The following is the APPROBATION of the Walloon Church at Dort, employed by the Synod of Utrecht, to examine the sermons of Mr. SAURIN.

WE have found nothing in all these sermons

We

contrary to the doctrine received among us.
have remarked every where a manly eloquence; a
close reasoning; an imagination, lively and pro-
per, to establish the truth of our holy religion ;
and to explain, substantially and elegantly, the
doctrines of morality. Accordingly, we believe
they will effectually contribute to edify the church,
and to render more and more respectable the me-
mory of this worthy servant of God; whose death
the examination of his works, hath given us a
fresh occasion to lament. We attest this to the
venerable synod at Utrecht. In the same senti-
ments, we send the present attestation to our dear
brother, Mr. Dumont, pastor and professor at
Rotterdam, whom the late Mr. Saurin appointed,
by his will, to take the charge of publishing such of
his works as were fit for the press. Done at the
Consistory of the Walloon Church, at Dort, May
20th, 1731, and signed by order of all, by

H. G. CERTON, PASTOR.
J. COMPERAT, PASTOR.
ADRIAN BRAETS JACOBZ, ELDER.
JOHN BACKRIS, ELDER,
JOHN VAN BREDA, DEACON.

SIMON TAAY VAN CAMPEN, DEACON,

24

Peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God. St. Peter.

MEMOIRS

OF THE

REFORMATION IN FRANCE,

AND OF

THE LIFE

OF THE

REV. JAMES SAURIN.

:

HE celebrated Mr. Saurin, author of the fol

with thousands of his countrymen, took shelter in Holland from the persecutions of France. The lives, and even the sermons, of the refugees are so closely connected with the history of the reformation in France, that we presume, a short sketch of the state of religion in that kingdom till the banishment of the protestants by Lewis XIV. will not be disagreeable to some of the younger part of our readers.

Gaul, which is now called France, in the time of Jesus Christ, was a province of the Roman empire, and some of the apostles planted christianity in it. In the first centuries, while christianity continued a rational religion, it extended and supported itself without the help, and against the persecutions, of the Roman emperors. Numbers were converted from paganism, several christian societies were

formed, and many eminent men, having spent their lives in preaching and writing for the advancement of the gospel, sealed their doctrine with their blood.

In the fifth century, Clovis I. a pagan king of France, fell in love with Clotilda, a christian princess of the house of Burgundy, who agreed to marry him only on condition of his becoming a christian, to which he consented 491. The king, however, delayed the performance of this condition till five years after his marriage, when, being engaged in a desperate battle, and having reason to fear the total defeat of his army, he lifted up his eyes to to heaven, and put up this prayer, God of Queen Clotilda! grant me the victory, and I vow to be baptized, and thenceforth to worship no other God but thee! He obtained the victory, and, at his return, was baptized at Rheims, Dec. 25, 496. His sister, and more than three thousand of his subjects, followed his example, and christianity became the profest religion of France.

Conversion implies the cool exercise of reason, and whenever passion takes the place, and does the office of reason, conversion is nothing but a name. Baptism did not wash away the sins of Clovis; before it he was vile, after it he was infamous, practising all kinds of treachery and cruelty. The court, the army, and the common people, who were pagan when the king was pagan, and christian when he was christian, continued the same in their morals after their conversion as before. When the christian church, therefore, opened her doors, and delivered up her keys, to these new converts, she gained nothing in comparison of what she lost. She increased the number, the riches, the pomp, and the power, of her family; but she resigned the exercise of reason, the sufficiency of scripture, the