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RELIGION-A MATTER OF SUPREME
IMPORTANCE.

BY THE REV. R. S. CANDLISH, A. M., Minister of St. George's Parish, Edinburgh. THE importance of Religion, as a primary and principal element to be taken into account, in fixing the conditions or reckoning the chances of individual or social well-being, is held universally, but on different grounds by different men, according to the variety of their own personal views on the subject of Religion itself.

1. Thus, there are not a few who look upon Religion, very much as the inhabitants of a country reclaimed from the sea may be supposed to look upon the wide waste of waters around them; or as emigrants in a newly cleared tract of land may look upon the wild tenants of the adjoining forest. The ocean displaced from his old domain, the savage beast dispossessed of his former home, is regarded by the new intruders with suspicion and alarm, as a mischievous and dangerous neighbour, to whose neighbourhood, however, they must needs submit, as a necessary condition of the very settlement they have got, and whose power, since they cannot rid themselves of it altogether, they must just regulate or restrain as best they may. In the same spirit, many view the religious sentiment, the instinctive feeling of veneration, which they acknowledge to be an original principle in the mind. Men, they say, are endowed with it by nature for wise ends. It is involved in that rational and moral constitution which is the distinctive characteristic of the human race, as superior to the race of brutes; and without that susceptibility of reverential emotions on which Religion depends, there could be no society, no civilization. But though it be an unavoidable result of that mental organization which fits men for society-since, to be capable of social, man must be made capable of something like religious, feelings still this sentiment of religion finds no great favour in their eyes. However indispensable to the formation of society, they hold it to be not very essential to its advancement. Indeed, considering the mighty energy of religious zeal when it possesses the soul, and the fearful ravages which un

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der its blind impulse have been wrought on earth, they are inclined to give it just so much countenance as may serve to retain within safe limits, or guide in a safe channel, the current which they cannot wholly check. Hence their policy is to manage the religious spirit in individuals and communities, so as to render it harmless. They would flatter it by a decent profession of civilityor give it vent, as by a safety valve, in gay and gorgeous pageants, in solemn and stately formsor amuse it and lay it asleep by vague, unmeaning, but fair-sounding generalities. And just as they might coax out of an infant's hands a dangerous toy, they contrive, by smooth words of respectful acknowledgment, to avoid a direct quarrel with religion and to keep men in good humour on the subject, while their aim is to remove as far as possible away from their ordinary habits of thought and action, a class of motives which seem to them not only practically useless for the purposes of life, but even likely, unless very cautiously watched, to be positively dangerous and detrimental. We need scarcely remark that such views, however they may affect to coalesce with a religion of idle ceremony, or a religion of loose indiscriminating sentiment, are substantially infidel and ungodly.

2. Again, there is a numerous set of men, not quite so suspicious or so much afraid of this potent spirit, who take in hand not only to prevent its mischievous explosions, but even to make it a safe and quiet instrument of some little service to the individual and to the commonwealth. These persons, not content with erecting a barrier against the threatening tide, carefully open a few narrow sluices, and admit a measured portion of the water into well adjusted reservoirs and canals, where it may securely be made to minister to the commerce or convenience of the town. But still it is with so much anxious fear that they venture on such a step, and with so many precautions and such constant warnings against the risk of even an hairbreadth's excess or overflow, that it is well seen they are dealing with an unfriendly element,-tampering with a power which they dare not freely trust. Religion, according to them, or the sentiment of devout reverence and conscientiousnes, may, if duly

regulated and controlled, be turned to a good and as conscience within us attests Him to be? Has useful account. The morality of the Bible is their He been forgotten and forsaken, disowned and disfavourite theme of praise. The precepts of holiness regarded by men, his reasonable creatures, as ali and peace which it contains-its maxims of spot- experience declares? Is He in Christ reconciling less purity and righteousness-the spirit of benig- the world unto Himself, as the Gospel proclaims? nant gentleness and love which it breathes-and Is this Religion? and is it a reality? Then, if so, the beautiful representation which it gives of all the it is a reality to be dealt with as itself alone on its highest excellencies and the fairest graces of hu- own account vitally important, and not merely on man character, in the person of the blessed Saviour, account of certain advantages or disadvantages that all these amiable features of the Gospel are felt to we may think likely to flow from it. It is not our be conducive to the virtue and the happiness of servant, to do our bidding-our instrument, to serve mankind. And the doctrine of a wise Creator, our purposes-our property, on which we may cut a bountiful and merciful Guardian and Protector, and carve, and which we may form and fashion to our is acknowledged to be a fit auxiliary to those sanc- own liking. It is our master-it must command tions of law and conscience by which men are go- us-it must have us, and all that is ours, placed verned and society is kept together. But as the at its disposal-we, and all that is ours, belong to settlers amid the forest who might desire to make it, or rather to the God whom it reveals as reuse of its wild tenants and to turn their services conciled. And it is when in this spirit we give to to advantage, would scarcely dare to do so until God his due supremacy, and make Religion itself, they had been first of all tamed and subdued; so and for its own sake, our chief concern, to which it is a Religion well tamed and subdued, and made all other interests must be postponed it is then very subservient and compliant to their own world- only that we can know its true and actual influly principles, that these admirers of the gain of ence on these very interests of ours; for then only godliness prudently patronize. They encourage do we give it a fair trial. For, to judge fairly of just so much of the religious spirit as may be use- the effects or tendency of any plan, we must supful or convenient for checking the grosser kinds of pose its essential conditions fulfilled. Now, the vice, and adding something of the credit of the very essence of the Religion of the Gospel, is the Christian name to the superficial plausibilities of willing subjection of ourselves, and all that is ours, advancing civilization. But then the Christianity to God. We may fancy a Religion which does they recommend must be trimmed into correspon- not involve such subjection, but which rather makes dence with their views of man's nature and condi- | the fear of God subject to the consideration of our tion and highest good. It must be cut and fa- own present interests. This, however, is not shioned so as to fit into their merely secular plans Christianity-nor, in truth, is it Deism eitherfor his improvement-it must be kept in a second for, if there be a God, He must be in all things and subordinate place-it must observe prescribed and over all things Supreme. The very notion, limits it must follow a prescribed track. Not therefore, which we in that case form of Religion, for the world would they, if they could help it, prevents us from rightly estimating its power trust it loose among men, free to take its own either for good or for evil-for it is a notion radiway and wield its own influence. They dread its cally wrong and self-contradictory. But now asvagaries and excesses unrestrained. They are sen- sume the reality of such a Religion as alone can sitively alive to the hazard of enthusiasm and properly be so called at all, and let its rightful prefanaticism. They have a sacred horror of peculiar eminence be assigned to it; and then estimate its and exclusive dogmas. Thus, if they do use Re-blessings and its obligations. This reference of all ligion for the purposes of life, they use it as they would use a sharp-edged tool or doubly-loaded fire-arms, with extreme caution and reserve; and while their whole plans and proceedings, arranged for the most part on earthly principles alone, prove it to be their real opinion, that the world could go on well enough without Religion at all,-the hesitation with which they let in a very scanty and doubtful influence of principles higher and more heavenly, shows how much they fear, that with Religion having its free course, the world would be turned upside down. Surely this also is but thinlydisguised infidelity and ungodliness.

3. Now, the fatal error of both these views lies in their regarding Religion merely in its bearings on the interests of men, and not as in itself of primary moment; in their preferring the question of its utility to the question of its truth. For certainly, the use that may be made of Religion is but a secondary consideration. The first is its own reality. Is there a God above us, such in character

things to God-to God sovereign and gracious, this acknowledgment of God in all thingsof God as a personal friend in Jesus,—does it not sweeten all, ennoble all, hallow all? Does it not give zest to every joy, soothe every sorrow, lighten every care, elevate every rational pursuit, and make all labour honourable? It is as if long troubled and wearied with the attempt to manage an entangled and involved estate, in which we found perpetual vexation and annoyance, we at last gave it all over to ones kilful and faithful, who, relieving us of all anxiety, provides for us in all respects far better than we were ever provided for before. It is as if the toil of dreary solitude were cheered and gladdened by the countenance and sympathy of an approving and rewarding master. So blessed a thing is it to have peace with that God who will be present in the multitude of our thoughts, and will establish every work of our hands. In the formation of character, such Religion us this alone can be influential. Other sorts

of religion lie on the surface; their forms and feel- | ings may be merely superadded to a state of mind which continues very much as it was before. This alone goes to the very foundation. It changes wholly a man's relation to God, and therefore also to all other things. It changes his views of God, and therefore also of all things else. It makes God the centre to which his affections tend, and from which they go forth to other objects, so that all his human regards now partake of the intensity and purity and stability of a regard that is eternal and divine. Finally, in the conduct of affairs, this Religion exerts a salutary power. Religion, as men often conceive of it, is to be kept close prisoner to the church and to the closet, because its forms and its feelings cannot find fitting time or space amid the busy dealings of merchants in the streets, or the commonplace intercourse of neighbours in their houses. But Christianity is a Religion not of form or feeling merely, but chiefly of Principle; and therefore it can find admittance where ceremony would be out of place and high wrought sensibility out of taste, for right principle is never unseasonable or inapplicable. It speaks to the conscience for God, and it has a word to say, in the making of every bargain-in the discharge of every trust-in the issuing of every command-in the rendering of every service in the conducting of every conversation-in the eating of every meal-in every meeting of friends-in every interview of foes-in every common act of kindness done-in every injury received-in every transaction in every relation of life -it has a word to say, and the word is this: "Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God:" and "whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus:"-" whether

therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF FELIX NEFF. FELIX NEFF was born in the year 1798, and brought up in a small village, near Geneva, under the care of his widowed mother. His early education appears to have been such as reflected great credit upon the wisdom and piety of his kind parental instructor. No pains were spared to impart to his youthful mind a taste for knowledge, and, above all, to impress him with a sense of Divine things. And it happens rarely, very rarely, indeed, that the feelings awakened, and the principles imbibed, in the house of a pious parent, are ever entirely lost. On the mind of Neff, these early impressions appear to have been of the most salutary and lasting description. From childhood, his employments, and even his very amusements, were of a rational kind. With an ardent love of natural scenery, and a taste for the sublime and beautiful, which the surrounding country tended so strongly to gratify, he delighted to wander among the mountains, or along the banks of the peaceful lake.

The aspiring dispositions of young Neff led him at an early age to look forward to a life of military enterprise; and accordingly, although for a time he was employed in the nursery-grounds of a florist, he exchanged his

peaceful profession for that of arms, and entered the military service of Geneva in the year 1815. As a so1dier, he conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of his superior officers, so that in the course of two years he was promoted to the rank of serjeant of artillery. By the rough discipline of the camp, Providence was preparing Felix Neff for the toils and privations which he was destined to undergo in the service of the Redeemer. And this fact is in beautiful accordance with the mode in which the people of God are usually fitted for the duties which the Almighty appoints them to discharge. Both in the peaceful occupation of a florist, and in the more active employment of a soldier, Neff was gathering up precisely that kind of information, and those peculiar habits which he afterwards required.

Neff soon distinguished himself, in the corps to which he belonged, both by his undaunted courage, and his devoted piety. This latter quality appears to have been by no means agreeable to his superior officers, who are represented by his biographer as having wished him out. of the service, so much did they feel offended at the scrupulous strictness of his conduct. At length, so decided did his mind become in its preference of Divine things, that he was advised to quit the regiment, and dedicate himself to the work of the ministry. Before taking a step so important, however, he spent a considerable part of his time in meditation and prayer, that he might experience the direction of a wisdom far higher than his own. And the result was, that he left the army in 1819, and commenced a course of study, with

a view to the sacred office. He read the Bible with

deep and prayerful attention, and so anxious does he appear to have been to render Scripture familiar to his mind, that he made a concordance of his own, and filled the margins of several copies of the Old and New Tes

"Some of

tament with remarks and memoranda.
these," says Dr Gilly, "are still in the possession of
his friends, and are held in most affectionate estimation,

and are consulted as the voice of one who being dead,
yet speaketh."

As a still further preparation for the practical duties of the sacred office, Neff was employed for two years as a catechist, or lay-helper, in the Swiss cantons of Neufchatel, Berne, and the Pays de Vaud. This office, which has been long existent in the Protestant churches on the Continent, forms an excellent probationary exercise for candidates for the holy ministry. And we are glad to hail its introduction to a certain extent in our own country; and we trust that, by the blessing of God, it will be the means of raising up in the midst of us a number of active, and energetic, and devoted pastors. Accustomed, before receiving ordination, to visiting families, and catechising the young, and comforting the sick, and, in short, all the other duties of a parish, with the exception of those which peculiarly belong to an ordained ministry-young men are the better prepared to enter upon the work of parochial clergymen with efficiency and success.

In 1821, Neff removed from Switzerland, having been invited to officiate as catechist to a pastor at Grenoble, in France. After labouring faithfully there for six months, his services were requested at Mens, in the Department of the Isère, to supply, as far as possible, the place of an absent pastor Here, however, from various circumstances, and, among the rest, from the want of

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was to be the scene of his future labours. His first employment, on reaching the place, was to become acquainted with every village and hamlet within his extensive parish. Though in the depth of winter, and exposed to the utmost severities of wind and weather, he went forth in the cause of his Master, preaching the glad tidings of salvation from one end of the district to the other. An affecting incident which occurred in one of his excursions, may give some idea of the simple character of the people among whom Neff laboured.

sympathy in religious feeling between him and the | Felix Neff travelled to that inhospitable region which people among whom he was labouring, he felt his situation by no means comfortable, so that in one of his letters, written at this time, exhibiting the state of his mind, we find him thus expressing himself:-" I often retire to my chamber, ill at rest, and greatly dissatisfied with myself. I reproach myself, on the one hand, for having betrayed my sacred trust, and, on the other, for being a time-server, and afraid of pressing my opportunities." Yet, notwithstanding the complaining style in which this letter is couched, the labours of Neff at this time were unremitting, not confined to Mens, but extending to the whole department, which contained no fewer than 8000 Protestants, scattered over a surface of 60 miles square, with only three regular pastors, one of whom was absent. In these circumstances, Neff was employed chiefly in the work of a missionary.

After having faithfully discharged the duties of a catechist for four years, and more especially as his labours at Mens were brought to a close by the return of the pastor for whom he officiated, Neff was desirous of obtaining ordination to the office of the holy ministry. In this, however, there was some difficulty. He was unwilling to apply for ordination to the Established Church of Geneva, in consequence of the unscriptural doctrines held by most of its ministers; and being a foreigner, he had no claim upon the Protestant Church of France. In this dilemma he thought of visiting England, where he had become known chiefly through the medium of the Continental Society. Though quite unable to speak the English language, he proceeded to London in the beginning of May 1823, and was ordained, on the 19th of that month, in Mr Clayton's chapel in the Poultry.

During his stay in London, Neff felt himself very uncomfortable and solitary from his ignorance of the language, and accordingly he lost no time in returning to France, and to the scene of his former labours at Mens. His reception was exceedingly gratifying. The people "left their shops and their husbandry work to meet him. They crowded round him, some half-stifled him in their embraces, others kissed his hand, others wept with joy, and all signified the sincerity of their affection and respect." Though urged to remain among them, and to accept the office of pastor in the commune of St. Sebastian, he judged it prudent to decline the request.

His affections were set upon the section of the High Alps. He thought he would rather be stationed there, than in those places which are situated under the beautiful sky of Languedoc. At length his wishes were gratified. The elders of the Protestant Churches of Val Queyras and Val Fressiniere applied to the Consistory in his behalf, and the consent of that body having been obtained, he entered in January 1824 upon his pastoral duties. The charge assigned to this devoted

man of God was such as most men would have shrunk from. It consisted of seventeen or eighteen villages, scattered over an extent of nearly 80 miles in the high passes of the Alps, a region of barrenness and desolation, impassable during a great part of the year from the depth of the snow. Such was the scene of labour which Neff preferred to the cultivated plains and fertile valleys where his lot, had he so wished, might have been cast.

"Neff had been performing three services in the church of Dormilleuse, to a congregation which filled the little sanctuary, and he was afterwards proceeding towards Romas, the upper part of this mountain village, followed by many of the inhabitants of that quarter, who had been among his hearers. Suddenly they were alarmed by some loud cries behind them. These were occasioned by the sudden illness of a young woman of the party, who was stretched upon the ground without any signs of life. In fact, the vital spark had fled, and thus a young person of twenty-six years of age, of a robust frame, who had been present at the three services in the course of the day, and who had been joining in before, was now carried home a breathless corpse. The the psalmody with great animation but a few minutes consternation of her parents was extreme, for she had been the only strong and healthy member of the family, and the principal support of it; but they bore their loss without a murmur, and what they most lamented, was the suddenness of her death, without having had time particular, testified the utmost submission to the blow, to commend her soul to God. The poor mother, in although she had three children nearly blind, and her husband was feeble and in bad health. During the two nights that the corpse remained unburied, the house was filled with people, who came to offer their condolence, and especially with young women. braced the opportunity of reading appropriate passages of Scripture, and of pouring in such consolations and admonitions as were most applicable, and exhorted them to watch and pray, and to keep themselves in readiness against the coming of the Lord. When the time came for placing the corpse on the bier, the unhappy mother repeated aloud a prayer, in French, for the dying, and then all of a sudden she burst out in patois Alas! my poor child had not time to utter these words. Death has seized her, as the eagle snatches up the lamb, as the rock falls and crushes the timid kid of the chamois; oh! my dear Mary, the Lord has taken thee at the very gate of his temple. Thy last thoughts were therefore, we hope, directed towards Him. Oh! may He have made thy peace before the throne of God, and received thee in paradise!' All the inhabitants of Dormilleuse attended the melancholy tieth Psalm, as the earth closed upon the coffin, and procession to the grave, and their pastor read the Ninethen delivered an address, which the mourners are not likely to forget."

Neff em

The indefatigable exertions of Neff for the spiritual welfare, and even the temporal comfort of his people, were truly exemplary. No opportunities were lost, no labour spared, to minister to their souls the bread and the water of life. A lively description of his varied endeavours to benefit their souls, is thus given by his worthy biographer, Dr Gilly:—

of his churches, but he was ever visiting now one quar"It was not on Sunday only, that he went the round ter, and then another: and happy did they esteem themselves at whose table he sat down, and under whose It was in the midst of a most inclement season that roof he lodged for the night. When his arrival was ex

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