For this reason, expositions will generally be preferred | by the intelligent part of an audience, and sermons by a promiscuous multitude. The peculiar talents of Mr Toller qualified him above most men for combining the advantages of both methods, by infusing that degree of pathos and animation into his expository lectures which rendered them little less affecting than his sermons. Though he possessed, there is reason to believe, a com petent knowledge of the Scriptures in their original tongues, yet, from condescension to his audience, and his extreme abhorrence of whatever savours of pedantry, he was sparing of critical remarks, and availed himself less of the advantages of a liberal education and incessant reading, for exact interpretations of the Sacred Volume, than he might with unexceptionable propriety have done. His expositions were practical and popular, not critical or elaborate. In order to preserve a unity of design, and to perpetuate an identity of impression, it was his usual practice to select some portion of the paragraph which he had been expounding in the former part of the day, as the basis of the afternoon discourse.

It would be great injustice to the memory of my invaluable friend, while speaking of his ministerial qualifications, not to mention his striking superiority in the discharge of the devotional part of his public functions, his almost unrivalled eminence in prayer. His addresses to the Supreme Being united every excellence of which they are susceptible; they were copious without being redundant, fervent without extravagance, elevated without the least appearance of turgidity or pomp. He poured out his whole soul in an easy unaffected flow of devotional sentiment; adoration seemed to be his natural element; and, as he appeared to lose all consciousness of any other presence but that of Deity, he seldom failed to raise his audience to the same elevation, to make them realize the feeling of Jacob, when he exclaimed, "How awful is this place!" If this encomium admits of any abatement, it must be on the ground of their length, which was not unfrequently equal to that of his sermons. Nor was he less admirable in family devotion: many a time have I been surprised at the promptitude, ease, and grace, with which he would advert to the peculiar circumstances of the family, or of its principal members, with an allusion sometimes to minute incidents, without once impairing the solemnity, or detracting from the dignity, which ought ever to accompany a religious exercise. His petitions in behalf of each individual were stamped with something exclusively proper to his situation or character; so that, while he was concurring in an act of social worship, he felt, ere he was aware, as if he were left alone with God.

In his public discourses, he was apt to limit himself too much for time, either to do full justice to his subject, or to prolong the impression until it had completely incorporated itself with the mind of the hearer; the curtain was let fall at the moment the scene was most interesting, and the current of emotion suddenly checked and interrupted, when it was just rising to its height. The mind is so constituted, that, in order to produce a permanent effect, a train of thought, however interesting, must occupy the attention for a considerable space: the soul kindles by degrees, and must pass through successive gradations of feeling before it reaches the utmost elevation of sublime and pathetic emotion. Hence it is that the most powerful speakers, in every age, have had recourse to a frequent repetition of the same arguments and topics, quite useless on any other account than its tendency to prolong the impression, and to render it by that means more durable and intense. Had Mr Toller paid more attention to this principle of our constitution, I will not say he would have been a more interesting and delightful preacher, for it is not easy to conceive how his sermons could have been much

more impressive than they frequently were, during their delivery, but their power over the audience would probably have been more lasting and more salutary. The defect which we have taken the liberty of noticing, may perhaps be ascribed to the habit of writing his sermons; a practice more favourable to accuracy of language, and condensation of thought, than to copiousness and expansion.

But it is time to return to our narrative, which a few words will despatch.-During several of the last years of his life, our excellent friend exhibited symptoms of a tendency to apoplexy; and in the year 1819, as he was going to his study, he was seized with a fit, which appeared instantly to deprive him of all sensation, to the inexpressible alarm of his family. But, before medical aid could be procured, his bodily strength and the possession of his mental powers were restored, and in two hours he displayed no indications of the awful event, except a degree of lassitude, and a slight contortion in the muscles about the mouth,-both of which shortly disappeared. This circumstance, it is remarked by one of his friends, afforded a melancholy confirmation of their fears. They had long apprehended the seeds of apoplexy were lurking in his constitution, so that they looked upon this visitation as a voice from God, preparing them, by no doubtful warning. for the speedy dissolution of a connection which had long been the source of so much improvement and delight.

The circumstances attending the last scene of his life, I cannot give better than in the words of a respectable friend from whom I received the account :-"He had," says the writer of the following narrative, "for many years supposed it probable he should be subject to apoplexy or palsy. His fears fixed on the latter; and to his nearest friends he has often said, in allusion to these apprehensions, I do not fear, on the whole, to die; nor do I fear, I hope, to suffer, if I may but have the needful support from God; but if I am doomed to a long scene of suffering, and to become a burden to myself and friends, I do fear that faith and patience may fail, and that I may at last dishonour the cause I have preached, and the Master whom I serve and love.' The attack which has been mentioned removed the fear of palsy almost entirely; he was convinced the disorder was apoplexy; and the consequent conviction that such probably would be his end,-that, without pain or long affliction, he should, when his great Master had done with his services, be thus kindly dismissed,-had an immediate and an exhilarating effect upon his mind. After this he had frequent seizures of the same kind, which lasted for a very short time, seldom more than five minutes in the whole; but they left evident traces on his bodily frame, though they had no other effect upon his mind than to confirm his hope of immediate dismission, "when his work was done." Near the close of the year 1820, one of these attacks left him so weak and shattered in constitution as to convince him he should never be able to resume his full pastoral duties again; and he, in a very affectionate manner, communicated this conviction to his people. They immedi ately sought an assistant, and most naturally turned their attention to the son of their beloved pastor, who had been preaching at Wem, in Shropshire, for some time, but at that moment was visiting his father, to whom he had hurried, in dreadful doubt, from the ac count that he had received, whether he should see his face any more. From this attack he gradually recovered, and continued for some weeks to gain strength. On Sunday, the 25th of February 1821, he preached in the morning with all his usual animation, from Isa. Ixiii. 7-13; and remarked, at the close of the discourse, what encouragement this passage affords the widow and the fatherless to put their trust in God; finishing his last public discourse with these words :

To Thee our infant race we leave;
Them may their fathers' God receive,
That ages yet unborn may raise
Successive hymns of humble praise.'

He spent the evening surrounded by his family, and
conversing with his children in a strain of cheerful
piety; and, after a night of sound repose, arose as well
as usual the next morning. About noon, leaving the
parlour, he was found, a few minutes after, in an apo-
plectic fit, or a seizure resembling apoplexy. Several
medical men repaired to the spot, but life was ex-
tinct."

His remains were interred in the burying-ground belonging to the meeting-house, on Thursday, the 8th of March. On that occasion, the Rev. Mr Horsey of Northampton engaged in prayer; the Rev. Mr Edwards, of the same place, delivered the funeral oration; and the writer of these lines endeavoured to improve the providence by a suitable discourse. A considerable number of the clergy in the vicinity, and nearly all the dissenting ministers of the county, attended the procession, which was rendered deeply affecting by the tears of a vast assembly, consisting of all the respectable inhabitants of the town, who felt, on this occasion, they had lost a father and a friend.

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH OF

FRANCE.

FROM THE REVOLUTION IN 1792 TO
THE PRESENT TIME.

BY THE REV. JOHN G. LORIMER,
PART IV.

perfectly, and derive no benefit from their reading; bu there is no doubt they formed a very large proportion of those who are put down as able to read. The Rev. Dr Sereno Dwight, who visited the continent a few years in every part of the kingdom which I visited, I learned, ago, says, in reference to France, "After minute inquiries that of the adults among the Roman Catholic peasantry a large proportion of them could neither read nor write, whilst among the Protestants almost every child was instructed." It has been calculated, that more than half the individuals of the nation cannot read; that fifteen millions of one of the leading nations of Europe do not possess the simplest art of reading; and though they had the power, what good could be expected from it, unless they had books to read which are salutary in their tendency? The excessive zeal of Roman Catholics to establish schools and promote education in the United States of America, while their own countries on the continent groan under ignorance, affords but an indifferent proof of the purity of their motives, and the sincerity of their love for true knowledge. We may safely put down the grossly ignorant in France to the account of Popery; but what is the literary food of those who can read? It is not the Bible, except to a very limited extent. The Rev. Mr Bickersteth, in his Sermon before the European Missionary Society in 1836, records the appalling fact, that in about twelve years, viz., from 1817 to 1829, there were published in France not less than five millions seven hundred and sixty-eight thousand nine hundred, or nearly six million copies, of the works of the four chief French infidels. Of course, besides these, many more works of the same sentiment and spirit, but by inferior authors, were widely circulated. In the same period, the whole distribution of the Scriptures did not rise to one hundred thousand copies, and these were often given away gratuitously, while infidelity was greedily purchased. The French correspondent of the New York Observer remarked at the same time, that the country is inundated with miserable almanacs, containing scandalous anecdotes, absurd prognostications of the weather, and all sorts of extravagancies, and yet that there are millions of men who absolutely read nothing else in the whole year but their almanac. So impressed has the Religious Tract Society of Paris been with the mischief of these widespread publications, that it has published an Almanack des bons Conseils, An Almanac of good Counsels,' containing a verse of Scripture for every day in the year; and a variety of useful instructions as a counteractive. The same excellent observer drew the following appalling picture but four years ago :—

HAVING brought to a close the history of the Proestant Church of France from its origin down to the resent day, and seen in its experience so much of the sower, and faithfulness, and goodness, and sovereignty of God, we cannot dismiss the theme without casting a asty glance at the MORAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF FRANCE AS A WHOLE. Even were the Protestant Church eformed and faithful in every point, yet it is but a small art of the vast domain of France which she occupies. At best, her places of worship number only a few hunreds; whereas the estimated population of the country s not less than thirty-three millions. What is the piritual condition of this immense body of immortal eings? Every intelligent Christian is constrained to onfess, that it is melancholy in the extreme. The eople of France may be eminent for their vivacity and alent, their ingenuity in arts and sciences, their proress in civilization and manners; but, morally and eligiously considered, they are objects of the deepest ommiseration. The ignorance is great, and widepread. Within these few years, most laudable exerons have been used by the Government to promote "Most of the plays performed in our theatres are he cause of primary education; but it is not based filled with the most revolting scenes. Libertinism, pon the Word of God; and therefore, so far as expe- adultery, incest, treason, assassinations, the most hideence has yet gone, the system has not, and cannot, ous vices, the most frightful crimes, divested of their strain from crime, far less conduct to abiding happi-matic productions. Novels, another very fruitful branch odious qualities, obtain a prominent place in these draess. Indeed, from remarkable tables published in Ar Bulwer's recent work on France, it appears, that where the sort of education ministered in that country is 10st abundant, there the crime also is most prevailing. The ignorance, however, is great. So recently as 1830, ut of three hundred thousand young men capable of arrying arms, one hundred and forty thousand, nearly me-half of the whole, could neither read nor write. Te are not informed how many could read only im

of our literature, are no better; they represent men governed by the vilest passions of human nature, in colours that it is impossible for a virtuous man to behold without blushing and indignation; they descend into the sewers for mud to throw at the most venerable and sacred things. It was in novels that St. Siwoman, committing her adulteries even near the cradle monism exhibited impudently what is called the free of her child about to die! and this free woman, or rather this child of hell, boasts of her conduct, declares herself

the most virtuous, the most moral, the most pure woman of her age and there are journals and reviews which applaud this inconceivable madness!"

stronger than they were at the period of their suppres sion, being able to boast of six hundred and sixty-nine colleges, one hundred and seventy-six seminaries, two hundred and twenty-three missions, nearly twentythree thousand members, of whom nearly one half are priests. What a contrast is the poor French Protestar: pastor, with his average population of five thousand, a scattered flock,-to the Popish priest with his seve hundred people at his very door. It may be true, that in point of pecuniary provision drawn from the State there has been a great decline in the resources of the Popish Church of France, from the period of the first revolution. At that time she had a revenue from tythe, of one hundred and thirty-five millions of francs, e sides territorial possessions to the extent of one half the whole land of the country,-such is the amazing powe of ignorance, tyranny, and superstition in the hands of a worldly priesthood. At present the whole sum drawn from public sources, may not exceed thirty-two million of francs; but the success of Popery is not dependent on public funds. She can raise, by fraud and terror much more through private channels, than she coul now-a-days have any chance of obtaining from other quarters, and she is wise in her generation. With re gard to the actual increase of her numbers, we cann speak, but there seems little doubt that while Protes antism is gaining in some quarters, Popery is gaining And then, what is the state of Popery, the old others. There seems to be a revival, or at least, efforts enemy of the Protestant faith? Its power is still after a revival of the faith and power of the Church of vast, and, in some respects and quarters, though by Rome over the world, generally, at the present time, w no means in all, increasing. The whole number trust and believe, preparatory to her final and irretrie of Romish priests in active service, is not less than able destruction. God usually allows his enemies te forty thousand four hundred and forty-seven; to a rise up and make somewhat of a conspicuous show in population of thirty-two millions, this is a priest to mediately before their fall, the better to manifest is eight hundred of the whole population, including Pro- own power and glory in the overthrow. Intellige testants as well as Roman Catholics. Deduct two mil- and Christian men, who have recently visited the co lion of Protestants, and a priest's charge does not ex- tinent, bear testimony to the favourable change which ceed seven hundred and sixty. How manageable is has taken place in the public feeling toward Popery, this number, and what influence may be brought to bear least in Paris. We are informed, that instead of inj upon so limited a field! It may be true that the eccle- ing and vilifying the priests, which was common im siastical rulers of France declare fifty-two thousand diately after the revolution of 1830, politicians and priests necessary to meet the full wants of the Roman conductors of the press now usually commend them, and Catholic population. But this is the optimism of the mat- speak of the necessity of religion. The corresponden ter. At this rate, deducting the Protestants, each priest of the New York Observer, about four years ago, sy would not have a larger charge than five hundred and many who never put a foot in a church, under Loss eighty-two persons, but the present number of priests XVIII. and Charles X., who would be almost ashamed is the indication of immense power, the more especi- to go to mass, because such a step would be considered ally, when it is remembered that there has been an in-courting political favour, now frequent religious wo crease in the priesthood since 1827. In the course of a few years, they have risen nearly four thousand five hundred, without any proportionate increase of population. From 1815 to 1830, or in fifteen short years, not less than three thousand and twenty-four French nunneries were raised, and two years ago, nearly one hundred and fourteen thousand French youths of both sexes, very many of them the children of families of influence, were receiving their education from monks and nuns, the most intolerant and Jesuitical of their order. The Jesuits, whom the reader will recollect, were suppressed in 1773, and the effects of whose suppression were immediately felt in the lightening of the persecutions of the Protestants of France, were revived in 1814, and have acquired immense influence since, on the continent and in every Popish country, both at home and abroad. A few years ago they were considerably

The reader must have heard before of St. Simonism, above referred to, and also of Fourierism. They are two new species of French infidelity and materialism. Regarding the first a great noise was made in 1830. It was to gather all nations under its banner. Twentyone of the disciples, with Enfantin, the high priest, at their head, set out to the East, to convert Egypt to their system, but ere long, a number of them were converted to Mahommedanism, and the last accounts of the founder are, that he leads an immoral life in a harem, formed of abandoned females whom he brought with him from Europe. This religion ended as it began, in shameful and scandalous prostitution. With respect to Fourierism, again, its religion is Pantheism; it holds that matter is God, and its social system is founded on a community of property of the wildest description. Both schemes were highly extolled, and collected together not a few disciples from respectable ranks in society; indeed, the founder of the latter was almost worshipped as a god-raised as a benefactor of men, infinitely above Christ! What can give us a more impressive view of the blended ignorance and infidelity of France, than the existence and even temporary honour of these moral and religious abominations.

ship, and invite their relatives and friends to follow their example. On Easter of this year, (1834,) the Catholic churches of Paris were more filled than the have been known to be for thirty years. Iinmense num bers crowded the vast edifices of Romish worship, a still thousands of persons listened without in the street unable to enter." It may be added, that in Paris t Popish Church has several very popular preachers, that she is trying what influence can be exerted throug this channel. Whatever interpretation be put up these things, the facts are important.

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[READ THE SECOND AND THIRD CHAPTERS OF REVELATION.]