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But yet there's a world-nor afar off it liesWhere all that is gracious, and glorious, and bright,

That e'er warm'd the bosom, or cheer'd the glad eyes,

Still break on the soul with new beams of delight.

There, time quite exhausted, his frosts cannot shed,

No grace can he steal, or e'en turn up his glass!

There, death the grim tyrant ne'er dare shew his head;

There joys (unlike this world's, speedily pass,) Continue for ever!-for ever are Red!

* Ezekiel.

which

+ See Parnel's Hermit. Luke xix. 27.

REVIEW.-Narrative of an Excursion
to the Mountains of Piedmont, and
Researches among the Vaudois or
Waldenses Protestant Inhabitants of
the Cottian Alps. With Maps, Plates,
and an Appendix, &c. &c. By the
Rev. William Stephen Gilly, M.A.
Rector of North Farnbridge, Essex,
Author of "The Spirit of the Gos-
pel," "
"" Academic Errors," &c. Two
vols. 4to. pp. 279-224. London.
C. and J. Rivington. 1824.
THE present might well be termed the
age of learning, were we to be decided
by the number of works which daily
emanate from the press. It is no
longer a question of, where shall we
find readers?-but, where shall we find
authors? Reading is now the order of

the day; and it matters not what the subject is, provided some one will but write upon it. Travels and voyages, however, seem to be in peculiar favour at the present moment. And indeed it is no bad criterion of the public taste, that we should feel a considerable share of interest in the concerns and welfare of those from whom we are separated by the immense deep.

The sacred character and refined taste of the author whose work is now before us, will, we have no doubt, procure him a ready passport to the library of every friend to true Christianity. This narrative is not a mere summary of the names of countries, towns, streets, and lanes; with these is blended a perfect history of the manners, customs, and religion of the people, and thus we are enabled to form a comparative estimate of the state of morality in that and our country. Thus says our author :—

own

"There too the awkward and inconvenient vehicles, from the diligence to the travelling carriages, and the coarse harness and rope traces of the horses, contrasted with the gay attire of some of the postilions, were also subjects of derision; and not less so the imperfect condition of machinery in general. But, viewed in connexion with the advancement of the mind, there were other things which we noticed with feelings very different to those of merriment. For example, the hideous looking crucifixes, erected at intervals on the road-side, which seem more like a mockery, than a record of the most important event in Christian history. Can a clumsy representation of our Lord's sufferings on the cross, with an image whose features are frightfully distorted, surrounded with all the implements that are supposed to have been used at the crucifixion, and the whole carved in petty detail, and presenting a combination of objects which is any thing but reverend; can such a sight raise the thoughts from earth to heaven?" p. 6 and 7.

We perfectly agree with our author, that this unhallowed and unsanctified mode of recalling the recollection of man to the divine love and glorious triumph of his Redeemer, is calculated to excite but little of that grateful reflection, that penitent humility, and sincere contrition, which such recollections should always inspire. Indeed, the very spot whose history has suggested these reflections, affords but too lamentable a picture of the degraded morality of a population trained up by a constant familiarity, and inappropriate converse, to look upon such subjects with a mental apathy and indifference. This may

be readily established by the descrip- | extraordinary and miraculous means tion of a Parisian Sunday :by which Providence averted the impending evil. We shall give the account of this piece of FANATICISM in the author's own words :

"A Sunday in Paris, (December 15,) with the sight of open shops, and hundreds of busy tradesmen, did not help to satisfy my mind as to the efficacy of what the Romanists consider the external helps and adjuncts of religion. Processions of priests, and an ostentatious display of popish emblems, are again to be seen in the metropolis of France; but the spirit of devotion does not seem to be much moved by these outward signs of it. Considering, however, what this country was a few years back, we have cause to congratulate her even upon the slightest symptoms of religious observances. There is a tale in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, where it is told, that the holy word, Alla, God, accidentally pronounced, broke the enchantment over a whole city of idolaters, and restored its inhabitants, who had been changed into stone, to their human form. The transformation of hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, may not be far distant even in France."-p. 7.

How very strange is such a mode of spending the sabbath, compared with that adopted by us. No shops open, no business of any kind, the streets almost deserted, except the going to and returning from church, no plays or amusements.

"Our visit to one of the houses of La Torre, had a degree of intense interest communicated to it, by receiving a confirmation of the horrible plot against the Vaudois, in 1794, which Mr. Lowther has detailed in his little memoir with so much feeling. We were shewn the very spot on which the generous Odetti communicated the nature of the conspiracy to the father of the present possessor of the house, and it was explained to us how the windows and entrances were to have been barricadoed, and the feeble means of defence prepared against the treacherous assault. M. Odetti was a captain of the Piedmontese militia, then embodied, and acting against the French invaders; and a little before the fatal blow was to have been struck, he had been invited to join the conspirators in a general massacre of the Vaudois. M. Odetti was a rigid Catholic, and it was expected that the well-known severity of his principles would have induced him to sanction any measure for the destruction of heresy. The curè of Lucerna, M. Brianza, was also admitted into the secret; but these two worthy men had too much of the much less to join in, the plot. Brianza sent a real spirit of Christianity even to conceal,

private message to La Torre, to apprize the inhabitants of their danger; but did not succeed in putting them sufficiently upon their guard. Odetti, knowing that the hour of action was so near, that nothing but very prompt measures could frustrate the sanguinary design, set out from Cavour himself, which is on the other side of the Pelice, and at some distance from La Torre, and hastened to his friend, to give him the alarming information. 'I am afraid,' said he, that I am too late to prevent bloodshed. There is a conspiracy against you. The assassins are even now on foot; but if I cannot save you, I will perish with you. The honour of my religion is at stake, I must justify it by sharing your danger.'

"It was delightful," continues our author, "to turn out of streets, where the sabbath presents no appearance of being a day of rest or holiness, into the court-yard of the British Ambassador, and to find our way into his chapel; for there, at least, there was some evidence that a reverential esteem of things sacred was not quite effaced from every heart in this gay and noisy capital. The congregation consisted of about six hundred; and a devout air prevailed among all present. It is not easy to believe, that when persons are in a strange land, they can go into a place of worship, where the language of prayer and praise is heard in the well-known terms of our beautiful Liturgy, without being seriously affected. "The consternation in La Torre was beyond Many of those who were assembled upon this occasion, were absentees from their native all description at the horrible intelligence, soil, whom illness, or afflicting events, had which was now spread from house to house, sent abroad in search of health, or composure and every habitation soon assumed the appearof mind. To each of these, the formulary of our ance of hopeless terror. The windows were church spoke something so applicable to their closed and barred, and piles of stone were colimmediate condition, that many of the pas-lected to hurl down upon the heads of the assages might almost appear to have been composed for their particular cases, and could not have been heard with indifference."-p. 7 & 8.

The work before us increases in interest as we advance in its pages. The effects of bigotry and superstition are fully and clearly developed, in that intolerance which characterizes the clergy and government of these countries. The author gives an account of a plot against, the Vaudois, which for its atrocity is unrivalled, and becomes peculiarly interesting, not only on the above account, but from the

sailants; but aged men, and women, and chil dren, were the only persons left to use them. The strength and flower of the population were eight or nine miles off, and occupied in defending the mountain passes against the French. Scarcely a man who could bear arms was away from this loyal duty, and yet this was the moment at which no less than eight hundred bigoted monsters had sworn to exterminate all the Protestants of the valley of Lucerna, and to spread murder and devasta tion trom San Giovanni to Bobbio.

"But even assassins like these must

have some false motive to disguise their real object. Piedmont was at this period the scene of operations between the French and the allied armies. The plan of the cam

frightened children, sent forward from La Torre to hasten their pace. Many of these, in their terror and despair, assured them that they were too late; that the business of death was even then proceeding.

the torrents down the mountains, and threatened to impede their farther advance. They began to accuse Providence of being leagued against them. The waters poured down from the heights with such accumulated violence, that it was almost madness to prosecute their march; nothing but desperation could have prompted them to go on. The last torrent that they had to pass was rushing with unusual

paign on the part of the republicans was, to penetrate into the country with a vast superiority of forces, to extend their line from the Valais to the sources of the Stena, and to seize the first favourable opportunity to march upon the capital. The invading army had a "With breathless baste, and in a state of division of 25,000 men preparing to move upon excruciating suspense, they hurried on. The the provinces of Pinerolo and Saluzzo only, shades of the evening fell with increasing darkand keeping up a line of communication withness, and with them a storm of rain that brought 50,000 more, who were waiting to strike a blow against Turin. The French troops had met with such effectual resistance in attempting to enter the valleys of the Vaudois by the other passes, that they determined to try what could be done in a quarter where they were not so much expected to make an attack. A detachment crossed the mountains between Mount Visco and the Col d'Aliries, or Abries, and suddenly appeared before the fort of Mi-impetuosity, but they dashed through it in rabouc, which stands at no great distance from the source of the Pelice, and at the very extremity of the valley of Lucerna. Not a Vaudois was in the fort when it surrendered, but the fanatical party thought it a good opportunity to inflame the public mind against the Protestants, and it was pretended that they "The unhappy men felt that they were too had betrayed the fortress. The cry of re- late. We will revenge,' they cried,' if we venge, revenge!' passed from mouth to mouth; cannot prevent;'-and their speed was not the night of the 14th of May was appointed for abated. They rushed into the streets of the the execution of it, and the house and garden village; the tramp of their feet, and the clangor of the Catholic curè of La Torre were the of their arms, were heard within the houses, head-quarters, or rendezvous, from which the and, to the unutterable joy of these gallant deconspirators were to rush upon their defence-liverers, hundreds of voices were raised to less prey. welcome and bless their appearance.

"Not an instant was to be lost; the day was already arrived when Captain Odetti gave the information, and at sunset the murderers were to begin to assemble.

"The only chance of safety consisted in sending notice of the plot to General Godin, a Swiss officer, who commanded the Piedmon tese troops on the nearest frontier. That brave man turned a deaf ear to the messenger, because he could not believe in the existence of so base a conspiracy. Another and another messenger arrived, but with no better success. At length several fugitives made their appearance from La Torre; the dreadful news reached the Vaudois soldiers themselves, and in a state of the utmost apprehension for the lives of their families, they insisted upon being despatched to their succour. The general became sensible of his error, but not in time to give him hopes of being able to preserve the innocent victims. The day was wearing away, the fatal hour was named in which the work of blood was to commence, and nothing but extraordinary speed could possibly enable a detachment to reach the spot before it began. To repair his unfortunate error, the general commanded the brigade of Vaudois to march instantly, and followed himself with another division.

safety, and in a few minutes after arrived within sight of La Torre. At the same moment they heard the tolling of the vespers belt of the convent of the Recollets; this they had been told was to be the fatal signal for the assassins to sally forth.

"The arm of God had done that which man's could not de: the time was not enough to allow of the arrival of the Vaudois, before the signal was to have been given for the conspirators to put themselves in action; but the rain, storm, and violence of the torrents, which had no terrors for men advancing in a good cause, had alarmed and stopped the murderers. Many of those who should have arrived at the rendezvous, had not reached it, and those who were there dared not move forward upon this sanguinary enterprize until their numbers were increased.

"Considering the violent state of excitement to which the passions of the Vaudois soldiery were raised, it is natural to suppose, that, surrendering themselves up to the feelings of the moment, they wreaked their vengeance upon the most criminal, at least, of the enemies. But no, not a drop of blood was spilt; satisfied with the preservation of their friends, they were guilty of no violence upon the persons or property of any of the Catholics, who were accomplices in the plot. The assassins escaped in the darkness of the night, and the Vaudois took no other steps towards their chastisement, than to forward a list of the conspirators to the government, who made no inquiry into the matter, and suffered them to go unpunished."-p. 109 to 114.

"The wretched husbands and fathers pursued their way in almost frantic desperation. The imminent danger of their wives and children Such appear to be the observations rendered any regularity of march out of the which this author has made during question: they precipitated themselves down his travels. They are interesting, as steeps which they would have shuddered to shewing the effects of bigotry and suencounter upon any other occasion, urged each perstition, and the powerful influence other on with wild shouts, and prayed aloud which through them may be exerted to heaven to give them additional speed. As they advanced on the road, they were repeatover unenlightened minds. At a peedly met by parties of distracted women, andriod when the claims of the Catholics

in these kingdoms are urged with a perseverance and determination which threaten to bear down all opposition, the above narrative may be advantageously perused by all who have any influence in their concession.

We would by no means be understood as desiring, or recommending the adoption of, an illiberal and so far mistaken policy; but a question of such political importance requires the most mature and attentive consideration, before the final decision. One of the greatest objections to concession, on their own terms, to the Ca- | tholics, seems to be the political influence which a foreign potentate would thus obtain in the cabinet and government of this country. It may perhaps be urged that this would be trifling, compared with the weight in the opposite scale, and, no doubt, no bad consequences could result for a considerable period,-certainly not during the present nor perhaps succeeding generation; but power once obtained is always increasing, till at last it may become too unwieldy, and then it falls with a tremendous crash. In fine, it is a question which we do not conceive adapted for our solution, and therefore we shall leave it to more able politicians for their decision, and shall take our leave of the discussion, and what has given rise to it, by recommending a perusal of the book to all readers interested in such literature.

points out what he was, what he is, and what he must be, before he can be qualified for the enjoyment of eternal happiness. The neglect of prayer is illustrated by some affecting incidents, standing on an authority which cannot fail to command our confidence, and excite our commiseration.

In the subsequent lectures, the clauses of this divine prayer follow in regular order; their import and bearing are pointed out in a comprehensive manner, from all of which Mr. Booker deduces the necessity of experimental and practical godliness. The lectures are eleven in number, each of which concludes with a short but appropriate prayer; but we have neither time nor room to enter into an analysis of their various contents. They appear evidently adapted for general use; and those who peruse them with attention, can hardly leave the volume without receiving edification.

In addition to the lectures, the anthor has introduced two discourses: one on the crime of suicide, occasioned by two melancholy instances that occurred in the neighbourhood of Dudley, where they were delivered; and the other on barbarity towards the animal creation. In the former of these discourses he introduces a fund of striking, though popular arguments, which no apologist for suicide can possibly repel; and in the latter he evinces much humanity and sympathetic feeling. In addressing his auREVIEW. Lectures Prayer; with Two Discourses on in-dience, he does not confine himself to hypothesis and theory, but enforces his observations by an appeal to facts with which many of his hearers were but too well acquainted. One of these

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on the Lord's

teresting and important Subjects. By
the Rev. Luke Booker, LL.D., &c.
8vo.
pp. 203.
London. Simpkin
and Marshall. 1824.

THESE lectures contain an exposition
of the Lord's Prayer, rather than a
paraphrase of its various and mo-
mentous passages. The first lecture
delineates in strong, but not affected
language, the nature, importance, effi-
cacy, and necessity of prayer; and
shews, in a striking manner, that
without divine illumination we know
not what we should pray for as we
ought. Hence, the inference is obvi-
ous, that the heart must be engaged
in all the solemnities of our devotion,
in all our addresses to the throne of
grace. In this part the author briefly
touches on the moral history of man;

is as follows:

"Returning from a journey, I was, for some time, impeded on the public road by a vast concourse of people, many of them in a state of intoxication, uttering the most horrid oaths, who were leading from the stake one of those noble animals, which, at rural festivals, and even at the festival of Christ, are too frequently baited and tormented. So cruelly baited and tormented had been this poor animal, that, torn by dogs which are kept solely for this savage purpose, its ears, nose, and lips, seemed strings of bleeding flesh! And yet so inoffensive was its nature, or so exhausted and broken was its spirit, that, notwithstanding all the injurious treatment it had experienced, it was led along like a lamb amid the continued provocations of its enemies,nay, even bearing one of them upon its back with unopposing gentleness and forbearance

And well indeed it might be thus gentle and subdued; for I was informed by a pitying spectator, that, for four successive days, it had thus been tortured without mercy! Gracious God! are not these things noted in thy book?' Doubtless they are; and man must account for all such cruelties to the brute creation. For all these things, God will bring him into judgment.'"-p. 199 to 201.

On the brutal treatment which the inoffensive and laborious ass receives from wantonness and inhumanity, the author has made many pointed remarks; and the barbarity of cockfighting he has justly exposed to the abhorrence of humanity. Those who call themselves gentlemen come in for a share of his animadversions; but upon these characters his facts fall with much more severity than his language. To that delight in blood which infancy is taught by example to cherish, he ascribes in many instances the commission of murder in riper years; and we cannot say that his strictures are more severe than just.

REVIEW.-Massillon's Thoughts on different Moral and Religious Subjects, extracted from his works, and arranged under distinct heads. Translated from the French, by Rutton Morris, English Minister at St. Pierre and Calais. 8vo. pp. 274. London. Westley. 1824.

The subjects collected together in this volume are fifty-eight in number; among which the virtues that adorn, and the vices that dishonour, human nature, hold a conspicuous rank. Several important topics, which enter into the essence of morals and divinity, here present themselves to our view, embodied in language that in every sentence exhibits the emanations of a refined and vigorous intellect. The following paragraphs we take almost promiscuously from the pages as they open before us, having no occasion to make any nice selection to secure the reader's approbation. On Truth we have about twelve short paragraphs, of which the following may be considered as a fair specimen :~~

"The powerful of the earth wish to exercise their sovereignty over every thing. One would imagine that the Truth itself were under their control: it must be found wherever they wish to place it. They are not conscious of being wrong; and to oppose them with argument, is to render ourselves guilty of a crime little less than felony. The very air we breathe around

them possesses a strange kind of malignity, which disorders our whole frame of mind, so

that he who, at a distance from grandeur, and in the obscurity of a distant county, secretly valued himself upon his faithfulness, no longer finds the same fortitude and courage when ex posed to the full blaze of the court. We twist the law; we trim it to time, humour, and necessity: we possess no sentiments properly whom we consider it advantageous to please.” our own; we have only the sentiments of those

"Avarice.-The covetous man amasses

THE name of Massillon is too well known, and too much celebrated-p. 11. throughout the Christian world, either to dread an eclipse, or to require commendation. Associated in character with Saurin and Fenelon, these illustrious divines form a brilliant constellation in the hemisphere of theology, and ages must elapse before they can dwindle into stars of the second magnitude.

Of the work before us we cannot perhaps give a more correct account than the translator has furnished in his advertisement:-"All the thoughts which compose this collection are short, detached from each other, and without any necessary connexion. We may read one or two at a time, may pass on from one subject to another, or turn back, without any inconvenience; and there is not one of these thoughts which does not contain some great principle, some judicious reflection, or some edifying truth, the whole placed in the most favourable light, and clothed with all the graces of elocution."

riches only for the sake of amassing them, not to supply his wants; he denies himself such him than his health or his life. All his actions, indulgence. His money is more precious to views, and affections, are directed to this unworthy object. No one is deceived in him; he takes no pains to conceal from the eyes of he is possessed: it is the nature of this shamethe public the miserable propensity with which ful passion to discover itself on every side; it takes no step that is not marked with this accursed character, and which is not a mystery to every one but him who is possessed by it. appearances, and to hide themselves from the The other passions all aim, at least, to save eyes of the world: imprudence may sometimes discover them, though the criminal seeks obscurity as much as possible; but the avaricious So far from taking precautions to hide it from man conceals his passion only from himself. the public, every thing in him exposes it, every thing plainly discovers it; he bears it written (so to speak) upon his speech, his actions, and all his conduct, and even upon his forehead.”—p. 119.

66

Injustice. An unjust man has his eyes find an opportunity of oppressing them. Like that he may constantly fixed upon the poor, a lion concealed at the mouth of his den, he

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