assembly to that clause, in which he and the States mutually bound themselves to defend to the uttermost the Reformed religion, as the very ground of their opposition to Spain; and added thereupon, "So long as I live, I will stand to that oath, and maintain the true religion." He accordingly threw the whole weight of his influence into that scale; and also applied himself, with his usual decision and energy, to maintain the authority of the States General against the States of Holland, in which particular province Oldenbarneveld had contrived to obtain almost absolute sway-though it was not undisputed; for five or six principal cities, with Dordrecht and Amsterdam at their head, had protested again and again against several of his measures. Indeed, the Contra-Remonstrants, though much oppressed in some of the provinces, had still a very strong party on their side, and it was only needful for the states to act in union in order that their cause should triumph; for the states of Gelderland, Groningen, West Vriesland, and Zeeland, had not forgotten that it was for the true Reformed religion that they had taken up arms against the Spaniards, but remained faithful to their original principles. Those of Holland, Utrecht, and Overyssel seemed united in opposition; but even in these there was a strong party which protested against the proceedings of the majority. Prince Maurice was mainly instrumental in bringing the question before the States General, when it appeared that the four provinces first mentioned were decidedly in favour of the calling of a National Synod, while only three opposed it. But as Oldenbarneveld and his party seemed determined rather to involve the whole country in civil strife than to give up their point, and in effect set at nought the authority of the States General-acting in such a manner as tended entirely to dissolve the bond of union between the provinces - the States General at length, as the acknowledged sovereign of the whole, country, commissioned Prince Maurice to arrest Oldenbarneveld,' Grotius, and Hoogerbeets, and afterwards Ledenberg (who had been secretary to the province of Utrecht, and who shortly after put an end to his own life in prison); and then to make a progress through the country, making such changes in the magistracy of several of the cities as seemed necessary for the peace and welfare of the commonwealth. At some places he was hailed by the people with shouts of applause, as their deliverer from the yoke of the Arminians; and he acted with such prudence and vigour, that before long Overyssel, and at length Holland also, was brought to agree to the assembling of the National Synod, which accordingly met at Dordrecht, for the first time, November 13, 1618. In the name of the States General, letters were written to all the Reformed churches, requesting them to send deputies to assist at this synod. Whereon it should be remarked, that the term Reformed was commonly used, in Holland and Germany, in application to those Protestant churches which adopted the Swiss, or Calvinistic view of the Sacrament, to distinguish them from the Lutheran churches. These were never invited to this synod: nor was it supposed, that, if invited, they would have joined it; for the disputes between the Lutheran and Reformed churches had run very high upon the Sacrament, and some points connected therewith. I do not justify this assumption to themselves, of the term Reformed; but it needs to be kept in remembrance, that the term was continually used in a confined sense: so that all the Reformed churches would be generally understood as excluding the Lutherans ;-a point which some who have undertaken to write about the synod have ignorantly, if not unfairly, overlooked. A. S. T. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Our Correspondent at Clapham is requested to state to what place the copies of the Christian Review are to be sent. The Christian and truly friendly letter of C. H. deserves our best thanks. We are disposed to give due weight to his suggestions: but they did not reach us in time to receive full attention in this Number. We acknowledge the communication of an anonymous correspondent, and the not unmeaning threat contained in it. Did not the Editor once receive a somewhat uncourteous letter from the same quarter, if not from the same individual, signed?-If we cannot be permitted to conduct our work on an entirely independent principle, and without subjecting it to literary trammels, we have no wish to carry it on. Our Correspondent will now see, that he has not lain hid by concealing his name. We offer him one friendly hint. His best disguise would have been-civility. We return our best thanks for many new and valuable publications. It is not our design to review very extensively at present: and such works as we notice, we shall prefer obtaining by purchase. THE CHRISTIAN REVIEW AND Clerical Magazine. JULY 1829. WE QUESNEL. E have felt desirous to introduce to our readers an author whom we have long studied and admired, and whose devotional spirit has caused him to be styled The Pious Quesnel. But here there is a difficulty. Quesnel was a Roman Catholic; and many of the errors of Romanism are observable in his writings. Some of these are evident and palpable; as where he tells us that the woman's touching the hem of our Lord's garment is "a proof of the virtue of relics:" where he teaches that Jesus Christ endures hunger in his members, the poor, out of compassion, "to afford us the means of redeeming our sins by almsgiving" and where he breaks out in prayer to Joseph the husband of Mary, exclaiming, "Grand saint, chosen of Heaven to be the godfather of Jesus, obtain for us a true respect for His holy name, love to our Saviour, and zeal for our salvation." But the works of Quesnel also contain Romanism of a more latent kind: for example, where he brings forward sentiments which are Popish as he means them, but yet are so worded that they convey ideas which seem in one sense good in which case the danger is, that we should be insensibly led on from admiring the good, to tolerate, and at length even to receive, the evil: and in this way, we apprehend, many Protestant, or once Protestant minds, which grosser Popery would not have shaken, have actually been tainted in the study of Quesnel, and other Roman Catholic writers. We have occasionally observed, also, in his controversial writings, something that looked very Jesuitical, though he was no friend to the Jesuits, in his mode of defending his doctrines. Hence Quesnel is not to be held up as a standard. His works contain much useful matter; and the sober divine may, perhaps, approach and draw from them with benefit but we question whether they should be recommended for general reading. If a Roman Catholic, continuing in the Roman Catholic communion, is occasionally kept by Divine power in the way of salvation, that man is an extraordinary monument of Yet that which makes the grace so grace. extraordinary, is its keeping up the Divine life, where there is such a mixture of deadly error. That error appears in the man's works; and, consequently, in reading them we should beware of it. The most celebrated of the works of Quesnel is his "Practical Reflections on the New Testament." It contains much that is truly excellent, pious, and edifying; yet, as we have said before, with a pregnant mixture both of what is palpably bad and dangerously insidious. In former times, we may have felt disposed to commend this work with too little reserve and qualification. But now that Popery is spreading, now that even amongst Evangelical people and ministers we are occasionally pained with insidious and most offensive palliations of Popish errors, we have need to be much more cautious. The Reflections on the Gospels are preceded by a Preface, which we have translated for the benefit of our readers, and proceed to give: but with such curtailments and alterations as the case absolutely required. Thus expurgated, we trust that it may be read with safety, satisfaction, and benefit. "PREFACE TO THE HOLY GOSPELS. "It is unnecessary to detain the reader long, at the commencement of this work, for the purpose of describing it. The title sufficiently manifests its design and character. The first part appeared twenty years ago: and the object of it was, to lead those persons to the perusal of the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, who, as an excuse for neither reading nor studying it, complain of the difficulty which they find in making useful reflections on the miracles of our Saviour's life; and of the deadness which they experience, when they wish to study this Divine Book. It was thought that we might cure some at least of this sort of distaste, which is so dishonourable to the word of God; in order to aid them in entering into the spirit of the mysteries of his Son, and to clear the way to those great truths which are included in the actions and words of our Divine Master. "The attempt then made was more successful than could have been hoped: and after it had produced a call for the publication on the rest of the New Testament, which took place eight years since, this latter led to a demand for more copious reflections on the Gospels, such as will be found in the last editions. "So much for these reflections. But many, no doubt, will be dissatisfied, unless something be said also, in the way of prefatory remarks, on the Book itself, to which the reflections belong. And even if those which precede the Acts, and the other Writings of the Apostles, did not engage us to introduce the Gospels in the same way, those who have never perhaps had an opportunity of learning the excellence of this sacred Book, might have reason to complain, unless we said something which might shew them its nature and value; in order that the respect and esteem for it which they might thus receive, might inspire them with the wish to study it for themselves, and to make the reading of the Gospel one of their most regular employments. To such persons, then, I now proceed to speak. 66 One must needs entertain a high idea of this Book, if we contented ourselves with saying, that it is the history of the life, actions, and sufferings of the Saviour of the world; and of the foundation of Christianity, which he came to establish in the earth. But we may add, that the Book of the Gospels is peculiarly the Book of Christians, the Book of the children of God: for thereby they know their Divine adoption, and their new birth in J. C.: thereby they discover the rights and prerogatives of this heavenly birth; learn sanctity and duties; and may study the laws and maxims by which they are bound to form their habits and regulate their life, in order that they may not come short of their high calling, to which nothing on earth can be compared. "We further say, that it is the original charter, which contains the promise and the gift of the heavenly inheritance; the covenant of the new alliance between God and man; the Divine code, so to speak, in which are deposited the fundamental laws of God's kingdom; or, in one word, that it is, as saith St. Paul, the Gospel of salvation * ; which teaches how God predestinated us in J. C. to life immortal, how he gave us his Son by the incarnation, how this Son wrought our salvation in the midst of the earth by the mysteries of his life and of his death, and, finally, how he has anointed us, marked and sealed us with the seal of his Holy Spirit, putting him into our hearts, there to write his law and make us love and do it, and to be the earnest and sacred pledge of the glory which is treasured up for us in heaven. "Hence we may clearly see, that one of the most just and legitimate wishes of the Christian, a child of God, and a member of J. C., is that which leads him to the reading of the Gospel. We may venture to affirm, that it is an instinct which is given to him by the Spirit of God; and which would make this Divine Book his chief joy, if the love of the things of this world, and the violence of his passions, did not stifle it in his heart, by attaching him to the good things of sense, which give him a disgust for those of the Gospel. We perceive, accordingly, that as the love of the latter re-appears in his heart, so a taste for the evangelical word is again seen there; and that this taste is lost, also, in the same measure as he departs from the sanctity of the Christian faith, and ceases to live according to the Spirit of Divine adoption. So that we may justly apply, to such children of this world, * Ephes. i. 13. |