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changes of centuries. Esau, in his own person, did not serve Jacob. The younger, on the contrary, stood even in dread and awe of the elder. A hasty and profane critic, might therefore have questioned the character of the whole prophecy. But history has now confirmed it to the very letter.

The sons of Esau, like Esau himself, seemed for some years to be the stronger and more powerful of the two. There were dukes and kings in Edom, (Gen. xxxvi. 31.) before the Israelites knew any such heads or leaders. The Edomites also were, to all appearance, like their progenitors, a warlike and hardy people. They refused the Israelites, when returning from Egypt, so much as a passage through their land, and they doubtless were prepared to resist any attempt to force an entrance.

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But the Scripture must be fulfilled," and fulfilled it was. Under the reign of David, the Israelites made an entire conquest of Edom, and completely subjugated that people. It was promised, "the elder shall serve the younger; and accordingly we read that David "put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants." (2 Sam. viii. 14. And this subjugation is again alluded to, about a hundred and fifty years after, when, in the reign of Jehoshaphat, it is said that "there was no king in Edom: a deputy was king." (1 Kings xxii. 47.) This deputy was doubtless a viceroy appointed by the king of Judah. And although, in the days of Jehoram, they revolted" and made a king over themselves," yet they appear to have been frequently worsted in various conflicts with the children of Judah. Amaziah "slew of Edom, in the valley of salt, ten thousand," "and other ten thousand did the children of Judah carry away captive," &c. Their city Selah was taken from

them by Amaziah; his son Uzziah deprived them of Elath; and generally they appear to have been worsted in their contests with the descendants of Jacob.

But there was a little hope held out to Esau. "It shall come to pass when thou shalt have dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." This was fulfilled with equal exactness. In the reign of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat,"the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king." Jehoram made various efforts to reduce them to their former condition, but these efforts were not successful. 'So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day." 2 Chron. xxi. 8, 10.

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But the end of the race of Esau was foretold in another prophecy, at the date of which we have not arrived. Still, however, we must briefly allude to it. Having fulfilled one great end of their being, in accomplishing the word of the Lord to Rebekah and Isaac, and having testified to the faithfulness of God for several centuries, the race of the elder brother was now to expire or vanish out of sight. The prophet Obadiah was commissioned to denounce sentence against Edom in these words,-" For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever." And again, "There shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it." Obad. x. 18.

Accordingly, after being severely handled by Judas Maccabeus and Hyrcanus his son, who took from them most of their cities, and compelled them to embrace the Jewish faith, the Edomites became gradually merged, partly amidst the Jews, and partly amongst the Nabathean Arabs, and the very name became extinct and obsolete, before the end of the first century after Christ.

THE PLACARDS OF 1534, OR THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE."

THE Reformation had commenced in the city of Meaux, whose then Bishop was William Briçonnet filled with zeal for the new doctrines, he spared no pains, in spite of the censures of the Sorbonne, to propagate them in his diocese; not only did he preach himself, which was not his usual custom, but he also invited to his assistance various learned and pious men, and among others, William Farel, James Fabre, Martial and Girard Ruffi. The Cordeliers of Meaux excited a persecution against them; and Briçonnet, alarmed at their menaces, and fearing to be accused of heresy, assembled a synod in 1523, in which he condemned the doctrines of Luther. The learned men whom he had assembled, dispersed : some_returned to the bosom of the Romish church; others remained in France, under the protection of Marguerite, sister of King Francis I. and afterwards Queen of Navarre, or retired into Switzerland, where they disseminated the doctrines of the reformation.

The sheep were not scattered abroad like the shepherds: the little flock which was formed at Meaux, and which consisted chiefly of wool-carders, manufacturers of cloth, and other operatives, continued so stedfast, as to serve for an example, through its admirable constancy, to the churches which were established in other parts of the kingdom. These pious artisans, animated with an ardent desire to know the way of salvation, used to converse together about the word of God, while they were working at their handicrafts. They passed their sundays and festival days in reading the Holy Scriptures, and in seeking the will of the Lord.

1 Translated from the French.

In many of the neighbouring villages the same was done, so that the diocese of Meaux might afford an idea of what the regenerate church would be: numerous acts of charity were performed; morals went on reforming from day to day, and superstitions ceased.

One of the members of this flock, named John Leclerc, was the first French martyr. He was arrested in 1523, for having put up a placard against indulgences on the wall of the cathedral, whipped on three several days, and branded in the forehead with a hot iron. His mother, who shared his faith, was present at her son's punishment, exhorting him to take courage, and glorifying the name of the Lord. This young man, having retired to Metz, founded a church there; but the year after, he was torn with pincers and burned alive. In the midst of his torments, he sang some verses from the hundred and fifteenth psalm.

Different executions took place in the following years: in 1525, a young man named James Paranes was burned alive on the Place of the Grève, (Strand,) and a man named the hermit of Livry, at the court before the church of Nôtre Dame; the great bell was rung during the execution, and the doctors informed the people, that it was a condemned person being carried to the fire of hell. In 1528, Denis de Rieux was burned at Meaux; while he was drawing to the stake on a hurdle, he kept exhorting the people to praise God. These three martyrs had belonged to the church of Meaux. The year following, a gentleman named Lewis de Berquin, who was reputed very learned, and who had enjoyed the king's favour, was strangled on the Place Maubert, and his body was afterwards burned.

The doctor Merlin, who accompanied him to his execution, exclaimed that for a hundred years, perhaps there had not been a better Christian than Berquin. In 1534 a surgeon named John Poinset, who had been so courageous as to reproach the priests with their debaucheries, was burned at Paris.

While the Gospel had its martyrs at Paris, and in the neighbourhood, it was making equal progress in other parts of France. The blood of these faithful witnesses served, as was anciently said, to dress the vineyard of the Lord, so as to increase its fruit. A Cordelier, who had been in Saxony, for the purpose of hearing Luther, preached the truth at Annonay. Three towns possessing universities, Orleans, Bourges, and Toulouse, became so many fountains, from whence the waters were dispersed all over the kingdom. Calvin, who studied the law in the two former, contributed above all to kindle a desire there for knowing the Gospel. In 1534 he came to Paris, and there gave a powerful impulse to the Reformation.

The queen of Navarre, whom God had favoured with some rays of the light of the Gospel, did all in her power to propitiate the king her brother; she even brought to Paris three excellent preachers, Girard Ruffi, of whom we have already spoken, and two monks of the Augustine order, named Berthaud and Couraud, who announced the truth with boldness. Their sermons were followed by the faithful, who found them a great source of edification. But this could not last long; the doctors of the Sorbonne exerted themselves so as to succeed in preventing them from preaching. Ruffi and Couraud replaced their sermons by private assemblies, where they explained the books of holy Scripture; but their assemblies were also forbidden, and they

were committed to prison, from whence however they were soon after released.

The issue of this affair, which was much milder than that of the former accusations, seemed to announce that recourse would no more be had to violent means for rooting out the Reformation. The queen of Navarre employed all her influence with the mind of the king, in disposing him to favour the protestants, and she had even obtained leave from him to bring Philip Melancthon to Paris, to hear him set forth his doctrines. If the Protestants of Paris had but had patience, it is probable that the king would have become their protector; but some inconsiderate steps having occurred on their part, in 1534, they drew a new and more cruel persecution upon themselves.

In the month of October in this year, some of them, against the advice of Couraud and other discreet persons, who saw that this would only tend to irritation, caused some placards against the mass to be printed at Neuchâtel in Switzerland, which they posted up all over Paris, and in the principal cities of France. They even carried their audacity so far, as to fix one against the door of the king's chamber, who was then at Blois. He fell into so great a passion in consequence, that, by the advice of the grand-master and the cardinal de Tournon, he ordered all persons who were suspected of heresy to be arrested. The lieutenant of police, John Morin, a man as unfriendly to religion as he was dissolute in his conduct, displayed great zeal for carrying this order into effect with the assistance of a wretch, who being condemned to the flames, had purchased his life by promising to betray the secret prayer-meetings, he managed in a few days to fill the prisons with a great number of men and woman of all classes.

The king returned to Paris in January following, and ordered a general procession for the 29th of that month, at which he attended in person with his three children. He followed on foot, bareheaded, and with a taper in his hand. He went afterwards to dine in the grand hall of the bishop's palace, where were assembled the ambassadors, a great number of the clergy and nobility, and all the parliament in scarlet robes. He exclaimed with anger, during the repast, that if he knew that any one of his members was tainted with this doctrine, he would sever it for fear of infecting the rest. But if his fury was great, the constancy of the martyrs was greater still. Six of the prisoners arrested by John Morin were burned alive, while the procession was moving through Paris. These were Bartholemew Milon, Nicholas Valeton, receiver of Nantes, John Dubourg,

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merchant-tailor, and Henry Poille, a poor mason of a village near Meaux; Stephen de la Forge, a rich tradesman who printed a number of copies of the Holy Scriptures at his own expense, and distributed them among the poor, and a schoolmistress named Cadelle. The history of one of these persons is as follows.

Bartholemew Milon, called the paralytic, was the son of a shoemaker at Paris. He had been remarkable for his good constitution, and for the natural sagacity with which he was gifted, but had early given the rein to his licentious passions. Having one day broken several of his ribs, by overviolent exercise, and not having recourse to the necessary remedies in time, the upper part of his body became deformed, and the lower parts were completely paralysed, so that he retained the use only of his arms and his tongue. Bartholomew Milon was accustomed to remain in his father's shop; and seeing a believer pass by, he ridiculed

him ; but the other coming near, said to him, Poor man, why do you ridicule the passers-by? Do you not perceive that God has thus Whose bent your body on purpose to make your soul straight?" Milon was and listened attentively to man, who gave him a New Testament immediately, saying, Look into this book, and a few hours hence tell me what you think of it.' Milon was pleased with what he read; he applied himself to it day and night, and betook himself to teaching his father's household, and such as came to see him. This great and sudden change astonished those who

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used to visit Milon, to hear him play music, (for he was a good performer) wondered beyond measure at hearing him talk in a different language. Six years before his death, his malady grew so severe, that he could no more leave his bed; however he knew how to occupy himself in various

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write, engraving on knife and sword blades, and executing difficult pieces of work for goldsmiths. He devoted all his gains to maintaining poor families who were acquainted with the gospel. He was never weary of instructing such as to see him, on account of the curious pieces of work he executed; his room was a real school of piety, where the praises of God were celebrated from morning to evening. He had been once imprisoned already, on account of his faith, but the Lord. delivered him, that he might administer consolation to the poor in these difficult times for a while longer. The lieutenant of police, John Morin, did not forget him in this new persecution': he entered, full of rage, into the chamber where the poor paralytic lay stretched, and exclaimed, Come along, get up.' The sufferer replied without dismay, Alas, sir, it requires one stronger than you

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diately carried off by the serjeants; but Morin did not retire, till he had stripped the chamber of all its moveables, as it was his practice to do. The presence of Milon strengthened and consoled the other prisoners powerfully. He shewed the greatest calmness both in prison and before the judges; he endured the worst treatment without complaining, though formerly pain had made him utter violent cries, when he was tended by persons who were not accustomed to lift him up in his bed. He was condemned to be burned alive by a slow fire on the place of the Grève, and in taking him thither, he was made to pass by his father's house. The enemies of the truth were amazed at the constancy with which this faithful servant and witness of Jesus Christ was animated both in his life and in his death.

The year 1534, in which this horrible persecution began, was called the year of placards, on ac

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In translating the above important narrative, which every protestant must feel interested in reading, the object is not to excite enmity against the Romanists, or to hold up the conduct of the French converts for imitation in every particular. While the Christian makes it his earnest care, not to deny his Master in word or deed, it also becomes him not to let his good be evil spoken of, through precipitation or indiscretion, which is often merely self acting under the name of religion. But the constancy of these martyrs deserves our praise and emulation; and Protestants will do well to beware, how they put further influence into the hands of Romanists, without a full and explicit disavowal of the sanguinary deeds of former times, lest ere long they fill up the measure of their fathers.

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ON A FUTURE APOSTACY.

SIR-I have sometimes been at a loss to ascertain the foundation on which some very generally received opinions rest, and when I have ventured to inquire, have occasionally met with a reply which at least appeared to insinuate that I was either very ignorant, or very indisposed to submit to conviction. Will you, Sir, however, bear with me if I venture to ask for some information on the subject of that apostacy which many persons apprehend is certainly to take place before the introduction of the millenial dispensation, Some eminent commentators have predicted a revival of popery; and reference is not unfrequently made to the scenes which are enacting in Ireland, and to the increase of popish

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chapels in this country, as affording a decided symptom of such revival. Others again imagine that infidelity is to prevail throughout the world, and our attention is called to the blasphemies of some notorious characters amongst ourselves, and the encouragement given to these blasphemies by some who occupy public stations in our land, as affording strong reason to conclude that the infidel will shortly triumph, and subvert the faith of multitudes. Now, Sir, I am not satisfied with the correctness of these interpretations; I am not sure that either popery or infidelity is really increasing in the empire, though the importation of Irish papists into Great Britain, and the encouragement given by

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