those Scriptures which are able, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to make them "wise unto salvation."

Julian Sauvé was the son of poor parents, of whom little more is known than that they lived at Vitrée in Brittany, and were, like most of the inhabitants of that locality, members of the Romish church. His mother died while the youngest of her two sons was yet in his infancy; but it pleased God, even at that early period, to manifest his gracious purposes towards him by directing the means that were to be used for his first instruction; for his father, in spite of the prohibition of the papal church, which denies the use of the Bible to the laity, and especially to the poor, had obtained possession of a New Testament, and, in the absence of any other suitable book, it was from its pages that Sauvé the elder taught his boys to read.

How eagerly children listen to, and how truly many of them love" the sweet story of old," is well known to those who have had opportunities of watching its effect upon them; and Julian, if we may judge from after events, was no exception to this rule. An incident of his early life, which he was fond of relating, proves that at least one of its promises had fixed itself upon his memory, and that it rose up to comfort and support him in a time of need.

During the reign of terror in France, when men's minds were everywhere failing them for fear of the dangers that might be coming upon them, Julian, then a lad of ten or twelve years old, had been sent into the fields to keep cows. As he lay stretched out upon the grass, his thoughts probably wandering far from the scenes that surrounded him, he was suddenly startled by seeing in the distance a band of armed men, whose appearance and gestures showed that they were bound upon anything rather than a peaceful errand. Jumping up in alarm he looked anxiously towards them, and his dismay, when he saw that they had noticed him and were turning in his direction, may be imagined. In the extremity of his terror he began to invoke the aid of St. Ann, the patron saint of Brittany, and then of all the other saints whose names he could remember; for Julian, although he had been taught to read in the Testament, had been brought up a strict Roman Catholic. It was in vain, however, that he ran over name after name as fast as his tongue could utter them; those upon whom he called heard him not, and therefore no sense

of safety fell upon his heart; yet the soldiers were drawing every moment nearer. What was to be done? there seemed no way of escape, and the poor boy gave himself up for lost; when suddenly there flashed across his mind some words he had read in his father's book: "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." They seemed to possess a meaning which he had never understood before, and falling on his knees he prayed earnestly, believingly, and in the name of Christ, that God would protect him.

Scarcely had he finished his prayer and risen from his knees when the soldiers came up and roughly seized him. But whatever might have been their savage purpose, One mightier far than they overruled it.

"Bah! 'tis but a wretched cow-boy after all," said the leader, casting a look of contempt on the tattered blouse and rough wooden shoes which formed the ordinary dress of Breton peasant boys; " 'twould be hardly worth while to dirty our hands with blood so mean as his; we've set his teeth chattering, so that he won't forget us in a hurry. There, let him go!" and as he spoke Julian was again at liberty.

"Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee." He had called, and was delivered. That deliverance was never forgotten, and it was the earnest of one far greater of which he was hereafter to be the subject. But many years of darkness and doubt were to intervene before the light of Divine truth was to shine into his heart and free him from the bondage of sin and death.

The young Julian did not long continue to keep cows, for he somehow managed to gain a sufficient knowledge of carpentering to be able to repair the spinning-wheels which were then, as they still are, in such common use among the women of Brittany, and this occupation he continued to follow through the rest of his life. Before he had quite reached manhood he lost his father, and in the division of the little family property between the two brothers the Testament fell to the lot of Julian, by whom it was very much valued, although it was yet but a sealed book to his understanding. He was not, however, long permitted to retain his treasure; for having, after much solicitation, lent it to an intimate friend, it was never returned to him. This loss caused him much sorrow, and all the more that he could remember but very few of the contents.

One day, however, as he was listening to a sermon from a priest of his own church, two passages were brought back with power to his mind; one of them was from Matthew vii. 13, beginning "Enter ye in at the strait gate," and from that time he became very anxious to find the narrow way that leadeth to life: but, for years, he suffered himself to be misled in his search after it.

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Years passed by, and Julian Sauvé became a husband. Little is known of his married life except that it was an unhappy one; rendered so by the misconduct of his wife, from whom he was at length compelled finally to separate. After that event he removed to Rennes, where he took his abode first in one part of the town then in another, until at last he settled himself in a small mean cabin consisting of the basement story of one of the buttress towers belonging to the old fortifications. Here he followed his humble trade; lived a respectable and strictly moral life; and by attending regularly at all the ceremonies of the church, and paying great regard to the outward forms of his religion, earned for himself the character of a very devout Catholic. But was Julian happy in his religion? Far from it, if we may believe his own confession in after years; for his conscience told him that he was a sinner, and kept him in constant fear of God's judgment. Yet he earnestly longed for pardon and peace; and in his ignorance of the only way by which they might be obtained he gave himself up with unquestioning devotion to the guidance of the priest, who prescribed for him the rigid discipline enjoined, in such cases, by the Romish church.

This discipline consists in fasts and penances, scourgings of the body, and similar mortifications, by which its deluded followers suppose that they may atone for their sins and obtain forgiveness. Sums of money, which to one so poor as Julian seemed immense, he paid to the priests to say masses for him; he underwent the severest penances, and, like the Pharisee of old, he fasted twice in the week, and gave his hard-earned money to feed the poor, hoping by such means to purchase for himself the pardon and peace for which he so ardently longed. But all was in vain. "Oh that I could but find again the book which tells of the narrow way!" was now his secret, but oft-repeated cry. “It is still a hidden way to me. I see every one crowding along in the same direction, but that cannot be the right one, for the Book says

'few there be that find it?' might I but belong to that happy number!" The priests meanwhile, wearied with his importunities and well acquainted besides with the simplicity of his character, played upon his credulity, and at last even went so far as to introduce a white pigeon into his room, and then persuaded him that the Holy Ghost had appeared to him in a visible form.*

The church of Rome-setting aside the express declaration of Scripture, that there is "one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”—teaches that saints who have already passed to heaven have also the power to hear prayer, and to intercede with God in behalf of those who call upon them. Nor does it confine this power to the apostles or other holy men of the Bible, but extends it to persons of every age and condition who have, for some real or supposed merit, been canonized (that is, declared to be saints) by their church. Thus, every town and every individual in it have their patron saints, to whom they look for a supply both of temporal and spiritual benefits.

But while every sincere Catholic addresses himself more especially to one or other of these supposed advocates, all unite in worshipping the Virgin Mary, regarding her as one to whose wishes and requests the blessed Son will, in his filial love and obedience, most readily listen. Extraordinary honours are paid her in every country where the Romish faith prevails. A chapel dedicated to the Holy Virgin is to be found in every church, where she is generally represented holding the infant Jesus in her arms and looking down upon her worshippers with an expression of love and sympathy. The month of May is set apart for her especial worship, when in all the churches and in very many private houses altars are erected in her honour, upon which a waxen figure, attired often in lace and jewels, is made to represent the meek and lowly woman whom the Bible presents to us as following her blessed Son, in poverty, through the towns and villages of Galilee. These altars are sometimes decorated with the choicest flowers and the richest hangings, while lights are kept constantly burning upon them; and the devout, though misguided worshippers sometimes spend hours on their knees praying to one who has no power to hear, and who, if she had, would be the first to refuse to accept honours that belong to God alone.

*Were not this a well-authenticated fact, it would almost have surpassed belief.

This doctrine of the intercession of the Virgin was peculiarly acceptable to Julian; he believed that he found, in the highly favoured, mother of the Lord, a mediator exactly suited to his wants; though had he, while he possessed his Testament, studied it a little more closely, he would have learned that Mary had herself needed and rejoiced in having found a Saviour when she poured out her heart in that glorious hymn of praise, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."

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But Julian was under other teaching than that of God's most holy word, and his mind found in this worship of the Virgin an object of absorbing interest: so great was his devotion to her that the walls of his room were thickly hung with pictures representing her in all the various characters attributed to her by his idolatrous church; but whether he invoked her as Queen of Heaven," "Star of the Morning," "Refuge of Sinners," or any other equally blasphemous title, she was still deaf to his prayers, and the earnest but mistaken worshipper went on until he was nearly sixty years of age, seeking peace and finding none, yet all unconscious that he was trusting in 66 a refuge of lies," which sooner or later the wrath of God will sweep away, that he may be glorified in all things by Jesus Christ his Son.

But the time, yea, the set time, was drawing near when the Spirit of Truth was to take possession of Julian's heart and lead him gently into that narrow and peaceful path for which he had so long been seeking. About three years before the period at which we have now arrived, a small evangelical church had been formed at Rennes, where, under the direction of an excellent and truly pious minister, the few Protestants of the district assembled for public worship. One of these, named Launay, who gained his living by going about from town to town as a pedler, was an acquaintance of Julian's, and having one day paid him a visit, he happened, in the course of conversation, to introduce the subject of preaching, alluding at the same time to the excellent sermons which he was in the habit of hearing from his own pastor, "Just such as you, friend Julian, would like to hear," he added. The old man's attention was roused, and he listened with interest while Launay continued to speak on the subject of gospel truth. "It is strange," said Julian: "here have I