said Joseph, "and sin against God?" In like manner, said David, "Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned;" not that he had not deeply injured his neighbour, but he felt that, in addition to this, his crime had the greatest of all aggravations, that of being an offence against the Majesty of heaven itself. He whose laws we break, and whose threatenings we despise, is not a man like ourselves, who may be deceived by artifice, or overcome by force, or appeased by bribes; but the Most High, who is infinitely wise, and must know all our, offences; infinitely just to punish them; and from whose omnipotence there is no escape. He is also our father, our benefactor, our friend; he gave his Son to die for us; he freely offers to pardon our sins through faith in this all-sufficient sacrifice; and all he asks in return is, that we should yield our hearts to him, and live to his glory. Such is the character of that gracious Being whose service we are so ready to neglect, whose cause we are so prone to betray!

II. But, secondly, the sin of Judas had the aggravation of being committed for a most despicable inducement. It was not in a moment of terror, in order to escape the pains of martyrdom, or from some

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violent impulse of passion or temptation. No: it was a mere calculation of covetousness, which, for the sordid bribe of thirty pieces of silver, led him to commit the most atrocious crime which stains the annals of human history. He might doubtless indeed be incited in part by a hatred of that immaculate sanctity which was a constant reproof to his own corrupt dispositions and practices; he might dread the detection of his hypocrisy and theft; he might be stung by disappointment at finding that the kingdom which the Saviour had to offer was not, as he had probably expected, a splendid earthly dominion; and he might feel resentment on account of the prophetic declarations which our Lord had uttered of his intended perfidy: but whatever other motives might concur in stimulating his mind to this deed of wickedness, the love of money was the root of the evil. "What will ye give me," said he, “and I will deliver him unto you?" and "they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver."

And here again let us apply the subject to ourselves, with the heart-searching question, "Lord, is it I?" Base and despicable as was the inducement of Judas to betray his Divine Master, what are the inducements of thousands who virtually tread in his steps? Would it be credited, were it not a matter of every-day experience, that men will break the most solemn commands of God, not once or twice, but all their lives through, at the impulse of the most trifling temptations? that they will risk their immortal souls for the gratification of a momentary appetite or passion? that a despicable bribe of money, or pleasure, or vanity, outweighs in their estimation all the laws, the promises, and the threatenings of their adorable Creator? that for a fraction perhaps of Judas's gains, so many who call themselves Christians, will break the Sabbath of the Lord their God, by devoting it to

their worldly concerns? that others will take his name in vain for a mere idle exclamation, or profane it to call down vengeance on their fellowcreatures? that for the bait of worldly estimation, or to escape the sneers of the wicked, so many will sacrifice their conscience, and make God their enemy? In short, so weak and corrupt is the heart of man since the fall that there is no sin into which, but for the restraining grace of God, we may not fall, even to that of denying, as did Peter, the Master whom we profess to worship; or, like Judas, betraying him, by immorality, profaneness, or unbelief.

III. A third aggravation of the crime of Judas, was his neglect of the warnings which he had received, and which ought to have put him on his guard against temptation.The traitor did not rush suddenly and without opportunity for reflection into his dreadful career. His Master had spoken plainly to him on the subject, yet he did not avail himself of this miraculous discovery of what was passing in his heart, to own his guilt, and to pray that he might be kept from perpetrating his intended crime. So far from this, he deliberately brooded over it, till the evil dispositions which he bad cherish ed in his heart "brought forth sin, and sin, when it was finished, brought forth death." His own conscience witnessed against him; for, as he confessed in his remorse within a few hours after, it was innocent blood which he had betrayed. Though tempted by the hopes of reward, he could not make any one discovery unfavourable to the character of his Master; and his awful end shews what opinion he had throughout entertained on the subject: for no new warning or disclosure had taken place to urge him to that desperate course; all that he knew, when he cast down the reward of his treachery and went out and hanged himself, he had known from the first, so that he was utterly without excuse. His crime was committed not ignorantly or hastily; but against