The severe laws of the Romans became the laws of Christian people! But Jesus Christ has found no people willing to receive his law sincerely; and those who call themselves his people refuse to make this law their law! And what law? The law of him who, being the King of kings, and Sovereign over all, abdicated his royalty in favor of his sinful creatures; the law of him who is love; the law of him who was willing to suffer and die for all men-who wished to relieve all their miseries by his sufferings, to bring them back to God, and to reconcile them to one another; the law written by God himself, by God the Saviour, and which is a law of salvation. This is the law, the only law, which could not be established upon the earth. This is the legislator, the only legislator, whose authority all men have rejected. The charity of this legislator is his crime, and the charity of his law is the reason for which this law is rejected.

Obedience to this law required the banishment from one's house and daily conduct, of every thing that is contrary to charity and justice-and this could not be endured; it required that children should be brought up under the influence of charity, by giving them an example conformed to that of Jesus Christ-and this could not be endured; it required that all business should be regulated according to the principles of rectitude and truth-and this could not be endured; it required the banishment, from constitutions and codes, of every thing that affected injuriously the rights, the property, the repose, the happiness of mankind-and this could not be endured; in a word, it required a life of love toward God and toward man-and this could not be endured. As human forms of worship are preferred to the worship established by Christ, as human theology is preferred to the theology of Christ, so the morality of sinners is preferred to the morality of Christ; and although eighteen centuries have elapsed since God himself descended upon earth to point out to men the way of truth, still they and their conductors wander about, groping apparently in darkness.

My brethren, I have argued the cause of God. I have done it impartially, and without taking any advantage at the expense of truth. I have pleaded for God alone against the hosts of Christians. *

What

do I say? No; I have pleaded against no one. I have pleaded your cause while I have pleaded that of God. I have pleaded for you both against sin, and against your common enemy-an enemy that has caused all your misfortune.

It is written: "Righteousness exalteth a nation ;" that is, God blesses the people who do his will. It is also written: "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it ;" that is, God invites the people whom he has smitten to inquire wherefore they are smitten. Inquire, then, my brethren, why he smites all the nations professing Christianity; why he troubles them by fears of war, by divisions, by civil discords, by frightful combats, by incendiaries, by inundations, by famines, by scourges of every kind, by

unexpected convulsions of nature. It is because they have rebelled against him, and have compelled him to chastise them. For the evils inflicted upon Europe, God will call to account both the people and the rulers, the Catholics, the Protestants, and the Greeks. For the evils endured by our own country, he accuses both the friends and the enemies of the government, both the magistrates and the people, both the rich and the poor. Let us therefore reform ourselves, and encourage others by our example.

My brethren, how near heaven is to men, and what happiness is within their reach! How easy it would be to relieve the miseries of others as well as our own! "The kingdom of heaven," in the beautiful words of Christ, "is at hand." His gospel is offered to us with all the blessings which accompany it. But the only remedy which can entirely remove the miseries of men, is that precisely which they will not try, or which they try but partially. In seeking a cure, they weary themselves, and only aggravate their sufferings. In vain has civilization progressed— in vain does the torch of science burn-in vain does industry display its wonders—in vain does peace appear to protect commerce and agriculture -in vain does tyranny fall, and liberty dawn upon the nations; all hearts groan and are in anguish, and we weep as our fathers wept before us.

Let us try now the most simple, the most pleasant, the most powerful of all remedies; let us try that which God has given to us, and the success of which he has guarantied to us; that of making the Bible our guide. For three centuries, Protestants have elevated the Bible in the eyes of the people; and, although they may have done it with unclean. hands, and often with hypocritical hearts, the Bible has elevated them above all people, for the Saviour loves to glorify his word. How will it be when we shall believe sincerely in the Bible, and live in entire conformity with its teachings; when it shall truly enter into our hearts, into our works, into our business, into our laws, into our institutions; when the leaven, as Christ says, shall have leavened the whole lump! How will it be when we shall follow the Bible, and live in accordance with the Bible; that is, when we shall follow Jesus Christ, and live in obedience to Jesus Christ, and like Jesus Christ!

O God, thou hast placed the torch of thy word in our temples; place it in our dwellings; place it in our schools; place it in our councils, and grant that we may do all things by its light. Make us Christians, Christians for a life-time, and not for a single day; Christians for all places, and not for thy temples only; Christians in every thing, and not in thy worship only; Christians in heart, and not in externals only; Christians in very deed, and not in words alone; Christians towards all; Christians like Jesus Christ. Make us truly Christians, and we shall be saved, and our country shall be saved, and the whole world shall be saved. Amen.

DISCOURSE XVII.

J. J. AUDEBEZ.

LIKE a considerable number of the ministers in the Established Protestant Churches in France, Mr. Audebez began to preach before he had met with a real change of heart. But in 1822, ten years after his ordination, he became a new man. A native of the south of France, for several years he was stationed at Nérac, a small city not very far from Bordeaux. For many years past he has labored with considerable success in Paris; preaching in two or three Independent Chapels, which have been long maintained by the contributions of liberal French Christians. He was for some time aided by Dr. Grandpierre.

Mr. Audebez has published quite a number of excellent tracts and letters in advocacy of evangelical religion, and several volumes of sermons. The Rev. Robert Baird, D. D., in an article published in the "Biblical Repository," of 1839, reviews these sermons at some length, and awards to their author the character of an excellent preacher. "We hardly know," says he, "where the reader could find sermons more edifying. They are all good. Some of them are remarkably fine specimens of a most happy tact for exhibiting in a few words, and in a most perspicuous style, the real meaning of a passage of the sacred Scriptures. We had the privilege of hearing most of these discourses (of one volume) preached. And we can never forget the unassuming and earnest manner of the preacher, nor the impression which many of them made on his auditory." The visible effect, in a particular instance, he speaks of as being equal to that of any thing which he ever heard in any country, or in any language.

The following is translated from the volume entitled, Sermons on "L'Enfant de la Prophétie, ou L'Agneau de Dieu, etc."-The Child of Prophecy, or the Lamb of God, etc. Paris, 1837. It contains some fine conceptions, well expressed, and will convey a pretty accurate idea of the author's general characteristics as a preacher.

DEATH THE GATE OF HEAVEN.

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."-REV., xiv. 13.

VERY DEAR CHRISTIAN BRETHREN-Death being the inevitable wages of sin, we must expect that, sooner or later, it will approach us, to put in

execution the decree which gives it power over our bodies-"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

But while death claims from each one of us its tribute, by causing us "to go the way of all the earth," we are called from time to time to see its cold hand weighing heavily upon our neighbors, our friends, our relatives. And if in life, there are trials which render necessary powerful consolations, are they not those which result from the pain, affliction, and mourning, which are so frequently renewed around and in the midst of us?

Yes, for our rebel nature, for flesh and blood, it is a hard necessity to die! Perhaps it is a necessity no less sad to see the beings cherished by us, violently snatched from our arms by death, to be laid in the tomb, and leave us forever deprived of the sweetness of their society upon the earth.

The Apostle Paul well understood the bitterness, even for the heart of Christians, in such separations. Thus he offers to them a balm, which, at need, may be applied to the wounds they leave behind. "But, my brethren," he writes to the Thessalonians, "I would not have you to be ignorant of that which concerns the dead, that should afflict yourselves as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we ought also to believe that God will bring again by Jesus those who die in him, that they may be with him."

you

These words, and the following, to the end of the chapter, may be suitably applied to soften the sorrow caused by the loss of those who are dear to us. The announcement of their future resurrection, the positive assurance that they shall one day be raised from the tomb, clothed with a body incorruptible and glorious, the prospect of reunion with them, never more to be separated, in a state of perfect happiness, where our relations with them shall never more, by any events, be interrupted or troubled. O, what charm, what sweetness is there in this revelation of the gospel!

But this source of consolation, whence Christians, at all times, may abundantly draw, is not the only one open to them. Our text presents another not less precious, and to which we would to-day direct your attention. "Then," said St. John, "I heard a voice from heaven, which said to me Write, Blessed from henceforth are the dead who die in the Lord! Yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Such is the truth which we shall now place before you, surrounded with the testimony rendered to it by the word of God. Such is the truth, under the influence of which we desire to place you, and with you to place ourselves, that we may be enabled continually to rejoice together and bless the Lord, whatever may be his dispensations toward us, toward our families, and toward our friends.

Many children die before they have done either good or evil; many others in whom sin has manifested itself in various ways, but who were

not yet capable of rendering an account of their actions; again, many, who arriving at the age of discernment, have beheld, through the aid of pious parents, the infant Saviour in the manger; well, we think that we are authorized to believe, not from any express declaration of the Bible, but from the entire Bible-to believe, that to all such, redemption is mercifully granted; that washed, cleansed, purified in the blood of the heavenly Friend of children, they quit this life, of which they have only seen the morning.

By "the dead who die in the Lord," must, in the second place, be understood all those who, before breathing the last sigh, behold, and by faith unite themselves to Jesus Christ, should it be at the last moment of their earthly existence! There is, without doubt, great, terrible danger to the soul which delays conversion, and waits the last hour to seize hold upon the promise of eternal life. But it must be recognized and said that, nevertheless, there is a possibility that the most obdurate, the most obstinate of sinners may obtain grace and pardon, at the instant which introduces him into eternity, should he turn a suppliant regard of confidence upon the "Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Beside the express declarations which the gospel offers to us in great numbers, we find an example, in the parable of the workmen, entering at the last hour into the vineyard, who each received a penny, as did their companions that had preceded them in the work; also the example, much more significant, of the thief converted upon the cross-examples which confirm what so often, and in different ways, is told us of the infinite mercy of God, that only awaits the return of the sinner to be efficaciously applied to him.

It does not then belong to us to pronounce upon the final condemnation of any nothing can be more presumptuous. We can not bound the extent of God's mercy, nor the dealings of his gracious providence. A celebrated preacher* has said: "The heart of an elect may be hid under the exterior of reprobation ;" and the religion of love which we profess, while it teaches us to work out with holy fear our own salvation, prescribes to us a charitable judgment respecting that of others.

Thus, leaving to the Searcher of hearts and of reins, the secrets which belong to him alone, we may say, with much firmer assurance, that by "the dead which die in the Lord," may be understood those who, having given signs of true conversion, being still in health, continue, on the bed of pain to make Jesus Christ their only support, and peacefully sink into the repose of death.

Finally, by "the dead who die in the Lord," we may understand, those who close a life, manifestly Christian, by a death which renders still more manifest their faith, their piety, their zeal, their charity and their lively hope.

In return, "to die in the Lord," is to be dislodged from this world,

* Saurin.