eternal can never be nourished by that which is finite; and as my soul is possessed of a life which, in its future being, is to run parallel with the throne of the Eternal, it is, in the nature of the case, impossible that the transitory objects of time can ever fully satisfy its longing desires."

In this state of disquietude and discontentment with the visible and tangible, he betook himself to the study of the Old Testament,—there he found light thrown upon himself. He perceived that all his thoughts. and desires, his words and actions, were in opposition to the law of God; and the conclusion to which he was brought, was, that he was a guilty sinner, a depraved creature,-that he was condemned by the law, and that, in that condition, he could not stand before the face of the Holy One of Jacob. In this state of mind he called to remembrance the

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sentence of the Rabbis, Repentance, prayer, and alms efface the guilt of our sins." "But," said he, "I found no sentence like this in the word of God;" and it left him without consolation. He tried repentance, but he found that, however sincere, it was imperfect, and required a new repentance, that his prayers, as he thought, at the time, very earnest, were yet feeble and languishing, and often interrupted and soiled by distractions. The only thing he could allege in his favour, were the charities which he gave out of his superfluities to the poor. But these so-called works of charity he soon felt to fall immeasurably short of the great commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Merit he had none in his own eyes; wherewith then could he hope to satisfy the justice of God? In this state of mind he vividly felt the truth, the force, and the terror of these awful words, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them."

Hitherto his outward deportment had been unblameable in the sight of man. But he began to make the painful discovery that every species of wrath, hatred, envy, animosity, avarice, and other kindred passions, are as really sinful in the sight of God as lust and murder; for, he found it written," thou shalt not covet." He discovered, also, that the law was intended by God to prove our moral power, that is, as he explained it, to impart to fallen man the knowledge and conviction of his own impotence and sinful estate; and thus to convince him that he must be dependent on free grace alone for the pardon of his sins. Having obtained this view of the law and of himself, as a poor condemned sinner, he next ascertained, from the scriptures, that God is merciful and gracious, and ready to forgive,that he has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but rather that the sinner turn to him and live. The passages to which he especially referred as impressing this truth on his mind, were Ezekiel xxxiii. 11; xxxiv. 6; Psalins vi. and cxxx. with the proclamation of the divine name to Moses in Exodus. But alongside of these rich declarations, he was constrained to place others which affirmed that God is just, and that he will not clear the guilty. How to reconcile these two classes of texts became with him the great problem. He found himself utterly incompetent to its solution. He was now beyond measure distressed; but continued the study of the sacred oracles, and, at length, found it said of Abraham, "that he

believed God and his faith was counted to him for righteousness." This statement arrested his attention, and he thought that he had found what he wanted. Anew view took possession of his mind, and this he expressed in the following proposition:-That the faith of the heart, and entire con fidence in God, and in his promises, is the way to obtain pardon and peace. It was in this way, and not by his works, that Abraham was justified. He is our father, and all his children must be justified in a similar manner. The reasoning was just, but his way was not yet clear, for the question still came back upon him, "How can divine justice be vindicated by my mere believing? What am I to believe?-The promises. But how do these promises come?" This forced him to the consideration of the nature and design of the sacrificial institutions of the law; and in Leviticus he found it written "That the blood shall be a propitiation for the soul;" and, again, " Aaron shall make atonement with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement. Once in the year shall he make atonement for you throughout your generations." In this way he arrived at the conviction, that it is only by a sacrifice of propitiation offered with an humble repentant heart, and in true faith of the divine promises, that the grace of God for the pardon of sins can be obtained. But this conclusion only conducted him to another difficulty, for the question immediately occurred,—and it is one which every Jew must feel to be a formidable one,-"How can I, or any one of my countrymen, offer the required sacrifices? It is at Jerusalem and at the altar there, that acceptable sacrifice can alone be presented. But we are far from the land of promise. The sanctuary of the Lord is destroyed, the altar is no more, the city is desolate, that holy city where the people assembled to praise the Holy One and pour forth their hallelujah, is burned with fire. Ah, miserable that we are! Israel is without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an altar, without a priest, without a sanctuary! Dispersed over the earth, we are placed in the most painful of all situations, for in our exile it is impossible for us to celebrate, according to the appointment of God, either the passover or the day of atonement, or any other sacred feast. How, then, can a Jew hope to obtain the forgiveness of his sins and peace with God?" This difficulty pressed long on Hausmeister's mind, and it was greatly increased by finding in the scriptures, apparently contradictory statements regarding the importance of the Levitical sacrifices. God, by the mouth of Moses, had represented the sacrifices as indispensable to reconciliation and pardon. But, on the other hand, he had, by subsequent prophets, declared that he took no pleasure in them, that he never required them at the hands of the Israelites, that they were an abomination unto him, and he could not away with them.*

Here was a position the most painful! Sacrifice affirmed to be indispensable, and yet not required! "How can I be saved," was his natural exclamation! "I am undone! Woe is unto me!" The salvation of his soul, however, became urgent and pressing in proportion as he felt it to be beyond his reach. He still continued to search the scriptures, and at last made the discovery that the Levitical economy was purely figurative, that in themselves, its sacrifices could not make the * 1 Sam. xv. 22; Isaiah i. 10-19; Jer. vii. 21; xiv. 12.

conscience pure, nor appease the wrath of a holy and just God. But when viewed in connexion with what they adumbrated, they were of the highest importance. Here, then, was a solution of his difficulty. It was when the design of the sacrifices was forgotten, and it was believed that the blood of bulls and of goats could truly expiate sin, that God did not require them, and could not away with them. But, on the other hand, when the offerer perceived their typical import, and by faith looked through the figure to the thing prefigured, then it was that the sacrifice became, to him, a true ground of peace. His views of the whole economy he embodied in the four following propositions :It was designed,

I. To convince Israel and the whole world of their fall, their sin, and guilt, and inspire them with true repentance.

II. To accustom them to the idea of a reconciliation by blood. III. To direct them to submit, with faith and obedience, to the will of God, even though contrary to their own views and feelings. And finally, and chiefly,

IV. To give to true believers in Israel a visible representation of the true sacrifice which was to come, and of which the sacrifices of the law were only types,-that is to say, of the sacrifice of the Messiah, who was to take away the sin of the world, and reconcile men to God by his sufferings and death.

"Of the last point," said he, "I was fully convinced by two passages of the prophet Zechariah xii. 10, and xiii. 7."

He was now prepared for the investigation of the last question, which at once occurred to his mind," I asked myself," said he, “ Has this great sacrifice been offered or not? The Messiah, the righteous servant of God, by whose knowledge many are to be justified, has he already come, or is he yet to come?" This question engaged his prayers and researches. He confined himself, as he had all along done, to the word of God. He consulted the prophecies regarding the Messiah. He compared them, one by one, with the statements of the evangelical narratives of the life, sufferings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth; and he was constrained to come to the conclusion, that he was, indeed, the Messiah of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write. Did he now obtain peace? No, reader, no! He was thoroughly satisfied, from the scriptures, that Jesus was the Christ. But the conviction, instead of giving him peace, excited a fearful tumult in his mind. The reason was, and oh, that the professed disciples of Jesus would ponder it well-the faith of Christians has little effect upon them. "I looked abroad," said he, 66 over the christian community, and I found that men, for the most part, lived a life little conformed to the law of God; how, then, can the gospel be true, and Jesus be the Messiah? If men really believed that he died for them they would be different from what they are." He was utterly cast down, he longed for a sure ground of hope, and at the moment when he thought that he had found it, it was suddenly cut from beneath his feet. He had recourse again to his bible, and there, to use again his words, "I found that it is not right to determine the divine origin of a religion by the conduct of those

who profess it; and that the truth does not partake of the faults of the multitude."

The whole history of the people of Israel furnished him with the proof of this important sentiment. Those of a kindred spirit with Moses, Joshua, David, Samuel, Elias, &c. &c., were at all times found to be few among the multitudes of Israel. There were seven thousand, in the days of Elijah, who had not bowed the knee unto Baal. But they were hidden ones; and what were they compared with the rest of the nation who had plunged into the darkness of heathenism? He found the same in the days of Isaiah, when the whole people, with a few exceptions, had become like unto Sodom and Gomorrha.

He concluded, that in the Christian church it might be the same— that now, as of old, the genuine people of God might be hidden ones; and that he was not to look for the practical fruits of christianity among the multitude of its professors, but, as it were, among the seven thousand who are the real depositaries of the truth, and the temples of the Holy Spirit. These he did, at length find, and their fear of God, their separation from the world, their genuine brotherly fellowship uniting persons of all fortunes and all ranks of society, their inte grity in public life, their zeal for the glory of God and the propagation of his truth, their calmness and order in private life, their compassion for the wretched, their humility, patience, gentleness, and decision, their fervour in prayer even for their enemies, their knowledge of divine truth, and their submission to the will of God; in a word, their love of God and of their neighbour, their profound piety and devout affection to the person of Jesus Christ-these were the genuine characteristics by which he recognised the spiritual children of Abraham, the true people of God.

He did not now doubt that he had found the truth, and the result upon such a mind as his, may easily be anticipated. He embraced the Saviour with his whole soul. In his own beautiful simplicity he said, "I am now a happy man, I have found peace and repose, I now believe, in the depth of my heart, the two fundamental truths of the bible,―the fall of man in Adam, and his recovery by the Messiah. By nature I am involved in the fall; and by faith I have an interest in the recovery. I am saved. I know that by the Messiah I am justified before God; and that, after I shall pass away from this life, I shall to heaven to enjoy eternally the felicity of happy spirits in the contemplation of the face of God."

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Soon after his conversion he left his business of watchmaker, and became a missionary among his countrymen at Strasburg. The preceding narrative shows how he was trained for the office, and how efficient he was likely to be; God has crowned his labours with much success. Since I left Strasburg some of his countrymen have been baptized, and in his last letter he informs me that more are candidates for admission into the Christian church.

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The mission has often to struggle with great difficulties. quently takes long journeys into various principalities of Germany, and says that he would do more if he were enabled. His countrymen, he assures me, are in much more favourable circumstances for listening to the truth, and profiting by it, than in any former period of their history.

They feel, generally, that their expectation of the Messiah as yet to come, is vain. The weeks of Daniel are long since passed, and though some of them still cling to the notion that his coming is deferred because of their sins, yet the great mass are aware that this is not substantial ground. Were such men as Hausmeister fully sustained and encouraged in their work, how soon might we see the Beni-Israel turning to the Lord? G. J.

PRESENT STATE OF RELIGION IN FRANCE.

THE rise, decline, and fall, of Protestantism in the kingdom of France, form one of the most interesting chapters in modern ecclesiastical history. This will appear if we consider the numbers who, at one period, embraced the reformed religion-the many distinguished men both in rank and influence, who were found among its supporters-the learning, zeal, and piety, which distinguished not a few of its ministers-and the worth and devotedness by which, as a body, the adherents of the reformation were characterised, together with the vicissitudes and trials through which, for a long course of years, the cause of truth struggled its arduous way, before it sunk overborne by hostile influences, and weakened through internal defection.

Surviving the fearful massacre of St Bartholomew's eve, and the loss of some of the most powerful friends of the cause among the 60,000 witnesses who were then put to the sword, the Protestant churches found a breathing time after the edict of Nantes, which, though imperfect, even as an act of toleration, was accepted by the reformers with the liveliest joy. Protestantism again began to display the energies of her earlier days. But the assassination in 1610, of Henry IV., by whom that measure of relief had been granted, was the signal for bloody and base violations of its spirit, until in 1685, the edict was formally and publicly revoked, and the last remnant of religious liberty in France destroyed.

The century which followed the repeal of the edict of Nantes, presents before us the dismembered Protestant church with sadly prostrated energies. There were occasional scasons of peace, followed by years of active and bitter persecution; but the greater part of her history during this period may be traced in blood. It seemed now to be the policy of her enemies "to weary out the saints of God." Even the marriage relation could not be formed among Protestants, except by stealth in forests and mountain-recesses, from which they received the name of marriages of the desert. And what marks the refined and reckless cruelty of their persecutors, such unions were declared to be adulterous, and the children who were the fruits of them, were illegitimised.

At length, towards the close of the eighteenth century, came that unparalleled event which overturned the dynasty of France, extinguished even the forms of religion within her borders, and planting the night-shade of infidelity over the grave of superstition, watered it daily with blood. We refer, of course, to the French revolution, when to acknowledge the