REVIEW. 1. A Memoir of Felix Neff, Pastor of the High Alps; and of his Labours among the French Protestants of Dauphiné. By William Stephen Gilly, D.D., Prebendary of Durham, and Vicar of Norham. Preface xi., pp. 372. London: J. G. & F. Rivington. 1836. 2. An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses; as exhibiting, agreeably to the Promises, the Perpetuity of the sincere Church of Christ. By George Stanley Faber, B.D., Master of Sherburn Hospital, and Prebendary of Salisbury. Preface xl., pp. 596. London: Seeley and Burnside. 1838. IF Protestantism is pure Christianity specifically arrayed against the corruptions of the Romish Church, then is the theory of Guizot untenable. Concluding, as he does, from history, that Romanism and Protestantism are two indestructible systems or principles; that the one will never be able to exterminate the other; he holds that hostilities between the two should therefore cease, and that both should hence forward act in harmony. This, however, cannot be, if we have correctly described the latter. Let Protestantism cease to denounce Popery, and it would at once be seen that itself, at least, is not indestructible; -Protestantism would be no more. Nor would genuine Christianity survive; for those persons would have little of Christianity left, save the name, who could keep silence so long as Rome continues to practise her abominations. Let it be remembered that Protestantism is not a mere matter of taste, but one of solemn obligation; and that while Popery exists, the true Christian is bound, by his allegiance to his Saviour, to protest against a system that robs Him of his glory, and impiously invades the throne of God. With this conviction, and alive also to the fact that the Romish Church is now exerting herself to regain her lost domination over Christendom, and extend her influence through the whole world, we are anxious to direct attention to such works as cannot fail to promote amongst our readers the spirit of pure and genu ine Protestantism. Whilst the volumes before us will contribute to this important end, in the former of the two there will be found a model of ministerial fidelity and zeal which every candidate for the work of the ministry would do well to study, and on which even the experienced and well-instructed Pastor may meditate with profit. The reasons which influenced Dr. Gilly to write the life of Felix Neff shall be given in his own words. He says, "It has been my good fortune to have had opportunities of examining treasures of ecclesiastical history, in libraries rich in such stores; and the more I have read, the more I have felt convinced that the secluded glens of Piedmont are not the only retreats, where the descendants of primitive Christians may be found. Under this term I mean to speak of persons who have inherited a Christianity, which the Church of Rome has not transmitted to them, and who, from father to son, have essentially preserved the mode of faith, and the form of discipline, which were received when the Gospel was first planted in their land. I have discovered ample reason to believe, that there are many mountain regions in our quarter of the globe, which are poor, and uninviting, and difficult of access, where the primitive faith, as it was preached by the earliest messengers of the truth, did linger for many ages, after the Romish hierarchy had established itself in the richer countries, and in the plains; and moreover, that there are still some mountain districts, where the population has continued Christian, from generation to generation, to the present hour; Christian, in nonconformity with the Church usurping the appellation, Catholic. It was the obscurity of these people and their nonintercourse with the world, during the period of almost general submission to the Romish yoke, which preserved them from corruption. Traces of such churches in the Alps, in the Pyrenees, and in the Appennines, are clearly discernible in the Canons of Councils, and in the writings of most of the Romish annalists and controversialists of France, Spain, and Italy, up to the great epoch of Papal supremacy in the eleventh century; and the light, which modern researches are casting every year upon the history of nations, helps us to perceive, that the chain, which connects the primitive and the Protestant churches, is unbroken in various places, where it was supposed to have been dissevered. There are very few readers, who do not imagine, that every vestige of the Albigensians was swept from the earth, during the crusades of Simon de Montford, and that the ancient churches of Provence and Dauphiné, which formed the stock, on which the Reformed congregations of the south of France were grafted in the sixteenth century, were utterly cut down, root and branch, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This, however, was not the case: some few remnants were spared; and families in the remote valleys of the Pyrenees, and of the Alps, have been permitted to experience the promise of the Redeemer: 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." poor, that they had no means of provid ing salaries for Ministers or schoolmasters: and so little favoured by nature, that for seven months out of twelve, their land lay buried in snow. Two years afterwards Mr. Cunningham sent me a paper, drawn up by Neff himself, describing the nature of his charge, and some of the difficulties he had to encounter." (Pages 2-6.) Having given the substance of that paper, he proceeds, "There was enough in this modest allusion of Neff to his own labours, and in his generous expression of concern for the Alpines of Dauphiné, to make me anxious to know more both of this apostle of the Alps himself, and of his flock; and as I was about to make a journey to the Waldenses of Piedmont, I determined to visit the sublime and secluded scenery of the Val Fressinière, either on my way to Italy or on my return. This resolution was carried into effect in 1829, and I had the gratification of traversing now consecrated to the memory, These have preserved the pure know nearly the whole of the mountain region, ledge which their forefathers transmitted to them and the scriptural greeting, 'Aquila and Priscilla salute you much, in the Lord, with the church, which is in their house,' has oftentimes been passing from one secluded spot to another, when all were supposed to have been dragooned into the service of the Mass. And not only so, but in some few instances, whole communes, or parishes, have refused to submit, even outwardly, to the exactions of Romish usurpation. "The following pages record an example of this. "My belief, that the dreary wilderness of the Alpine provinces of France might still be harbouring some of these descendants of the primitive Christians of Gaul, was confirmed by a letter which I received in the winter of 1826, from the Rev. Francis Cunningham, to whom the Protestant cause owes much. His frequent journeys, and correspondence, and his unlimited philanthropy, have put kim in the way of knowing much of that which is going on among all that is truly Christian on the Continent. He was greatly instrumental in bringing the imperishable name of Oberlin under the notice of English readers; and to him my grateful thanks are due, for the first information I received of Neff, and his Christian labours. The letter to which I allude contained the information that Felix Neff, a young Minister, was then wiling among a people, in Dauphiné, so not only of martyrs of former times, but of an eminent confessor of our own days, who combining in his individual character the usefulness of the Pastor Oberlin, and the devotedness of the Missionary Martyn, did spend and was spent in the service of his Redeemer. Neff had gone to his rest a few months only before my arrival at Dormilleuse; and from all that I saw and heard of the effects of his ministry, I judged that a memoir of his short but extraordinary career would not be an uninteresting addition to the Christian records of the age in which we live. Having explored the scenes where he prepared the children of the mountain for the coming of the Lord, and made myself acquainted with the locality of every hamlet within his extensive charge, I hope to be better able to elucidate the present and former history of this Alpine church, than any person who has not enjoyed the same opportunities of picking up information on the spot." (Pages 11, 12.) As to the sources from which he derived his information respecting Neff, and the people of his charge, Dr. Gilly further remarks, "The notes of my journey contain many anecdotes of Neff, supplied by those who knew him; and some observations on the country and its peculiarities, while its grand scenery was before my eyes. But still, with all these advantages, I could not have done justice to my subject, had I not been indebted to the great kindness of a lady, whose name I am not permitted to mention here, for the Journals of Neff himself. These form the principal source from which the substance of the memoir is drawn; and if I had been put in possession of all the circumstances relating to those papers, I believe I should have had to state, that many of Neff's noble projects could not have been carried into effect, but for this benevolent friend in England, to whom his Journals were consigned. I have further acknowledgments to make to the Rev. Richard Burgess, the well-known and highly respected British Chaplain at Geneva, for the transmission of a small tract, lately published under the title of 'Notice sur Felix Neff, Pasteur dans les Hautes Alpes.' From this I have enriched the narrative with recollections, that have been preserved of Neff's early life and of his dying moments; but not having found any trace, either in this 'Notice, or in the Journals, of his intended history and origin of the church of the French Alps, I conclude that Neff was disabled by long illness from carrying his design into effect, and I have therefore attempted to supply the defect, by giving the result of my own researches, in a succeeding chapter. I have also, in the course of this Memoir, filled up the relation with such remarks as naturally occurred to one who had visited the scene under description, and conversed with the extraordinary race, of whom it may literally be said, 'Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.” (Pages 12-14.) exchanged for the bustle of a garrison; for in the following year, 1815, he entered as a private into the military service at Geneva. Two years afterwards, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant of artillery; and having raised himself to notice by his theoretical and practical knowledge of mathematics, he continued to make this branch of science his study during his continuance in the army. The Notice sur Felix Neff, Pasteur dans les Hautes Alpes, lies before us; but we have deemed it unnecessary to place it formally at the head of our article: an occasional reference to it will be sufficient for our Neff's own Journals have purpose. chiefly contributed to the work now under review; and we ourselves had no ordinary gratification in verifying upon the spot many of the statements in Dr. Gilly's Memoir, on a recent visit to the Upper Alps, in the company of a near relative of the lady to whom the Journals of Neff were entrusted, and whose active benevolence so materially contributed to the accomplishment of many of his plans. Felix Neff was a native of Switzer land. He was born in the year 1798, and was brought up in a village near Geneva, under the care of his widowed mother. After she herself had laid the first foundation of his education, the village Pastor gave him instruction in Latin, botany, history, and geography. At that early period of his life, the works of Plutarch, it is said, delighted him, as they made him acquainted with great men and great achievements; as did also the less objectionable volumes of Rousseau, because they encouraged his natural taste for scenery. With one of these in his hand, he would scale the rock, or climb the mountain, and spend hours in imagining the useful actions which he might be destined to perform, and the regions it might be his fate to explore. Although military exploits and scientific research appear to have been more especially the visions of his boyhood, yet even then he was evidently the subject of serious impressions. When only twelve years old, in reply to a companion, who, on his refusal to go to a theatrical spectacle, asked him, whether he thought he would not be entertained? he said, "Perhaps I shall be too much entertained." In the studies and pursuits of his early youth, the indications of his future character are clearly disco : It is matter of regret that Dr. Gilly has not furnished a more satisfactory account of Neff's conversion. This he might have done from the Memoir published at Geneva, to which reference has already been made. In the Notice sur Felix Neff, Pasteur dans les Hautes Alpes, we are informed that his pursuits not yielding him the satisfaction which he anticipated, and feeling the force of our Lord's declaration respecting the things of this life, "Whoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; " Neff was led to subject the motives by which he had been actuated to a solemn investigation, and painfully discovered that his very best works had nothing higher than selfishness for both their origin and end. From an anecdote in Dr. Gilly's Postscript to his Second Edition, it appears that the question, Are you in Christ? proposed to him by a Minister, also materially contributed to awaken in him the spirit of inquiry. His distress, resulting from the views which he thus acquired of his own character, brought him to the footstool of divine grace as an humble supplicant; and he was led to pour out his soul to God for guidance and instruction. The burden of his prayers at that period, as he himself often stated, when subsequently giving an account of his conversion, was, "O my God, whatever thou mayest be, make me to know thy truth; and deign to manifest thyself to my heart." Neff now began to search the Scriptures, and shortly found that the Bible was the only book which described the true state of his soul, although as yet he could not view God but in the character of his Judge. At this juncture, a Pastor (Mons. Bonthier, we new Honey flowing from the Rock,"which was made principally instrumental, by the Holy Spirit, in unfolding to him the way of salvation, and communicating peace and joy to his soul. The writer of the Notice sur Felix Neff gives several passages from this little work,-consisting chiefly of illustrations of texts of Scripture, pointing to Christ as the only Saviour of helpless sinners, which especially helpful to his faith, enabling him to "believe with his heart unto righteousness." were Filled with love and gratitude to God, Neff now resolved to consecrate his life to the service of the Saviour. Execution speedily followed purpose, and he began at once to preach the cross of Christ, in the barracks, the hospital, and prisons, as often as the intervals of military duty afforded him the opportunity. In the year 1818 he united himself to the "New Church," or Society formed by the seceding Pastors; and in 1819 he laid aside the military habit, to the great satisfaction of the officers of the garrison, who had regarded with jealousy the influence which his religious principles and force of character gave him over his comrades. He now devoted himself with ardour to the sacred employment to which he believed himself to be called, itine-. rating among the villages in the neighbourhood of Geneva, where he had many relations; reading to the people in their houses, and explaining to them the word of God. His simple manner, and his happy method of illustrating Scripture truth, by allusions to natural objects, and the pursuits of rural life, made him welcome wherever he came. In all places he diffused the savour of religion, and to this day his name is pronounced with benedictions by the families who were favoured with his visits: so untiring was his zeal, that it prompted him to make any effort to benefit a single individual; and often was he seen scaling some of the most rugged steeps of the Jura, to impart religious instruction to a shepherd inquiring after the truth. In this way he passed several months after his discharge from the army, studying at the same time, with great care, the sacred Scrip- tures. To render himself more fami- liar with their contents, he composed a small Concordance, and was soon able to recite from memory several entire books. Copies of the Bible, and of the New Testament, filled with marginal notes in his own hand- writing, are now in the possession of his friends. Leaving Geneva, he spent two years in the cantons of Vaud and Neufchatel, and in the French part of the canton of Berne. His labours during this period, notwith- standing the difficulties which he had to encounter arising out of the agita- tion of religious controversies among the people, were attended with con- siderable success. He was a pat- tern worthy of imitation, not con- tending for opinions of minor im- It was in the year 1821, Neff first exchanged his native Switzerland for those wilder scenes in Dauphiné, amongst which his future days were spent. He went to Grenoble, to sup- ply the place of Mons. Bonifas, dur- ing a six months' absence of the latter from his charge; and at the end of that period, he removed to Mens, to supply the place of another absent Pastor. The following passage will afford a view of his zealous and un- wearied endeavours to do good in "Our indefatigable Catechist did not confine his labours to Mens, or to its immediate neighbourhood. Wherever his presence was required, there he went, be the distance what it might. At this time, and in this department, (that of the Isère,) there were about eight thousand Protestants, scattered over a surface of about eighty miles square, with only three regular Pastors to look after them, one of whom was now absent. When his visits were paid in one direction, his services were required in another, and nothing but a frame of iron could have enabled a person of Neff's zeal to en- counter the toil, which his reputation soon imposed upon him. One of the dis- of Vizille. Its situation, on the banks of the Romanche, one of the wildest moun- tain torrents in France, with lofty moun- tains encircling it on all sides, had great attractions for him. The place, too, where his little flock was folded, had charms of a peculiar nature for his turn of mind. It was a large hall in the Gothic castle of the family of Lesdi. guieres. The celebrated Constable of France, of that name, was the champion of the Huguenot cause in his youth; but apostatized from it, in old age, when ambition and cold worldly calculation got the better of the more generous feelings of his earlier days. The present pos- sessor of the castle, actuated by a better spirit, lent his fine baronial hall, as a place of worship, to the Protestants; and the congregations which gathered round Neff were so attentive to his lessons of piety, that he always spoke of Vizille as his 'dear Vizille.' But great as was his fatigue, being constantly on the move from one remote quarter to another, it was the sort of life that he preferred before any charge, which would have kept him in a comparative state of con- finement. A sedentary or a fixed life,' said he, 'has no pleasures for me. I should not like to be constantly labouring in one place: I would infinitely rather lead the wandering life of a Missionary. Thus, among the diversities of gifts, and among the differences of administration, by which the manifestation of the Spirit is granted for men's profit withal, the Almighty was pleased to raise up a Teacher for the natives of the French Alps, whose habits and tastes exactly suited the wants of a people, who had not the benefit of a sufficient supply of resi- The success which attended the endeavours of Neff in this important sphere of action appears from the "About five months after the arrival of |