their lives, the gravity of their deportment; by their cheerful piety, their unfeigned charity, their firm and glorious hope, their patience and humility—that their souls are full of life, that their support is truly that which comes from God; while those that feed at the world's table know neither the vigor of faith, nor the comforts of peace, nor the delightful serenity of hope.

Draw the comparison, Christians, then take Daniel's resolution. Like him, search the word of God, that you may learn what he wills from you. Seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit, which your heavenly Father has promised; and thus prepared, go forth to the trial, nor stop short until the end of your ten days of life.

For, finally, my beloved brethren, it is not long that you will have to renounce the baits and allurements of the world, to prove yourselves faithful to Jesus, before he introduces you into his presence. The span of human life is not long at most. The three-score years and ten, or if it may be, the four-score, are soon told out. Season quickly follows season; one winter rapidly ensues upon another; the ciphers which name the year oft change their form and signification. The father quickly sees his sons reach his own stature; their children again surrounding them, and this rising generation leading his own, as it were, to the tomb. From moment to moment, all that surrounds us, all in which we play a part is changing, fading, dying. Scarcely has life's day dawned, when its noon has arrived: its noon is passed, the shadows of eve draw on, and night falls—" the night wherein no man can walk.”

O! who among you will be wise, and consider how short his time is? Look forward, I pray you, look forward to the approaching time, when the ten days, or three years, of life and of probation shall be passed; when you will be called upon to appear before God, before the King, before that Jesus who has shed his blood for you, and who says to you: "Surely I come quickly."

Think, O think seriously, and with solemnity, my brethren, how you would desire to have passed these few years of probation, during which you are commanded to renounce the evils of the world, and to give yourselves up to the leading of the Holy Spirit, think, I say, how you would wish to have passed them when time shall be no more; when your years and days shall be numbered, when the short journey of life shall be over, and eternity shall burst upon your soul.

O! think of this, and consider whether it is not right toward Godwhether it is not for your own happiness, in every way, even with respect to this world, and above all, with respect to eternity-that before you are called to appear before him, while a day of grace is still vouchsafed, you purpose in your hearts not to defile yourselves with the meat or the wine of this world, but, like Daniel, honor the Saviour in taking upon you his commands !

DISCOURSE XIII.

ADOLPHE MONOD, D.D.*

DR. MONOD was a son of the late Rev. John Monod, of Paris. He had seven brothers and three sisters, all of whom, it is believed, survive him. Three of his brothers are in the ministry of the gospel-all evangelical, faithful, and most highly esteemed brethren. The oldest is the Rev. Dr. Frederic Monod, who is pastor of one of the churches in Paris connected with the Free Church of France. The Rev. William Monod, another brother, is now pastor of a Protestant church in Paris. The youngest brother is the Rev. Horace Monod, one of the French pastors at Marseilles.

Dr. Adolphe Monod, as well as his brothers, was educated mainly at home, under private teachers and professors, and then, according to the liberal practice which prevails in France, he underwent an examination in one of the colleges of Paris, and, paying the usual fees, he received his diploma as Bachelor of Letters. His theological studies, we believe, were pursued at Geneva, in the theological department of the Academy (or University, as we should call it) of that city. For two or three years he preached to a French congregation at Naples, holding the post of chaplain to the embassy of Prussia. From that city he was called to be one of the pastors of the National Protestant Church in Lyons, in France, when his great pulpit talents soon made him widely known. He was even chosen president of the consistory of that church.

But he had not been long settled in the church in Lyons before his mind was led by the grace and Spirit of God to embrace heartily the evangelical system. As soon as he had clearly apprehended Christ as the Son of God, as well as the Son of man-as the only Mediator between God and man-his preaching began to partake of the glorious change. At first, and for a while, the rich and worldly church of Lyons to which he (with two other pastors, men of a very different spirit) ministered, were astonished. Soon dissatisfaction with the truth began to manifest itself, and in a few months, this distinguished but humble servant of Christ was compelled to resign his place, and open an independent chapel, on truly evangelical principles. About seventy people, mostly poor but pious persons, followed him. He commenced his labors in a large room in the third story of a private house. Soon it was filled to overflowing. It was again and again enlarged, until it held nearly four

*The name of Dr. Monod was on the list of French preachers at the time of commencing the preparation of this work. He has since deceased; but we should not be justified in leaving his place unfilled. Especial indebtedness is acknowledged, in making up this sketch, to a letter from Dr. Robert Baird, published shortly after Dr. Monod's death. Some of the facts have been drawn from other sources.

hundred people. As it could be enlarged no more, it was resolved to build a chapel or church in a more central part of the city.

Such was the commencement of the evangelical movement in Lyons, in which city and its immediate vicinity there are now nine or ten evangelical Protestant chapels, three evangelical ministers, and a goodly staff of evangelists, colporteurs, and pious school-masters and school-mistresses.

From Lyons, Dr. Monod was called, in 1836, to the Theological Seminary at Montauban, where he became Professor of Sacred Eloquence. This appointment he received from the hands of Baron Pettit, a Protestant nobleman of evangelical sentiments, who was for a considerable period Minister of Public Instruction in the reign of Louis Philippe. For several years Dr. Monod filled with great ability the professorship which he held in the only theological institution of the National Reformed Church of France. During that period he wrote several of his most valuable publications. In his vacations he visited Paris and other important cities, and was always heard, when he preached, by great crowds of people; or else he made missionary tours in the ancient provinces of Saintonge, Poitou, or other districts in southern and south-western France.

The last seven or eight years of the life of Dr. Adolphe Monod were spent at Paris, where he preached the gospel with great effect to large and delighted audiences. His labors, and those of Dr. Grandpierre and other distinguished brethren of the same school, have done much to make the evangelical doctrines known and respected among those who attend the churches of the reformed body in that great and important city.

It was on Sunday, April 6, 1856, that this honored servant of Christ ceased from his labors. His death-bed was one of intense suffering, and, at the same time, of glorious and gracious triumph. In the full and perfect assurance of his salvation through Christ, and in peace, he commended his spirit into the hands of his heavenly Father. A few days previous to his decease, he was heard to say: "My ministerial labors, my works, my preaching, I reckon all as filthy rags; a drop of my Saviour's blood is infinitely more precious."

At the time of his death, he was not far from fifty-six years of age; and to show how deeply he was beloved among the pious men and women of France, it is only needful to say, that while he lay dying in Paris, in the remotest extremities of the nation the dispersed Protestants were holding circles of prayer for him. French Protestantism universally wept at the news of his death.

As a preacher, it would not be asserting too much to say, that Adolphe Monod occupied the first rank in France. Although not a large man, or a man of commanding appearance, he was nevertheless a prince among preachers. His voice is said to have been melody itself, and ever under perfect control. As to his discourses, those which he delivered in large assemblies were almost invariably prepared with great care, written, and committed to memory. And yet his extemporaneous, or rather his unwritten sermons or lectures, were represented as admirable for beauty of style, for clearness of conception, and for adaptation to the occasion.

Says Dr. Baird, in a letter written several years ago, "I have no hesitation in saying, that Adolphe Monod is the most finished orator I have heard on the continent. Modest, humble simple in his appearance and dress, possessing a voice which is music itself, his powerful mind and vivid, but chaste, imagination, made their influence felt on the soul of every hearer in a way that is indescribable. The nearest approach to giving a true idea of it would be to say that his eloquence is of the nature

of a charm, which steals over one, and yet is so subtle that it is not possible to say in what consists its elemental force. It is an eloquence the very opposite of that of the late Dr. Chalmers, which was like a torrent that carries every thing away. I have often heard Ravignan, the great Jesuit preacher, in France; and Bautain, by far the best preacher, in my opinion, in the Roman Catholic church that I have heard; but they were much inferior to Adolphe Monod. If the late Professor Vinet, of Lausanne," he adds, "was the Pascal of the French Protestants in these days (as he certainly was), Dr. Adolphe Monod was their Bossuet. But Drs. Vinet and Monod were incomparably superior to Pascal and Bossuet as expounders of evangelical truth, which is, after all, the highest glory of the Christian teacher."

It is well known that the late Abbé Lacordaire, the Dominican, who was by far the most popular of the Romish priests in France in his day, remarked to his friends after hearing him: "We are all children in comparison with this man." Beside a strong and vivid intellect, what the French call onction was the characteristic of Monod's preaching. He was ineffably impressed, himself, with the truths he preached, and the earnestness of his soul thrilled every tone and every gesture.

But great as were Dr. Monod's talents, and fascinating as was his eloquence, these qualities were rivalled by his unfeigned piety, his profound humility, his cordial friendship, his simple and truly Christian manners, the purity of his conversation, and the uniform cheerfulness of his life.

Dr. Monod is said to have left sermons, and discourses, and essays, and lectures, from which several volumes might be formed, that would be equal in beauty of style, in beauty of thought, in force of logic, and vastly superior in true instruction to any thing which Bossuet, Fénélon, Flechier, or Bourdaloue- the so-called "greats" of the Roman Catholic church in France-ever wrote. He had published several things of great merit. His Introduction to the French edition of Dr. Hodge's "Commentary on Romans," his "Lucille," his "Femme" (woman in her proper relations), his "Controversy with a Romish Priest," at Lyons, his "Lecture on Eloquence" (delivered to the students of the Seminary at Montauban, in 1840), and his "Fugitive Sermons," are perfect gems.

The discourse below is by far the most celebrated of any hitherto published. It has been translated into the English, both in this and the mother country. The American translator (Dr. Turnbull) pronounces it a masterpiece; and remarks that it "contains passages of as pure and thrilling eloquence as ever came from the 'lips of love."" "We like it," he adds, "especially for its profound piety, its lofty truth, its earnest and affecting appeals to the conscience and heart. It is fitted at once to attract the admiration of the critic, and win the sympathies of the pious heart."

Not a little labor has been bestowed upon the translation here given. Advantage has been taken of previous renderings, but neither of them has been adopted. The hope is entertained that it will be found to be, at least, as fair a reflection of the original, as the discourse has ever before received. If the reader enjoys half the pleasure in its perusal, which we have had in preparing it for the press, he will estimate its worth far higher than the cost of the volume containing it. The title is

our own.

THE ENDEARING ATTRIBUTE.

"God is love."-1 JOHN, iv. 8.

In a small town of Italy, which, eighteen hundred years since, an eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried beneath a flood of lava, some ancient manuscripts, so scorched as to resemble cinders more nearly than books, have been discovered, and, by an ingenious process, slowly and with difficulty unrolled. Let us imagine that one of these scrolls of Herculaneum, contained a copy, and the only one in the world, of the epistle from which the text is taken; and that, having come to the fourth chapter and eighth verse, they had just deciphered these two words, "God is," and were as yet ignorant of what should follow.

What suspense! That which philosophers have so ardently and vainly sought that of which the wisest among them have abandoned the pursuit—a definition of God! Here it is, and given by the hand of God himself," God is !"—What is he about to tell us? What is God "who dwell eth in the light whereunto no man can approach, whom no man hath seen, nor can see"-whom we "feel after, if haply we may find him, though he is not far from any one of us"-who constrains us to cry out with Job, "O that I knew where I might find him! If I go forward, he is not there; backward, but I can not perceive him; on the left hand, where he doth work, but I can not behold him; he hideth himself on the right hand that I can not see him?" What is he, that all-powerful God, whose word hath created, and whose word could annihilate every thing which exists-" in whom we live, and move, and have our being"-who holds us each moment under his hand, and who can dispose as he will of our existence, our situation, our abode, our circle of friends, our body, and our soul even? What, in short, is this holy God, “who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," and whom our conscience accuses us of having offended; of whose displeasure nature has conveyed to us some vague impression, but of whose pardon neither conscience nor nature has given us any intimation-this just Judge, into whose hands we are about to fall-it may be to-morrow, it may be to-day-ignorant of the sentence which awaits us, and knowing only that we deserve the worst- What is he? Our repose, our salvation, our eternal destiny-all is at stake:-and methinks I see all the creatures of God bending over the sacred record in silent and solemn expectation, of what is about to be revealed concerning this question of questions.

At length the momentous word-love, appears! Who could desire. a better? What could be conceived comparable to it, by the boldest and loftiest imagination? This hidden God, this powerful God, this holy God-he is LOVE! What need we more? God loves us. Do I