and temperament, there should be found a rich, varied, and full exhibition of sentiment and feeling: Adding to this the intrinsic excellence of the subject itself, PASTORAL THEOLOGY, whose sphere is that which was filled by the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls, it afforded a fund of enjoyment and profit, to which it was truly an unusual privilege to have such familiar and intimate access.

M. Vinet, among the gifted men of his times, was in the first rank. The editor of his " Études sur Blaise Pascal," we think, with no more than justice, classes him, in the most important respects, with that great man. "The general direction of his labors, the nature of his mind and temperament, gave him ready access to this noble and astonishing genius. A penetrating analysis of the human soul, a strong attachment of heart to truth and an imperious demand for evidence, a natural melancholy, an inclination to serious irony, a strict and sometimes transcendent dialectic, passion in reason, a comprehensive and powerful imagination-these traits are common to the author of Discours sur quelques Sujets Religieux and the author of the Pensées. We may say, making due allowance for circumstances, that Pascal and Vinet resembled each other. Pascal, moreover, inspired the Protestant apologist of the nineteenth century, and served as his model. If natural affinity, sympathy, and interest are of any aid to the understanding, M. Vinet as

1

suredly ought to comprehend Pascal. It was this, perhaps, which led an eminent critic, M. Sainte-Beuve, to say: If we should collect into one small volume the articles of M. Vinet on Pascal, we should have, I think, the most exact results to which we can arrive on this great controversy.'"*

The work before us is worthy of its author. It was not prepared for the press by M. Vinet, but the subject had received his closest attention, protracted through a series of years; and though it is substantially composed of notes, which served as a basis of instruction in the Academy of Lausanne, yet these notes were carefully prepared by the author, and, of course, embodied his best and strongest thoughts. M. Vinet's own manuscripts were sometimes complemented from the notebooks of his pupils; but these insertions, which, in the French publication, are included in brackets, and which, in a volume of four hundred pages, amount to about thirty, have the full force and vigor of the author's mind, and are quite equal in excellence to the other parts of his work. The slight imperfections of form, arising from the causes indicated by the French editors, do not impair the value of this book: After removing the brackets, as we have done in this translation, they will probably not be observed.

The work is distinguished by the following great ex cellences by comprehensiveness and fullness of plan,

* Etudes sur Blaise Pascal, par A. VINET, p. vii.

embracing all parts of the subject in just proportion; by a deeply philosophical vein of teaching under the guise of the most beautiful simplicity; by thorough, various, and extensive learning; by a pre-eminently pure and holy spirit, which often subdues and penetrates the reader's heart, and leads him to look within himself with the profoundest self-scrutiny; and, whenever the subject permits it, by a peculiarly elevated, eloquent, and charming diction.

If we were to distinguish between the merits of the different parts of this work, we should assign the highest place to the third part, especially chapter second, which treats of the care of souls as applied to individuals; where we can not but think that this spiritual and faithful man has transcended all who have preceded him. As an example of the earnestness and tenderness of his manner in this part, we insert here a passage which refers to the case of a pastor at the bedside of a dying man who is not prepared for death: "There are, it is said, souls who perceive with despair that the principle of the spiritual life is extinguished within them, and who with terrible evidence are convinced that there remains nothing in them that can love or pray: Faith comes to them at the last moment, but it is the faith of demons, resplendent with brightness, but it is the brightness of lightning. God only can know, indeed, that this soul is dead: As for you who do not know, struggle, pant with it, fight its battle, unite

with it in its agony; let it perceive that there is by its side, in its last anguish, a soul that believes, that hopes, and that loves; that your love is but a reflection of the love of Christ; and that Christ, through you, has become present to it: Give it a hint, a glimpse, a taste of the Divine mercy; let it be, as it were, forced to believe in it by seeing the reflection of it in you: Hope against hope: Wrestle with God to the last moment: Let the voice of your prayer, the echo of the words of Christ, resound in the dying man's ear, even in his dreams: You do not know what may be passing in that interior world into which your views do not penetrate; nor by what mystery eternity may hang on one minute, and salvation on one sigh. You do not know what may avail-what one ejaculation of a soul toward God may embrace at the last bound of earthly existThen do not cease: pray aloud with the dying man; pray for him with a low voice: Be a priest when you can no longer be a preacher. Let the office of intercession, the most efficacious of all, precede, accompany, follow all others."

ence.

But while we can not but regard the third part with peculiar interest, we have been compelled to think that there is an omission here which should not be passed over without notice; and, with the hope of increasing the usefulness of the book in our own country, we have endeavored to supply it by adding a chapter of our own. Our author has distinctly stated (page 242) the prin

ciple which guided us in this chapter, a principle which admits of many applications; but the subject we have here considered seemed to us, from its great importance, entitled to peculiar attention.

It is scarcely necessary to say that, in editing this work, we do not hold ourselves answerable for every opinion of the author: On two points, of much importance, we have thought proper to indicate some difference of judgment from him, in notes which will be found in the Appendix.

In the work of translation we have had occasion, more than once, to lament the impossibility of retaining in English the exceedingly naïve and touching manner of the author; but we have endeavored, in every case, to report faithfully the views and movements of his uncommon mind. We have studied exactness in giving his meaning rather than rigid conformity to his manner; although we have endeavored to deviate from this no further than was necessary in order to render his meaning into good English.

We concur with the French editors in hoping that this book will be read not only by ministers of the Gospel, but by the religious community generally: Better than any work we know of, it is adapted to impart profound and just impressions of the pastoral office, in which all the interests of humanity are so deeply involved.