an opportunity afforded them, of attending a regular and complete course of lectures on the Old and New Testaments. The discourses delivered upon these occasions, are called "Sermons de Congrégation;" they are a complete trea sury of biblical and critical disquisition, and in general, abound in all the knowledge necessary to salvation. The reader will find an example of this sort of composition, in Sermons V. and VI., from the pen of the REV. PH. MOUCHON; whose dignity of manner, and purity of style, place him in the first rank of his contempóraries, and render him worthy to continue the reputation of his eloquent and excellent Father. In no Church do the parochial duties receive an ampler share of daily attention; and the Editor has often seen, with peculiar pleasure, the private memoranda of his clerical friends, on the plan of the Speculum Gregis, many years before that useful little book was offered to the attention of the English clergy. In fact, such a manual is indispensable to a Genevese clergyman, every member of the establishment being called upon, at stated periods, to give in a detailed account of the state of the flock entrusted to his care: thus, the clergy have always in their hands a body of information, whence a complete and accurate notion may be formed of the moral and religious condition of the entire population of the State. From the foregoing data the reader will be enabled to form a judgment for himself—and it can hardly be an unfavourable one-respecting the CLERGY OF GENEVA; and the DISCOURSES brought together in this volume are, the Editor humbly thinks, calculated to confirm that impression: conscientiously attached to the doctrines of the Church of England, and a sincere friend to her venerable establishments, he has long felt an earnest desire to introduce more directly to the notice, and to recommend to the liberal judgment of its members, a clergy, inconsiderable indeed as far as regards numbers, but still a NATIONAL CLERGY. Should the present volume meet with an encouraging reception, a second may probably follow; for which,materials not less valuable are at the Editor's disposal, consisting, like the present, chiefly of manuscript discourses, and mostly on the subject of the relative social duties. One observation more the Editor will allow himself, upon the subject of the established Church at Geneva, for the purpose of pointing out its close and intimate connection with the government of the State, and with every lay member of the university, and learned resident in the republic. This admirable triple union of the ministers of religion, the rulers of the State, and the eminent teachers in every department of science, identifies in a manner the three great sources of authority; and unites them into one powerful body, capable, at all times, of offering effectual resistance to the attacks of fanaticism, of ignorance, and superstition. The happy results of such a harmony between civil and religious authority, adorned with the splendours of science and of literature, are well expressed in the following passage of a noble French writer,-M. de Barante, in his "Littérature Française pendant le dix-huitième Siècle." "A miniature republic existed upon the borders of France, speaking the same language, reading the same books, carrying on a daily intercourse with the French metropolis. The same thirst of knowledge, the same zeal for the progress of the human mind, the same disposition to the study of mathematical and natural science, the same general acquaintance with foreign languages; in a word, the same energetic impulse which agitated France during the eighteenth century, was felt, perhaps even more forcibly, in the republic of Geneva; but among a people where a severe morality prevailed, where religion was reverenced, where the influence of the laws was constant and regular, and the simple habits of former ages were yet strong, this im pulse did not, as among their neighbours, give rise to a spirit of petulant scepticism, much less attack any of the bonds of society. Their writers never lost their veneration for those principles and institutions which were consecrated by the veneration of past ages-their manner of advancing to every question was still characterized by gravity and moderation; whilst the general tone of society displayed enlightened information, and a lively interest in the cause of letters, tempered with reserve and deliberation in judgment and opinion." The Editor has only to add, that he trusts the style of the translation, for which he is indebted to the kind assistance of the Rev. R. CATTERMOLE, Secretary to the Royal Society of Literature, will be found worthy of the originals, and of the Public, to whose opinion he now commits his volume. Kensington Gore, J. S. PONS. |