NOTICES OF BOOKS, &c.

The Spirit, Principles, Faith, and Worship of the Huguenots in their day, as opposed to the Spirit and Doctrines of Rome. By the Rev. J. A. Martin, B.D., Pastor of the French Church, Canterbury Cathedral.-James Nisbet & Co., London, 1885.

One result of the interest aroused in all matters concerning the Huguenots by the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes has been the publication of a number of volumes dealing with the history of this much persecuted people. But though the writers of these books have treated their subject from various stand-points little has been said by them about the religious tenets of the French Reformers, and yet it was the Huguenot's creed which really made him what he was. Possibly the omission was caused by the difficulty of presenting an account of a theological system in a popular form. This gap has now been filled up in a very simple manner by Pastor Martin of Canterbury, by the publication in English of what may be called the two textbooks of the Huguenot faith.

His little volume is in three parts. The first, which is entitled "The Spirit and Principles of the Huguenots of their Day, as opposed to the Spirit and Doctrines of Rome," is supposed to have been compiled by the Pastors of the Reformed Church of France, about the middle of the sixteenth century. So highly was it prized by the Huguenots that it was generally bound up at the end of their Bible.

The second part contains "A Confession of Faith made by common consent by the French people who desire to live according to the purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus "Christ," which was drawn up by the Huguenot Churches in 1559. This Declaration of Faith is the one referred to by the Reformers in a petition they presented to Henry II. after the Edict of Amboise as affording an exposition of the articles of their belief, and justifying them against the scandalous accusations of the Catholics. The petition, Mr. Martin says, "is but little known, if at all," and he has printed it before the Confession. Its language is so dignified and yet so pathetic that one cannot wonder that its effect upon a King determined to

close his ears to appeals for mercy was to exasperate him into further persecutions.

The concluding portion of the book contains examples of Prayers used by the Huguenots in their worship, both public and private, at various dates between the years 1543 and 1685.

The volume is prefaced by a few remarks from the Hon. and Rev. Canon Fremantle, who believes that its publication will prove of essential service, by making known the noble character of the Huguenot worship, and the singular moderation and freedom from fanaticism which distinguished the French Reformers. Les Huguenots. Cent ans de Persécution, 1685-1689. Par De Janzé, Ancien Député.-Grassart, 2 Rue de la Paix, Paris, 1886.

So much has been written concerning the general history of the Huguenots that one would think that the subject was now quite exhausted, and that nothing was left to writers on French Protestantism but the investigation of the more obscure details of personal and local history. M. de Janzé has, however, found that he could treat the old theme from a new point of view, and he has made a very readable account of the persecution of the Huguenots serve as the text for an attack upon the royalist party in France. Asserting that a restoration of the monarchy would be impossible without the powerful aid of the organization of the Catholic Church, he assumes that were it brought about, the clergy would at once be reinstated in their former influential position. He then gives a resumé of the chief events of the hundred years of persecution which preceded the Great Revolution, the inference which he wishes to be drawn being that the same spirit of intolerance which then prevailed would once more be dominant should the clergy regain their lost supremacy.

Making allowance for the motive by which the work is inspired, and remembering that the author is an "Ancien Député," the reader will not be surprised to meet here and there with a reference to some question of the present day, which M. de Janzé has considered to have a parallel in an event of the persecutions. For instance, in reviewing the pretended conversions of Huguenots he is very bitter in his remarks upon the circumstances under which they were said to have taken place, and especially so with regard to death-bed renunciations. The request alleged to have been made by Victor Hugo for a