vention at Sendomir. The union, which prevails both among the congregations, and the individuals. which compose them, their modest and humble carriage, their moderation in pursuits of gain, the simplicity of their manners, their laborious industry, their frugal habits, their ardent but mild piety, and their regular discharge of all their spiritual observances, are universally acknowledged and admired. Their charities are boundless, their kindness to their poor brethren is most edifying; there is not among them a beggar. The care, which they bestow on the education of their children, in forming their minds, chastening their hearts and curbing their imaginations, particularly in those years,

"When youth, elate and gay,

Steps into life and follows, unrestrained,

Where passion leads, or reason points the way."

LOWTH.

are universally acknowledged, universally admired, and deserve universal imitation.

the

But, it is principally by the extent and success of their missionary labours, that they now engage attention of the public. These began in 1732. In 1812, they had thirty-three settlements in heathen nations. One hundred and thirty-seven missionaries were employed in them: they had baptised twenty-seven thousand four hundred converts and such had been their care in admitting them to that sacred rite, and such their assiduity in cultivating

a spirit of religion among them, that scarcely an individual had been known to relapse into paganism. All travellers who have visited their settlements speak with wonder and praise of the humility, the patient endurance of privation and hardship, the affectionate zeal, the mild and persevering exertions of the missionaries; and the innocence, industry and piety of the converts :-the European, the American, the African, and the Asiatic traveller speaks of them in the same terms: and, that they speak without exaggeration, the conduct both of the pastor and the flock in the different settlements of the united brethren in England, incontestably proves. Whatever he may think of their religious tenets, Talis cum sis, utinam noster esses, must be the exclamation of every christian, who considers their lives. Those, who desire further knowledge of this amiable and worthy denomination of christians, will find it in David Cranz's ancient and modern History of the Brethren, printed at Barby, 1771, and the two continuations of it, Barby, 1791, and 1804. The history has been translated into English; and is become exceedingly scarce: the continuations have not been translated. Mr. La Trobe, the pastor of the united brethren in Londor, has published a Concise Historical Account of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren adhering to the Confession of Augsburgh. How much more pleasing it is to recount the virtues, than descant on the errors of any christians! St. Augustine

was not prevented by his polemic controversies with Pelagius from reporting him "an holy man, very "much improved in christian virtue, a good man, "and worthy of praise."-(Mr. Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, Murphy's edition. August. p. 432.)

II.

Attempts for a Re-union of the Calvinist churches to the See of Rome.

HAVING thus summarily noticed the unsuccessful attempts to effect an union between the lutheran and calvinist churches, we proceed to a similar summary mention of the attempts, equally unsuccessful, to effect the re-union of the calvinists to the church of Rome, which were made, 1st, during the reign of Henry the fourth: 2dly, during the reign of Lewis the thirteenth and 3dly, during the reign of Lewis the fourteenth: 4thly, we shall afterwards notice the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and the complete restoration of the protestants of France to their civil rights in the reign of Lewis the eighteenth.

II. 1. An attempt to re-unite the calvinists to the church of Rome was made at the celebrated conference held at Poissi in 1561. In the work which we have cited, the abbé Tabaraud gives a short and clear account of this conference. It failed of success, and a long civil war of religion ensued. It was closed by the conversion of Henry the fourth to the roman-catholic religion. He was

no sooner quietly seated on the throne, than he conceived the arduous, but certainly the noble project of pacifying the religious contests of the world. It appears that he was induced to entertain hopes of the success of this measure, by the assurances given him by the calvinist ministers, when his change of religion was in agitation, that salvation might be obtained in the church of Rome; and from his expectation of finding a spirit of conciliation and concession in the see of Rome. "I have heard from persons of distinction," says Grotius, epist. 1706, p. 736, "that Henry the fourth declared "that he had great hopes of procuring for the king "of England, and the other protestant princes, who were his allies, conditions, which they could not honourably refuse, if they had any real wish of re"turning to the unity of the church; and that he "had once an intention of employing bishops of his own kingdom on this project; but that this project "failed by his death."

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It is said, that, with these views, he invited Isaac Casaubon, a protestant divine of equal learning and moderation to Paris, and appointed him his librarian; and intended confidentially employing him in preparing means for the success of the measure, and smoothing the obstacles which might impede its progress. Grotius, (epist. 613), mentions, as a saying of Casaubon, that "the catholics of France had a juster way of thinking than the ministers of Charenton:" these were the

was not prevented by his polemic controversies with Pelagius from reporting him "an holy man, very "much improved in christian virtue, a good man, "and worthy of praise."-(Mr. Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, Murphy's edition. August. p. 432.)

II.

Attempts for a Re-union of the Calvinist churches, to the See of Rome.

HAVING thus summarily noticed the unsuccessful attempts to effect an union between the lutheran and calvinist churches, we proceed to a similar summary mention of the attempts, equally unsuccessful, to effect the re-union of the calvinists to the church of Rome, which were made, 1st, during the reign of Henry the fourth: 2dly, during the reign of Lewis the thirteenth and 3dly, during the reign of Lewis the fourteenth: 4thly, we shall afterwards notice the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and the complete restoration of the protestants of France to their civil rights in the reign of Lewis the eighteenth.

II. 1. An attempt to re-unite the calvinists to the church of Rome was made at the celebrated conference held at Poissi in 1561. In the work which we have cited, the abbé Tabaraud gives a short and clear account of this conference. It failed of success, and a long civil war of religion ensued. It was closed by the conversion of Henry the fourth to the roman-catholic religion. He was