law in favour of religious liberty be prepared for the next session.

You will doubtless be prepared to learn, that the Grand Council, by a majority of ninety-three against twenty-nine, has voted the passing to the order of the day; and has thus refused even the least examination of the important case submitted to their consideration.

Allow me to call your attention to some of the consequences which flow from this painful decision. And, 1. The Legislature of the Canton de Vaud has, by its vote, given again its sanction to all the arbitrary, oppressive, and illegal measures adopted by the Council of State from 1845 to the present time. 2. It has set aside, with unusual levity, a sentence of the Supreme Court of Judicature which acquitted Mr. Germond, and declared that the will of the administrative Council is therefore superior to the most solemn decisions of the law. 3. The opinions and wishes of the local authorities of Echallens are here set at nought. They, who certainly must be the best judges in the matter, declare that the meetings may be authorized in virtue of the 10th Article of the last decree, without compromising, in the least, public order; but notwithstanding this, the meetings are prohibited, and the presiding Minister punished by fines and exile! 4. Approbation is here given to acts both unjust and cruel. Not only is a dwelling broken into by an armed police, peaceable worshippers disturbed, a father torn from his family, and a Pastor from his flock,-but also a public benevolent institution, which was a blessing to the country, and where scores of poor, sick, and infirm, of all denominations, found food for the body, and comfort to the soul, is broken up by the removal of its founder and director. And all this, I say, is sanctioned and abetted by a so-called Protestant and liberal Legislature! 5. You have not failed to perceive, finally, that the persecuting majority is, on this occasion, even larger than formerly, by at least ten votes; while the minority seems disheartened and silenced.

It is now, therefore, finally come to this, that no consideration of justice, piety, or humanity can stop the impetuous and foaming billows of persecution; and that we can seek refuge only in "the Rock that is higher than" we.

Nor can we reasonably hope better things for the future. The late elec

tions of the Vaudois Members to the Swiss National Assembly, have all been in favour of the Socialist party. It is therefore perfectly evident that the renewal of the Grand Council in May, 1849, which was looked up to as a last hope, will bring us no change for the better. I say, for the better, because I fear that the change will be rather for the worse. These are not only surmises. It is evident that angry clouds are gathering thick on every side. 1. The members of our Government have not feared to express, openly and unequivocally, their sympathy for the proceedings of the demagogues and Socialists of France, Germany, and Italy, during the late and the present struggles. 2. The selfstyled patriotic clubs are holding extraordinary sessions throughout the country, and preparing petitions, to be presented next session to the Grand Council; asking not only the expulsion of all pious Ministers, but the closing of all schools and other institutions suspected of favouring vital Christianity. 3. In connexion with the above facts, the language of Mr. Briatte, the President of the Council of State, during the debates this very afternoon, is sufficiently ominous. He spoke to the following effect :-" We have hitherto been TOO LENIENT, and they (Dissenters) have taken advantage of it. Other measures must soon be adopted. I am not now prepared to say what they will be; but they must be final. I fear they will be such as to prove that the sovereign people cannot be trifled with; they have been so too long. In May, 1849, the question must be decided, and you must be prepared for something мUCH MORE SEVERE."

Meanwhile, we are not dismayed; and are still resolved, by God's grace, to "fight the good fight of faith." We feel that though, geographically, the field of battle is at present circumscribed within the narrow limits of the Canton de Vaud, yet the principles involved in the combat are of general application in the coming struggle against the various forms of antichristian error.

We have not been molested for some time past. Our way seems hedged up, and our situation often perplexing; but we feel that God is with us, and that his blessing rests upon our efforts to do good.

"Finally, brethren, pray for us, that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men."