when Roman pontiffs were endeavouring to subjugate the kings and kingdoms of Europe; to establish their own ecclesiastical supremacy; and bind the yoke of superstition on the prostrate nations;--the Waldensian pastors, animated by a purer zeal, spared no efforts to subdue the same kingdoms to the obedience of Christ. With this view they traversed France, from the Alps to the Pyrennees, and from the Mediterranean to the channel that separates that country from Great Britain. Their doctrine crossed the straits, visited Great Britain, and, spreading rapidly through the country, became the harbinger and dawn of the Reformation.* Germany also felt its influence: and Bohemia became at once the asylum of confessors and exiles,† and the seat of a purer faith. It is unnecessary to enumerate the other countries they explored; but the fact ought not to be unnoticed, that those kingdoms,-England and Germany more especially,-in which the Waldenses rekindled, and their successors preserved the lamp of true religion, display in this nineteenth century the genuine catholic and apostolic spirit; and are so intent on disseminating the christian faith universally on earth, by the circulation of the scriptures, the formation of

*

pp. 201-203.

† pp. 6-8. 200.

missions, and the education of youth,-leaving none of the four continents unexplored, that the "river of the water of life," promises in due time,—like the river that went out of Eden and was parted into four streams,-to bless and to fertilize all lands.

It is the obvious result of the whole of this investigation, that so far from being the sole catholic or universal church, the church of Rome is only like other particular churches a part of of the whole,—a segment of the great circle; and can no more in strict propriety be deemed the church universal, than St. Peter's can be called the city of Rome;-Rome considered the whole of Italy;-or Italy supposed to comprehend, geographically, all Europe. The church of God, in fact, the church universal,-began to exist before Rome had any being; for it included patriarchal families both before and after the deluge, and Jews who lived under the Levitical economy, as it does all ancient as well as modern christian communities.

Defects, as well as excellencies, may be found in each particular christian church;-perfection

in none; but within the wide circle of the universal church, which comprises all who profess and call themselves christians, there is a lesser circle, a faithful church,—a church of the faithful,-composed of those who are christians in deed as well as in name. They also as individuals are imperfect. How reasonable then is it that, notwithstanding their difference of sentiment, both churches and individuals should cherish mutual forbearance and good-will! Are they members of a church militant? Yes; but their warfare should not be waged against each other's persons, but against their own corrupt dispositions, against avarice and pride,-hatred and uncharitableness. Not only does the happiness of the individual, or the harmony that should subsist in families, depend in a great degree on cultivating the ennobling principle of charity;its increase would have the most favourable aspect also upon the tranquillity of states; since, like the great principle in the natural world which preserves the coherence and compactness of the several parts of the universe,—it has a direct and powerful tendency to secure the frame of society unbroken,-to unite all its members in bonds of mutual good-will, and to animate them to reciprocal good-offices.

If that hostility which has too long marked the conduct of christians of different denominations,

were happily exchanged for more generous and more christian feelings; it is probable that very considerable benefits would accrue to all parties. A more dispassionate investigation of truth would take place, and on the part of the Roman catholic, where error really exists, and cannot be fairly defended, it would be more readily acknowledged and more speedily abandoned. The protestant also, perceiving in the rancour nourished in his own breast towards fellow christians,-however deeply in"volved in superstition, the spirit that dictated decrees against the Vaudois, that armed the persecutor with the sword, or kindled faggots at the stake;—and condemning so antichristian a feeling in his own heart, will learn, whilst he regrets the errors, to respect the persons of his fellowchristians; will render every prompt and kind attention to their wants, and be cordially solicitous for their prosperity.

The time is indeed come when the stability of any christian church is more likely to be secured by benevolent than by oppressive measures; by acts of kindness than by penal enactments; --and when a protestant clergy, even if favoured by the state, should not so much place their reliance on the secular arm, and on the possession of rank and wealth, as on the strength of argument, the force of truth,-the consonance of

their instructions with God's inspired word,and the silent rhetoric of a beneficent and useful life.

Whilst the spirit of the age, no less than the spirit of our religion, seems to inculcate and even urge upon protestants the adoption of such views and feelings; the rapid increase of knowledge in the nineteenth century,-combined with the bold disposition for inquiry, and penetrating scrutiny, that now characterize men of every class,-warns Roman catholics also,-the clergy and the laity,-to examine the foundations of their faith;-to retain the doctrines and institutions that they can vindicate, and to dismiss without reluctance those which are indefensible.

It is a subject for deep regret, that whilst many sublime christian truths exist in the church of Rome as hidden treasure in the mine; and whilst very beautiful devotions like a silver vein pervade the Missal; those truths and devotions are found blended with a large proportion of coarser materials of no value. It will be happy for her members if some of her prelates or inferior clergy in the present day, should, like many illustrious predecessors, possess sufficient skill,—or rather be endued with "the wisdom that is from above," to trace that valuable vein,—extract it from the ore,-mould it into form,