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Eglisele temple spirituel.-Voudrons-nous la composer de l'ensemble de tous ces blocs informes-ebauchés, ou seulement de ceux qui nous paraîtront dejà preparés par le Maître? Essaierons-nous de reunir dans un ordre commun tous ceux que nous trouverons préparés dans chacune des diverses Carrieres ouvertes en mille endroits du Monde; ou ne pouvant y parvenir, nous efforcerousnous au moins, de les grouper en divers tas, comme ces pierres dejà taillées qu'on assemble pour les toiser avant que de les mettre en œuvre ?-Oh! que le Maître est bien plus sage! Tandis que nous nous disputons sur la preeminence de tel ou tel chantier, et que d'autres se consument pour y introduire un ordre parfait, le divin Salomon parcourt en silence cette vaste exploitation, choisit marque, enlève, et place dans son edifice les materiaux preparés au milieu de tous ces frottemens, assignant â chaque piece le lieu qui lui est propre et pour lequel il l' a destinée..... Telle est mes bien aimes frères, la grande idee que nous devons nous faire de ce tabernacle celeste, de cette maison spirituelle de Dieu, de-cette Eglise universelle, tant militante que triomphante dont nous professons l'existence dans le symbole aspotolique.-O! combien nous paraîtront, maintenant, pitoyables les orguilleuses, pretentions de telle ou telle Eglise á la universalitéainsi que les interminables disputes sur la succession - la hierarchie et la discipline, qui, dans tous les temps (comme encore aujourd'hui) ont divisé et troublé les fidèles ! Travaillons plutôt, dans la carrière où nous sommes placès, a préparer le plus de materiaux possibles, et surtout prions le Seigneur qu'il fasse de nous tous des pierres vives pour son Edifice. Amen!

W. E.

MEMOIR.

CHAPTER I.

OBJECTS OF BIOGRAPHY-THE BIRTH-PLACE OF FELIX NEFF - HE IS APPRENTICED TO A GARDENER-ENTERS THE ARMY-RECEIVES HIS FIRST RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONSRESOLVES TO DEVOTE HIMSELF TO THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY AND LABOURS IN THE CANTONS OF VAUD, NEUFCHATEL, AND BERNE.

To commemorate the virtues of a departed friend, or to render homage to the memory of a distinguished man, is usually considered as the chief aim of the writer of a memoir. As a tribute of esteem and friendship, such a design is laudable and appropriate; and, in most cases, may be sufficiently comprehensive. The individual, however, whose character and history we are about to delineate, derived his glory from sources which are too frequently the subject of contempt and ridicule. The generality of men

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seek transitory applause from their fellowmortals: poetry, eloquence, and the arts; the achievements of war; the investigations of science; or the accumulation of riches, are the themes and pursuits which engross and satisfy the votaries of mere earthly honours. But the affections and the desires of Felix Neff were of a higher order; his was a loftier, and a more ennobling ambition. It is true his name shone not in the camp, the college, or the senate; nor was his eloquence displayed before the learned and the great. On the contrary, as an unassuming individual, simply actuated by unfeigned charity, and an ardent devotedness to the cause of God, the best energies of his life were consecrated to the dissemination of the great truths of the gospel, amongst the rude and uncivilized inhabitants of the French Alps. In this unfrequented portion of the globe, separated from the enjoyments of refined society, and surrounded by a vast physical and moral wilderness, did this devoted man spend the youthful vigour of his life, carrying instruction and consolation into the rude dwellings

of ignorant mountaineers, and spreading the glad tidings of salvation from rock to rock, amidst these rugged and snow-clad regions.

He was called to his reward when in the prime of life, and surrounded by opening prospects of extensive usefulness; but his memory is embalmed in the hearts of numbers, who, in the enjoyment of heavenly felicity, and throughout the succession of eternal ages, will recognise him as the honoured instrument of their conversion. But although his mortal career was brief, he has earned a reputation more enduring than the mountains which were the scene of his labours, and which will continue to shine, with unfading lustre, when the boasted exploits of the mere worldling shall have sunk into merited oblivion.

The design in publishing this memoir, is to contribute to that just interest which every Protestant must feel in the country which afforded so secure an asylum to the persecuted Albigensians; and especially to offer to those who are about to enter upon the sacred and solemn duties of a Christian pastor, or who are, in any way, engaged

in communicating religious instruction, an example highly worthy of their imitation. The history of Felix Neff will exhibit a fine model of charity and disinterestedness, of zeal and humility. May such as have been providentially placed in similar circumstances, learn from him to be kind, modest, and condescending; to practise self-denial; and to devote all the energy of their physical and intellectual powers to the service of their master, and the salvation of their fellow-sinners. Then, indeed, will the example of this devoted servant of Christ be as beneficial, as his memory is blessed.

Felix Neff was born in Switzerland, in 1798, and passed his childhood with his widowed mother, in a small village near Geneva. When very young, he manifested an intelligent and reflecting mind; and, even in childhood, nothing imparted so great an enjoyment as to ramble, and to indulge in solitary meditation, amidst the sublime. mountain scenery of that romantic country. Enjoying a robust and vigorous constitution, the peculiar features of the surrounding scenery afforded continual exercise to all

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