of action, on account of its seclusion, and because its whole population was Protestant; and he had sufficient influence to induce those who offered themselves as students, to commit themselves to a five-months' rigid confinement within a prison-house walled up with ice and snow.

Nothing can be compared', remarks Mr. Gilly, to the resolution and self-denial of the volunteers who enrolled their names under Netf for this service, but the similar qualities which were called into action by our gallant officers and seamen who embarked in the polar expeditions, with the certainty before them of being snowed or iced up during many months of privation. In their case, the hope of promotion and of reputation, and the ardour of scientific research, were the moving inducement. In that of the pastor and his young friends, a sense of duty, and thoughts fixed on heavenly things, constituted the impulse. To Neff himself, it was a season of incessant toil, and that of the most irksome kind. He did violence to his natural inclination every way. His mind and body were kept in subjection. He was devoted to his profession, as a minister and preacher of the Gospel; and yet he suspended the pursuits which were more congenial to his tastes and habits, and went back to first principles, and consented to teach the simplest rudiments, and meekly sunk down to the practice of the humblest elementary drudgery, when he saw the necessity of laying a foundation for a system of instruction different to that which had hitherto prevailed in this neglected region. His patience, his humility, his good-humour and perseverance, his numberless expedients to expand the intellect of his pupils, to store their minds, and to keep up a good understanding among them, are all subjects of admiration, which it is beyond the power of language to express. pp. 262, 3.

The young men who submitted to their pastor's system of discipline at Dormilleuse, must have their share also of our admiration. We cannot but feel respect for students who willingly shut themselves up amidst the most comfortless scenes in nature, and submitted to the severity of not less than fourteen hours of hard study a day, where the only recreation was to go from dryer lessons to lectures in geography and music. It was a long probation of hardship. Their fare was in strict accordance with the rest of their situation. It consisted of a store of salted meat, and rye bread, which had been baked in autumn, and when they came to use it, was so hard, that it required to be chopped up with hatchets, and to be moistened with hot water. Meal and flour will not keep in this mountain atmosphere, but would become mouldy; they are, therefore, obliged to bake it soon after the corn is threshed out. Our youthful anchorites were lodged gratuitously by the people of Dormilleuse, who also liberally supplied them with wood for fuel, scarce as it was; but if the pastor had not laid in a stock of provisions, the scanty resources of the village could not have met the demands of so many mouths, in addition to its native population. The party consisted of five from Val Queyras, one from Vars, five from Champsaur, two from Chancelas, four from the lower part of the valley of Fressinière, and eight from the immediate neighbourhood of Dormilleuse.

Neff had the satisfaction to find that his plan answered well, and this was reward enough. "I never", said he, can be sufficiently thankful to Almighty God for the blessing which he has vouchsafed to shed upon this undertaking, and for the strength he has given me to enable me to bear the fatigue of it. Oh! may he continue to extend his gracious protection, and to support me under my infirmities, or rather, to deliver me from them, that I may be able to devote myself to his service and glory, to my life's end!

pp. 264, 5.

Among other novel studies to which Neff introduced his pupils, was Geography. This was made a matter of recreation after dinner, and they pored over the maps with a feeling of delight and amusement which was quite new to them.

The remark which he makes on the moral influence of such studies, deserves attention. We have long been persuaded that the ignorance that prevails in Christian congregations upon such topics, is very unfavourable to an intelligent zeal for the spread of the Gospel, or a sympathy with Missionary exertions.

Up to this time, I had been astonished by the little interest they took, Christian-minded as they were, in the subject of Christian missions. But, when they began to have some idea of geography, I discovered that their former ignorance of this science, and of the very existence of many foreign nations in distant quarters of the globe, was the cause of such indifference. As soon as they began to learn who the people are, who require to have the Gospel preached to them, and in what part of the globe they dwell, they felt the same concern for the circulation of the Gospel that other Christians entertain. These new acquirements, in fact, enlarged their spirit, made new creatures of them, and seemed to triple their very existence." p. 259.

Poor as the district was, Neff was successful in raising some small contributions in aid of religious societies. He understood too well the beneficial influence of a sympathetic concern in the religious interests of others, to neglect to encourage it in his little flock; and though the sum raised was very small, he had the gratification of being able to inform the committees of the Bible Society and the Missionary Society, that such feeble support as 'they could render to the cause, was cheerfully proffered by the shepherds and goatherds of the High Alps. In concert with the principal inhabitants of the Protestant hamlets, he organized a Bible Association, by means of which every family was enabled to become possessed of a copy of the Scriptures.

Some very interesting details are given of Neff's method of dealing with the Roman Catholics of his parish. The priests had the mortification to see many of their respective flocks become proselytes to the Protestant teacher; yet it was some time before they resented his exertions; and even then, his meekness and conciliatory deportment took the sting out of their indignation. What might not a few such men do for poor Ireland!

The winter of 1825, followed by the cold spring of 1826, had shaken Neff's constitution; and an accidental sprain of his knee contributed to weaken his frame. He struggled pretty well through the summer; but, during the winter of 1826, 7, his strength rapidly diminished, and he became conscious that it was time to seek for medical succour, and to submit to a removal to his native climate. On the 17th of April, 1827, he took a final farewell of his presbytery at La Chalp. On his arrival at Geneva, his native air produced a temporary improvement; but in a short time, the symptoms of his malady returned with aggravated violence, and he found himself unable to digest any solid food. For a whole year, his only nourishment was milk. In June 1828, he was advised by his physicians to try the effect of the baths of Plombieres, which seemed at first to be beneficial; but it soon became evident that nothing could arrest the progress of his disorder. His last days were worthy of his life. Having returned to Geneva, he lingered in extreme weakness and suffering till the 12th of April, 1829, when, at the early age of thirty-one, he entered into the joy of his Lord. His last letter, traced at intervals, when he was almost blind, a few days before his death, is exquisitely touching and apostolic.

"Adieu, dear friend, André Blanc, Antoine Blanc, all my friends the Pelissiers, whom I love tenderly; Francis Dumont and his wife; Isaac and his wife; beloved Deslois, Emilie Bonnet, &c. &c.; Alexandrine and her mother; all, all the brethren and sisters of Mens, adieu, adieu. I ascend to Our Father in entire peace! Victory! victory! victory! through Jesus Christ. FELIX NEFF."

During his residence at Geneva, Neff composed a number of religious meditations, which have been printed, and are held in deserved estimation throughout Switzerland *. His character was every way highly extraordinary. Rarely, indeed, have so much ardour and zeal, so much vivacity and warmth, been tempered, directed, and enhanced by so much practical wisdom, meekness, and unaffected humility. His singular freedom from any ambitious views, his striking disinterestedness and singleness of purpose, were in him the fruit, not of natural disposition, but of the triumphant ascendancy of principles peculiar to the faith he had embraced. It is ascribed to his extreme humility, but indicated rather his entire sincerity, that he even regarded his ' own energy and activity as something that partook of the nature of sin; as being an obstacle in the way of his more frequent 'communion with God; as distracting his thoughts from himself

*

They are stated to have gone through several editions. Cong. Mag. April, 1832, p. 200. It is singular that Mr. Gilly should not have become acquainted with this fact. He appears not to have met with the work.

and those secret contemplations which are needful for the indi'vidual.'

He was fully sensible, that an active spirit, and an affectionate concern for the temporal and spiritual concern of others, are qualities excellent in themselves, and indispensable for the good of the Christian commonwealth, and for the extension of Christ's kingdom; but, in his own case, he was afraid that they absorbed other qualities. He knew that it was not the establishment of schools, the conducting of missions, or the preaching to others, which of themselves constitute the life of the soul: on the contrary, that the strenuous pursuit of great usefulness, often becomes a snare and a pitfall and a covering under which pride lurks. And he felt, with the Apostle, the necessity of bringing himself under subjection, lest, when he had preached to others, he himself might become a cast-away. It was under the influence of this feeling, that he was inclined to set small value upon his own labours.

'No man,' continues Mr. Gilly, in portraying his character, ever preached, or insisted upon the main and essential doctrinal points of the Gospel more strongly than he did; these were put prominently forward in all his sermons, in his conversations, in his correspondence, and in his private diaries; but at the same time he exacted attention to the ordinary duties of life, with all the strenuousness of one who would admit of no compromise. It was his anxiety to build up the Christian on a foundation where self-dependence, vain-glory, and imaginary merit, were to have no place whatever; and yet every act of his ministry proved that he set a just value on knowledge and attainments. It was his labour of love to show, that whenever any addition is made to our stock of knowledge, we not only gain something in the way of enjoyment, but are laying up a store for the improvement of our moral and religious feelings, and of our general habits of industry. The spiritual advancement of his flock was the great end and object of all his toils; but no man ever took a warmer interest in the temporal comforts of those about him; and this he evinced by instructing them in the management of their fields and gardens, in the construction of their cottages, and in employing all his own acquirements in philosophy and science for the melioration of their condition. He was not only the apostle, but, as somebody said of Oberlin," he was also the Triptolemus" of the High Alps.

To discharge the proper duties of a preacher of the Gospel, was a vehement desire with Neff, strong as a passion; his heart and soul were in them; yet he often left this walk, so glorious in his eyes, to follow another track, and to point out those things to the notice of his people, which related to their worldly conveniences. It was his high and lofty ambition, to elevate their thoughts and hopes to the noblest objects to which immortal beings can aspire, and to raise the standard, until they should reach to the fulness of the stature of Christ: and yet he so condescended to things of low estate, as to become a teacher of a, b, c, not only to ignorant infancy, but to the dull and unpliant capacities of adults. Beginning with the most tiresome rudiments, he proceeded upwards, leading on his scholars methodically, kindly, and patiently, until he had made them proficients in reading, writing, and

arithmetic, and could lead them into the pleasanter paths of music, geography, history, and astronomy. His mind was too enlarged to fear that he should be teaching his peasant boys too much. It was his aim to show what a variety of enjoyments may be extracted out of knowledge, and that even the shepherd and the goatherd of the mountain side, will be all the happier and the better for every piece of solid information that he can acquire.

Neff was a man of the most ardent and elastic zeal, else he never could have dedicated himself so entirely to the work of a missionary pastor in a foreign country: yet he brought the good sense of a masculine understanding to bear upon all his religious projects: he exercised a degree of prudence seldom witnessed in conjunction with such ardour, and he was constantly checking the ebullitions of his spirit, and tempering his zeal with salutary prudence. The nicest discretion, and the most judicious caution, distinguished his proceedings. This was especially manifested in the selection and training of his catechists. He knew that a few young men, well prepared, would do more good among their countrymen, than a host of undisciplined enthusiasts and ill-taught novices.

'The broad distinctions and uncompromising truths of Protestantism were matters of awful sanctity with Neff; and yet, though he was the pastor of a flock opposed to Popery by all the strong prejudices of hereditary separation, I might almost say of deep-rooted aversion, yet with dogmatical and polemical Protestantism he would have nothing to do. He made numberless converts from Romanism, not so much by argument and discussion, as by mildly inculcating the true spirit of the Gospel; not by dwelling on topics of strife, and on points of difference, but on points of universal agreement, and by exhibiting our common Christianity in its most persuasive form, until their hearts melted before the One Mediator and Intercessor, and they said, Your God shall be our God, and your creed shall be our creed.

'He was rigid in his notions of Christian deportment; yet there was a meekness, and a kindness of manner about him, which conciliated all, and convinced them that he had their best interests at heart; so much so, that perhaps no man was ever more reverenced and loved.'

pp. 311-14.

A most instructive passage occurs in one of Neff's letters, in reference to the proper way of dealing with Roman Catholics. While he was confined to his bed at Plombières, he received several visits from one of the curés, and from some young Romish ecclesiastics. Had they come for controversy', says this admirable man, 'I should not have been able to receive them; but they carefully avoided every thing that could fatigue me, and ' even listened willingly to the few words I addressed to them. They were surprised to hear a Protestant speak of the conversion of the heart and of spiritual life in the same terms as some of their most eminent divines.' Most of their prejudices, he adds, proceed from their ignorance of all that concerns true Protestantism; and they are half disarmed when we speak to them,