6 were the people themselves of the advantage arising from their improved condition, that they looked upon their pastor with the most confiding affection and regard. They had received a counsellor from heaven, and these simple-hearted people appreciated the blessing. In the course of his labours, Neff found great difficulty from the imperfect education which the young received at school. He, therefore, resolved to endeavour, as much as possible, to introduce an improved system of education. This, however, might appear impracticable, there being no schoolmasters capable of Every obstacle only tended the undertaking the task. more to rouse the energies of Neff. He resolved to take upon himself the office of schoolmaster,—a circumstance which is thus noticed by his biographer : pected in certain hamlets, whose rotation to be visited was supposed to be coming round, it was beautiful to see the cottages send forth their inhabitants, to watch the coming of the beloved minister. Come, take your dinner with us. Let me prepare your supper.'• Permit me to give up my bed to you,' were re-echoed from many a voice, and though there was nothing in the repast which denoted a feast-day, yet never was festival observed with greater rejoicing than by those, whose rye-bread and pottage were shared by the pastor Neff. Sometimes, when the old people of one cabin were standing at their doors, and straining their eyes to catch the first view of their guide to heaven,' the youngsters of another were perched on the summit of a rock, and stealing a prospect which would afford them an earlier sight of him, and give them the opportunity of offering the first invitation. It was on these occasions, that he obtained a perfect knowledge of the people, "Behold the preacher surrounded by his classes in a questioning them about such of their domestic concerns miserable stable, correcting the tone of one, the proas he might be supposed to take an interest in, as well nunciation of another, and the articulation of a third; as about their spiritual condition, and finding where he could be useful both as a secular adviser and a religious patiently dinning sounds and sense into their ears, and counsellor. Could all their children read? Did they making them spell the words, and divide by syllables, understand what they read? Did they offer up morning and repeat by sentences again and again, until he had and evening prayers? Had they any wants that he could put them into something like a fair training. Behold relieve? Any doubts that he could remove? Any afflic-him also, to keep his pupils in good humour, and to tions wherein he could be a comforter?' "It was thus that he was the father of his flock, and master of their affections and their opinions; and when the seniors asked for his blessing, and the children took hold of his hands or his knees, he felt all the fatigue of his long journeys pass away, and became recruited with new strength. But for the high and holy feelings which sustained him, it is impossible that he could have borne up against his numerous toils and exposures, even for the few months in which he thus put his constitution to the trial. Neither rugged paths, nor the inclement weather of these Alps, which would change suddenly from sunshine to rain, and from rain to sleet, and from sleet to snow; nor snow deep under foot, and obscuring the view when dangers lay thick on his road; nothing of this sort deterred him from setting out, with his staff in his hand, and his wallet on his back, when he imagined that his duty summoned him. I have been assured by those who have received him into their houses at such times, that he has come in chilly, wet, and fatigued; or exhausted by heat, and sudden transitions from excessive heat to piercing cold, and that after sitting down a few minutes, his elastic spirits would seem to renovate his sinking frame, and he would enter into discourse with all the mental vigour of one who was neither weary nor languid." In all respects Neff showed himself the father and mingle something pleasing with the dull routine of reading and spelling, putting aside his books and giving lessons in music. This was a most successful as well as agreeable expedient; it was soon found that the best singers were also the best readers, and application to the more attractive lesson was usually accompanied by proficiency in the duller acquirement." Encouraged by the success of his exertions in the cause of education, Neff resolved to erect a schoolhouse. The situation chosen for the building was the village of Dormilleuse, and his mode of proceeding is thus graphically described. "He persuaded each family in Dormilleuse to furnish a man who should consent to work under his directions; and having first marked out the spot with line and plummet, and levelled the ground, he marched at the head of his company to the torrent, and selected stones fit for the building. The pastor placed one of the heaviest upon his own shoulders,--the others did the same, and away they went with their burthens, toiling up the steep acclivity, till they reached the site of the proposed building. This labour was continued until the materials were all ready at hand; the walls then began to rise, and in one week from the first commence ment, the exterior masonry work was completed, and the roof was put upon the room. The windows, chimney, door, tables, and seats, were not long before they also were finished. A convenient stove added its accommodation to the apartment, and Dormilleuse, for the first time probably in its history, saw a public school-room erected, and the process of instruction con. ducted with all possible regularity and comfort." the friend of his people. He taught them to improve their houses, to cultivate their lands, and extend their temporal comforts as far as their peculiar circumstances would admit. And the earnestness of his anxiety on their behalf was met with a rich return of gratitude and confidence and affection. In one district of his parish, Having completed the school-room, the indefatigable more especially, which had been in a more destitute pastor commenced his work as a teacher, dedicating his condition than the rest, he felt a lively interest. From time chiefly to the Normal department of his plan, or the the first moment of my arrival," says he, "I took them training of schoolmasters, who might afterwards conduct as it were to my heart, and I ardently desired to be the education of the children on an improved system. unto them even as another Oberlin." And so he ac- The winter of 1826-7 was accordingly spent at Dormiltually proved. Though he found it impossible to de-leuse; and such was the anxiety of Neff to improve the vote more than a week in each month to this half-barbarous district, a change for the better was very soon apparent. Indeed, so extraordinary was the improvement of the peasantry of the Val Fressiniere in social manners and family comfort, no less than in agriculture, to attract the attention of strangers; and so sensible pupils who had put themselves under his care, that fourteen or fifteen hours out of the twenty-four were spent in study. The spot which had been selected for this experiment, was the most secluded and dreary of the whole Alpine districts, and the season was remarkably severe and stormy. But nothing could chill the efforts which he rather hoped for than expected, was partially granted. Taking advantage of intervals of apparent restoration to health, he uniformly exerted himself in some pious work, which most frequently led to a relapse. of Felix Neff. He persevered in his good work, until | ble, from his native air. The relief from his sufferings, the close of winter called for the return of the little party of students to their different communes. The inhabitants of Dormilleuse regretted the breaking up of a society, which, though small, spread a cheerfulness throughout the secluded village. The account of the parting scene is thus beautifully given by Dr Gilly. "On the evening before they took their leave, the young men of the village prepared a supper for their new friends, and invited them to the parting banquet. It was a simple and a frugal repast, consisting of the productions of the chase. The bold hunter contributed his salted chamois, the less enterprising sportsman of the mountain laid a dried marmot upon the table, and one or two of the most successful rangers of the forest produced a bear's ham, as a farewell offering, in honour of the last evening on which the conversation of this interesting group was to be enjoyed. It was at the same time a pleasing, and a melancholy festival, but I do not find, in the pastor's Journal, that either the achievements of their ancestors, who had garrisoned this rocky citadel, and had repulsed numberless attempts to storm it, or the exploits of the chasseurs, who had furnished the festive board, formed the conversation of the evening. It seems to have savoured rather of the object which originally brought them together, and when one of the party remarked, What a delightful sight, to behold so many young friends met together but it is not likely that we shall ever meet all together again !' the pastor took the words up like a text, and enlarged upon the consolatory thought, that though they might see each other's faces no more in this life, they would most assuredly meet again in a joyful state of existence in the world to come, if they would persevere in their Christian course. He then gave them a parting benediction, and, after a long and mournful silence, which each seemed unwilling to interrupt, either by uttering the dreaded good-bye, or moving from his seat, the valedictory words and embraces passed from one to another, and they separated. The next morning at an early hour, they were seen winding down the mountain path to their several homes; they of Dormilleuse gazed after them till their figures were lost in the distance, and the village on the rock appeared more dreary and desolate than ever." Next year they again assembled, but, through the kindness of friends, in circumstances of greater comfort than before. Neff, however, found that his health was gradually declining. The severe labours and privations to which he had been subjected, began to prey upon a constitution never remarkably robust. In the winter of 1827, he performed his various duties with great difficulty. A total derangement of the digestive organs had taken place, and the internal pains to which he was in consequence subject, were greatly aggravated by a severe accident which he had sustained in the knee. When his pupils had returned at the end of the second session, if we may so term it, of the Normal institution, Neff felt that his disorder had greatly increased, his stomach had entirely lost its tone, and refused to receive any thing but liquids. It now became evident that an immediate removal from the severe climate of the Alpine region was absolutely necessary. For a time he felt very reluctant to separate himself from a people among whom his labours had been so signally blessed. At length, however, after travelling over the greater number of the villages to bid an affectionate farewell to his flock, he set out for Geneva, with the view of deriving benefit, if possi As a last resource, he was advised to try the effect of mineral waters, and accordingly he resided for some time at Plombieres. While there, he preached regularly to the Protestants of the place. Having experienced a considerable revival of his strength, he returned to Geneva. On his arrival there, however, he began gradually to droop. His spirits failed him, his body became emaciated, and it was but too evident to his friends that his stay on earth would be short. 66 "It was most heart-rending," said a spectator of his sufferings, to behold him, thus pale and emaciated, his large eyes beaming with an expression of fortitude and pain; covered, from head to foot, with four or five woollen garments, which he was obliged to change frequently; submitting, in silence, and with the greatest calmness, to the application of the moxas,* a painful operation, which was constantly repeated; suffering the pangs of hunger; counting the hours, and at last venturing to take something, then waiting with anxiety till the food, such as it was, should digest, and thus passing all his days and nights during a long succession of relapses, and of physical prostration, which we sometimes looked upon as a relief." Even in the utmost extremities of his distress, his Alpine flock dwelt much upon his mind. He was now quite aware that his labours among them were for ever come to a close. Still, even on his death-bed, he pressed upon them, by letter, the precious truths which he had been privileged to urge upon them from the pulpit. And when unable to write, he employed his mother as amanuensis, to whom he dictated two letters, addressed to his beloved flock. Though unable, for want of room, to insert either of these beautiful and impressive letters, we cannot refrain from presenting our readers with an extract of the touching reply of the simple peasants of the Alpine valleys, to a letter which had been sent to prepare them for the mournful tidings which his friends would too soon be called to communicate. "It is we, it is we, who are the cause of your long illness. Had we been more ready to listen to you, you would not have had occasion to fatigue yourself in the deep snow, nor to exhaust your lungs, and all the pow ers of your body. Oh, how much pain has it cost you to teach us: like our good Saviour, you forgot yourself for our sakes. Dear pastor, sensible of the affection you have always manifested towards us, we desire, with all our hearts, to be useful to you. We can say, with truth, that if our lives could be of service to you, we would give them, and then we should not be doing more for you than you have done for us. May the Lord bless you, and grant you patience in this long trifrom on high, and recompense you for all the pains you al. May He shower upon you a thousand benedictions have taken of us ! Your reward is in heaven: an immortal crown awaits you. We will conclude by entreating your prayers in our behalf; unworthy as we are, we do not forget you in ours. Every family, without exception, from the heights of Romas to the foot of some of them in this letter. of the Influs, salutes you, and you will see the names We are your unworthy, but entirely devoted brothers." by burning it on the part affected. An Indian or Chinese moss, used in the cure of some disorders, all my friends the Pellissiers, whom I love tenderly; Francis Dumont and his wife; Isaac and his wife; beloved Deslois, Emilie Bonet, &c. &c.; Alexandrine and her mother; all all the brethren and sisters of peace! Mens, adieu, adieu. I ascend to our Father in entire The closing scene was now fast approaching-it was in complete harmony with the whole course of his life. "Tell me not how the man died," was once the saying of a pious minister, "but tell me how he lived." We have seen "how holily, and justly, and unblameably," Felix Neff spent his laborious and useful life. Let us attend him in his dying moments, and listen with devout eagerness to the latest aspirations of this man of God. "We had the satisfaction," said a narrator of the dying scene, "of being much with him towards the close of his painful career, and we never heard a murmur escape from his lips. He was grateful for the af-les; to support his fainting head in our arms, to wipe the cold drops from his forehead, to bend or to straighten his stiffened limbs; the centre of his body only retained any warmth. For a short time he seemed to be choking, and we dared not give him any thing: A few words of Scripture were read to him, but he did not appear to hear; once only, when some one was lamenting to see him suffer so much, and said, poor Neff,' he raised his head for an instant, fixed his large eyes full of affection upon his friend, and again closed them. During the long night of agony we could only pray and support him. In the morning, the fresh air having a little revived him, he made a sign that he should be carried to a higher bed; they placed him on this bed in a sitting hours we saw his eyes raised to heaven; each breath, posture, and the struggles of death began. For four that escaped from his panting bosom, seemed accompanied with a prayer; and at that awful period, when the heaviness of death was upon him, in the ardent expression of his supplication he appeared more animated than any of us. We stood around him weeping, and almost murmuring at the duration of his sufferings, but the power of his faith was so visible in his countenance, that our faith too was restored by it; it seemed as though we could see his soul hovering on his lips, impatient for eternity. At last we so well understood what his vehement desire was, that with one impulse we all exclaimed: 'Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.' fection shewn towards him, and returned it abundantly. "He made presents to his friends, and set apart some religious books for many persons to whom he still Loped to be useful; after having underlined several passages, he thus wrote the address :- Felix Neff, dying, to "We shall have an indelible recollection of the last letter that he wrote; it was a few days before his death. He was supported by two persons, and, hardly able to see, he traced at intervals, and in large and irregular characters which filled a page, the lines which follow, addressed to some of his beloved friends in the Alps. What must have been the feelings of those who received them, with the persuasion that he, who had traced them, "Two days afterwards, (his death took place 12th tomb. Over his resting place were read some beautiof April, 1829,) we accompanied his remains to the ful verses of that Word which shall never pass away. We then prayed, and in compliance with his wish, his numerous friends, who were assembled at the grave, sang together those lines of M. Vinet, of which the stanzas conclude thus : 'They are not lost, but gone before."" FIRST DISPENSATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER IN SCOTLAND AT THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION. (Extracted chiefly from Buchanan's History.) ON the morning on which Wishart was to be executed, the priests sent two Franciscan monks to acquaint him that the time of his death drew near, and to ask if he wished to confess his sins to them, as was customary; he replied that he had no need for friars, nor any wish to converse with them, but if they would gratify him so far, he would be happy to be visited by the learned man who had preached the day before." On this being reported, the sub-prior, after he had obtained the permission of the bishop, came to the prison in the Castle, where Wishart was confined, and held a long conversation with him, intermingled with many tears. length, after he had ceased weeping, from which he could not refrain, he kindly asked, whether he would not wish to partake of the sacrament of the Supper? "Most willingly," answered the martyr, "If At John Winram, Sub-Prior of St. Andrews, who was at that time a friend to the Reformation, but not openly, for fear of the priests. according to Christ's appointment it be shewn forth in go him, the last memorial of Christ's death; but for himself, a more bitter cup was prepared, for no other reason than preaching the gospel. After this he again retired to his chamber, and finished his own private devotions. Probably since the first institution of the Supper, it has seldom been celebrated under circumstances more solemn and affecting. Wishart was a man of the most mild and amiable temper, of a sweet and venerable appearance, and his manners are said to have been particularly engaging. He had been a kind of inmate in the governor's family for nearly two months, and during that time seems to have conciliated the affections of his keeper and attendants, the most of whom were, probably through his means, become " partakers of like precious faith," as he addressed them, upon this occasion, as persons whom he knew to be fellow-members of the same body of Christ. In less than three hours he was to stand in the presence of that God and Saviour whose dying love they were commemorating, and to be honoured, to glorify his name, by passing through the flames to heaven. With what energy would he address them, with what reverential attention would they listen! Scarcely can a scene of deeper interest be imagined, excepting, perhaps, some which followed, when, "Leaning on his spear, The lyart vet'ran heard the word of God." DISCOURSE. BY THE REV. ROBERT GORDON, D. D., One of the Ministers of the High Church, Edinburgh. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."-HEB. xii. 14. THE duties prescribed in this verse are at all times necessary, and therefore it is at all times seasonable to inculcate them. There was, however, a peculiar propriety in urging them upon the Hebrews, especially in the circumstances in which they were then placed. It appears from various notices in the New Testament, that the Jews, notwithstanding the reverses which, as a nation, they had sustained, and the degradation to which they had been reduced, still cherished an overweening idea of their own superiority, regarding themselves as the special objects of the Divine favour, and conceiving that they were entitled to look on other men with contempt. Of those among them who did not believe the gospel, we find the apostle thus speaking in his Epistle to the Thessalonians :-" They both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved." Of this spirit a very notable example is recorded in Paul's own history: for on a certain occasion, when he addressed his countrymen in Jerusalem, detailing to them the circumstances of his conversion to the faith of the gospel, and giving an account of the apostolic commission which he received from the Lord Jesus, who said to him, " depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles;" we are told that "they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live." And even with regard to those who did believe the gospel, they were so zealous of the law, that they seemed to think none should be admitted to the privileges of the gospel without being required at the same time to observe the institutions of Moses. In so far, then, as the Hebrews might be under the influence of such prejudices and prepossessions, they woua oe in danger of giving way to a contentious spirit; and if they did so, surrounded as they were by enemies who waited for their halting, they would not only give increased bitterness to the hatred and opposition of gainsayers, but bring discredit on the faith which they professed, by giving the adversaries occasion to speak reproachfully. And in like manner, they might stand in need of being especially reminded of the necessity of personal holiness. It is wellknown, that their unbelieving countrymen looked upon themselves as a holy people, in virtue of their descent from Abraham, and their separation from the rest of the world by their being in possession of a Divine revelation, and a divinely instituted form of worship; and that, resting in their distinctive privileges, they were disposed to substitute this, what they considered hereditary holiness, for the purity of heart and life which it was 66 the great end of all their privileges to produce. I If, then, the Hebrew Christians, previously to their conversion to the faith of the gospel, had been accustomed to cherish the same delusion, they might still require to be warned against it; and there was therefore a peculiar force and propriety in the apostle's admonition as addressed to his countrymen, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." But the precept, as we have already remarked, is at all times a most important one, and can never therefore be unseasonably urged. In Old Testament prophecy, Christ was foretold as the "Prince of Peace," in "whose days the righteous should flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth ;" and when the fulness of time was come, his birth was announced as peace on earth, and good will towards men." In fact, peace is frequently used in Scripture to express every thing that is comprehended in Christ's salvation. When, by his death, he bore the penalty of our offences, made reconciliation for iniquity, and opened up a new and living way of access to God; it is said that he made peace for us by the blood of his cross. When, through faith in this atonement, our reconciliation to God becomes a matter of experience; the blessed fruits of our justification or acceptance with him, are represented as consisting of "peace and joy in believing,"even "the peace of God that passeth all understanding." And the ultimate design of all this is declared to be, that by the indwelling of the spirit in our hearts, we may be united to Christ and to one another in the bonds of love and affection, as members of the same spiritual body, children of the same family, and heirs of the same heavenly inheritance; and that being thus made perfect in one, we may, by our example and our influence, diffuse among men that peace which Christ came to procure and to publish. And if it be the great design of the gospel thus to give us peace with God, with ourselves, and with one another, then the gospel is practically known and felt, only in so far as it has produced this effect: and professing Christians cannot more palpably belie their principles, than by cherishing an angry, contentious, or vindictive spirit. Did they regard one another as children of the same Heavenly Father, and did they really hope to spend together an eternity of holy fellowship with God; it were impossible that they could give way to such a spirit without feeling, on serious reflection, that they had betrayed and brought discredit on the cause which ought to be dearer to them than life: for however little ungodly men may know, or be able to conceive of the comforting, elevating, and purifying influence of the Gospel, they are quick-sighted enough to perceive the revolting inconsistency of men who profess to be pilgrims on the earth, and fellowtravellers towards a better, even a heavenly country, "falling out by the way," or, in the emphatic language of the apostle, "biting and devouring one another." And even though Christians may be able, in justification of an angry and irritable spirit, to plead that they have sustained injury, and it may be at the hands of men who make no profession of Christianity; still if they did but reflect on the forbearance and long-suffering patience with which God endured their innumerable provocations; they could not fail to be humbled by the melancholy contrast between the mercy which had forgiven them ten thousand talents, and their unwillingness to remit to an offending fellow-creature his hundred pence. But the precept in the text goes much farther than merely to inculcate a sort of passive avoidance of giving offence-a meek and patient endurance even of unprovoked injuries, rather than being the cause of dissension or discord. We are required to "follow peace with all men," or, as it is elsewhere expressed in Scripture, "to seek peace and ensue it"-to follow it as a thing which is not easily attained, and which we are ever in danger of losing. And did men really act in the spirit of this precept-were they so deeply and so habitually affected with a sense of their own obligations to God's forgiving mercy, as to feel that it is the true honour and dignity of their nature to imitate his forbearance and compassionand had they such a lively anticipation of the holy and blessed society to which they hope hereafter to be united, as to awaken and keep alive in their minds, an ardent desire to see something o the same love and harmony characterising mankind on earth: What a different aspect would professedly christian communities exhibit, from what, I fear, they but too frequently present! How often would they suppress those angry feelings with which they are so prone to resent a real or supposed injury! How easily would they be brought to an amicable adjustment of differences, which too often terminate in irreconcileable quarrels? How cheerfully would they at times sacrifice something of their worldly interest, rather than give occasion to a dispute, the consequences of which, it may be impossible to foresee! And in how many instances might they not succeed, even in disarming the opposition of gainsayers, and constraining them to acknowledge that the tendency of the gospel is as happy as it is holy! All this, it is true, implies a degree of humility, self-denial, and regard for the interests of others, which, it is to be feared, is not frequently exemplified; and would lead to a line of conduct, which, in many cases, might be esteemed too humbling to be reasonably required or expected. The objection, however, is the dictate of pride; for whatever may be the maxims and opinions of the world on the subject, the most honourable and becoming course is that which the apostle has prescribed :-" Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.' Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him; if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Is the apostle's precept then to be understood |
