to the stability, and fatal to the free and unobstructed working of the political machinery, and to that fair trial of the merits of our noble institutions, which all good men, which the world, ardently desires to see made.

Such is the man of principle in politics, freely and imperfectly sketched. He is firm as the hills in his integrity. He will not turn from the right to secure his fortune. He will not do an unjust thing to save his life. He will not bribe another, nor seek to lead him contrary to his convictions. As for himself, you cannot buy him. No party is rich enough for that. He at least is an exception to the saying of Charles II. and Robert Walpole, that " every man has his price." He has no price. He is not in the market. He belongs to God.

He is a man, as well as a politician. The leaders of the party cannot bend him to any crooked policy. His course is straight as the path of truth. He responds, quick as light, to the first whisperings of conscience. What he thinks he speaks. His vote is the expression of his honest convictions. He loves his country, but he is not blind to her faults, and will not encourage her wrong. He is careful, in censuring the abuse of power and place, not to do it in such way as to lessen that respect for authority so needful to the stability of government and the maintenance of order. He distinguishes between a free and faithful press, and a licentious and disorganizing one; and while he guards the first, he as openly denounces the last. He strenuously defends his own opinions, but at the same time maintains a decent respect for the opinions of others. He will not use an argument which he has no faith in himself. He will not attribute to the tariff, or the banks, or the administration, evils which he knows they are not responsible for, and had no hand in producing. He will not misrepresent the measures of the government, nor abuse the administration of the opposing party for doing what he knows his own party would have done had they succeeded. He is too honest and manly to make political capital by such methods.

In a word, this man is actually in his politics what other men profess to be in their religion-a Christiana Christian politician! a rara avis-but sometimes found among us, nevertheless-and, when found, more precious

than gold. He is an example we should follow. He shows us what all ought to be, and can be. He shows us what kind of men ought to be trusted with power, and stand in the high places of the land.

And when this man's lead shall be followed, and the people shall honor principle above all else-when the caucus-room shall be a kind of political church, and the ballot-box sacred as the altar of God, consecrated to justice, truth, and right-then our government will be administered in the love of righteousness and in the fear of God. Then the free institutions which our fathers gave us will get fair trial of their worth and merits; our country will become the glory of the nations, heaven and earth will jointly give us blessing, and the Lord Jehovah will dwell with us as with his people of old!

T. B. T.

ART. IV.

The Huguenots.

Ir is suitable for those who live in the midst of the blessings of religious liberty, to look over the history of the church, and consider at what cost these privileges have been obtained. While such a survey shall deepen our obligations to those who have gone before us, it may also increase our desire to promote the welfare of those who are to come after us, as well as strengthen our faith in the wisdom of that providence which appropriates the evils of men to the increase of the glory of God.

The Protestant reformation was commenced in England, by Wickliffe, in 1360; by Huss, in Bohemia, in 1405; by Luther, in Germany, in 1517. Nominally it was an effort to purge the Catholic Church of great impurities, by reforming its doctrines and ritual. Actually it was more than a reformation: it was a vast revolution-the grandest step taken in the progress of the modern worldthe substitution of inquiry for authority.

The rise of the new religion in France, as might naturally be supposed, was at first obscure. The seed of truth, however, to some extent had fallen upon "good ground;" for," notwithstanding the barbarous persecutions of the Albigenses and Waldenses by the Roman Catholic Church, there was not a total extinction of the truth. It was suppressed, but not destroyed. Its professors were dead, but the truth lived; it lay concealed in the hearts of the children of these martyrs, who groaned for a reformation."

As early as 1523, thirteen years before John Calvin was settled in Geneva, there were, in several provinces in France, large numbers who sympathized with Luther; and among them many nobles of the first rank and dignity, and also prelates.

In reference to the reformation in France, there is this marked characteristic: it was the first country in which the new religion found many adherents. No portion of Europe seems to have been so long or so well prepared for it as this. Here those who had come out from the Romish Church first assumed the title of reformed; and yet, here the new religion met with the most violent opposition, occasioned the most dreadful and destructive civil wars, and nowhere was it later before it obtained legal toleration.

The favor of the king, Francis I., to the sciences, and his generosity to learned men, occasioned many persons of genius who were favorable to liberty to become residents of France; so that the writings of the reformers in that country were of a superior character, and generally read. The court itself was for some time hesitating whether to invite Melancthon to Paris, and thus favor the reformation; but political motives swayed the decision in favor of the Church of Rome, and soon after commands were issued against the so-called reformed religion, and persecution began.

John Calvin became established in Geneva in 1541. Though settled within the limits of Switzerland, he could as successfully control the interests of religion in France as if he had resided a few miles farther north. He found the love of inquiry general, especially in the south part of France-extending to persons of every age, sex, and

rank, though they were not united by any common bond; indeed, many still attended mass, and those who desired a better state of things conformed to the outward observances of the old religion.

Calvin's name and doctrines immediately became the centre of a mighty influence. Churches were formed after the Genevan plan. "The Bible was translated by Olivetan, an uncle of Calvin, from the original Hebrew and Greek, into the French language. It was read in their solemn meetings, and in the great congregations." "It was perused and studied by the nobles and peasants, by the learned and the illiterate, by merchants and tradesmen, by women and children, in their houses and families; and they thus became wiser than the Popish priests, and most subtle adversaries."

One hundred and fifty of the Psalms of David, and all the Scripture songs, were translated by competent persons into French metre, and set to music by a skilful master. This gave a great impulse to the cause of reform. The tunes became exceedingly popular, and were to be heard all over the kingdom, and in all ranks of society from the king to the humblest of his subjects.

In 1547, Henry II. succeeded his father, Charles I., at which time the Protestants of France were generally known by the name of Huguenots. In regard to the origin of this word, there are various conjectures. Some suppose it to have been derived from a faulty pronunciation of the German word eidgnossen, which signifies confederates; others believe it to have been occasioned by an incident, now perhaps wholly forgotten. Be this as it may, we shall not occupy space by stating the criticisms of those who are curious in such matters.

The new king was a determined enemy to the Huguenots, and made great exertion to root them out of his kingdom. An edict had been issued, interdicting the exercise of the reformed religion, and declaring the act of hospitality to those who professed it high treason. "The estates of all emigrants on account of religion were to be confiscated. No books whatever might be imported from any Protestant country; and to print, or sell, or possess Protestant works, was made penal." To be a Huguenot was in itself sufficient to ensure condemnation. Many

were imprisoned; some were arraigned for their lives, and not yielding to the commands of the judges were committed to the flames. Others were massacred in cold blood without even a trial.

Still the believers multiplied, and churches increased in number and influence. Persecution undoubtedly intimidated some, but the general effect was, what it always has been, to make the faithful more active, and the earnest more determined. An instance of this is seen in the movement for an organization of the Protestants upon some common basis of faith, and in conformity to established rules of discipline. It was a bold step, which none but resolute, conscientious men would have taken, to meet in the metropolis of the kingdom, "at the very doors of the court," to consult upon the interests of a religion which both the king and the Catholics were resolved to eradicate. They assembled in large numbers, with delegates from the important localities in the kingdom, and closed their deliberations by publishing a confession of faith which all the world might read. The following is its title: "The Confession of Faith held and professed by the Reformed Churches of France, received and enacted by their first National Synod, celebrated in the city of Paris, in the year of our Lord 1559."

Gaspard de Coligny, admiral of France, was the first nobleman who dared profess himself a Protestant and a co-laborer with Protestants. In 1560, this brave man, in the name of the Calvinists of Normandy, presented to the king a petition for the free exercise of their religion. He was not successful. Every day the affairs of the nation were becoming less hopeful to the Huguenots. At last they were goaded to desperation. They do not appear to have been disposed to resort to arms. On the contrary, as we become familiar with the story of their sufferings for the cause of religious liberty, and reflect upon the narrow views which obtained everywhere upon the subject of toleration, we wonder at their long forbearance. But the fatal blow was struck when the Guises, (uncles to Mary, afterwards Queen of Scotts, wife of Francis II.,) surprised a congregation of believers, and destroyed sixty of their number. The nation was at once in arms. The Catholics obtained aid from Rome and