was the scene of the labors of the good Pecolampadius, one ́ of the most distinguished of the Reformers, of glorious memory, as well as the residence during many years of his life, of Erasmus, and the place of his death. Dr. Vinet resided about twenty years at Basle, officiating as Pastor of the Protestant French Church in that city, whilst performing his duties as a Professor in the University. During this period he wrote several of his excellent works. In 1837, Dr. Vinet was invited by the government of his native Canton to the Professorship of Theology in the Academy of Lausanne. In that city he spent the last ten years of his life. In the summer of 1847, he was called by the Master to his everlasting rest and reward, and left behind him a great circle of admiring and weeping friends, to deplore the loss which the Church and the world have sustained by his removal. In 1830, Dr. Vinet published his first volume on religious subjects, consisting of two Discourses, one entitled, The Intolerance of the Gospel; the other, The Tolerance of the Gospel-a work which attracted no little attention. In 1836 he published at Paris his Discourses on some Religious Subjects, which was followed not long afterwards by another volume entitled, New Discourses, on the same topic.* After these volumes succeeded, at intervals, some six or eight others on Religious, Philosophical, and Literary subjects, all of them possessing great merit, and some of them displaying the very highest and noblest attributes and qualities of the human mind. Besides these works, issued in a more permanent form, Dr. Vinet wrote much for the Semeur, a literary gazette published once a week in Paris, * It is from these two volumes that the Rev. Dr. Turnbull has seI ected the Discourses which he has so well translated, and given to the world under the title of Vital Christianity, by Vinet. since 1832 or '33, as well as for other periodicals of that day. All these articles bear the impress of his powerful intellect and his exquisite taste. But the great work of Dr. Vinet was one of the last which came from his pen, and is entitled, The Manifestation of Religious Convictions and the Separation of the Church from the State*—a work which has been translated into German, and has produced a great sensation in France, Germany, and Switzerland. Nor has its influence been confined to those countries. It is manifest that the mind of the Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel has been greatly enlightened by the profound argument which Dr. Vinet has developed in that admirable volume. In his last years, Dr. Vinet was greatly occupied with the ecclesiastical affairs of the Canton Vaud; and one of the last things which he wrote was the Confession and Economy of the FREE CHURCH of that Canton, organized but a few months before his death. This was a work which he had greatly at heart. Alas! he was called away from that church just at the moment when it was commencing its existence, and when, to the view of men, his presence and his aid were so much needed to sustain and guide in the heavy persecutions which have since befallen it, and of which we cannot yet discern the termination. Respecting the volume which these brief remarks are designed to introduce to the American reader, it may not be amiss to say a word or two. It will be found to correspond admirably with the beautiful title which it bears :-GOSPEL STUDIES. It is at once simple and profound. The mode of treating every topic is as different as it is possible to conceive, * Sur La Mànifestation Des Convictions Religieuses et sur La Séparation de L'Eglise de L'État. from that which an Anglo-American author would pursue. It is emphatically French. On this account the work is the more valuable. The reader will be struck with its fresh and interesting character at every step. Every thought is presented under a garb novel and striking. There is here nothing trite, nothing hackneyed, nothing formal. Every thing is new. The old theological terms are dispensed with as much as possible. Dr. Vinet was, like John Foster, a philosopher rather than a theologian. He presents the great truths of the Gospel in a philosophical manner, and yet in a manner beautiful for its simplicity. No one can read a page of this book without being made to think. Every truth is revolved and reviewed, till it gains a firm lodgment in the mind of the reader, and with God's blessing, it cannot fail to do good to all, but especially to those who are likely to be repelled by the phraseology which they would certainly find in a work written by an American or an English author. To His blessing, this, the first edition of it in our country, is devoutly commended. New-York, May, 1849. R. B. |