persuasion, that all events whatever are comprised within the plan of God's wisdom, and that, notwithstanding the inconceivable extent of the sphere of his observation, no occurrence, however minute, can possibly elude his vigilance; how could he have declared this persuasion more fully or significantly, than by ascribing to the Deity the most perfect fore-knowledge.

"The following verses contain a more detailed account of God's proceedings, by which, agreeable to his fore-knowledge, all things are made to work together for good to them that love God. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.'

"Now when the apostle would give us to understand, that nothing can take out of the hand of God the object of his mercy; that seeming impediments are real furtherances to those who take the Divine will as the rule of their conduct; that trials and temptations are the wholesome discipline, by which their spiritual strength is exercised and matured; that dangers are the means of security; and that, in the dispositions of his Providence, all things are made to work together for good to them that love God: how could he have summed up this encouraging representation more comprehensively than by the use of the term Predestination?

"The Scripture doctrine of predestination being then applied exclusively to this purpose, that of impressing us with a feeling of security respecting the arrangements of God's all-protecting Providence, you perceive the exquisite propriety, with which the decrees of the Supreme Ruler are placed, in order of succession, next to his fore-knowledge; and taking this view of the subject, you cannot fail to acknowledge, that the doctrine of predestination is, in truth, what the articles of our church have represented it, full of unspeakable comfort; invigorating and establishing our faith in God; inspiring the persuasion that nothing external to man himself, that neither height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall have power to wrest from his hand those whom he hath deemed the fit objects of his saving mercy.

"Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Generally speaking, they are the called, to whom the Gospel is preached; but those only are the called according to his purpose, who respond to the glad tidings, with love to God for his surpassing mercies; and who by filial obedience to the heavenly call, receive unto themselves, those inestimable benefits which are stored for them in the treasury of his Providence."

But for the purpose of saving the doctrine of unconditional election, a distinction is made between an effectual and an ineffectual call; those alone being effectually called who have been previously elected. The call may, indeed, be said to be effectual or ineffectual, as it is answered by our obedience or otherwise; but on the part of the Deity we are not warranted

in making any such distinction. The Scriptures do not authorize the assertion that, while all are invited, God gives only to some the needful help. They do not lead us to suppose that his invitations are insincerely addressed to any of his creatures, or that he ever withholds from them the requisite assistance. The difference is in men themselves, by whom the call is rendered effectual or ineffectual according to their obedience or disobedience. "Those who love God are the called according to his purpose;" that is, those who receive the invitation with filial obedience are the chosen of God, and will attain to justification here and to glory hereafter.

In asserting this it is not meant that God must in equity make equal manifestations of himself to all men, or that the influences of the Spirit are imparted to all in the same measure. There are those to whom little is given, and those who receive much; yet we know that the measure of our responsibility will be according to that of God's gifts. But this is not an admission of the doctrine of unconditional election, or arbitrary decrees; it is merely a declaration of our conviction that we shall be dealt with in proportion to our gifts. In' short, while the holy Scriptures every where require men to look to themselves with jealousy and distrust, they encourage them with the assurance that, on the part of God, all things are provided for their present security, and their ultimate happiness.

Such is the sound and Scriptural view which Dr. Lloyd has taken of the intricate subject of predestination; and he has corroborated his reasoning by some valuable notes.

From this specimen our readers will be enabled to judge of the manner which Dr. Lloyd has adopted of treating his subject. All his discourses are equally abundant in useful matter as that of which we have given an analysis. They are the production of a mind stored with knowledge, and well disciplined to habits of deep thought and meditation. Every page of the volume before us bears evidence of a strong and highly cultivated intellect. To this circumstance may be attributed in a great measure the difficulty which many will experience in following the course of his argument. He perhaps, as we before observed, is deficient in the art of rendering abstruse reasoning clear and perspicuous; but the attention requisite for comprehending his disquisitions arises principally from the subtilty of his argumentation. Those, however, who will study these discourses with proper care will be amply rewarded. They will find in them an able exposition of some of the leading articles of the Christian faith by a writer of sound principles and vigorous understanding.

ART. VIII. A Narrative of the Sufferings of a French Protestant Family, at the Period of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes: written by John Migault, the Father. Translated, and now first published, from the Original Manuscript. 12mo. 182 pp. 3s. 6d. Butterworth. 1824. Ip this little volume is designed (as we suspect) to be an advertisement on behalf of the Spitalfields Benevolent Society, the President has miscalculated its powers. The Society, we have no doubt, relieves much misery according to its own fashion: the book, is for the most part dull, and very ill satisfies the expectation of high interest which its title-page is calculated to excite. It is introduced by a Preface compounded of cant and fine writing, the tone of which is not very kindly to any authorities from the legitimate XIVth Louis down to the late Ex-Emperor. It talks in a spirit, which strikes us to be somewhat levelling, of despots, of the "true character of potentates whom we are apt to dignify with the title of great and glorious," of the "sanctifying effects of divine truths," being generally found in the lower walks of life, of the iniquity of Popes, the cruel oppression of Governors, and the peace to which rulers are strangers, unless renewed in the spirit of their minds. Besides this there are some hard words for Voltaire, a metaphysical note, and a passage upon Bonaparte, approaching to the sublime. He, it is said, was exalted by the vicissitudes of war, and the earth swarmed with his admirers; although to the people who lived within the horrid glare of his sceptre, he scarcely left any thing but their eyes to weep."

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John Migault himself never attains so high a flight as this; on the whole, indeed, he may be called rather prosy. He married, in 1663, at an early age, and lived for seventeen years as notary and school-master in the village of Moullé, in Poitou, officiating also as reader in the church of Mougon, in which his father had preceded him in the same appointment, as well as those of elder and scribe, for no less than forty years. Eleven children were the fruits of his marriage, when he changed his abode for Mougon, in consequence of the approaching persecution. Here fifteen dragoons were speedily quartered upon him, and they behaved with all the customary barbarity attached to their mission. John Migault escaped from them as soon as he could, but forgot to ask his wife to accompany him. The troopers used her most cruelly. She was ill and confined to her chamber. Out of this they violently kicked her, and then thrust her into a corner of the chimney, after lighting an immense fire. They next threat

ened to burn her alive unless she immediately renounced Protestantism. She continued firm against their menaces and importunities till pain and terror reduced her to insensibility.

By the assistance of some neighbours, Madame Migault at length escaped; and next day, every remaining Protestant, in the village having formally recanted, the dragoons proceeded to another place in search of fresh victims. Their departure permitted the return of Migault and the revival of his school. Not more than a fortnight of repose, however, was allowed him; the soldiers came back, plundered and destroyed his property, and obliged the family once more to seek refuge elsewhere. Madame Migault was compelled to abandon a dying infant, whose body was saved, with difficulty, from the dogs, to which the Cure, a great leader in the persecution, earnestly desired that it might be thrown.

An asylum was found at Mauzé, and here for twelve months Migault re-established his school, and continued undisturbed till the death of his wife in child-bed We cannot but think that the account of her death-bed has been dressed up and decorated in the translation, in order to assimilate it more closely to some of our modern evangelical obituaries. Soon after her decease a Royal ordinance appeared, prohibiting all Protestant school-masters from, receiving boarders, and thus at once depriving Migault of his principal means of subsistence. The dragoons were again let loose; the Edict of Nantes was revoked; the reformed churches were razed to the ground; and Protestants of all ranks were either dragged to prison, or compelled to secrete themselves.

The winter of 1685-6 was passed by Migault in various hiding places. Sometimes the fidelity of his friends, even in the established persuasion, preserved him under their own roofs from detection; at others, when the search was too close to permit his stay, he betook himself to any retreat which appeared at hand. On one occasion he was compelled to quit the house of a staunch friend, Madame d'Olbreuze, who had retained him in the disguise of a servant.

"My distracted brain was always on the rack; I formed and abandoned twenty schemes. I consulted Madame d'Olbreuze, but she was ignorant what course to recommend; until one day it occurred to her mind, that the cavern, or grotto, in the adjoining forest, might be resorted to as a place of secure retreat. We called upon one of her old servants, a Roman Catholic, but a man full of integrity, and learned from him, that though he had never been inside the cave, he knew where it was situated. At night we took lanterns and started to examine this grotto; after walking a

considerable distance in the forest, we arrived at the mouth, which had all the appearance of a narrow well; we were obliged to des cend with our bodies erect, and having gone down several feet, the entrance gradually enlarged ceasing to have a perpendicular direction.

"This grotto consists of numerous compartments, seemingly cut out of the solid rock, hewn and ornamented with extraordinary skill and industry. The entrance from one chamber to another is through an aperture of the thickness of at least two French feet,' but of no larger expanse than the mouth of an oven. In every apartment we saw a seat of sand, well and regularly made. We penetrated deeper and deeper into this astonishing cave, until we despaired of ascertaining its termination; we concluded, from the great number of bones in the chambers nearest the mouth, that they have afforded shelter to small animals. The cavern is removed a full quarter of a league from any human habitation. It is a generally received opinion, that it is the gigantic work of the English.

"I determined to conceal Anne and Jeanneton in this disagreeable but remote, and therefore, we hoped, secure retreat. Fifteen other persons, whom circumstances obliged to quit the house, also formed the resolution of making it their place of temporary abode.

"The party, amounting to sixteen persons, who persevered in the intention of inhabiting this subterraneous and dark abode, took their leave of Madame d'Olbreuze on Sunday the 1st of February, 1686, an hour before day-light; they were conducted by the Roman Catholic servant. Our charitable hostess had taken care to have conveyed to the grotto provisions and apparel, and the company were visited every night by the faithful domestic, and had all their wants supplied. Every precaution had been employed to clean the chambers, which it was meant should be occupied ; but this unwholesome dwelling was abandoned after a painful and dangerous trial of three weeks. There was no admittance for air but through the small entrance, and the want of a free respiration proved destructive of health; my two children came out more dead than alive." P. 91.

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At length he was informed that an opportunity for embarkation was likely to occur at La Rochelle, and he hastened thither with the intention of profiting by it. Here he was arrested by order of the Governor, and, under the influence of terror, consented to sign his abjuration. Four pages this part of the narrative are said to be torn out of the original manuscript, and we are consequently ignorant of the degree of cruelty practised, in order to extort this appearance of conformity. The general tenor of the volume, however, does not impress us with any strong belief of Migault's firmness and courage; but his remorse is expressed in terms of bitterness which leaves no doubt of its sincerity.

During the ensuing year and a half he resided with two