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    public religious assemblies for worship and instruction , or in the other union ' s which they formed for the advancement o ( knowledge * and the performance of acts of charity , they were met together in the Saviour ' s name * Such was the substance of the first head of his discourse , In the second part he explained what was meant by the presence of Christ . Agreeably to what he himself had declared , his presence consisted in the mission of the Holy

    Spirit , which he declared his Father would send in his name , in compliance with his intercession . «* What pains can be tod great , " the preacher remarked , 'Mo secure so distinguished an honour ? Let us all earnestly endeavour , by imitating the great example which he has given us in his own life * to render our hearts % fit abode ( or not altogether an unfit abode ) for his presence ! In illustration of my meaning I will instance the most

    extraordinary effort of benevolence the world has witnessed in modern times , the Bible Society , in which all sects and nations unite in diffusing the Word of life to the remotest ends of the earth . They are engaged in an undertaking in fulfilment of the great design for which the Saviour himself came into the world ; and wherever its advocates may go , bearing the knowledge of thy name , thou , O Jesus , wilt assuredly go with them .

    Sunday , December 10 th , I again heard M . Bert . His text was John xviu 3 : " And this is life eternal , that they may know THEE , the only true € hdj and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent . " He was more animated than I had ever heard him before . " Many and grievous have been the disputes among Christians , " said he , about what constitutes a Christian * The grand error of each party has been , that they have drawn up a system of their own , and presumptuously demanded that the whole Christian world should subscribe

    to it . Some , for believing tod much , and others , for believing too little , have been pronounced accursed , and doomed to everlasting flames . Will ye allow the adorable Saviour himself to define his religion for you ? In the words of my text , which I Will pronounce to be truly sacramental , fvraiment sacramentalesj he defines the belief he requires of his disciple . O , what interminable evils have been occasioned by men * s departure from this declaration of the Saviour ! What endless and perplexing distinctions , what

    unintelligible dogmas , what bloody wars and implacable hatred among the disciples of the same Master , have arisen from this one error of each party endeavouring to set up a definition of a Christian of their own making , instead of contenting thetnselves with the simple and authoritative words of their Master ! " He then went on to shew , at length , that in order to be a Christian it is not necessary to believe this or that creed , of human invention , but to believe that there is only one true God , the Father of all , and in Jesus Christ , whom he hath sent for the redemption of men .

    The churches of the Vaudois are generally open every Thursday for a sermon or other religious address . In this week and the succeeding one , I twice attended M . Bert ' s Catechisms , as they are called , —discourses on the history and doctrines of the Bible , designed to prepare the young for re * ceiving the Lord ' s Supper , ( for the first time , ) which is administered once

    in three months . Young and old assemble on these occasions , and M . Bert first delivers a discourse , and then calls on the young people to give an account of it . He began with the history of the creation , from which he drew entirely practical reflections . I heard hinyin the whole , eight times , and discovering nothing of the peculiarities of orthodoxy in his praydrs or rJreaching , I thought the inference a fair oney that whatever may be his belief , these peculiarities are not made by him tthe foundation of all moral instruction and Christian attainments From tontersation ttrtth him I learned .

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    87 g The Wdldensen

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1827, page 878, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1803/page/22/