D'ABBIGNE'S GERMANY, ENGLAND, AND SCOTLAND.

Ire the spring of 1845, the historian of the Reformation, Dr. Merle D'An: bigne, was deputed, with two other Protestant ministers of the Coati* nent, to visit Germany and Great Britain. The object was to endeavour to effect a union among Christians of all denominations, except Papists, and (as we infer) the State Church of Scotland, or the Tractarian and " Canterbury " part of the Anglican Church,—meaning by "Canterbury" those who uphold the Apostolical succession. Individually the ministers, especially D'Aubigne, were received with much attention and hospitality, from the Bishop of London and the Royal Commissioner of the Presby- terian Church, downwards : they were welcomed as new planets at the different "May meetings" they attended in England, and at a Free Kirk gathering in Scotland. It is not necessary to open the eyes very widely to ascertain how they succeeded in the main end of their mission ; al- though such interchange of courtesies must tend to soften asperities, and somewhat diminish theological rancour, and is therefore to be encouraged.

On D'Aubignes return to Geneva, his friends and flock requested him to furnish an account of what he had seen ; and in the winter of 1845-46 he appears to have given a course of lectures or addresses on his tour, confining himself to the present time. Not satiated by what they had heard, the audience renewed their request; and in the following winter the author recurred to the past, taking a survey of the Scottish Church from its Popish period down to the late schism. These discourses form the basis of the book before ns, if indeed they are not the book itself; which, in obedience to the original plan, is divided into two parts, under the titles of "Travelling Recollections," and "Historical Recollections."

The Travelling Recollections differ from travels in general by giving no regular narrative of the journey. The principal places alone are men- tioned, not the intermediate tour ; unless the very curt account of the run from London to Edinburgh may stand as an exception. There is as little of description, which forms so staple an article with ordinary tourists : the dense population, business, and activity of London—the striking site and romantic beauties of Edinburgh—are the fullest passages of this kind, and they are not very ample. Observation, partly social, though chiefly religions, is one great feature of the book; but its main characteris- tic is disquisitional. D'Aubignd glances at the history of each country he visited ; estimates the character of the people ; looks more particularly at the state of religion, and the causes that have produced it. In Germany, for example, almost his sole topics are Rationalism, the new movement under Ronge, and the writer's hopes of a revival of Christian faith in that country; although, if we understand him rightly, there are but three places at present where faith is preached in the churches. In England, Tractarianism and the general state of the Church, with some glances at Dissenters, occupy much of his attention ; but varied by sketches of social and national traits, with accounts of meetings, and so forth. In Scotland, there is a similar intermixture; but as the Free Kirk move- ment was then at its height, and the deputation took a part in it, re- ligion predominates still more in the visit to that country than in the visit to England.

This mode of making use of travels as a theme for discussion has not so dry or heavy an effect as might be anticipated. The author is earnest in his subject, thoroughly imbued with it, and he deals only with leading points. His genius is vital though not vivacious; his manner is spirited, and novel from its foreign air, without being strange or extreme. In touching on history, as he often must do, there is none of the stiff and borrowed air of the compiler or the book-stuffer. D'Anbignd recurs to it because it is essential to his argument; and then leaves it. In like manner, his religious views are distinct and philosophical; but full of life, and devbid of cant. He animates his disquisition by pictures of meet- ings and of men, as Well as by personal reminiscences; for D'Aubigne has been in England before, and *well acquainted with Gekmany. Of the Romanist schism that originated withKongehe has little hope, partly from the secret Rationalism that prevails among the educated Ro- manist;, partly from German mysticism, and the " scientific " manner in which religion is handled in Germany. A few anecdotes will illustrate his view.

"At Manheim, the new church, now in a flourishing condition, was just forming when I passed through it. It is a gay and worldly town. Why,' said some one to a Roman Catholic, do not you, who are opposed to the priests and the Pope, jein the German Catholic Church ? " For two reasons,' was the reply. The first, because I should have to go to church, and I had rather amuse myself; the second, that I should have to give money, and I had rather keep it.' These are some of the motives that keep the adherents of the Pope faithful to their standard.

" While I was at Heidelberg, the new church had neither priest nor minister; the members celebrated divine worship among themselves. • I must own to you,' said one of these, 'that up to the time (a month ago), when I joined the German Catholic Church, I had never opened the Bible; but I read it now.' This person, who had been reading the Bible 'for a month,' was a teacher in these meetings!

"At Stutgard, the capital of Wurtemberg, I attended, at seven o'clock on Sun- day morning, the worship of this new church in the Reformed chapel. There were very few women, but many men; several, no doubt, strangers like myself. I observed very little seriousness before the service began; they were standing in groups, and even talking somewhat loudly. It was more like the commencement of a political or literary meeting than of one for religious worship. " At length the priest, having put on his canonicals in a corner of the building, came and stood before the altar, which was somewhat shabbily ornamented with garlands, tapers, and a picture. He was a tall, stout, red-faced man, with a drawling tone and coarseness of manner which are not uncommonly found in the Romish clergy. He told us he knew the Papacy well, for he had been a priest twenty-five years; which was plain enough to be seen."

As the gravest like to look in the glass, if it is only to see how they look, we will take our remaining extracts from that part which relates to this country.

" On approaching the capital, [on the Dover Railway,] my wondering eyes looked down from the carriage into innumerable narrow streets of small houses, all of uniform and mean appearance, blackened with coal-dust and shrouded by a smoky atmosphere. Such is the gloomy avenue which leads to the delightful PaIflemtllita supbaaresnnrritntbaza archLThacrowds te:, what bustle, Thesecarriages, public and private, almost as numerous as the foot-passengers; that dazzling dis- play of every production of British industry, and of the most distant lands; those forests of ships, motionless in their immense docks; the steam-boats, which; like a weaver's shuttle, incessantly ply up and down the Thames with inconceivable rapidity, taking up and setting down at every pier a fresh cargo of breathless pas- sengers; everything you behold tells you that you are now in the capital of the commercial world.

" If the German feeds upon the ideal, the practical is the characteristic of Great Britain; I say, Britain, because most of what I say here of England is ap- plicable to Scotland also. Reality, action, business, bear sway in the politics, the industry, the commerce, and, I will even say, in the religion of the English. Yet this practical tendency which characterizes England is not selfish, as might have been expected. The large scale on which the people work gives a certain scope and grandeur to the imagination. The habit which the English have of forming into parties, and of looking constantly at themselves as a nation, is opposed to a narrow selfishness; and a more elevated sentiment struggles with this vice in a large portion of the people. "Perhaps one of the things that strikes a stranger the most on his arrival in London is, not the nobility, but the common people: their strength, their energy, their quickness, their skill, their civility, and above all, their calmness and silence during their unceasing activity. They are all alive to what they are about, and they are clever at it: you can see this in the carriages, the ships, and especially in the railroads. The skill with which an English coachman drives you through the streets of London, among thousands of vehicles, without ever jostling you, is inconceivable.

"The day after my arrival in London, I visited the ancient seat of our friend built in the time of Elizabeth. The railroad took me a certain distance, where I had to find a carriage to take me on to L— Park : but what on the Continent might perhaps have occupied an hour, was here done in an instant. In less than a minute all our luggage was lifted from the train into the carriage,

and the fly was winging its way towards the park. • •

"I observed in England one thing, that the people talk much less of liberty than we do on the Continent, but practise it more. This is quite natural: when we possess a thing, we mention it less frequently than when we are in search of it. The young men, who play so important a part in Germany, and even in France and other countries, do not so in England. It is not for want of spirit in the English youth—they have even rather too much; but it is confined in the preparatory sphere of schools and colleges, and does not display itself in public business. Influential institutions satisfy this people. The young men know that their turn will come, and they wait quietly. Among a people deprived of public institutions, vigour is often misplaced; it is forced forward in youth and ex- hausted in riper years. In England, on the contrary, it is disciplined in youth and exerted in manhood. On the Continent, paternal authority is much shaken; in Britain, the parents,generally speaking, know how to keep their children at a respectful distance: and this is a great element of strength for a nation. When

the Bible would pronounce a threat against a people, it says, will give them children to be their princes, and babes shall rale over them.' This curse has been

but too well fulfilled among marry nations. • " In Britain, of all the countries in the earth, the nobility have the most power. The King or Queen is but the keystone of the aristocracy. This aristocracy, also, wears its greatness well. There is in the manners of the great ones of Eng- land a nobleness, a grace, a simplicity, an exquisite perfume of sociability, and a regard for their inferiors in the social scale, which win every heart. There is among the English, especially among the aristocracy, a physical beauty celebrated

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all over the world, and with which the moral beauty of the mind is often in harmony. These nobles have not merely, like those of some other nations, an i external polish, but there is within them an internal grace, a politeness of 'the soul.

"In other respects the English aristocracy appears to me no less admirable. When we behold elsewhere the frightful tyranny which Radicalism sets up, we can understand the mischief it would do in England if ever it were triumphant; and we are inclined to regard the aristocracy, which there exercises such strength, as one of the necessary guarantees for freedom. " Duty is an idea but too much forgotten among us, while in England it is all- important. This nation, so powerful and so haughty, bows before the thought of duty. It was Nelson's signal to his fleet at Trafalgar: ' England expects every man to do his duty '—and every man did it.

" The Duke of Wellington, being asked if he had seen a French criticism on the fourteen volumes of his Despatches, replied in the negative; and inquired, ' What do the French say of them?' He was told that the reviewer remarked the word glory did not once occur, but that duty frequently did."

These complimentary sketches might be extended; and,there are some drawbacks, but not perhaps so many in the book as in the reality. The views of D'Aubignd, well read as he is in history, cannot always be im- -pliOttepeceived upon minister points,a+rega4this country, either from 'Age or bias. He says that "Popery is Tess a religion than a 'State" ; which is true, with the qualification that religion is used by the Romish priesthood as a means to acquire temporal power. He also says, that on the Reformation, " Many Protestant churches, depriving the Pope of the supremacy, he had usurped, consented that the magistrate or the King should take upon him that jurisdiction, and thus maintain, under another form, that confusion of civil and religious things which is to be found in Popery. The Church of Scotland, on the contrary, asserting that it was the place of Christ himself which the Pope had usurped, resisted every effort made by the political power to take possession of it."

Such is, no doubt, literally true; but, however averse the Kirk might be to submit to the State, it had not the least objection to play the Pope over the State; and it made several struggles to that end. However op- posed to Episcopacy, the Presbyterian priesthood, at least under the Stuarts, would not have had the slightest objection to make the Govern- ment a Dean and Chapter, with a tongs d'dlire accompanied by a letter- missive.