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 Merle d'Aubign e, J. H. 1794 
 
 -1872. 
 D'Aubign e, and his writings 
 
D'AUBIGNE, 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS WRITINGS 
 
 PRIOR TO HIS 
 
 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
D'AUBIGN^, 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS WRITINGS: 
 
 WITH A SKETCH OF THE 
 
 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. ROBERT BAIRD, D.D. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 BAKER AND SCRIBNER, 
 
 145 NASSAU STREET. 
 
 1846. 
 
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 
 
 BAKER & SCRIBNER, 
 
 in the Clerk'8 office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of 
 New York. 
 
 S. W. BENEDICT, 
 Ster. & Priut., 16 Spruce Street. 
 

 J. H. MEEI^E D^AUBJGNE, 
 
 REV. ROBERT BAIRD, D.D. 
 
 In compliance with the request of many friends, who desire to 
 know something of the family, life, character, and literary labors 
 of the Rev. Dr. Merle d'Aubigne, author of the celebrated 
 " History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century," I fur- 
 nish the brief memoir which follows. 
 
 John Henry Merle (or, as he is called in England and this 
 country. Merle d'Auhign^) was born in the city of Geneva, in 
 the year 1794. Consequently he is a little more than forty- 
 eight years of age. 
 
 Although a Swiss by birth, Dr. Merle is of French origin. 
 His family, like that of many of the inhabitants of Geneva, is 
 descended from Huguenot ancestors, who were compelled to leave 
 their native country because of their religion, and to take refuge 
 in a city upon which one of their countrymen, John Calvin^ had 
 been the instrument, under God, of conferring the blessings of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 The great-grandfather of the Rev. Dr. Merle d'Aubign^, on 
 his paternal side, was John Leivis Merle, of Nismes. About the 
 epoch of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), this 
 worthy man, who was a sincere Protestant, fled from his country, 
 and took refuge in Switzerland, in order to enjoy the religious 
 liberty which France, under the rule of Louis XIV., denied him. 
 
 His son, Francis Merle, married, in the year 1743, Elizabeth, 
 the daughter of a Protestant nobleman, residing in Geneva, whose 
 name was George d' Aubigne. Agreeably to a usage which 
 exists at Geneva, and, I believe, in many other portions of 
 Switzerland, by which a gentleman adds the name of his wife to 
 
Xiv LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 his own, in order to distinguish him from other persons of the 
 same name, Mr. Francis Merle appended that of d''Aubigne to 
 his own, and was known as Francis Merle d'Aubigni. Since 
 his day, the family have retained the name of Merle d'Aubigne. 
 At least this was the case with the son of Francis Merle, — the 
 father of oxir author, — as well as with our author himself. 
 
 George d'Aubigne^ just mentioned, whose daughter Elizabeth 
 became the wife of Francis Merle, was a descendant of Theodore 
 Agrippa d''Aubigne, who left France, in the year 1620, on 
 account of religious persecution. This Theodore Agrippa 
 d'Aubigne was no common man. The old chroniclers call him 
 un Calviniste zele^ si oneques il en Jut ; " a zealous Calvinist, if 
 there ever was one." He bought the domain of Lods, near 
 Geneva, on which he built the Chateau of Crest, which still re- 
 mains. The old Huguenot warrior handled the pen and the lyre 
 as well as the sword ; and his Tragiques, a poem full of life and 
 genius, drew a vivid picture of the court of the imbecile Henry 
 ni. of France, and his infamous mother, Catharine de Medici. 
 His Histoire Universelle de la Jin du 16?Me Siecle had the honor 
 of being publicly burnt at Paris, in the year 1620, by order of 
 Louis Xni. He wrote also the Confession de Saucy, and 
 several other works. It is related of him, that, at the age of 
 eight years, he knew well both the Latin and the Greek lan- 
 guages. At the age of fourteen, he went to Geneva, to finish 
 his studies in the " Academy," or University, of that city. 
 Having completed his course in that Institution, he returned to 
 France ; whence, as has been stated, he was compelled to fly, 
 in the year 1620. Upon establishing himself at Geneva, he be- 
 came allied, by marriage, with the families of the Burlamachi 
 and Calandrini, two of the most honorable families in that city, 
 both of Italian origin ; for Geneva was a " City of refuge" to per- 
 secuted and exiled Protestants of Italy as well as of France. 
 
 Francis Merle d'Aubigne had many children, one of whom, 
 Amie Robert Merle d'Aubigne, was born in 1755, and was the 
 father of three sons ; the oldest and the youngest of whom are 
 respectable merchants in this country — the former in New York, 
 and the latter in New Orleans — and the second is the Rev. Dr. 
 Merle d'Aubigne, the subject of this notice. Amie Robert 
 
LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XV 
 
 Merle d'Aubigne had a strong desire in his early years to con- 
 secrate his life wholly to the service of his God ; and his parents 
 allowed him to pursue the studies requisite for the right discharge 
 of the office of the ministry of the gospel. But on his father's 
 death, his uncle and guardian, ^'' par un caprice qui fit le malheur 
 de ma jeunesse^^* (as he says in his memoir, written for his oldest 
 son, William), caused him to give up his studies and embrace 
 other pursuits. 
 
 The end of this excellent man was truly tragical and deplor- 
 able. In the year 1799 he went on an important commercial 
 mission, to Constantinople and Vienna. On his return from the 
 latter city to Geneva, through Switzerland, in the autumn of that 
 year, he was met on the road, near Zurich, by the savage and in- 
 furiated hordes of Russians, who had been recently defeated by 
 the French forces under the command of Massena, and by them 
 was cruelly murdered ! 
 
 His widow, who is still living in Geneva, in a vigorous old 
 age, devoted all the energies of an active and enlightened mind 
 to the care of her fatherless children ; aud now daily thanks God 
 for having supplied her with the means of giving them a liberal 
 education. 
 
 The preceding paragraphs will suffice to give the reader some 
 knowledge of the ancestors of the subject of this biographical 
 sketch. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Merle d'Aubigne was educated in the " Aca- 
 demy" — or, as it is more commonly called by strangers, the 
 University — of his native city. After having completed the 
 course of studies in the Faculties of Letters and Philosophy, he 
 entered that of Theology. I am not certain as to the time when 
 he finished his preparations for the ministry ; but believe that it 
 was about the year 1816. 
 
 The Theological Faculty in the Academy of Geneva, when 
 Dr. Merle d'Aubigne was a student, was wholly Socinian in its 
 character. Whatever were the shades of difference in regard to 
 doctrine, which prevailed among its professors, they all agreed in 
 rejecting the proper divinity of the Saviour and of the Holy 
 Spirit, salvation through the expiatory death and intercession of 
 * Through a caprice which rendered my youth miserable. 
 
XVi LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 the former, and regeneration and sanctification bj the influences 
 of the latter. With these cardinal doctrines of the Gospel, 
 others which are considered by all Evangelical Christians to be 
 fundamental in the system of their Faith, were also renounced. 
 Alas, the same state of things exists at this day, in the School 
 which Calvin founded, and in which that great man, as well as 
 Beza, Francis Turrettin, Pictet, and other renowned men taught 
 the youth, who gathered around them, the glorious doctrines of 
 the Gospel and the Reformation. 
 
 It was under such instruction that Dr. Merle pursued his 
 studies for the sacred ministry. But it pleased God to send a 
 faithful servant to Geneva about the time that he was com- 
 pleting his theological training. This was Mr. Haldane, of Edin- 
 burgh, a wealthy andjfpalous Christian, who still protracts a long 
 and useful life, which has been spent in the service of his Mas- 
 ter. This excellent man, deploring the errors which prevailed 
 in the theological department of the Academy, endeavored to do 
 what he could, during the sojourn of a winter, to counteract 
 them. For this purpose, he invited a number of young men to 
 his rooms in the hotel in which he lodged, and there, by means 
 of an interpreter at first, he endeavored to teach them the glori- 
 ous Gospel. In doing this, he commented on the Epistle to the 
 Romans, at much length. God blessed his efforts to the salvation 
 of some ten or twelve of them. 
 
 Seldom has it happened that an equal number of young men 
 have been converted about the same time, and in one place, 
 who have been called to perform so important a part in building 
 up the kingdom of Christ. One of these men was the excellent 
 Felix Neff", of blessed memory. Another was the late Henry 
 Pyt. The greater part of them, however, still live to adorn and 
 bless the Church in France and Switzerland. But none of them 
 have become more celebrated than the subject of this notice. 
 
 Not long after his ordination. Dr. Merle set out for Germany, 
 where he spent a number of months, chiefly at Berlin. On his 
 way to that city, he passed through Eisenach, and visited the 
 Castle of Warburg, in the vicinity, famous for the retreat, if not 
 properly the imprisonment, of Luther. It was whilst gazing at 
 the walls of the room which the great Reformer had occupied, 
 
LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XVU 
 
 that the thought of writing the " History of the Reformation" 
 entered his mind, never to abandon it till its realization should 
 put the world in possession of the immortal work whose existence 
 may be said to date from that day. 
 
 From Berlin, Dr. Merle was called to Hamburgh, to preach 
 to an interesting French Protestant Church, which had been 
 planted by pious Huguenots, when compelled to leave France, 
 upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and which has 
 been continued by their descendants. In that city he spent five 
 years, diligently employing his time in amassing information on 
 the great subject upon which he had resolved to write. 
 
 From Hamburgh he was invited to Brussels by the late king 
 of Holland, to preach in a chapel which he had erected in that 
 capital, for Protestants who spoke the French language. At 
 that time, and down till 1830, Belgium (of which Brussels is 
 the capital) was united to Holland, and formed a portion of the 
 kingdom of the Netherlands. 
 
 In the year 1830, a Revolution took place in Belgium, occa- 
 sioned as much by religious as by political causes. The priests, 
 in order to deliver the country from the Protestant influence 
 which a union with Holland diffused in it, joined De Potter and 
 the other " patriots" in their revolutionary measures. The en- 
 terprise succeeded. The Dutch were driven out ; and all who 
 were considered friendly to the king, or intimately connected 
 with him, were in no little danger. Among those who were in 
 this predicament was Dr. Merle. At no small risk of his life, 
 he escaped from Belgium to Holland, where he spent a short 
 time, and thence went to his native city. 
 
 The return of Dr. Merle to Geneva was most opportune. 
 The friends of the Truth had been steadily increasing in number 
 since the year 1816, and had begun to think seriously of found- 
 ing an orthodox School of Theology, in order that pious Swiss 
 and French youth, who were looking to the ministry of the 
 Gospel, should no longer be forced to pursue their studies under 
 the Unitarian doctors of the Academy. The arrival of Dr. 
 Merle decided them for immediate action. The next year 
 (1831) the Geneva Evangelical Society was formed, one of 
 whose objects was to found the long desired Seminary. In this 
 
XVlll LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 movement Dr. Merle took a prominent part, and was placed at 
 the head of the new School of Theology. His intimate friend, 
 the excellent Mr. Gaussen, so favorably known in this country 
 for his Theopneustia, and in Switzerland for many other writings? 
 took an equal part in this important enterprise, and was chosen 
 Professor of Theology. Mr. Gaussen is one of those in Geneva 
 who have had to endure much of the " shame of the cross," and 
 he has endured it well. For the noble stand which he had taken 
 in behalf of the Truth, he was, by the government, turned out 
 of the Church of which he was for years a pastor. A man of 
 fortune, as well as of rich gifts and attainments, he has devoted 
 himself, without a salary, to the infant Institution which he and 
 Dr. Merle, sustained by some distinguished laymen — among 
 whom I may mention Col. Tronchin, Ch. Gautier, and M. Bois- 
 sier — have been the instruments, under God, of founding and of 
 raising up to its present respectable standing. Commencing 
 with some three or four young men, it has steadily increased, 
 till it has now forty students, including both the preparatory and 
 the theological departments. 
 
 This Seminary has enjoyed the talents of other valuable and 
 distinguished men. For several years, M. Galland was a pro- 
 fessor in it. The late, and still much lamented Steiger, the pupil 
 and friend of Tholuck, was a professor in it during some years ; and, 
 at present, it enjoys the services of Messrs. Pilet and La Harpe, 
 who are worthy colleagues of Merle d'Aubigne and Gaussen. 
 
 The publications of Dr. Merle have been numerous. I will 
 give the titles of the most important of them 
 
 1. Le Christianisme porle aux Nations. 
 
 Christianity carried to the Nations — a Missionary Sermon. 
 
 2. Celebration de la Cene. 
 
 A Discourse on the Lord's Supper. 
 
 3. Confession du nom de Christ. 
 
 On the Duty of Confessing Christ before the World. 
 
 4. Culte Domestique. 
 
 - On Family Worship. 
 
 5. Discours sur VEtude. 
 Discourse on Study. 
 
LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. xix 
 
 6. Eglise appelee a confess er. 
 
 The Church called to maintain the Truth. 
 
 7. Enfans de Dieu'. 
 The Children of God. 
 
 8. Etudes Chretiennes. 
 Christian Studies. 
 
 9. Foi et Science. 
 Faith and Science. 
 
 10. Miracles, ou deux Erreurs. 
 Miracles, or two Errors. 
 
 11. Voix de V Eglise. 
 Voice of the Church. 
 
 12. Voix des Anciens. 
 Voice of the Ancients. 
 
 13. Liberie des Cultes. 
 On Religious Liberty. 
 
 Most of these publications are pamphlets of from twenty pages 
 up to sixty or eighty. The last named is a volume of some 200 
 pages, and was called forth by the state of things in Geneva last 
 year, and is alluded to in the Discourse on Puseyism, where 
 the author speaks of his having played the part of Cassandra, in 
 what he had said respecting the recent Revolution in his native 
 Canton. 
 
 But Dr. Merle's great undertaking is his History of the Refor- 
 mation in the XVIth Century. The first volume of this admirable 
 work appeared in 1836. 
 
 Two others have, at intervals, followed. The author is now 
 engaged on the fourth, in which he is well advanced.* It treats 
 of the Reformation in Great Britain, and is expected with very 
 different feelings, by different religious parties in England. Nor 
 is its appearance anxiously looked for by people in England 
 only. 
 
 It is not probable that the fourth volume will appear in French 
 before the end of this present year, if even so soon. The fifth 
 and sixth volumes — for it is Dr. Merle's intention to make six 
 volumes instead of four, if God grant him life and health — will 
 
 The fourth is just issued from the press. 1846. 
 
XX LIFE OP THE AUTHOR. 
 
 not be published for some years. It is no easy task to write a 
 History of the Reformation upon the plan which Dr. Merle pur- 
 sues, — that of making authentic documents speak for themselves. 
 
 It is not my intention to write a critique on Dr. Merle's work. 
 It needs it not. The world has learned and acknowledged its 
 surprising merits. It may almost be said that the History of the 
 Reformation was never written until his matchless talent, for 
 judiciously selecting and skilfully arranging facts, and graphically 
 presenting them to the reader's mind, was brought to the sub- 
 ject. With the art of a conjuror, if I may so speak, he causes 
 scene after scene to pass before us, on which the dramatis per soikb 
 are brought forward with almost the vividness of the objects 
 which are presented to the bodily eye. For the first time, vast 
 numbers of readers will learn the true characters of Luther, and 
 Melancthon, and Calvin, and the other Reformers. And for the 
 first time, the Reformation, with all the various and boundless 
 benefits which it has conferred upon the world, is beginning to 
 be, in some measure, comprehended by mankind. 
 
 Three translations of the three volumes of this great work 
 which have appeared have been published in Great Britain — 
 those of Messrs. Walther, Kelly, and Scott — of which the first 
 and the last are better than the second. Mr. Kelly's, however, 
 has had a wider circulation in Great Britian than either of the 
 others, because of the low price at which it has been published. 
 Mr. Scott's translation is the latest of all, and is not only ex- 
 tremely faithful but is also accompanied with valuable notes. It 
 is published by the Messrs. Blackie, at Glasgow, in twenty-two 
 numbers, each for a shilling, and every second one is adorned 
 with an admirable portrait of one of the principal personages who 
 figured in the Reformation — Luther, Melancthon, Tetzel, Leo X., 
 Calvin, the Elector of Saxony, etc. This edition would be 
 called by the French an affaire de luxe ; but no one who could 
 aflTord to pay for it would regret the difference of the price. 
 
 It maybe insignificant to remark — but it will answer some in- 
 quiries which have been addressed to me — that Dr. Merle d'Au- 
 bigne is a large fine looking man, of most agreeable manners ; 
 and personally, as well as mentally considered, he would be pro- 
 nounced by every one to be altogether worthy to speak of Mar- 
 
LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XXi 
 
 tin Luther, John Knox, and the other giants of the Reformation. 
 Nevertheless, I am pained to say it, his health does not corre- 
 spond with the robustness of his frame, nor the vigor of his ap- 
 pearance. He suffers much at times from complaints of the 
 chest. I am sure that in making this statement, I shall secure 
 the prayers of many a reader, that his valuable life may be spared 
 many years to bless the Church and the world. 
 
 R. B. 
 New Yoek, Jan., 1843. 
 
COITEITS. 
 
 I. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 HISTORY OF CHKISTIANISM, 27 
 
 II. 
 THE CHURCH AND HER VOCATION, 49 
 
 III. 
 THE CHILDREN OF CK)D, 67 
 
 IV. 
 
 CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST, 79 
 
 V. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS, lOI 
 
 VI. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM, .• 125 
 
 VII. 
 FAMILY WORSHIP, 145 
 
 VIII. 
 CHRISTIAN STUDIES, 159 
 
 IX. ^ 
 
 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE, 1*^ 
 
Xxiv CONTENTS. 
 
 X. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH ONE, 201 
 
 XI. 
 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY, 223 
 
 XII. 
 LUTHER AND CALVIN 245 
 
 XIII. 
 PUSEYISM EXAMINED, 273 
 
THE STUDY 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM, 
 
 ITS UTILITY FOR THE PRESENT EPOCH. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY THOMAS S. GRIMKE, 
 
 or CHARLBSTON, S. C. 
 
THi^OL 
 
 HI^RY P>e.€HRISTIANlSM. 
 
 A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT GENEVA, JAN. 2, 1832. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 My design is to address you ou the History of the Re- 
 formation in Germany — in the 16th century. Literature, the 
 Sciences, the Arts, Philosophy, the Civil History of nations, have 
 been successively in this city, and in the midst of you, subjects of 
 instruction by men justly celebrated. 
 
 I invite you to a new field — the history of Christianism.* — I 
 ought then to assign the reasons of my choice. I ought to dis- 
 close the advantages which I discover in the study of that history 
 at this epoch. 
 
 You are, perhaps, at this very time, my justification. — That we 
 should believe it possible to fix the attention of men in our day on 
 the history of the Christian religion ; that we should command an 
 audience desirous of hearing it : this. Gentlemen, is a sign of the 
 times. It proves that men of the world, absorbed until now in the 
 exterior forms, the ornaments, the splendid dress of nations, and of 
 their history, have at length begun to consider what is, what ought 
 to be their heart and life. 
 
 And yet, who is it, who dares to venture on this new career.' 
 Who dares to follow so many men, admirable for genius, pro- 
 found in knowledge, and skilful in the art of speakmg; whose 
 privilege it is to gather every winter in this city, an audience of 
 every age, and of both sexes .' Powerful indeed must be the mo- 
 tive, which brings forward one who has been called, it is true, to 
 preach the everlasting Gospel ; but who has never yet ventured to 
 speak save in the Sanctuary, and with the aid of that holy office 
 which exalts the humblest, and animates the most feeble. 
 
 This motive is the excellence of that study, to which I invite 
 you. 
 
 There are in the life of each man in particular, and of nations 
 in general, three great elements, politics, /e/^ers (comprehending, of 
 
 * I have used the word Christianism, instead of Christianity, throughout 
 the translation, the former being the term in the original. It appears to be 
 singular that Christianism in French should mean the Christian Religion 
 and Christianity, Christendom or the nations professing itj whilst i" 
 English they signify the reverse, though the former has both meanings. — 
 TVansIator. 
 
28 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 
 
 course, the sciences, the arts, and philosophy), and religion. And 
 it might almost seem, as though these three elements have appro- 
 priated to themselves the three great modifications of man. The 
 political has engrossed his will and vigor of action. The literary, 
 his intelligence, and all the variety of his imaginations and thoughts. 
 The religious, his heart and the energy of his affections. But re- 
 ligion, enthroned as it were in ilie centre, extends over the whole 
 man her sceptre of power. 
 
 There are then, according to these elements, three species of 
 the history of man — the political, the literary, the religious. The 
 History of Religion, it cannot be denied, is the least cultivated in 
 our day. How zealously, on the contrary, do not men study 
 political history, believing that they shall discover there, as augurs 
 in the entrails of victims, the prognostics and the key of futurity ? 
 How many systems of histoiy, now picturesque, now philosophi- 
 cal, are passing in review before us ! How many eminent men, 
 within our own walls, has not their narrative of national events 
 immortalized ! With what ardor is not the history of letters 
 studied ! Who has not read, again and again, the Lyceum of La 
 Harpe, the works of Ginguene, of Schlegel, of De Stael, of Sis- 
 mondi, and of so many others ? Still more is done. Each fashions 
 this history for himself: he approaches these documents, these 
 materials, so formidable in the other two departments ; he reads 
 them, again and again, with delight, because they are the master- 
 works of genius. Every educated man examines, compiles, 
 judges, creates an entire history of letters in his own mind. 
 
 But as to the History of Christianism, who is engaged in that ? 
 Who studies it ? A handful of our contemporaries, if indeed so 
 many. And yet, I regard it undoubtedly the most Avorthy of the 
 attention of men : as that which, in our age, furnishes the most 
 salutary lessons, and in whose prophetic entrails we shall learn 
 correctly what is sought in vain elsewhere. 
 
 Perhaps this first silting will be suitably emp)loyed in the en- 
 deavor, at the outset, to remove the prejudices entertained in our 
 day, against studying the History of Christianism : and I shall 
 afterwards establish the usefulness of this history, in the present 
 age of the world. 
 
 One of the distinctive features of the past age, was a spirit of 
 profaneness and mockery. The History of Christianism was af- 
 fected by it. This imposing edifice, which appeared as the ivork 
 of ages, was assailed with sarcasms, that confounded in one sen- 
 tence of condemnation, Catholicism and Chri-stianism, the Church 
 of Men and the Church of God. The structure of Men, which 
 might perhaps have resisted all serious assaults, soon crumbled 
 with a loud crash, before the light breath of ridicule. But in its 
 fall, it drew along with itself the power which had overturned it. 
 Man passes not in vain through such a crisis. He acquired 
 beneath the ruins a new temper. Baptized in blood, our age 
 could no longer exist in the frivolous atmosphere of its predecessor. 
 The profane La Harpe, in some respects the successor of Voltaire, 
 in the office of President of the Anti-Christian League, came forth 
 
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 29 
 
 a Christian from the dungeons of the Eevohition, into which he 
 had been cast an unbeliever. The tempest of the Revohition has 
 not, however, entirely swallowed up the impious spirit which 
 roused it. Still does it subsist among us, although a stranger per- 
 haps to the characteristic spirit of our age. The History of Chris- 
 tiauism is still assailed by ridicule, ui which you may jierhaps 
 discover, at times, some grains of the wit of Aristophanes and 
 Voltaire. That ridicule must leave some impression on light 
 minds, which may thus, for a season at least, become indifferent 
 to grave and useful studies. It is not expected of me to answer 
 sarcasms : one word suffices. Doubtless, ye scoffers of the age ! 
 ye may find on this or that passage in the history of Religion, a 
 brilliant quibble of heartless raillery ; but there is in Christianism 
 and its annals, something beyond yoi;r reach. History exhibits it 
 as an angel, bearing from Asia to Europe, from Europe through 
 the whole Earth, and among all Nations, light and life: destroying 
 evil everywhere in its course, and leaving everywhere, the in- 
 corruptible seeds of good. Whoever has met with it, has been 
 liealed by the salutary influence which it sheds around. Before 
 such achievements of benevolence, the weapons of ridicule are 
 impotent. The pointed shafts of the scoffer never can destroy the 
 work of God. Childish arrogance only could attempt it : timid 
 vreakness only could fear it. 
 
 There are men of a graver cast, though not less incredulous, who 
 attack with other arms, the history of religion. What, they ask, 
 can the History of Clmstianism reveal .' Why do you thus.^un- 
 advisedly ransack its annals .' What can you derive from them .' 
 Christianism has been injurious to humanity. Man has been kept 
 by it in swaddling clothes. Its influence on the civil and political 
 state of Nations has been unfavorable. Such Avords afllict the 
 soul by the deep ingratitude, the utter blindness from which they 
 flow. We shall not even mention the blessings of Christianism in 
 Eternity, though these are its chief object ; but shall stand on the 
 very ground to which our adversaries challenge us. " Take," 
 will we say to them, " a map: lay before us a statistical view of 
 nations. Where is light.' and where darkness.' Where is lib- 
 erty ? and where slavery .' Do you not observe the shadows 
 which rest on all the unchristianized States, and the light which 
 covers Christian countries ? What is it, that rends the black and 
 polluted veil, which hung so long over the shores of Otaheile, of 
 Eimeo, of Hawai .' What but Clu"istiani.sm .' Take now a pen- 
 cil ; mark by successive shadows, the regions, where knowledge, 
 morality, religion, prevail the most ; you will find but one pro- 
 gress, that of Christianism itself. Wherever the Gospel shines the 
 brightest, there will you behold most abundant, the chief bless- 
 ings of humanity. The United States of America, Great Britain, 
 otiier Evangelical countries, Avhcre the light of the Eternal Word 
 is shed in all its purity, will be at the top of the scale : and the 
 transient shades which lead us from Christian to heathen regions, 
 distinguish those portions of the earth, where, though Christianism 
 
30 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 
 
 exists, it is stifled by the human elements commixed with it.* 
 But why have recourse to this geographical coup d'aill The 
 history of Christianism will itself give the answer to your objec- 
 tions. There will it be seen elevating gradually from age to age, 
 {he character of nations. Still more : it will there be discovered, 
 that even the corruptions of Christianism, those, against which 
 you contend the most strenuously, have been useful to humanity, 
 whenever they have retained the least element of the religion of 
 Jesus Christ. There will you behold those Convents (the just 
 objects of our reprobation) becoming, as it were, unconsciously, 
 depositories for the preservation of so many ancient monuments 
 
 * This passage recalls a similar one in my Address before the Literary 
 and Philosophical Society of South Carolina, delivered 9th May, 1 827. It 
 is found at pages 23, 24, 25, of the volume containing my principal pieces 
 on Literature and Education, published at New Haven, April, 1831, by H. 
 Howe. It is as follows : 
 
 " My subject calls, however, for a free, impartial review of the character 
 of the Reformation, and of its influence on Science; nor is it possible to 
 examine the Histoiy of that period, in any point of view, however remote 
 from Religion, without a continual reference to the state of the Catholic 
 Church, in connection with government and society, both spiritual and 
 temporal — with the Arts and Sciences — with the fortunes and characterof 
 nations — with the education and general welfare of the people. Consider- 
 ing the Reformation as matter of history and philosophy, it must be a chief 
 ingredient in every discussion, on enlarged principles, of the state of the 
 world for the last three hundred years, of its actual condition now, and of 
 its future prospects. Besides, the Protestants of these United States may 
 well believe that, without the Reformation, they would have been rather 
 like the South Americans, before the late Revolutions, than what they 
 now are, the wonder, and admiration, and example of the world. They 
 may well believe, also, that their Catholic brethren, fellow-heirs of the 
 same glorious and inestimable heritage of Religious, Political and Civil 
 Rights, never would have enjoyed, in any Catholic country, the full 
 measure of power and liberty, of property and happiness, which the 
 youngest child of the Reformation confers on the eldest daughter of the 
 Christian household. Under these considerations, and with these senti- 
 ments, I proceed to execute the task which I have undertaken ; satisfied 
 that my opinions will be those not merely of a Protestant, but of an Ameri- 
 can, and of a Man, the lover of truth, the thoughtful student of historical 
 philosophy. In many of the following pages, I shall adopt the very lan- 
 guage of Villers ; especially in those pages which express the severe, but 
 deliberate judgment of that invaluable writer, as to the degraded condition 
 of the whole circle of knowledge, at the close of the fifteenth century. 
 
 " I have said that the Reformation only gave or could have given to all 
 LITERATURE, not merely to the literature of Theology, a decisive, permanent 
 character. To express it otherwise, my judgment is, that without the 
 Reformation, the revival of learning, which had commenced, would have 
 terminated as all others had, in public ostentation, princely patronage, and 
 the dazzling homage of Genius and Taste, still intent 
 
 'To luap tlie shrine of luxury and pride, 
 Witli incense, kindkd at tlie Muse's flame.' 
 
 " But THE PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE would havc remained almost, if not alto- 
 gether, in the same degraded and miserable condition, as to civil, political, 
 and religious rights, as to education, as to social improvement, and indi- 
 
HISTORY OP CHRISTIANISM. 31 
 
 of letters, amidst the deluge of Northern Barbarians, and when the 
 flood had passed, again sending forth those treasures. But there, 
 you will especially behold that illustrious Reformation, some of 
 whose features I shall sketch, which delivered the human mind 
 from the chains which had oppressed it, and which has become 
 to the Nations, the dawn of a new day of light, evangelization, 
 and life. In its history, Christianism is everywhere exhibited as 
 the friend of human nature. 
 
 But, you must confess, say other men of the age, that the his- 
 tory of Christianity reveals to us many things, intrigues, wars and 
 the like, which cannot but expose it, and diminish that respect, 
 which you demand for it. This we deny. Christianism is a di- 
 vine work, and of course perfectly pure. Whatever has flowed 
 from itself is good. But, in descending from Heaven to Earth, 
 
 vidual welfare. To illustrate this opinion, let us advert to the actual state 
 of Europe, before the French Revolution, bearing in mind the remark of 
 Montesquieu, that Loyola would have governed the world, but for Luther 
 and Calvin. He, in defiance of the Reformers, has swayed Italy, Spain 
 and Portugal: they rescued from him and his Church, and have ruled 
 Holland, England and Scotland. Ignatius has governed South America: 
 Calvin and Luther these United States. Is there now an American, 
 whether of the Reformed or Romish Creed, who would exchange the con- 
 dition of the Protestant Countries which have been named, for that of 
 Southern Europe or Southern America f Is it not obvious that Society 
 has been comparatively stationary for 3000 years in these, while Protes- 
 tant nations have been continually advancing? Look at the wonderful 
 progress of Holland, Great Britain, and our own country, since the Refor- 
 mation. Place beside them, Italy, Spain, and Porlugal, and assign, if 
 practicable, any adequate causes for the incalculable difference, except the 
 principles of the Reformers. Every student of the philosophy of history, 
 I feel assured, re-echoes the sentiment, these only are the causes. 
 If then, as I have already said, Science and Art are nothing worth, unless they 
 bless the people as well as adorn the State, and if, in Protestant countries, they 
 have thus blessed, as well as adorned, beyond all parallel ; it becomes a 
 question most interesting and momentous, how have tl»e principles of the 
 Reformers wrought this change in the use and application of the whole 
 circle of knowledge? I proceed to attempt an explanation; though I be- 
 lieve that every improved mind already comprehends the development of 
 my subject. 
 
 " The Reformers began with the fundamental pv[ncii[)\e, the obligation and 
 correspondent right of private examination and private judgment. Thoy admitted 
 no superior to control and limit this duty and this right, save God and his 
 Scriptures. Whatever uninspired man had done or could do, whether indi- 
 vidually or collectively, was acknowledged as a guide to the understanding, 
 but not as authority to bind the conscience and the judgment. The position 
 was taken that Man not only had a right, in regard to his fellow-men, but 
 was obliged by the law of God to study his Word, and by that standard, to 
 examine the history of the Church; her doctrine, worship, and ceremonies; 
 the acts of councils ; the writings of the Fathers and the scholastic theo- 
 logy; and last, though not least, the authority of the Pope. Tins w.\s, in 
 RELIGION, 'the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE' — and by Its principles 
 the Reformers did for the shackled mind, what the angel did for Peter in the 
 prison ; they did for the mind's eye, what Ananias did for Paul, when, at 
 his touch, the Anostle received his sight." — Translator. 
 
33 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 
 
 from God to Man, it has suffered alloy. Christianism in man, and 
 ^ven in the holiest of men, is not Christianism in God, that is to 
 say, in Jesus Christ. Impute not to God, that of which man only 
 is guilty. The water which falls from heaven is pure, and even 
 the purest of all, for it has been distilled in the wonderful appara- 
 tus of God. And yet, scarcely has it touched the earth, Avhen it is 
 already defiled. How often, alas ! will not the hardened heart of 
 man suffer the life-giving waters of Christianism to penetrate his 
 bosom ? To those heavenly influences how obstinately is it 
 closed.' Man drives away religion from his heart, and is content 
 to wear it without, as a cloak to his sins. And then, the vulgar 
 dignify, with the name of Christianism, what is thus displayed to 
 their eyes ! History will rend this hypocritical mantle : and will 
 reveal the passions which it hid, and which were the only moving 
 cause in him, who had enveloped himself thus artfully. There 
 will you see, for example, that those irreligious wars, called reli- 
 gious, sprang not from Christianity, but from the immediate influ- 
 ence of that very j)ower of evil, which Christianism caiue to 
 destroy. There Mali you discover, that those maxims of the Gov- 
 ernors, of the chiefs of the Church, which you justly condemn as 
 disgraceful, were directed against the religion itself of Jesus 
 Christ; that this was the victim which they immolated, not the 
 tongue which uttei'ed them. History justifies Cluistianism, dissi- 
 pates every cloud and every prejudice, and all the hatred where- 
 with man has been pleased to surround that sublime and hea- 
 venly image, which d"wells in the midst of ages ; and exhibits it 
 to the admiration of men, in all its simplicity, innocence, beauty 
 and glory. 
 
 If Christianism be innocent of all that is usually laid to its 
 charge, at least, it will be said, the history of the Church is the 
 most barren, the most destitute of life and emotion, and conse- 
 quently the least interesting, which can be imagined. Councils 
 and decrees of Councils, Popes and bulls, metaphysical doctrines, 
 subtile distinctions, scholastic systems, are not these all that it 
 offers ? Doubtless, it would be strange that the history of this 
 kingdom of God, which its founder said should be a living seed, 
 that would become a great tree, full of sap, and casting all around 
 its beneficent shade : or as leaven, which should leaven the whole 
 lump, that is, should communicate life to the Avorld ; that such a 
 history should abound in unfruitfulness and subtilty. Not so, 
 for there are two histories. There is, if you please, what we 
 shall call " the History of the Church," that is, of human institu- 
 tions, forms, doctrines, and actions; and "the History of Chris- 
 tianism," which has brought into the world, and still preseri'es, 
 a new life, a life divine ; the history of the government of that 
 King who has said, " the words which I speak unto you are spi- 
 rit and life : " the liistory of that regenerative influence of Chris- 
 tianism, through which so many individuals and nations have ex- 
 perienced a thorough change in their moral and spiritual condi- 
 tion: the history of the first and second creation, Avhich fashions 
 a people for God upon earth: the history of that invisible Church, 
 
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 33 
 
 which is the assembly of the first born : Heb xii. 23. Most His- 
 torians, it is true, have hitherto presented only the barren history 
 of the exterior Church ; because they themselves were only the 
 outward Man, and had scarcely even imagined the life of the 
 spiritual Man. But is this a proof that it does not exist ? Grant 
 that human forms have destroyed this new dominion of truth, 
 justice and love, which proceeds from the Father. Because you 
 see at first only a dry and hard shell, will you reject the delicious 
 fruit which is concealed under this homely covering? In sea- 
 sons of barrenness and death, the Church could only have a life- 
 less and sterile history. But Life, while descending to the Church 
 of our day, has descended also in its history. Reserve your objec- 
 tions for those who may continue to drag on in the barren field 
 of rationalism and human opinions. The old man sees in the 
 field of the Church but dry bones. The new man there discerns 
 that si^irit which blows from the four winds, and creates for the 
 Eternal " an exceeding great army," Ezek. xxxvii. 10. There is 
 then a new History of Christianism : that which Ave have underta- 
 ken to unfold and defend : and not the history of human forms and 
 barrenness. 
 
 " Do you then imagine that you shall find in Christianism, life, 
 elevation, generosity," says a gloomy philosophy, which pretends 
 that the individual good of each man ought to be the noblest ob- 
 ject of his life. " What an illusion ! Those remarkable actions, 
 that self-sacrifice, of which the history of Christianism seems to 
 furnish examples, are but hidden passions, ambition, avarice, sen- 
 suality, envy, covered Avith obvious veils : an egotism, somewhat 
 more refined than that of the multitude. The only diflerence be- 
 tween the grcssest of men, and the heroes of the Christian history, 
 is that these know how to disguise somewhat more ingeniously 
 the passions which govern them. And if all be not thus explained, 
 a deplorable fanaticism and enthusiasm will account for tlie rest." 
 Such is the language that has been held, more especially of the 
 history which I am called to lay before you, and of the most illus- 
 trious characters v.'hich it presents to your view. Gloomy and 
 hideous system ! which only taking account of the corruption of 
 man, is ignorant of those pure and sublime inspirations which 
 ]iroceed from the Spirit of God : a system, which overturns the 
 whole moral hierarchy, since the most dissolute and the most 
 criminal of men would be at least sincere, by appearing such as 
 they really are ; whilst the flower of humanity, men of disinte- 
 restedness and self-sacrifice, would be a band of deceivers and 
 knaves, whose only aim would have been to conceal the disgrace- 
 ful motives of their actions. Seriously to refute such a system 
 would almost be hig'i treason against Divinity and humanity. 
 The History of Christian sm shall itself be, moreover, the most 
 triumphant viiulication. It will open to you the gates of a world, 
 different from that uihabited by the natural man.. It will display 
 to you a power, which a narrow-minded philosophy cannot com- 
 prehend. The majority of men comprehend notliing but mate- 
 rialism. Some, more enlightened, attain to rationalism. Tiie his- 
 2* 
 
34 HISTORY OF CHRTSTIANISM. 
 
 tory of Christlanism will carry US Still higher. It will disclose to 
 ns spiritualism, Avhich is the true, the primitive life of man, of 
 which he was deprived, and which Christianism comes to restore. 
 It will constrain us to acknowledge that life to be more certain, 
 more real, than rationalism, and even materialism. It will set 
 before us, and we shall almost touch with our hands, a strength 
 of faith, which is given from above to man, and which overcomes 
 the world and all the passions of the heart. It will teach us to 
 understand this profound thought, " The first man is of the earth, 
 earthy ; but the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the 
 earthy such are they also that are earthy : and as is the heavenly, 
 such are they also that are heavenly." 1 Cor. xv. 47, •^S. 
 
 " At least, however," it will be said, " it is certain and irre- 
 futable, that the history of the Church most frequently presents us 
 with controversies, agitations, quarrels, wars. What interest 
 would you have us take in such things .' How, indeed, could we 
 esteem such a history ?" Controversies, agitations, say you ? 
 And are such the motives for your contempt of the History of 
 Christianism .' But let me ask you, what beneficent principle, what 
 fortunate conception for humanity has ever been established, with- 
 out agitation, without a struggle, without a conflict .' Philoso- 
 phers ! had not your Galileo a contest to maintain, whilst he was 
 teaching the movements of the heavens, and do not yon honor 
 him the more for it ? Literati ! had not your Corneille to endure 
 discussion and criticism, whilst he Avas creating the language and 
 poetry of France .' And you, ye Liberals of the age ! who, per- 
 haps, chiefly assail the history of the religion of Jesus Christ, was 
 your Mirabeau without combats in the tribune ? and when he blew 
 the trumpet of new-born liberty, was the war, of which he 
 sounded the signal, a short one ? or rather, are we not now as be- 
 tween two armies of nations, in battle array against each other, 
 brandishing with imiiatience the arms which must decide the 
 victory ? And Christianism, which attacks man in his dearest 
 passions, though they are ihe very cause of his misfortunes, in his 
 love of riches, his ambition, his vain-glory, in a word, in this 
 inferior self, which man idolizes, and of which a sublimer self is 
 the slave, shall this Christianism be alone exempt from, struggles 
 and contests ? The burthened atmosphere is only purified by tem- 
 pests : and the crisis of his disorder is deliverance to the sick. 
 And, in like manner, tliat truth may possess the earth, she must 
 combat hand to hand with error. But the end, the result of Chris- 
 tianism is peace. Peace upon earth .' Such was the cry from 
 Heaven, when the earth received its Saviour. We are marching 
 onwards to peace — Let us then march onwards, if necessary, 
 through the fire of battle. 
 
 But I am deceived if the history of the religion of Jesus Christ 
 do not present to you far other objects than agitations and troubles 
 It exhibits a phenomenon altogether unique, and to be found 
 nowhere else. It offers to you peace, in the midst of trouble : 
 meekness of spirit amidst the conflagration of the passions. It 
 will lead you to the sanctuary of the men of God ; and whilst 
 
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 35 
 
 around thein, agitations, conspiracies, and terrible cries prevail, 
 you shall behold them calm, cheerful, and full of a peace which 
 passeth all understanding-. Satisfied with having borne witness to 
 the truth, they have committed their cause to the Eternal, and re- 
 main tranquil and at rest, waiting on him. Of this, the history of 
 the Reformation and of that of Luther, in particular, will furnish 
 you illustrious examples. The history of Christianism makes 
 known the only real peace which has ever been upon earth. 
 
 Are not such studies, say respectable men, but of unsettled 
 opinions, at least fitted to confuse its on religious subjects, to strip 
 us of our faith, and to lead us into skepticism and incredulity .' 
 There is nothing, after the Word of God, better suited to save us 
 from incredulity and superstition, and to attach us to true Chris- 
 tianism, than the history of the religion of Jesus Christ. Undoubt- 
 edly, if you take one Ecclesiastical Historian, who presents a 
 Religion and the Church in Popes and Councils ; or another who 
 arrays them in a meagre natural theology, lightly shaded with 
 Christianism, and in the barren instructions of human reason ; or 
 another still, who exhibits them through metaphysical dogmas or 
 scholastic distinctions — such would undoubtedly disgust you with 
 what each would call religion. But where is the great evil ? 
 Take, on the contrary, a historian, who presents to you the religion 
 of Jesus Christ, such as it is in reality, " the light and the life of 
 the world." Such a history, I feel assured, would make you love 
 that religion. There is still more. If other considerations have 
 shaken your faith, this study will strengthen it. The enemies of 
 Religion, of Christianism, and of the Reformation, in particular, 
 will perhaps exclaim, that craft, enthusiasm, credulity or incre- 
 dulity, have accomplished these two great revolutions in the world. 
 They will tell you that men had not time to examine : that they 
 were accomplished by means of a commotion, from which man- 
 kind were astonished to find that they had come forth Christian 
 and Protestant. Let us stretch forth the torch of history, and all 
 these phantoms of a hostile imagination instantly vanish. Then 
 do you see how everything has been examined, discussed, tried; 
 how every inch of ground has been defended by the adversary. 
 Abandoning the field of history, does he occupy that of reasoning ? 
 Are you gravely a.ssured that Christianism is contrary to human 
 reason.' Are all those objections rei)eated,so much boasted of in 
 our day, as the fruits of the advancement of the age, and aimed 
 against religion itself, against the Divinity of the Saviour, salvation 
 by grace, and the fall of man .' History still has something to say. 
 She teaches you that these are shafts, long since used and broken ; 
 the ideas of Greek and Pagan authors revived ; for she will point 
 you to them in Celsus, and Porphyry, and Hierocles, Greek and 
 Heathen Av^riters. On tlie one hand, history shows that all these 
 objections, so vaunted in our day, were employed from the earliest 
 ages, against truth and the Church, which is its depository : and, 
 on the other hand, she shows you that very Church, advancing 
 unceasingly amidst these assaults, growing, and extending every- 
 where its benefits. Fear not then ; for these assaults will no more 
 
36 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 
 
 injure the Church and arrest its progress now, than they have 
 hitherto. During eighteen centuries, the httle prejudices of the 
 human mind have accustomed it to these attacks ; and with little 
 or no anxiety on these subjects, the Church marches onward 
 through eighteen centuries, to the triumph which her Head is pre- 
 paring for her. 
 
 But is there not reason to fear, that the history of the Church, 
 and of the Eeformation in particular, may revive polemics, above 
 all against the Roman Catholics, and may re-open the wounds of 
 the Western Church, as yet but imperfectly healed ? I believe the 
 reverse. History will doubtless show us, in a general way, truth 
 on one side and error on the other. But she Avill also show us 
 good and evil mixed here and there ; she will show us, on the 
 side of the Catholics, many a true Christian, although in some 
 respects certainly but little enlightened ; and on the side of the 
 Protestants, many a man im worthy of that name. She will show 
 us Catholicism, adding without doubt many things to the Word 
 of God, and preserving nevertheless most of the fundamental doc- 
 trines of Christianism, the depravity of man, salvation through the 
 atonement, the essential divinity of the Redeemer, the indispen- 
 sable work of the Holy Sj^irit in the heart. And to pass thence to 
 the history of the Reformation — I shall be a Protestant — I pro- 
 claim beforehand — Yet not as a sectarian, but as a Christian. I 
 desire not to be unmindful of the resjDect which is due to men, in 
 whose ranks have shone the names of Laurence de Bibra, Sado- 
 let, Borromeo, Vincent de Paul, Pascal, Fenelon. It shall not be 
 my province to strike Catholicism with redoubled blows : that 
 was the affair of I-uther's age ; it was done then, and is not the 
 business of our age : but it shall be alone my object, if I can ac- 
 complish it, to invest with a touching influence the living princi- 
 ple, which produced in the sixteenth century a great religious 
 regeneration, and which must produce the same in our day. I 
 shall notice the evil deeds of Protestants when I meet \vith them. 
 I shall notice the good actions of Catholics whenever I see them : 
 and perhaps a favorable trait incidentally mentioned by a narra- 
 tor (I cannot say by a historian) of the Reformation, will soothe the 
 mind more readily than apologies for Catholicism, in the mouth of 
 one of its priests. 
 
 But then it is lastly said, you must confess that the study of 
 Christianism is advantageous to theologians only : but that we 
 have nothing to do with it; that to us it is useless. I take the dis- 
 tinction : certainly it is not necessary to salvation : the know- 
 ledge of Jesus Christ is alone sufficient : and if we were address- 
 ing those who were indifferent to all history, we should perhaps 
 be less favorably situated for a reply. But Ave address an audi- 
 ence, who have not neglected the literary and political history of 
 Nations. We then say to you — Why should you reject that of 
 Christianism ? If this concerns only divines, assuredly political 
 history is the province only of Magistrates and Princes. When- 
 ever the members of Councils of State, and of some other bodies, 
 shall be the only students of civil history, I may understand that 
 
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 37 
 
 only Ministers of the Gospel should devote themselves to religious 
 history. If there be a history which you desired to study, ought 
 not that of religion to stand first ? Of the three great elements of 
 history — politics, letters, religion — is not religion the most univer- 
 sal, and that which ought, above all, to interest each member of 
 society ? Had you not a soul and a God, before you had literary 
 and political sympathies ? Is not religion paramount in whatever 
 is most dear and sacred in man ? Let us grant that hitherto you 
 have repelled religion as to yourselves, and that you desire to 
 study that only which influences the destinies of man, is not 
 Christianism the moving principle of political development, of in- 
 tellectual labor ? What but this has given, and still gives, the most 
 powerful influence to the social life, to the literary genius of mod- 
 ern nations ? The study of the History of Christianism useless ! Is 
 not this to say it is useless in a steam-boat, to study the machinery 
 which communicates motion to the Avhole vessel ; that it is suffi- 
 cient to study the vessel itself, the planks and rigging, which that 
 machinery impels. The religion of Jesus Christ is the machinery 
 which moves the world. 
 
 Bat this very usefulness of that religion, especially at this 
 present time, remains to be laid before you. 
 
 Jesus Christ founded, in the midst of men, a kingdom of God ; 
 and thenceforward the history of the human race, composed till 
 then but of scattered, unconnected fragments, jiossesscd a centre, 
 to which everything might and ought to be referred. This divine 
 kingdom gave unity to the Nations of the Earth, and to their 
 history — and through it, isolated members became a body. 
 
 One of the noblest and most essential ideas of our age, as yet, 
 perhaps but indistinctly traced on many minds, but which must 
 continnally become more and more the fundamental thought of 
 those who reflect and believe, i.s that in the new period now 
 opening before us, there will be no longer, so to sjieak, a personal 
 history of nations, but a great history of human nature. Our age 
 is the centre, where the numerous threads from various points are 
 united, and thence issue in one cord. And what is this new 
 period, but the fulfihuent of the destinies of Christianism ? Whilst 
 some philosophers saw indistinctly, but yesterday, something of 
 this vast centralization of the races of men, Christianism, opening 
 the annals of a peo]ile, who had crucified their divine and eternal 
 foiuider, exhibits there to the world the annunciation of this 
 mighty event in the histoiy of man, declared two thousand years 
 before its occurrence, to Abraham the Chaldean," in thee shall all 
 families of the Earrh be blessed," Gen. xii 3 : and proclaimed 
 still more clearly two hundred years after, by an old man to his 
 children, around his death-bed, when casting a prophetic look on 
 the future, and announcing this Messenger, who was to issue from 
 the midst of them, he adds, " Unto him .shall tiie gathering of the 
 people be," Gen. xlix. 10. Words of peace, which that mysterious 
 person, when he appeared here below, rejjeats to his disciples 
 in language still more striking, if that be possible, " There shall 
 be one fold and one shepherd,'' John x. IG. Tlie religions of 
 
89 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 
 
 antiquity rendered impossible this vast assembly of nations. 
 Like the languages of Babel, they were so many walls, which 
 separated nations from one another. The tribes of the Earth wor- 
 shipped only National Gods — those Gods only suited the nations 
 who made Ihem. They had no points of contact, none of sympa- 
 thy with any other people. Falsehood has a thousand strange 
 faces, not resembling each other. Truth only is one, and this only 
 can unite all the races of men. The idea of a imiversal kingdom 
 of truth and holiness was a stranger to the ancient world. And 
 if some sages had a vague and obscure presentiment of it ; with 
 them it was but a conception without the possibility of their even 
 imagining what might be its reality. Christ came and immediately 
 accomplished Avhat the religions and sages of the world had not 
 even been able to foresee. He founds a spiritual kingdom, to which 
 all Nations are called. He overturns, according to the energetic lan- 
 guage of his Apostle, the fences, the middle wall of partition 
 which divided nations, and " hath made both one" — " for to make 
 in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace." Eph. ii. 
 14, 15. Christianism is not like the ancient religions, a doctrine 
 adapted to a certain degree of development in nations ; it is a 
 truth from heaven, which is able at the same time to act on man 
 under every grade of improvement and climate. It bestows on 
 human nature, whatever may be its rudeness, or the diversities of 
 changes which letters and philosophy may have produced, the 
 principle of a new and truly divine life. And this life is to be at 
 once the great means of development to all nations, and the centre 
 of their unity. With its appearance, commenced in the universe, 
 the only real cosmopolitism. Citizens of Judea, of Pontus, of 
 Greece, of Egypt, of Rome, till then mutual enemies, embrace 
 like brothers. Christianism is that tree, of which the Scriptures 
 speak, who.se leaves are " for the healing of the nations.'* Apocal. 
 xxii. V. 2. It acts at the same time on the most opposite states 
 of society. It regenerates and vivifies the world, corrupted by the 
 Cassars ; and soon after softens and civilizes the barbarous hordes 
 of the North. And, at this very time, it produces similar effects on 
 the citizens of London, Paris, and Berlin, and on the savages of 
 Greenland, Caffraria, and the Sandwich Islands. The net is cast 
 over the Avhole earth, and the day cometh when a heavenly hand 
 shall hold captive in it all the races of men. Ye have perceived, 
 men of the age, that we are passing out of the period of nations, 
 and entering on that of human nature ; but fashion not for your- 
 selves a paltry standard for the union of nations. A new hier- 
 archy, with its common frame, cannot be the bond of unity, nor 
 political liberalism, which carries tempests and discord in its 
 bosom. Christ is this ensign of which the prophet speaks. Is. xi. 
 12.; and around which " shall the gathering of the people be," 
 Gen. xlix. 10. 
 
 But whilst many in our day hail, at this moment, the dawn of a 
 new re-organization, others, on the contrary, behold in it only an 
 epoch of dissolution. And these two opinions, apparently oppo- 
 site, are perfectly harmonious; since dissolution must precede re- 
 
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 39 
 
 organization. The two great powers of man have been unable to 
 resolve the problem of human nature. The hierarchy had under- 
 taken it, but failed : and the iron arm of Rome was broken. 
 Human philosophy rushed into its place, and said : I will accom- 
 plish it. But the disorder of the nations has increased in a fright- 
 ful ratio. There remains the power of God, or Cliristianism, which 
 already, while human power was making its trials, has laid every- 
 where the foundations of the new edifice. And it will succeed. 
 Do you exclaim that, iu our day, men walk in uncertainty : 
 that all the doctrines for the welfare of nations are doubtfnl .' 
 It is true, that all does seem in our day to be dissolving. But, 
 man ! listen to thy ma.ster, a master of eighteen centuries old, who 
 has assisted more than once at the decline and elevation of nations, 
 at the decomjiosition and recomposition of the world, and who 
 has been the great organic principle of nations. Listen to what it 
 has been, to know what it will be ; and to what it has done, to 
 know what it will do. Christianism is totally difTerent from the 
 religions of men. In these, it is man who gives strength to reli- 
 gion : in that, religion gives strength to man. Whilst the Repub- 
 lic was counting its days of glory, the gods of Rome shone with 
 the greatest lustre. But when corruption had seized on domestic 
 life, when personal ambition and venality had assailed public life, 
 religion, worm-eaten at the base, decays and disappears with them. 
 Jupiter falls, and is buried under the ruins of his own cajiital. 
 Christianism, on the contrary, independent of man, remains firm 
 amidst the fall of nations (their annals testify this), and renews the 
 world by its power. When all the social forms of hinnanity are 
 destroyed, as at the epoch of the invasion of the Barbarians, the 
 religion of Jesus Christ remains upright on their ruins, and her 
 hand scatters amid the chaos that seed, whence humanity shall 
 rise anew. Fear not the mournful state of the world, at this time. 
 History, and especially that which we shall lay before you, de- 
 monstrates that when corruption has extended its ravages the 
 farthest over the world, the Divine power of Christianism, which 
 has not its roots in the entrails of human nature, rises with the 
 greatest power. The Spirit of God is moving on the chaos, and 
 out of it he will bring forth a new earth. 
 
 But the history of Chri.'tianism will teach you, moreover, that thi.'S 
 religion is the instrument which he has chosen to accomplish his 
 work. It will exhibit her mode of action, not as a continued influ- 
 ence, but as a succession of struggles and combats. The essence 
 of Christianism is conflict with the world. And thus the true 
 Church of Christ hath appeared from the beginning, as " militant" 
 amidst the nations. Already have two enemies successively 
 assailed her, and been vanquished, however easily they promised 
 to crush her. At first, she had to combat without against the 
 idolatry and vices of Paganism. Paganism fell. But scarcely had 
 this victoiy been gained, when the danger appeared in the bosom 
 of the Church. Whilst men slept, according to the parable of the 
 Divine and Eternal founder of Christianism, the enemy came and 
 sowed tares among the wheat, iVlatt. xiii. 25. The evil continued 
 
40 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 
 
 to increase. The Church had been founded that man might seek 
 for heaven in it, and there he sought only the world. Then the 
 true Church shook off the dust of death. Arrayed as it were, in 
 an instant, in the siairitual armor which God had prepared for her, 
 she began a war, the most terrible, because intestine. Rome, 
 vigorously assailed, tottered, and the crown fell from her head. 
 This war we propose to lay before you. It remains for Christian- 
 ism to obtain a final victory. An enemy, who is neither within 
 nor without, as were the two first, or rather who is both at the 
 same time, advances to the last assault. I refer to the incredulous, 
 anti-christian spirit of the age. More powerful, more terrible still, 
 than the two first adversaries, he casts upon Christianism that look 
 of disdain, which the god of the capitol once cast on the citizens 
 of Tarsus, in chains at their feet ; and whicli, fifteen centuries after, 
 Leo and the magnificent Court of the Medici cast, with a smile, 
 into the obscure cell of an Augustin monk. Still more may be said. 
 The anti-christian spirit of the world, now lifting his banner so 
 high, does not suspect the enemy which is to vanquish him. And 
 yet he will be conquered ; and the formidable giant of the age, 
 who defies the God of the armies of Israel (1 Sam. xvii. 45.), struck 
 in the forehead, shall fall with his face to the earth, under the sling 
 of the enemy whom he has despised. 
 
 Is the question asked, by what arms shall this victory be gain- 
 ed ? Here, again, the History of Christianism will give the an- 
 swer. It shows you that this religion has twice regenerated the 
 world, at least partially, by doctrines entirely its own. To pre- 
 tend that the religious system, which is to accomplish the grand 
 solution, desired by all, consists of those general ideas of religion, 
 to be found in Rabbinical Judaism, in Mahometanism, and even 
 in Pagan Philosophy, is a strange error : for these ideas never 
 have produced the regeneration of the people, who have known 
 them. The power of Christianism lies in its peculiarity. It 
 compels man to feel the astonishing contrast, between his whole 
 life, and the law of its holiness. It produces in him the desire of 
 deliverance from so miserable a condition. It reveals to him the 
 magnificent work, which the mercy of a God has accomplished 
 for his rescue, in the death of the Cross. It proclaims, by the 
 command of the King of the world, an entire amnesty through 
 all the world. Now, we maintain two things. First, that this 
 news of a full pardon of a perfect amnesty proclaimed upon 
 earth, that rebellious province of the empire of the King of kings, 
 is alone capable of touching, of changing the heart of man, and 
 of inclining him through love to obey the Sovereign who reclaims 
 them. Ye politicians of the age, what advice would you give to 
 a kuig for the establishment of peace and subordination, in the 
 midst of a rebellious peojile ? Classifications, conditions, scaf- 
 folds .' or a generous amnesty Avithout reserve, calculated to win 
 all hearts .' And we maintain, secondly, that the submission of the 
 heart to God, the inward power of Christianism, is the only 
 power which can now heal the diseases of nations. Every bond 
 is broken. Selfishness and the spirit of censure are universal. 
 
HISTORY OF CHRIf5TlANISM. 41 
 
 There are but two methods for the re-establishment of order and 
 peace, among the rismg and agitated masses : exterior and vio- 
 lent measures of compression : or the interior persuasive power 
 of ChrJstianism. What do I say ? There is but one ; for as to 
 the first, all nations have shown its inefficiency. Three days 
 have sufficed. By destroying selfishness, and planting in the 
 hearts of all, the love of God and the love of man, Christianism 
 alone will resolve the great problem, and establish liberty among 
 the nations with order and peace.* These truths, taught by the 
 nature of things, history will confirm. As to the first, she will dis- 
 close to us the unheard of powers of Christianism ; she will 
 prove to us that these doctrines can accomplish an actual second 
 birth of human nature. And as to the second, contemporaneous his- 
 tory shall instruct us. Inquire of her in what nations order and 
 liberty are the most closely united, and she will answer by point- 
 ing to the countries where the Gospel is the most openly pro- 
 claimed, the most universally believed. But above all, history 
 will show that a power not of man hath produced these partial 
 regenerations which are symbols and precursors of that universal 
 regeneration, announced by Christianism. Call this power, God, 
 or the Spirit of God, or even Providence — the name is of little con- 
 sequence — the fact is certain, something hath descended from 
 heaven. Such is the present state of the world, that whoever be- 
 lieves not in this jsower, as independent of the world, may well 
 despair. But for ourselves, nothing terrifies us. " Give me," said 
 Archimedes, " a place to stand on, and I will move the earth." 
 Christianism is that point beyond the world, from which it shall 
 be one day entirely displaced ; and shall revolve on a new axis of 
 
 * These reflections of our author induce me to place in a note, two 
 passages of the same Address, referred to in Note 3. They are found in 
 the same volume, at pages 17 and 28. 
 
 "And do we not see that the total failure of the Greeks and Romans in 
 political pliilosophy is due to the same cause, as their failure in morals ? 
 viz. an ignorance of the only true foundations of society and government, 
 of the autViority of public, and the obedience of private men, of the political 
 and civil rights of the citizen? All these, according to the wise principles 
 and experienced judgment of modern times, are laid in moral obligation, 
 with God as its author, and Man as its subject. In a word, the code of 
 public morals is founded on the code of private morals. Government is 
 regarded as an institution for the good of society, and rulers but as agents; 
 whilst the relative rights and duties of the governor and the governed are 
 referred to the plain, practical sense, to the divine, yet simple wisdom, to 
 the pure, the just, the immutable principles of Christian morals. In fine, 
 the New Testament is the moral constitution of modern society.^' 
 
 " The grand result of all the principles of the Reformation, and of all the 
 considerations flowing from them, is worthy of such a cause, and of such 
 champions, as the Reformers. It centres in two words — duty and useful- 
 ness : Duty, as the only criterion of right ; usefidness, as the only standard of merit. 
 In a word, the Reformation ordained, not only for its own day, and the 
 communities of that day, but for all time, and for all nations, that the New 
 Testament is the only gcmmic moral constitution of Society, and its principles, the 
 only safe and wise foundation of all civil and political establishments.' — Trans- 
 
 I.ATOK, 
 
42 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 
 
 righteousness and peace. Then shall be poured out on all nations 
 a mighty influence of the Spirit of God. Such are the most ancient 
 promises. The Trojan war had just closed,* and Rome was not 
 yet founded, when, in the midst of the people to whom God had 
 entrusted the germs of religion for all the nations of the earth, 
 these prophetic words resounded, " until the Spirit be poured upon 
 us from on high," " and the work of righteousness shall be peace." 
 Isaiah, xxxii. 15, 17. 
 
 Do you desire to know the obstacles which this renovation of 
 human nature has to encoun ter , so that you may wisely remove them. 
 The history of Christianism will point them out. They have been 
 the same at all times. A wisdom, shall I say, or a folly, altogether 
 earthly and carnal, which ridicules divine things, and would con- 
 tract God and his kingdom to the narrow dimensions of its own 
 scale ; a priestly despotism, which claims alone the privilege of 
 managing heavenly things, which turns a deaf ear to examination 
 and research into the Divine Word, and materializes religion: a 
 fanaticism, which opposes with all its might the knowledge of the 
 truth ; which, being hostile to liberty, would silence those who 
 utter it ; which labors to arm public opinion against Christianism 
 and Christians, — whatever may be the name which fanaticism 
 bears, such as Jewish, Pagan, Dominican, or falsely liberal and 
 philosophic — such are the principal obstacles which the History 
 of Christianism exhibits. 
 
 Do you ask with the Age for movement, for progress ? History 
 will show you that Christianism is the religion of progress : and 
 that she calls man by continual advancements, to the liberty and 
 the glory of the children of God. Let us carefully remark, that 
 there are only two spheres, in which advancement can be made — 
 viz. in the religion destined to renew mankind, or in man himself 
 called to be renewed. The man of our Age ascribes this progress to 
 religion : Religion — to man himself. Christianism came forth per- 
 fect from God, and is luichangeable as its author. Thou, Man! 
 art thus continually to advance : and in like manner that immense 
 Christian Society, wliich the truth enlightens. The sun is not 
 himself advancing to perfection ; but perfectionates the shrub, 
 which, receiving life from him, becomes a majestic tree. It is the 
 same with Christianism and man. The Gospel places the goal, 
 
 * According to the usual chronology, the Trojan war happened at the 
 very commencenaent of the 12th century (B. C. 1193) before the Christian 
 aBra. Isaiah prophesied B. C. 760, and Rome was founded B. C. 753 ; so 
 that it seems very incorrect, to speak thus of an intermediate event (the 
 prophecy) when it happened 433 years after the first, and only 7 years be- 
 fore the last event. And if we were to allow, with Sir Isaac Newton, " that 
 the ancient profane history is generally carried about 300 years higher back- 
 ward than the truth;" yet if we reduce the first date by 300 years, so as 
 to bring it to 893 B. C, and reduce the date of the building of Rome by 
 106 years, according to Newton's principles (by allowing 18 or 20 years — 
 say 20 — for the reign of each of the Kings), to B. C. 647 — still the expres- 
 sion " venait de finir" had just ended, would be incorrect, when applied to 
 an event, 133 years before the days of Isaiah. 
 
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 43 
 
 towards which that Christian Society ought to tend, beyond the 
 veil which separates the two worlds. Thus, the Gospel sum- 
 mons society to a progress, incomparably beyond all that human 
 systems demand, and assigns a task which can only be accom- 
 plished in eternity. 
 
 Will you speak of enlightenment ? Will you say that we have 
 reached an age too full of light for the triumph of Christianism .' 
 The History of Christianism will show you, that she fears not the 
 hght, though frequently a false one. I shall not speak of the pre-, 
 sent epoch, when she lifts her head with more energy than ever. 
 This age at least ought to be out of the question. 1 shall not speak 
 of the Reformation, jireceded for a semi-century, by the great 
 events which signalized the revival of letters — we shall soon attend 
 to it. But consider what the History of Christianism records on 
 its first leaf. The age of Augustus, when Jesus was born, is among 
 the most brilliant in the annals of mankind. Christianism chose 
 the noon-day for its appearance. A religious system, which had 
 lasted as long as the nation, was crumbling under the assaults of 
 the reason of the age : and, at that moment, Christianism presents 
 itself to be, in like manner, examined and assailed. The raillery 
 of the man of wit, the assaults of eloquence, the protracted war- 
 fare of philosophy and learning, it challenges all : it sustains the 
 shock : and nothing moves it. On the contrary, it advances, it 
 leads the thoughts captive, in obedience to the God whom it 
 announces : and in celestial triumph on the theatre of human 
 glory, it often numbers around its car those who had been the 
 most formidable of enemies. Christianism is the true light : it is 
 the sun which rises above all the lights of this lower sphere. " I 
 am the light of the world," said Jesus Christ. 
 
 Lastly, will the Age speak of the future ? Will attention be 
 vouchsafed to a doctrine only so far as it relates to the future ? 
 The fntine belongs to Christianism. She claims it not to-day, or 
 yesterday, like the ephemeral prophets of our day. She said so 
 four thousand years ago. The seventeenth century was that of 
 the past: the eighteenth is that of the present: the nineteenth is 
 that of the future, and this belongs to Christianism. Men, if en- 
 lightened and shicere, can no longer continue strangers to the an- 
 cient promises of the future, laid up in the book of Nations. Fol- 
 lowing out in history the accom]ilishment of the Oracles of God, 
 they will arrive at those which declare, that " the Earth shall be 
 full of the knowledge of the Lord" — " his rest shall be glorious." 
 Is. xi. 8, 10. Ever since the men, who were the heralds of God, 
 uttered these words, all has been advancing, and all is now moving 
 onward to their glorious fulfilment. Christianism is on her march, 
 and she will never retreat. Her work is scarcely rough-hewn ; 
 but she will finish it. She will bring about a great revolution on 
 earth, which shall change its very being. The times arc not per- 
 haps very distant, when its destinies will be accelerated. A new 
 history commences. Christ opens to the world the gates of a new 
 futnre. " Great voices" shall be one day heard, as a prophet tells 
 us, saying, " the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms 
 of our Lord and of his Christ." Rev. xi. 15. 
 
44 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 
 
 These are my reasons for maintaining that the history of Chris- 
 tianism is the most important of all historical studies : not only in 
 general, but particularly with a view to the present epoch. CI. vis- 
 tianism holds in her hands the future destinies of the world. She 
 bears in herself the regenerative force that will renew the na- 
 tions, the bond which must unite them. Here is that beneficent 
 power which will spread over the earth and establish righteous- 
 ness, liberty and peace. ye men of the age ! there only may 
 .you learn the direction which you ought to give to all your effoits 
 and labors. Study in the past the history of that which must ac- 
 complish such great results in the future. Dedicate to this study 
 your spirit of research and your profound meditations. Set the 
 example of abandoning the beaten track of the world : and 
 of seeking light, life, the future, where only they are found. 
 Young people who hear me, be the first to comprehend the call- 
 ing of the new generation : receive first for yourselves, the light 
 which Christianism has kindled : then go forth the beacon fires of 
 the Nations. 
 
 1 am now to ask your attention to the history of the Reformation 
 in Germany, or at least of the most important period of that his- 
 tory. Perhaps you will inquire Avhat has led me to select that 
 subject, and what circumstances have induced this narrative. I 
 saw Germany, and loved her for the sake of this excellent work, 
 which I propose as my theme. The Reformation, at the festival 
 of its third centennial jubilee, Avelcomed me on the road, and in the 
 Germanic cities, on my arrival in 18! 7. I recall (and not without 
 some pain, when I reflect how far from them was the spirit of the 
 Reformation) those bands of stndents, who flocked to the famous 
 antique castle of Wurtzburg, where we shall one day, in the course 
 of my review, behold Luther a captive. I love to believe that 
 those youths were rather indiscreet than guilty ! I well remember 
 how the gates of that ancient fortress (to which those young Ger- 
 mans were ascending in solemn procession) opened immediately 
 before me, at the name of Geneva, and the emotions revive which 
 I experienced, when I found myself in the prison-chamber of 
 Luther. I remember those melodious strains which, some days 
 after, announced the festival Avithin the walls of Leipsic, descend- 
 ing before the dawn of day, from the summit of the invisible 
 towers of the churches, as though they had been music from 
 heaven. Again, I met the Reformation in illustrious teachers at 
 Berlin. I shall name only Neaiider, the father of the new History 
 of Christianism ; Neander, whose tender atfection is so dear to 
 my heart, and who has raised up in Germany that Christian 
 instruction, to "which other friends, his juniors, the Tholucks and 
 the Hengstenbergs, now impart life with all the strength of their 
 faith. Again 1 found it on the borders of the Elbe, in the midst of 
 the kindred and friends of the simple, yet profound Claudius of 
 Wandsbeck — and of the sublime poet of " The Messiah." Again, 
 I found it in the ancient and Catholic Brabant itself, near the throne 
 on which sat the descendant of the Nassaus, the heir oithe Silent, 
 that noble hero of the Reformation of the Low Countries. There 
 
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANISM. 45 
 
 the earth soon trembled beneath my feet. The throne which it 
 bore, crumbled at the sound of the fall of another throne. A queen 
 of cities became, during four days, the bloody field of horrible 
 combats. There 1 was a Avitness, and nearly a victim of unspeak- 
 able calamities. I returned to our mountains, after an absence of 
 fourteen years, desiring, if God should give me adequate strength, 
 to speak amidst my countrymen, of those admirable things whose 
 glory and influence met me everywhere. Perhaps those noble, 
 correct, and liberal manners, whose charm I experienced in a 
 foreign land, have not been found by me in all at home. Subject, 
 however, myself to human frailties, I shall know how to excuse, 
 and not to condemn thena in others. I promise, then, a cordial 
 welcome to all who are disjiosed to hear my simple narrative. 
 We shall survey together the plains of Mansfeld, the cells of Erfurt, 
 the halls of Wittenberg, the palaces of Augsburg, of Leipsic, and 
 of Worms. You will behold the Reformation. You will examine 
 all things. You will not suffer the yoke of man to rest on your 
 necks. I have seen Wittenberg ; I have seen the land where the 
 despotism of Rome perished : let us not bow down before the 
 despotism of the Age. A freeman myself, I seek after freemen ; 
 and I believe I have found them. May the divine blessing rest on 
 my narrative ! May words be vouchsafed to me, suitable to spread 
 true light and true liberty ! and, whilst I am relating to you the 
 history of a great event in the kingdom of God, may the image of 
 Christ, King of the Church, grow unceasingly before your eyes, 
 and in your hearts ! 
 
THE CHURCH 
 
 CALLED 
 
 TO COIFESS JESUS CHRIST 
 
 TRANSLATED BY M. M. BACKUS. 
 
THE CHURCH AND HER VOCATION. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Many Christians at Geneva, as well as in the canton of Vaud 
 and in France, and doubtless in other countries of Protestant 
 Christendom, have felt, while they reviewed the actual state of the 
 Church of Jesus Christ, that there was need of a further inani- 
 festation of that great and glorious iniity, which exists among 
 those Avho have been redeemed unto God by the blood of Jesus 
 out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. 
 
 They believe, that in the face of the combined efforts of Rome 
 and of all anti-christian opinions, evangelical Christians ought to 
 gather round their Captain and unite in the confession of their 
 common faith. A proposition to this effect was made in a nume- 
 rous assembly which met at Geneva, the evening of the anniver- 
 sary (1840) of the Evangelical Society. Some friends of the Gospel 
 took up the same subject more recently at the time of the annual 
 gathering at Lausanne. We have frequently observed that it is 
 only after the lapse of years, and even after namierous repulses, 
 that the most useful ideas are perfected, modified, received, and 
 at length fashioned into realities. This of which we are speaking 
 may likewise encounter its obstacles ; the proposition which has 
 been made may not have a single immediate consequence ; but 
 whoever believes in the word of the Lord cannot, it seems to us, 
 entertain any doubt of the accomplishment of this Christian thought 
 at a period in the future more or less remote. " Wherefore God 
 also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is 
 above every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should 
 bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under 
 the earth, and that ever^ tongue should confess that Jesus Christ 
 is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." iVc'snn. 
 
 Some persons, for whose judgment the author entert'^jic pow^ 
 respect, have thought that under these circumstances me -tajinica- 
 
50 PREFACE. 
 
 tion of the following discourse, pronounce in the chapel of the 
 Theological School of Geneva, and bearing only indirectly on the 
 thought to which we have referred, might perhaps prove of some 
 service. 
 
 It is a common apology that a discourse is published at the re- 
 quest of its auditors. The author finds himself obliged to repeat this 
 on the present occasion, in order to throw upon his friends a part 
 of the responsibility of a production, the many deficiencies of 
 which, as well as its numerous imperfections, could not otherwise 
 be justified. Nevertheless, he believes with his friends, that the 
 subject of this discourse is of some importance, and merits the 
 attention of Christians at the present moment. For this reason, 
 although these leaves were not destmed for the public eye, he 
 commits them to his brethren, commending them to the blessing 
 Qf God. 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED AT GENEVA, SEPTEMBER 27, 1840. 
 
 " Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my 
 Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth : I am 
 not come to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against 
 his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her 
 motherin-law. And a man's foes shall bo those of his own household. He that 
 loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me : and he that loveth son or 
 (laughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his} cross and 
 fdlloweth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he 
 that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it." Matt. x. 32-30. 
 
 The words you have heard, were pronounced by the Lord hi 
 view of a day of trial. For throe centuries to come, the Church 
 M'as to be that woman, whom St. John in the Apocalypse saw, 
 clothed with the Sun, even Jesus Christ our Righteousness, hav- 
 ing on her head a crown of twelve stars, the crown of the Apos- 
 tles, " travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." It was 
 necessary then, for Christ to strengthen her in the confession of 
 her faith, that she might remain firm in the midst of her long and 
 severe throes. - 
 
 My brethren, we live in a period which Ijears some analogy, 
 perhaps, to that in which these words were spoken. Many signs 
 seem to indicate that the time draws nigh, in which the Church, 
 long straitened in a narrow place, is about to be diffused 
 throughout the nations of the earth; in which converted Israel 
 shall be re-established in his dwelling-place, and the false Pro- 
 phet of the East and the High Priest of the West shall see their 
 power crushed. Statesmen, who know little of the prophecies, 
 and the most incredulous of the public journals, already speak of 
 some of these events. The Jews turn their eyes towards the Holy 
 Land, the Turk in Constantinople feels the earth tremble beneath 
 his feet; and, as a missionary once remarked to us, who had re- 
 cently returned from Jerusalem, where he had been familiar with 
 the first Mohammedan families, the rumor is spread throughout the 
 East that Mohammedanism is soon to fall ; that Jesus Christ will 
 soon descend upon the summit of the great INIosque of Damascus, 
 and incorporate Judaism, Christianity and Islamism in one single 
 and primitive religion. Such arc the presentiments of the people 
 
 But before these things take place, there must be many a strug- 
 gle. Do we not in fact see the enemies of Christ strengthening 
 themselves in bold systems of unbelief and pantheism, presump- 
 tuously placing themselves before the cross of Jesus ; the power 
 of Rome stirring over the whole earth, its convents rising again in 
 
52 THE CHURCH 
 
 France, and the most devoted soldiery of the Papacy, a celebrated 
 society establishing itself in all parts, and even in the bosom of 
 our own confederacy ? Do we not hear wars and rumors of wars ? 
 Is not the East already lit up and gleaming with the flashing 
 lightnings, those precursors of the thnnder ? And are not the 
 powers of the East and the West, at this hour, gathering together 
 around the land of revelation — that Judah, which is already be- 
 coming the centre of the world, of whom it is said, Judah shall be 
 saved and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety ? 
 
 We do not pretend, my brethren, to know the times or the 
 seasons ; but if, on the one hand, we ought to have much discre- 
 tion and caution in these matters, would it not, on the other hand, 
 be willfully closing our eyes to the light, to maintain that both in a 
 political and religious point of vie^v, the world has not now 
 reached a crisis, but that she is rolling on through a period of very 
 ordinary tranquillity ? I think then, that it is meet for us to medi- 
 tate upon the words our Lord gave to his disciples, to strengthen 
 them through three centuries of persecutions, and Avhich are de- 
 signed to confirm his people throughout all time. 
 
 Tn times, such as those of which we speak, the great duty to 
 which Christ calls his followers, is that of a fearless profession 
 of his name. It is, first, the duty of each Christian ; secondly, the 
 duty of the Church. Let ns consider these two duties, and may 
 the Lord assist us to discharge both ! 
 
 I. Persons are frequently foimd (perhaps there are such in this 
 assembly) who would gladly become Christians, converted Chris- 
 tians, without revealing the change to the church, and provided 
 it might remain a secret between themselves and their Lord. 
 These weak Christians have an excessive fear of everything which 
 would cause them to be recognized in their true characters. 
 
 You will hear them advance, in their justification, that the king- 
 dom of Heaven is within us; that Christianity is too holy a thing to 
 be presented to the world. But (perhaps without their perceiving 
 the fact) it is this very fear of the u^orld which rules and restrains 
 them. A celebrated and corrupt clmrch has admitted this pitiful 
 hypocrisy. There are secret Romanists in Protestant countries ; 
 there are still more in heathen lands. The numerous and pre- 
 tended converts in China, of whom Rome so loudly boasts, conceal 
 their faith in that empire and give themselves out as idolaters ; 
 and there we find that Christianity without a confession of faith 
 which many would see established in the bosom of Christen- 
 dom. 
 
 The Evangelical Christian church rests upon principles alto- 
 gether opposite, although there are even in our days those who 
 wonld bend its nature in this respect. She declares Avith the 
 Apostles that it is not sufficient to believe with the heart unto right- 
 eousness, but that with the mouth confession also must be made 
 imto salvation, and instead of the accommodations and tergiver- 
 sations of Rome, instead of the silence, the indifference, the fear 
 and the respect to human opinions of some Protestants, who for- 
 
AND HER VOCATION 53 
 
 get the Rock from wliicli they have been hewed, the Evangehcal 
 church proclaims and fulfills the sure and sovereign word of 
 Christ. " Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him 
 will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven ; but who- 
 soever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my 
 Father which is in heaven." 
 
 Yes, weak and timid Christians, it is not sufficient for us to 
 imaghie that we can belong to Christ in the dejiths of our hearts. 
 If we have truly embraced Jesus Christ we shall make it known 
 to all. What ! saved by him from eternal death, shall we not 
 praise him with our whole soul ? Oh ! that all might read in our 
 life an epistle traced by the hand of Jesus, proclaiming his ineffa- 
 ble love. 
 
 Very true, you reply; but are we to be counted unfaithful, be- 
 cause Ave have had to endure nothing for Christ ? It is mere ex- 
 aggeration to maintain that one cannot be a sincere Christian 
 without enduring persecution. Does not Christianity everywhere 
 tend to produce harmony, benevolence and peace .' How then 
 can we be pursued with contempt and hatred since Christianity 
 has raised us all above them .' This might have occurred in the 
 early ages, in the midst of Pagans, but at this time, in the bosom 
 of Protestant Christendom, in our church, no one need be tempted 
 through fear of persecution to deny Jesus Christ. 
 
 Think not, replies Jesus himself unto you, think not that I am 
 come to send peace on earth ; 1 am come to set a man at variance 
 against his father and the daughter against her mother. Yes, if 
 your conversion is genuine, if you truly confess Jesus Christ, think 
 not to escape this universal rule. 
 
 Jesus Christ, doubtless, came not to bring the sword, but such 
 however is the invariable effect of "his ! coming whenever heap- 
 pears. And how can it be otherwise .' But what happens in the 
 world ? The Gospel has proved effectual upon a certain jjerson of 
 your acquaintance, (perhaps upon yourself!) It has effected a 
 fundamental change, which is seen in the whole life of this new 
 Christian. This change attracts the attention of his friends, it is 
 inevitable ; and in view of this work of God they are reduced to 
 this alternative, either to submit to the same transformation or to 
 condemn it in him. Not willing to undergo the former, they have 
 recourse to the latter ; they condemn the conversion of their friend 
 as an irrational, enthusiastic, fanatical, methodistical thing. And 
 if this new Christian (be he yourself or another) keep himself 
 near them, then their irritation is con.stantly displayed in a growing 
 measure ; for the shame and hatred of the world which the faith- 
 ful disciple draws upon himself, is partly reflected upon them- 
 selves ; the condemnation they should pronounce upon their own 
 heart, becomes the more vivid the nearer that Christian approaches ; 
 aud there is a natural impulse to rally such men, and recall their 
 reason, imagining that they arc .surely gone mad. 
 
 Undeceive yourselves then, my brethren : the confession of Jesus 
 Christ may be a difficult task even in the absence of extraordinary 
 circumstances. If you are tipright and sincere in your profession, 
 
54 THE CHURCH 
 
 you cannot escape opposition ; it is the ordinary course of the 
 world. A man's foes shall be they of his own household. 
 
 Permit me, then, in this place to put to you a question suggested 
 by your words. What will Christ answer to your excuse .' Is not 
 the reception which you have until this hour received from the 
 world, a sure indication that Christ will one day reject you ? No ! 
 you reply. Some prudence is certainly requisite in order to avoid 
 opprobrium ; we have made some slight sacrifices, and availed our- 
 selves of some trifling accommodation.?. But what ! Tf we have 
 merely been guiltless of great offences against Christian morality, 
 if our only fault has been the non-confession of Christ before our 
 friends, in our families, as frequently and as courageously as we 
 ought perhaps to have done, does it follow that we are not in 
 Christ, that for so light an offence he will deny us eternally ? Im- 
 pos.sible. 
 
 Here again I wUl reply to you, not in my own words, but in those 
 of the divine oracle. " He that loveth father or mother more than 
 me is not worthy of me, says the Lord. He that loveth son or 
 daughter more than me is not worthy of me." If through fear of 
 a father or a mother, of an elder brother or a sister, if tlorough love 
 for your children, through a desire of not compromising the future 
 prospects of a son, the establishment of a daughter, you have 
 yielded on any occasion, and purposely hid your sentiments from 
 your associates, are you, in the literal sense of the Master's decla- 
 ration, worthy of Cluist .' With your conscience I leave the answer. 
 Further ; suppose you confess Jesus in the family circle, that you 
 support even the reproaches of your mother or of your son, and 
 that you walk faithfully in this way until the last extremity, but 
 that in case of violent reproach, the deep contempt of the world, 
 yea, I go even further, m case persecution and the stake should 
 be presented to you, you should be astonished, should falter, should 
 keep silence and turn your back on Jesus as did Peter, — then not- 
 withstanding all that you might have done, Christ would have a 
 strong reproach to utter against you. Why hast thou turned back, 
 he might say to you ; have I drawn back from thee .' This cross 
 which you have rejected have I not borne for you ? For you did 
 I not permit myself to be led to Calvary ? Were not my hands and 
 feet pierced for you ? But you have loved your ease, your inte- 
 rests, your life, more than my kingdom and my glory. I know you 
 not. He that taketh not up his cross and foUoweth after me is not 
 worthy of me. 
 
 Why should we be astonished at this severity of the Lord, when 
 we see that we act in regard to him, so totally different from the 
 manner in which we act towards the world. Who among us 
 would not submit to a painful operation, if certain that it would 
 bring him. some permanent benefit .' And shall we not esteem 
 eternal life worthy of a few brief trials .' 
 
 Oh I there is not before you the cross, the sword, the scaffold ; 
 death I know is not before your eyes. But no matter, it is at 
 this price we ought to accept Jesus Christ. No one is truly in 
 Christ unless he is prepared, in order to confess him, even to give 
 
AND HER VOCATION. 55 
 
 up his life. It is thus we must act to save our own souls. It is 
 a deplorable thing, this same faith — if I may so term it — which is 
 found in the Church, and which will certainly fail in the day of 
 martyrdom. All are not called to confess Christ upon the scaf- 
 fold, but every one ought to have the spirit to endure it. And ' 
 this word that we preach to you is as true for tranquil times as 
 for a time of trouble and blood. He that findeth his life shall lose 
 it : and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it. 
 
 IT. But we will take still higher ground : we will survey the whole 
 Church, and say to her. That which is true for each individual is 
 true for the Church. And, when I speak of the Church, the question 
 is still of your duty ; your duty, however, not as an isolated per- 
 son, but as a member of an universal society, the Church. 
 
 The Church is called by her Master to confess him before the 
 world. Why then is not the duty of each one of us the duty of us 
 all ? Is it because the obligation of a soldier to be faithful to his 
 colors is not that of the whole army .' And as God has ordered the 
 movement of each star, does it not follow that the whole heavens 
 should move harmoniously in its course ? 
 
 Every false Church is hostile to this individual confession of 
 Jesus Christ. " Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Christ," says 
 St. John, " shall be put out of the synagogue," but every true 
 Church confesses her Lord. The minister is called to confess him, 
 not only as an individual, but as a minister and representative of 
 the Church to imitate Timothy and like him to " make a good con- 
 fession before many witnesses." The Church ought in all things 
 to follow her leader. Christ has left us an example, says the 
 Scripture, that we might follow in his steps. Jesus Christ says 
 St. Paul before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. And 
 what is the eulogy Jesus passed, not on an individual, but on a 
 Church, even that of a Pergamos, when from her midst the cruel 
 Domitian took the faithful Antipas and caused him to be shut up 
 in a brazen ox heated by fire, according to the acts of that mar- 
 tyr ?* The glory of this Church, Jesus declares, was her confession 
 of the name of Christ and her faith in the Lord. " I know thy 
 works ; and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is : saith 
 he which hath the sharp sword with two edges ; aaid thou boldest 
 fast my name and hast not denied my faith, even in those days 
 wherein Antipas Avas my faithful martyr, wlio was slain among 
 you where Satan dwelleth." 
 
 Such then, my brethren, is the duty of the Church ; the Bible 
 establishes it ; and a Church that confesses not the great mystery 
 of piety, God manifest in the flesh, is as unfaithful and guilty in her 
 associated capacity, as is that Christian who fails to do it as an 
 individual : these are the simple conclusions of sound judgment. 
 
 This is likewise what the Church universal has recognized. Yes, 
 my brethren, it is not we who would arbitrarily impose thi.s duty 
 on the Church ; on the contrary, the Church in her best days has 
 not ceased to proclaim and fulfill it. 
 
 * Bollandi Acta. 
 
56 THE CHURCH 
 
 She felt the necessity and duty of this confession, when, in the 
 beginning of the foiirth century, a deplorable heresy, the denial of 
 the eternal divinity of the Son of God, began to spread through- 
 . ont the world, and the church universal, assembled from the East 
 and the West at Nice, A. D. 325, in the persons of its bishops, re- 
 jecting the errors of Arius, declared in the presence of the fi[st 
 Christian Emperor and of all the habitable world : " We believe 
 in our Lord Jesus Christ, begotten before all ages and not created, 
 very God, of the same essence with the Father, by whom all 
 things were made, and who became man for our salvation.* 
 
 The Church in Germany more than three centuries ago felt this 
 same necessity and duty, when at Augsburg, in 1530, at the period 
 of the revival of Christianity, in view of terrible Avars and frightful 
 persecutions which seemed ready to burst upon her, when com- 
 manded by Charles V. to suspend the preaching of the word, she re- 
 plied through her organ, the Margrave of Brandenburg : " Rather let 
 my head be severed from my body, than not confess my God and 
 His Gospel ! " and when the evangelical princes, being solemnly as- 
 sembled in the imperial chapel, in the presence of that mighty 
 emperor, who reigned over two Avorlds, of a multitude of soa'c- 
 reign princes, of bishops, Qf ambassadors, and of the mighty of 
 the earth, in the midst of the glory of the age, the elector of Sax- 
 ony and his brethren in the faith arose, the chancellors advanced, 
 and the renovated church proclaimed for two hours, in a loud and 
 intelligible voice, in the most profound silence and ^Avith the most 
 poAverful effect, her faith of great price, justification for the love 
 of Christ, through grace, through means of faith. f 
 
 The Church of France felt this necessity and duty, on the 26th 
 of May, 1559, Avhen, not with a great splendor and royal pomp as 
 at Augsburg, but in silence, in gloom, in disgrace, even under the 
 SAvord of her adversaries, under the bloody sceptre of Henry II., 
 and Catharine de Medicis, the deputies of all the churches then 
 established in France assembled at Paris, " at Paris," says Theo- 
 dore Beza,J because it Avas the most suitable city for the secret 
 reception of so many ministers and elders ;" Avhen having pene- 
 trated into the capital through the arquebusiers of Henry II., these 
 ministers and members of the church came four days in succession 
 to a house in the faubourg St. Germain, by stealth one after the 
 other from different quarters, and remained there for the confes- 
 sion of their faith, " in the midst of stakes and gibbets," says ano- 
 ther historian," Avhich Avere raised in all quarters of the city;"§ 
 when surrounded by the spies of the clergy, the emissaries of 
 parliament, the lances of the kmg, obliged almost to hold their 
 breath for fear of being betrayed, the Church of our fathers in 
 France, protected by its humility, put forth that beautiful confes- 
 sion of faith which its- ministers and elders carried into all their 
 provinces and published in the light of the sun, in preseuce of the 
 
 * Qtov d\r]Ottidv biioovctoi/ nS" Trarpt. Symb. Mc. 
 
 t Fourth article of the Augsburg Confession. 
 
 j Hist. Eccles., page 109. 
 
 § Hist, de I'edit de Nantes, Vol. i., p. 18. 
 
AND HER VOCATION. 57 
 
 satellites of Rome, and upon the ashes of the martyrs, saying, with 
 a voice whose accents sound even to ns : We l)elieve that from 
 this corruption and general condemnation in which all men are 
 plunged, God receives those whom in his eternal and immutable 
 counsel, he has elected by his own goodness, in our Lord Jesus, 
 without consideration of their works. We profess that Jesus 
 Christ, God and man in one person, is our entire and perfect pu- 
 rification, and that we have in his death full satisfaction to release 
 us from our trespasses.* 
 
 Yes, my brethren, it is thus that in all times the Church has 
 found courage to confess her faith, in obedience to her Master, and 
 to make a good confession before many Avitnesses. 
 
 Shall not then the Church in our day do the same .' Shall she 
 remain silent.' Has not Christ been crucified for her.' or has she 
 not faith enough to know she ought to proclaim it .' More than a 
 century has elapsed since the confession of faith in Christ — the 
 God-Saviour has been destroyed in this Church of Geneva ; a few 
 months ago she again took up her abode in the Church of the 
 Canton of Vaud. In almost all places the confessions of our fathers 
 are overthrown or neglected. The Church is now in the midst of 
 interminable rubbish. Ruins, ruins, everywhere ruins. Oh ! while 
 the enemies are so active to destroy, why should the friends of 
 Jesus be so slack ro build up ? If they have gagged the mouths of 
 our fathers, so that they should no longer speak of their ancient 
 faith ; if they have put them, so to speak, a second time to death, 
 shall our mouths — our lips remain immovable and silent .' What ! 
 because those arms, which presented to the world the confession 
 of the '' Word made flesh," have three centuries been stiff in death 
 and sleeping in the sepulchre ; because those eyes, which gazed 
 with gentleness and boldness on kings and executioners, have for 
 three ages been clo.sed and wasted away ; because those feet which 
 ran when necessary to the stake rather than not confess Christ, 
 are unjointed, broken and scattered ; because those lips that cried 
 in the midst of the mob and the flames, " Emmanuel ! God with 
 us !" are closed, fleshless, and for three hundred years have been 
 mingled with the dust, shall we, in our days, shall we do nothing, 
 confess nothing, say nothing ! Oh, dry bones that we are ! Let 
 us renounce the name we have to live, since we are dead. Let us 
 sleep in the grave since we speak no more than do its silent tenants. 
 This Church which reposes in the bosom of the earth awaiting the 
 cry of the archangel and the voice of the Son of Man, would start 
 from her very dust if she could know the lukewarmness of the 
 Church of our day. These courageous dead would rise from their 
 sepiUchres and address us. " We had arms to act and lips to speak 
 with. Do you possess them to keep silence.' Have you not 
 heard then those august and fearful words, which make us trem- 
 ble even in our graves : ' He who will not confess me before men, 
 I will not confess before my Father which is in heaven.' " 
 
 My brethren, a confession of faith is necessary to manifest the 
 
 * Confession de foi des Eglises ref de France. Art. 12, 17, etc. 
 3* 
 
58 THE CHURCH 
 
 unity of the Church. Unity is a commandment which our Master 
 has left us. We cannot throw it off from us. It is not, however, 
 by an earthly leader, by a worldly hierarchy, by an uniformity_of 
 worship, of liturgy, by crosses, mitres, censers, it is not by all 
 these tilings that the unity of the Church is manifested ; she leaves 
 to the world these miserable elements. The true Church of Christ 
 has no other bond than the unity of her faith and her confession, 
 in love and holiness of life. With her, all externals, which men 
 regard of so high importance, are altogether secondary. All is free 
 for her, saving her Jesus. When Rome points to her false and dead 
 unity, the Church of Christ is to present a true and living unity ; 
 a UNITY and not an uniformity. Yes ! to this dead uniformity of 
 Rome, similar to the uniformity discernible in the parade of the 
 armies of the kings of this world, let us reply by a vast and unani- 
 mous confession of the Lord our Righteousness, like that which 
 angels make, prostrate before the eternal throne. The former is 
 the unity of the children of this world, but the latter is the unity 
 of the children of Heaven. What an admirable unity was that of 
 the Church at her great awakening in the sixteenth century ! It 
 is not a servile miiformity; there is liberty in all things where 
 freedom is proper, but there is likewise a sublime and imposing 
 agreement in the confession of the truth, come from on high. Take 
 the confessions of Germany, of Switzerland, of Belgium, of France, 
 of England, of Scotland, everywhere the same faith, the same 
 God, the same Christ, the same salvation. In the Church of Rome 
 " the principal thing" is the men, the priests, the bishops, the 
 pontiffs; and the unity consists in being united to them. In the 
 evangelical Christian Church the principal thing is faith, the doc- 
 trine of Heaven, the truth of God, that is to say, God himself, and 
 in her view unity consists ui the unanimous confession of this 
 truth. Every Church, which ceases to find her unity in the con- 
 fession of the same doctrine, and makes it to consist in union vsrith 
 the leaders or the assemblies which direct it, may still bear the 
 name of Protestant, but has clothed itself by these means with the 
 essential and distinctive nature of the papacy. It is not walls 
 which are soon to fall, it is not certain leaders, ephemeral beings 
 who will to-morrow be in the depths of the grave, that are essen- 
 tial to the Church. The adorer of the virgin and of the saints in 
 Spain or in Italy submits to the Pontiff, who by chance is found 
 at the head of the most ancient Church of the west ; and the Turk 
 at Constantinople prostrates himself in the ancient porches of Jus- 
 tinian and Theodosius. Stones are nothhig, men are nothing, 
 Christ is all. To suppress the unity of the faith and the confes- 
 sion of Christ, is to suppress the Church. Doubtless there may 
 be Christians scattered here and there, there maybe walls, priests, 
 ruins ; but there is no Church ; for there can be no assembly of 
 God there, where there are only foreign, perhaps conflicting ele- 
 ments, without any divine and eternal bond to hold them together. 
 My brethren, a confession of the faith of the Chiurch is needful, 
 for by this confession the Church is led on to victory. What are 
 its " weapons— mighty to the pulling down of strongholds," as St. 
 
AND HER VOCATION. 59 
 
 Paul says — what are tlicse weapons ? They are the confession of 
 Jesus Clirist. Behold the only strength of the Church ! What will 
 become of her, if the confession of faith is \\'anting ? A fortuitous 
 aggregation of certain societies ahnost civil, of which each follows 
 its own good pleasure or the Avill of its masters ; a tree, deprived 
 of its common trunk, and whose branches separated, dispersed — 
 are only ready to wither and die ; a body, from which the head 
 has been severed, and whose members are scattered to the four 
 winds. How, in such a state as this, can she obtain the victory 
 over her adversaries ? Alas ! this is too much the condition of the 
 evangelical Church at the present moment; and it is this which 
 gives us such lively alarm in view of tlie dangers which menace 
 her. But let the Church revive and build herself up in her most 
 holy faith, and, in her beautiful unity, let her clothe herself with 
 the strength and life which should belong to a great community ; 
 let her join together the ends of the earth, to unite with one heart 
 and one voice to confess Jesus her God, — these are the trumpets 
 before which would fall down the fortresses of incredulity and the 
 walls of Rome. " The people," says the Scripture, in the history 
 of Jericho, " having shouted with a great shout, the wall fell down 
 flat, so that the people went up into the city." 
 
 And will any of you, my brethren, repeat the worldly maxim, 
 that there must be some bond in the Church, for Avithout it she 
 cannot exist (an acknowledgment, which it is well to remember) ; 
 but that this bond is found in the commonly admitted principle — 
 that the Holy Scriptures are the only source of our faith. " Wc 
 have no need," says one, " of confessing any particular doctrine ; 
 the Bible — nothing but the Bible ; behold our confession." Is, 
 then, the Bible simply a certain volume of a certain binding, and of 
 a certain form, in which are found only blank pages ? The liberty 
 of examination and iirogress, adds another, — this constitutes our 
 Church ; we have no necessity for doctrines, — each minister can 
 have his own, and may preach them at Avill. Thus, then, my 
 brethren, the poor Christian flocks will be delivered to every 
 imagination which may pass through the brains of their ministers. 
 Every church may be called to change her religion as often as it 
 changes her pastor ! When a new minister shall come into a 
 curacy, a new religion Avill come with him into the village ! One 
 will i)reach Protestantism, another Anabaptism, a third Socinian- 
 ism, a fourth Universalism, a fifth Roman Catholicism, and, in 
 fhie, what not I — a sixth Judaism, a seventh IMahometanism, — for 
 Judaism has more foundation in the Bible than the most of these 
 doctrines, and Mahometanism has a more explicit faith in Jesus 
 than Socinianism itself. And all this ought to be for the advan- 
 tage of the poor parishioners, obliged, as they are, with their 
 children to assume all the doctrines of their masters in the same 
 manner as valets assume successively the livery of the houses tliey 
 serve. But at least the latter are obliged to change oidy their 
 habits while in your deplorable .system, that will be the true faith, 
 — that is to say, the faith which saves unto eternal life— which 
 must be for ever changing in the souls of the believers. 
 
60 
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 ' But is not the liberty of examination, proceed they, is not pro- 
 gress, is not research sufficient ? Doubtless we need examination 
 and progress, but we need sound ones, and such as produce the 
 fruits of salvation and life. With you these are only phrases under 
 which you conceal your iudifference. What signifies, I pray you, 
 your examination, which discerns nothing, and retains nothing\' 
 Of what consequence is your research, which, ever searching, 
 never finds anything ? What signifies your progress, if, like the 
 traveller in the fable, you are for ever travelling and never arrive 
 at the goal ? For observe, that in this miserable system, although 
 it may be enjoined on the Church to seek her true doctrine, it is 
 forbidden her ever to find it. The moment she has found it, and 
 consequently proclaimed it, that moment the system will be de- 
 stroyed, for she will possess a doctrine and will enter into the truth 
 of the Lord. 
 
 No, my brethren, it is impossible that the Church should have 
 meditated during so many ages on the oracles of God, which make 
 wise the simple, and should not yet know what is found therein. 
 It is impossible that the Church should believe in the Scripture, 
 and yet be ignorant of what the Scripture says. The Church 
 knows from the beginning; she knows from Paul and Peter; she 
 knows from Athanasius and Augustine ; she knows from Luther 
 and Calvin ; she knows at this moment, everywhere, in all time, 
 in every clime ; what she believes, what she rejects, what she 
 needs, " God manifest in the flesh." And if there are, alas ! 
 some doctors, some churches, who have withdrawn from this 
 glorious and consoling confession, it is only men have fallen away, 
 — the confession is lasting. The grass withereth and the flower 
 thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. 
 
 Thus then, my brethren (and this is our conclusion), let a coura- 
 geous confession of the Lord rise from the midst of the ruins lieap- 
 ed up in the field of the Lord, and let a mighty voice go forth hv- 
 ing and faithful from the very bowels of the revival. But, you 
 reply, do you then maintain that the Church in onr day ought to 
 confess in an authentic and universal manner its faith as she did in 
 the 1 6th century .' 
 
 And why not, my brethren ? Are we then among those who 
 think a commandment of God, obligatory in one age, is not equally 
 so in another .' I do not say that the form ought to be that of the 
 16th century; it may be quite another; not perhaps a confession 
 made once for all, but frequent and repeated confessions ; not per- 
 haps confessions written with paper and ink, but living confes- 
 sions made with the lips and in the life. " Every age has its pecu- 
 liar mode of confessing Jesus Christ, just as every age has its pe- 
 culiar mode of persecuting his confessors."* 
 
 I acknowledge with joy that some moiUhs have already spok- 
 en ; that some mouths yet speak. But here I lay down this sim- 
 ple proposition, that the Church, everywhere in the earth, if she 
 truly awaits her Leader, ought to confess with an unity and an 
 
 * Quesnel. 
 
AND HER VOCATION. Gl 
 
 universality, greater than she has ever yet exhibited, that Christ is 
 truly the Saviour to the glory of God the Father. 
 
 But you will still rejoin, this has reference to ministers ; you 
 should preach to them and not to us. What .' Do the ministers 
 constitute the Church .' This is only true in the language of the 
 Papacy. You are the Church, and your duty as well as ours is, 
 to confess Jesus Christ. When the Church confessed, her faith at 
 Augsburg before Charles V., she did it only by her laity. Princes 
 Avould not relinquish this honor to theologians. Will you now 
 renounce the same honor .' Be then, my brethren, confessors of 
 Jesus Christ ; first as individuals, as souls called from darkness 
 into the marvellous light of the gospel, and who show forth the 
 virtues of him who has bought them, by their words, in their 
 lives and m all their actions. 
 
 Be confessors of Christ, my brethren, but let your confession be 
 nourished in faith and in the life of the soul. Confession can be 
 free and sincere without, only as sanctification advances within. 
 A confession with the lips, without the renunciation of self, with- 
 out life in the heart, is hypocrisy, is an abomination before God. 
 
 Be confessors of Jesus Christ, my brethren, but confess him 
 with wisdom and charity, without a useless affectation of singular- 
 ity, without placing too greatan imi)ortance on secondary objects, 
 without forgetting to watch with care over the dispositions of the 
 heart. Your father or your mother perhaps demand of you an 
 act of conformity to the \vorld ; you refuse ; you do well ; but if 
 you do so, failing in reverence or gentleness towards them, you 
 sin against the Lord. 
 
 Be confessors of Jesus Christ, my brethren, but confess him will- 
 ingly with boldness, with joy, not with that timidity, that con- 
 trite and mournful air, with which Christians are sometimes re- 
 proached. Thei-e is joy in the harmony of an identical and uni- 
 versal faith, but there is sadness in the discord of hinnan opinions. 
 You have nothing to fear. " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus 
 is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God:" and " He 
 that is in us, is greater than he that is in the world." 
 
 Be confessors of Jesus Christ, and let each fulfil this duty in the 
 situation in which God has placed him. Let the magistrate con- 
 fess Christ in the council ; let the mechanic confess him in the 
 work-shop, let the man of business confess him in the midst of 
 his occupations, let the laborer confess him in the field, let the mo- 
 ther of the family confess him in her house, lot the soldier confess 
 him under arms, let each one, whatever may be his situation, 
 regard it as a holy place, in which he is called to confess the 
 Lord ? 
 
 Young men, who have come hither from different countries, 
 having quitted anew the paternal roof, to resume grave studies,* 
 be confessors of Jesus Christ ! Renounce the world and the flesli ; 
 be not disciples and servants of human masters, be not high in 
 your own esteem ; not only belong to Jesus but belong entirely to 
 
 • The students of the Theological School. 
 
63 THE CHURCH 
 
 him ; confess Jesus in your intercoiu'se with this people, and one 
 day as hghts of the Church in the midst of the world. 
 
 But we hold, my brethren, to individual confession. Every- 
 where in the works of God we find union, harmony, and we see 
 great things effected by them. In our mountains one drop of 
 water detached from the glacier unites with another ; streams 
 join with streams, torrents mingle with torrents, and these united 
 waters fornl those magnificent rivers which flow from afar through 
 the plains, and bear life and fertility upon their bosom. In the 
 morning of creation, when " the sons of God shouted for joy," a 
 world came at the bidding of the Eternal to place itself near an- 
 other world ; " the morning stars sang together;" and the heavens 
 began that harmonious course of the universe which fills the soul 
 with astonishment and adoration. When the beloved disciple 
 was ravished in spmt, so that he saw " a throne and some one 
 set upon the throne, a voice joined to another voice, many angels 
 around the throne imited their accents, and they were many mil- 
 lions, and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, 
 and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are 
 in them replied, and all their voices united were as the voice of 
 many waters and as the voice of a great thunder." Oh ! should 
 not Ave, the redeemed of the Lord, do the same ! Let the voices 
 of those who are here below, strangers elect and dispersed in the 
 world, unite together in holy enthusiasm and holy courage to ren- 
 der glory to Jesus Christ. Let us for once go out of our petty indi- 
 vidualities, let us not content ourselves with our feeble voices 
 scattered here and there ; that there may be upon the earth a 
 mighty concert, a glorious harmony to celebrate Him who has 
 redeemed us by his blood. Then would the world, which until 
 now has been regardless of Christ, be constrained to listen, and 
 the voice of the Church would become so powerful that all the 
 kindreds of the nations should awaken and prostrate themselves 
 before the Lord. 
 
 Oh ! that my voice could reach beyond this narrow place ! that 
 it could be heard in the vast temples of this city in which in times 
 gone by resounded the faithful voices of our fathers; if reachmg 
 farther on it could reach the church of Vaud, the church of France, 
 the universal church of the Lord, and say to the great assembly. 
 Let us confess the Lord as the Lamb who was slain, and who is 
 worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
 and honor, and glory, and blessing. 
 
 Lord ! I cannot do this ; my weak voice must remain in this 
 humble chapel, but thou canst = accomplish it! Speak, Lord! 
 speak, and may thy servants hear ! Dispel the illusions, rend the 
 veils, break with thy powerful hand the chains which bind gene- 
 rous souls whom thou hast called unto liberty; grant that none of 
 thy servants, " consulting flesh and blood," may open their ears 
 to the thousand voices of the world which insinuate themselves 
 to put to silence thy confession, while they shut their ears to thy 
 voice, which calls upon them to confess thee before men. The 
 day advances, the time is ripening for the manifestation of thy 
 
AND HER VOCATION. 63 
 
 salvation; call thy Church, cause each of our souls to hear thy 
 awful voice, before that solemn approaching day, when seated 
 on the clouds thou shalt say to many : '• Father ! they were ashamed 
 of me, now 1 am ashamed of them." Oh ! that this disgi-ace may 
 never be ours, but rather may we be of those to whom thou wilt 
 say in the day of thy glory : I have seen thy testimony, I have 
 seen thy humiliations, I have seen thy fidelity, thy courage, the 
 confession of my name which thou hast made ! I declare them 
 now before the assembled universe ! Enter, faithful servant, into 
 the kingdom of thy Lord ! Amen ! 
 
THE 
 
 CHILDREN OF GOD 
 
 TRANSLATED BY M. M. BACKUS. 
 
THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 
 
 A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT GENEVA, JULY, 1829. 
 
 " He came unto his own, and his own received him not; but to as many as receired him 
 to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name : 
 which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 
 —John i. 11, 12, 13. 
 
 The Lord had chosen the people of Israel in order to keep alive 
 the knowledge of Hhnself and the hope of His salvation, while 
 all other nations walked in darkness. He had brought them out 
 of Egypt, established them in Canaan, preserved them distinct in 
 the midst of other nations of the earth ; and, when the appointed 
 time was come, in which the Lord should humble Himself, and 
 appear as a man among men. He comes at first, says the Gospel, 
 unto His own — He comes into the midst of His own people, just as 
 a man, arriving in a city, goes first to his own dwelling, and not 
 to the abode of strangers. But His family would not recognize 
 Him ; His own received Him not, they repulsed Him, and crucified 
 the Lord of glory ! Yet there was a chosen remnant in Israel, who 
 received by faith Jesus the Lord. Soon, from among the nations 
 of the earth, an immense number cried Hosanna to Him who 
 came in the name of the Lord, and all Jews, Greeks, Scythians, 
 bond and free, were made children of God. I have sanctified my 
 king in Zion, the mountain of my holiness ; I will give him the hea- 
 then for his inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for his pos- 
 session. 
 
 But does not the same thing still happen unto ourselves ? 
 Doubtless there are many who receive Christ the Lord and enter 
 into the family of God ; but how many reject Him .' how many re- 
 main sadly without Him .' Listen but to the conversation of men ; 
 open the writings which find the highest favor with them ; con- 
 template the course of the world ; above all, study your own 
 heart. Have you there received Jesus Chri.st? Oh, my dear 
 hearers ! we would put forth a feeble efibrt to give you a better 
 knowledge of the riches, that you have, perhaps, hitherto de- 
 spised. We announce to you to-day, then, a fact, Avhich has bet- 
 ter claims on your attention than every other fact whicli is pre- 
 
68 THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 
 
 seiited in the history of the world. Christ has come to estabhsh, 
 in the midst of all human families, a family of God. God, by one 
 vast adoption, assumes all who believe for his sons and daughters. 
 You can be accounted of this number ; it is only necessary that you 
 truly receive by faith Jesus Christ. Oh, man ! my brother — thou 
 mayest be adopted into the family of God, and thou wilt not ! 
 Let me unfold this important subject, presenting, as it does, 
 Christianity in all its divine grandeur ; and, above all, let us seek 
 to dissipate the numerous errors in which it has been enveloped. 
 Come, Lord ! come unto us to-day by Thy word ! Come Thyself 
 to the door ! Knock — and may we hear Thee, may we open to 
 Thee, and may we receive Thee with joy ! May there be many 
 souls who will enter into Thy house, who may be reckoned in 
 the number of the children of God, to praise Thee now and for 
 ever, with all the kindred, who are named in the heavens and 
 upon earth. Amen. 
 
 NECESSITY. 
 
 And first we address ourselves to you who, recognizing the 
 Scriptures as the word of God, say: "God is the father of the 
 human race. All men are His children, without exception, 
 without distinction of religious faith, Jews, Christians, Mahome- 
 daus, Pagans — we have all but one Father, and we are all breth- 
 ren." 
 
 Before refuting your opinion we ought to grant that it is 
 grounded upon various foundations. It is true that God shows 
 his paternal goodness to all men, and makes his sun to rise upon 
 the good and on the wicked : it is true that we are all brethren in 
 Adam, that is to say, we have all lost the holiness and primitive 
 glory of our nature, and form by our birth but one family, exposed 
 to sin, to the miseries of life and to death. It is also true that God 
 has no respect of nations, of religions, the sect, or the visible 
 Church in which one is born ; and when a soul awakened by the 
 sound of the good news of Christ believes on Him that he might have 
 life, He receives that soul with joy whatever may be the standard 
 under which he was born, whether of abominable idols, of the 
 false prophet of Rome, or the glorious standard of the Reforma- 
 tion. From my very soul 1 recognize the truth that God has no respect 
 of persons. 
 
 But Christ has actually been given to the world to create in it 
 2l family of God in quite another sense ; in a sense much more in- 
 timate and true than it is of the human species in general. The 
 word of God which is the truth, proclaims to us that to be children 
 of God, is quite a different thing from being simply children of Adam. 
 Turn to our text : To as many as received him to them gave he power 
 to become the sons of God. Those, then, who have not received him, 
 or will not receive him do not enjoy this right. The meaning of 
 the Word is clear. Refer to the tivclfth Chapter of Matthew. For 
 whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is 
 my brother and sister and mother. Whosoever therefore does not the 
 
THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 69 
 
 holy will of the Everlasting Father, is not the brother, nor sister of 
 Christ, and consequently, not the child of God. In the epistle to 
 the Romans, chapter viii : For as mantj as are led by the Spirit of 
 God, theij arc the sons of God. Those, then, who are not led by the 
 Spirit of God, but by their own spirit, are not his children. It is im- 
 possible to receive the Word without receiving also its conclu- 
 sions. 
 
 You well understand, in the interpretation of our human laws, 
 that when the child of any man is his by adoption it is because he 
 is not so by nature. Why not apply to the things of God, this plain 
 common sense which directs us in the things of this world .' 
 Christianity proclaims to the sinner who believes a free and gratui- 
 tous adoption into the family of the God of heaven. Man is then, 
 by nature, out of the family of the Most High, and he can enter 
 therein only by an act of mercy and of love from Him, who would 
 be his father. " God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made 
 under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we 
 might receive the adoption of Sons .... Wherefore thou art no 
 more a servant but a son." Oh ! if men by nature are children of 
 God, what children, great God, are like thy children .' Are those 
 thy children in whom there is so entire a forgetfulness of their 
 Father ? We speak not solely of the nations who prostrate them- 
 selves at the feet of idols, but of ourselves by our own nature ; 
 do we not constantly forget the great God in all our actions, all 
 our words, all our thoughts, and seek only ourselves and our own 
 good.' Are these indeed the children of God, having the nature 
 of their Father, who are prone to pride, to envy, to hatred, to 
 wrath, to covetousuess, in a word, to sin which God abhors? 
 What family. Lord, should be like thy family .' What ! shall all 
 this corruption, all these vices, all these crimes, all those abomi- 
 nations w^hich one dares not even to name, which are found in the 
 world, shall all these exist in thy family .' A family so full of dis- 
 orders would be disowned even by men ; and should this be the 
 family of God.' thine, oh God ! who art of purer eyes than to behold 
 iniquity. No, my brethren, these fine words, that we are all the 
 children of God, are the declamations of a carnal sensibility, but 
 are not according to the truth ; they are the words either of fraud 
 or error. Yes, we are by birth children — but learn from the word 
 of God himself ichat kind of children : chii.dukn of disobedience, 
 as says St. Paul to the Ephesians, children of wrath., he continues 
 disobedient, foolish, says he to Titus, living in malice and envy, hate- 
 ful and hating one another. There is no diflerence, we have all 
 come short of the glory of God. 
 
 THE ME.ANS. 
 
 But here, my brethren, I discover among us other thoughts and 
 another class of persons. You, my dear hearers, far from think- 
 hig so lightly of becoming a child of God, you imagine you can 
 never become one. To be a son, a daughter of God.' what a privi- 
 lege, you exclaim ! what a happiness"! what a glory ! but how 
 
70 ' THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 
 
 dare we pretend to a relation so touching and so beautiful with 
 the great God of the universe ? Perhaps there are those who can 
 thus aspire, but for myself, I cannot. I am too insignificant, too 
 sinful — I remain afar : and I bow my head in the dust before the 
 face of the King of kings. Who can abide in the day of his com- 
 ing, and who can stand when he shall appear .' 
 
 Oh ye, who are filled with such fear, haply the word of your 
 God does not make the thing as impossible as does your own 
 heart. You Avould have reason for such apprehensions if this 
 privilege were to be gained by yourself; but know that this adop- 
 tion into the family' of God is a gift, a free gift which the God of 
 Heaven makes by his beloved Son : To as many as received him, 
 to them gave he power to become the sons of God : — gave, says 
 the Word, not sold ; given as a tender father makes a gift to his 
 son, or as a rich man, powerful and good, makes the gift of adop- 
 tion to the poor abandoned child, whom he thus makes rich by a 
 simple act of his great compassion and of his great love. Why 
 would you refuse to God the privilege of giving, of giving gratui- 
 tously such great blessings .' 
 
 But how, you say, can I be assured that this pardon is truly 
 given ; that this salvation is truly acquired ; that God adopts for 
 himself a family on earth .' How ? Because God himself has 
 spoken it; because He from whom such grace proceeds has 
 caused it to be announced and published in all places ; because 
 he declares it to you by his ministers, by his sacraments, by his 
 Word ; by his Word which is the truth. Assuredly that which is 
 spoken by the Eternal, the True, is well worthy of our belief. If 
 some unnatural wicked children, having been banished from the 
 paternal roof, loaded with a father's curse, should soon after learn 
 the news of that father's death, with what trouble — with what an- 
 guish would the thought of that parent's curse fill their souls ! 
 But suppose that a friend should come unto one of these sons and 
 should place in his hand a letter, a will ^vritten by that father, in 
 which Avere written these words : " I declare unto my children, 
 into whose hands these lines may fall, that before giving up my 
 last breath I withdrew from them all my curses ; 1 pardon them 
 everything, and from my death-bed 1 raise my hands to heaven for 
 them, to bless them and constitute them anew my children, my 
 heirs." The child considers these lines ; he exclaims, " It is my 
 father's writing ! it is his signature, it is his seal ! it is himself who 
 has said it ! How can I doubt .' I am blessed. I am saved. My 
 father has caused me to attain unto this assurance. I am at peace. 
 I believe the testimony of my father." 
 
 Unto you likewise I bring a letter, my brethren ! a letter writ- 
 ten by Himself, furnished with his signature, and impressed with 
 his seal : a letter which he has sent from heaven to earth ; a letter 
 of pardon: a letter of amnesty: a letter of adoption: a letter of 
 peace. Listen ! listen to that which is Avritten in this letter by the 
 finger of God himself. In this letter it is written, — I take the eter- 
 nal word as witness : Jesus saves his people from their sins. There is 
 therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. — 
 
THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 71 
 
 Having been made perfect, Christ has become the eternal salvation unto 
 all them that obey him. God gives eternal life, and this life is in his 
 Son. He who has the Son has life. To as many as receive him to 
 them gives he power to become the sons of God. Will you not believe 
 the testimony of God? This testimony written in a Testament 
 which each of you possesses in his own dwelling, which you can 
 read and read again. Will you refuse to believe a Testament dic- 
 tated from the cross, sealed with the blood of its author ? Alas ! 
 can you believe the testament of a father, and will you not believe 
 that of God ? a will which puts you in possession of so glorious 
 an inheritance ! " If we receive the witness of men, the witness 
 of God is greater; for this is the witness of God, which he hath 
 testified of his Son." 
 
 If, then, you have believed this witness, and have thus received 
 Jesus Christ, you are become in God, my brother, you are be- 
 come his child ; already, here below, you belong unto him ! And 
 when He shall call you from this earth, it will be a father's voice 
 to call you home to himself. You will enter then into the pater- 
 nal mansion in- the heavens. Oh what a glorious prospect ! what 
 happiness to you is given ! 
 
 If you have received Jesus Christ, the God Saviour, who has 
 borne in himself the curse of sm, and who has humbled and van- 
 quished it by His divine power, why can you still doubt that you 
 may become children of God 7 Do you speak of your sins .' True, 
 but Christ, who is now your Saviour, has borne them, says the Scrip- 
 ture, has expiated them on the cross : he has scattered them as a 
 cloud, he has cast them into the bottom of the sea. And of them not 
 the smallest jiart shall ever be brought to light. 
 
 Do you speak of your insignificance, of your nothingness, of the 
 misery of this human nature which is your's .' True : but Christ, 
 the Son of God, has taken this humanity ; he has become the 
 Brother of man ; the human nature has been glorified by the divin- 
 ity of Him whom it has clothed. It may belong to God and enter 
 into heaven. What is there in this which need astonish you ? 
 The Son of God is become the Son of man : cannot the son of man 
 become then the son of God 1 He who was in heaven is become 
 a member of the family of the earth : may not then he who is on 
 the earth become a member of the family of heaven ? And if the 
 Son of God was not ashamed to call himself our brother in the 
 midst of our miseiy, will he be ashamed to call us his brethren in 
 the midst of all his glory and his immortal grandeur .' Behold what 
 manner of love the father hath bestoxved upon us that we should be called 
 the sons of God ! 
 
 " Certainly," you say, my dear hearers, " certainly, we admit all 
 these things; we are born in the Christian church ; we believe in 
 Jesus Christ: we think that it is through Him we can call God our 
 Father." It may be so. Meanwhile, however, we invite you can- 
 didly to examine yourselves, to see if you truly possess the faith 
 
72 THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 
 
 of which the Scripture speaks. You imagine that one can receive 
 Christ and become a child of God by faith, without this faith pro- 
 ducing any change in the heart. This is the third error that Ave 
 would refute : for as many as receive him, says our text, are born not 
 of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 
 
 The children of God aj-e not born of blood : whatever the nation, 
 the sect, the family in which they are born ; whether of the seed 
 of Abraham, the children of the holiest man on earth, tracing back 
 their descent from generation to generation, to kindred the most 
 distinguished for their faith, even all these cannot constitute one a 
 child of God. The children of God are not born of blood. 
 
 They are not born of the will of the flesh,- It is not our own wis- 
 dom, our own strength, that can make us the children of God. 
 The flesh, that is, our fallen and corrupt nature, has neither the 
 will nor the power to become such. That which is born of the flesh 
 is flesh. 
 
 They are not born of the loill of man. No man can assure the 
 conversion of the dearest relatives, or of the most beloved friends. 
 No minister of the Gospel can choose or even conjecture before- 
 hand the souls, to whom his ministry will be blessed. The wisest 
 advice, the powerful exhortations of men, will not avail, unaccom- 
 panied by other influences, to form a single child of God. They 
 are not born of the will of man. 
 
 Of what then are they born ? Our text says, they are born of God. 
 There is something new-born in them, created by God. Adop- 
 tion is not here, as is frequently the case in the world, a simple 
 affair of titles and honor ; but it is accompanied by a real change 
 in those who are adopted. It may happen in the world, if a good 
 man adopts a wicked child, that this adoption, imder the divine 
 blessing, may change the character of the child ; but that, which in 
 human adoption may or may not occur, always takes place in the 
 adoption of God. The child of God receives, not only the name, but 
 the nature of his Father. Every man, who is adopted of God, re- 
 ceives at the same time a new spirit, and becomes a neiv man. 
 What shall hinder it .' God, who in the beginning created out of 
 nothing the heavens and the earth, can, doubtless, create in man 
 a new heart, and make of him a new creature. According to His 
 mercy he saved us bij the washing of regeneration, and reneiving of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 And why, my dear hearers, do you not feel that, if you ought 
 to belong to the family of God, you ought also to have the spirit 
 which animates this family, the holiness which is its nature, the 
 filial confidence and the love, which are its sweet privileges .' If 
 a man of high rank in society adopts a child, educated in nide 
 and coarse manners, he requires that it assume those habits and 
 manners, which belong to the new state of life, into which it is 
 introduced. If a very learned man adopts a child who has lan- 
 guished in ignorance, he will give it the instruction necessary to 
 its new situation. If, then, a change is necessary in order to a 
 reception into the families of men, is it a strange thhig that it 
 should be required of one when he enters into the family of God .' 
 
THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 73 
 
 No, there must likewise be a change, but a change greater than 
 that of outward habits and human institutions ! There must be 
 a new heart. There must be a new nature. There must be a 
 first birth to enter into the family of man. There must be a second 
 birth to enter into the family of God. Therefore, if any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all 
 things are become new. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he 
 is none of His. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born 
 again he cannot see the kingdom of God. 
 
 But, when once the child of man has become, by au adoption, 
 full of grace, and, by a new birth, a child of God, what ought he 
 to do ? What are the errors which those ought to shun, who have 
 entered into their Father's hou.se .' My brethren, we may all un- 
 derstand these things of which we speak ; the spirit of adoption 
 whereby we cry Abba, Father, may have been shed abroad in our 
 hearts. But, subsequently, under the seduction of tlie sin which 
 doth so easily beset us, we have exalted ourselves because of our 
 privileges, we have gloried in ourselves, we have lived barren 
 and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ ; tve have not 
 brought forth fruit unto God, and have not given diligence to make our 
 calling and election sure. 
 
 This is the last error I have to notice. What remedy is there 
 for such an evil .' This is it : consider the right to be called chil- 
 dren of God, as a high privilege, as being more than treasures, more 
 than the glory of the world, more than perishable crowns. But ap- 
 ply your heart constantly and specially, to ponder the (^«??'fs that this 
 right imposes on you, and seek from Him, who works in us both 
 to roill and to do, the power to fulfill them 
 
 And what is your duty, children of God .' It is to become like 
 your Father. Be ye therefore folloivers of God, as dear children, says the 
 Scripture. The imitation of vicious men and the corrupt world is 
 forbidden to the children of God ; the imitation of the virtues of the 
 just is on the contrary recommended ; but the imitation of the most 
 sublime of models, of the primitive and perfect goodness of the 
 most holy God, is the most excellent which the child of God can 
 propose to himself. It has been said : The essence of rehgion is 
 to imitate Him, whom thou adorest. Oh, my brethren ! what sig- 
 nifies all our petty adoration, all our outward worship, if we strive 
 not to attain this glorious conformity .' The first impulse on look- 
 ing at a child, is to seek in it some features of its parent. Oh my 
 soul ! shall some features of my Father be sought for in vam, in 
 thee .' Christ is the brightness of the glory of God, the express image of 
 his person. Form thyself, my soul, after this divine model. A child 
 resembles its father not only when there is a similarity of features 
 and demeanor, but still more when there is a likeness in the heart 
 and in the dispositions of the soul. Above all, we should bear 
 this resemblance to our Heavenly Father in our hearts. When the 
 spirit of God governs us, it sweetens our character and our dispo- 
 4 
 
74 THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 
 
 sition. Let us learn of Christ who is meek and lowly in heart ; let 
 ns walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and be holy, /or lam 
 holy, saith the Lord. The son who resembles his father, increases 
 in that resemblance as he advances in years; if we are children 
 of God, let us grow from day to day in his likeness. " But we all 
 with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are 
 changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the 
 spirit of the Lord." 
 
 What is your duty, children of God ? If you are children, you 
 ought in all things to do the will of your Father. Fathers ! do you 
 not exact this of your children ? There are often many wills in 
 an earthly family, but in the celestial and eternal family there is 
 but one will. All the blessed inhabitants of heaven perform with 
 joy and with a single heart the will of their Father : you can some 
 day be united to them, only by doing on earth , what they do in heaven. 
 Let us then apply ourselves to do it well. Let us be honest in 
 our bearing towards all men. Let us be orderly in everything 
 that regards our temporal interests, yet without the love of 
 riches, without avarice, without vain glory. Let us carefully dis- 
 charge all the duties of our station. Let us be active, obliging, 
 useful, ready to render favors, looking not only on our own things, 
 but also on the things of others. Let us be content in the lot which 
 our good Father has assigned to us, patient in Jrials, giving him 
 thanks in all things. Let us use with eagerness and joy, the 
 means of sanctification that he offers us, praying with persever- 
 ance, reading the Scriptures, and offering to Him in our houses and 
 in the bosom of our families, spiritual sacrifices ; for why should 
 we despise these gifts of our Father .' We know, alas ! that here 
 below, we cannot do perfectly the will of our Father, that we meet 
 obstacles without and within, and that ^ve make but feeble pro- 
 gress. Notwithstanding all this, it is upon earth that this work 
 must be begun : while it is yet day that it should be pursued : Not 
 every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 
 of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father lohich is in heaven. He 
 that doeth the will of God, abideihfor ever. 
 
 Finally, children of God ! beloved of the Father ! it is your duty 
 to think of your Father and of the riches unto which he has made 
 you heirs. In proportion as you approach the great day in which 
 you will be pitt in possession of your incorruptible inheritance, 
 have more elevated, more holy thoughts, and become more desi- 
 rous of heavenly things. One frequently sees a great heir before 
 the period of his majority arrives, think very little of what he is to 
 become, and entertaining feelings very little in accordance with 
 the grandeur of his future state. But as he increases in years, he 
 becomes more grave, and acquires the consciousness of what he is. 
 Children of God ! heirs of eternity ! the hour of your entire re- 
 demption draws nigher every day. In an instant the thread of 
 your life may perhaps be broken ; a few hours may perhaps find 
 you before the throne of God. Your majority approaches : the 
 period of your emancipation is not far distant. Think of these 
 things ! Let your affections be set on things above. Let your conversa- 
 tion be in heaven, from ivhence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord 
 
THE CHILDREN OF GOD. 7o 
 
 Jesus Christ. " The children of God," said a faithful pastor of the 
 fold of Christ, " have three birthdays. They are born at first of a 
 natural birth ; they weep , but their parents rejoice. Afterwards by 
 conversion, they pass from a state of nature into the life of God; 
 then they often weep bitterly, but the angels in heaven rejoice. 
 Finally comes that which we call death, and this the primitive 
 Christians regarded as the true birth of the children of God : there 
 is still much weeping and grief, but when all is accomplished, the 
 joys of eternal life begin, and there are no more tears for the chil- 
 dren of God." 
 
 We have all partaken of the first birth : have we had a part in 
 the second .' Are we children of God or are we not ? This is the 
 solemn question that the Word calls us to make. If we are not, 
 God grant, we may become so this day ! May we receive Jesus 
 Christ ! May we believe in his name, that we may have Life ! 
 May we be born again ! 
 
 To you, who, hearing these words, may have been convinced 
 in your hearts that you are not yet children of the adoption, and 
 who ask us, how may we become such, Ave reply : take cou- 
 rage and assurance in the grace and in the love of Christ. He 
 seeks your salvation ; for it is He, who has already given you the 
 desire to be saved. Since he has given you the ivilt, will he not 
 give you the fulfillment ? Will he not complete that which con- 
 cerns you .' Oh, do not lean upon an arm of flesh ; separate your- 
 self from every hope of salvation founded in yourself, and cast 
 yoiu'self into the arras of the pure grace of Christ. Feai;, not lest 
 he reject you, for He is come to seek and to save that loJuch is lost, and 
 He has himself said ; Whosoever comct/i unto me I will in no loise 
 cast out ; and evcrij one xohom my Father giveth me, cometh unto me. 
 Go then to Him in the .silence of your closet, thinking how import- 
 ant it is that you should meet Him and should find Him before 
 death overtakes you. Go to Him in prayer. He comes himself to 
 you, opens his arms and says : Come, I loill give peace to your soul ! 
 
 Then, when the King of terrors presents himself to you, fear not, 
 children of God ! Death will be for you a glorious birth. A child 
 of dust dies to earth : a child of glory is born for heaven. A child 
 re-enters His Father's house, to receive the blessing of the Most High 
 and the righteousness of God his Saviour. " Oh death ! where is thy 
 sting .' Oh grave ! where is thy victory .'" " Lift up your heads, ye 
 everlasting gates ! " To Him who has become the Author of our 
 eternal salvation, and who has given us the power to become 
 sons of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, be 
 rendered the praise, the honor, the glory forever ! Amen. 
 
CONFESSION 
 
 NAME OF CHRIST 
 
CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 
 
 " Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my 
 Father which is in Heaven." — Matthew x. 3-2. 
 
 It is now three centuries since the princes of Germany, assem- 
 bled in imperial Diet within the city of Augsburg, boldly and 
 solemnly confessed Jesus Christ and His word, before the emperor, 
 the princes of the empire who still remained under the dominion 
 of Rome, and the legate of Rome ; and in the presence, as it were, 
 not only of all Germany, but of the whole world. That day was, 
 is, and ever shall be, till time is no more, one of the brightest days 
 of Christianity. That day, therefore, all the evangelical churches 
 of Germany, and some even of other countries, respondhig to the 
 call of their princes and pastors, celebrate, with offerings of 
 thanksgiving and praise, its third glorious centenary. 
 
 " May the commemorative festival," says one noble voice, in 
 assembling all who are subject to his laws, "of the presentation 
 of this testimony to the Christian faith, which still exists, and must 
 for ever continue as true and firm as it was three centuries ago, 
 and in the spirit of which I write with all my heart, contribute to 
 strengthen and animate true faith in the evangelical Church, to 
 inspire all its members with unity of spirit, true piety, and Christian 
 love." * 
 
 Will not you also remember, Protestant Christians of France ? 
 Have you not i^articipated in the blessings of that glorious day .' 
 Were you not born — do you not repose — are you not combating 
 this very hour under the spotless banner of the gospel of Christ, 
 Avhich those noble men planted on that memorable day in the 
 presence of their enemies.' Is it not your belief which was then 
 confessed before the universe by those illustrious princes and 
 pastors ; and do you not march with unfurled colors to the same 
 holy war in which they then took up the powerful weapons of 
 the word of God .' 
 
 But, alas ! no. We walk not as then they walked ! Ours are 
 "the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees ;" and the 
 heroic courage which formed, in those blessed days, the glory of 
 the Church of Christ, seems to have forsaken her. Therefore, 
 especially ought we to celebrate that day ; so that seeing our- 
 selves, as it were, surrounded " with so great acloud of witnesses 
 
 * Order of His Maiesty, the King of Prussi i 
 
80 CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 
 
 for the truth, of magnanimous confessors of the cross of Christ," 
 who " through faith subdued kingdoms," and " waxed vahant in 
 fight," we, ourselves, may " fight the good fight of faith." Stand- 
 ing fast in one spirit, tliey strove together in that great day for the 
 faith of the gospel, in nothing terrified by their adversaries. 
 
 Followers of Christ ! you are called to do likewise. The times 
 in which you live are not less remarkable than those ; and the 
 same courage is indispensable. Need I tell you, my dear hear- 
 ers, that there is no allusion here to combats waged with carnal 
 weapons .' Need I tell you that we have nothing to do with con- 
 tests inspired by violence or hatred ? Doubtless, this is imneces- 
 sary ; and were it not so, the example which is about to be offer- 
 ed to you would sufficiently enlighten you on that point. 
 
 As the events which the Evangelical Church celebrates this day 
 are not sufiiciently known, our design is to retrace them, and 
 afterwards draw from them such instruction as they offer. 
 
 An historical discourse is contrary to our usual mode of preach- 
 ing, but all that serves to edification is suited to the Christian 
 pulpit ; and, if we require precedents and examples. Scripture fur- 
 nishes us with abundant and illustrious ones. Was not the ser- 
 mon of Stephen, the first martyr, an historical discourse ? Are 
 not most of the discourses of St. Paul, in the Acts, historical dis- 
 courses ? What the Holy Spirit has adjudged to be good, we may 
 not estimate otherwise. " These things," say the Scriptures, 
 " were written for our examples." O, Holy Spirit ! who didst 
 animate in those days the heroes of the faith, kindle, we beseech 
 thee, the same flame in our hearts ! 
 
 The Emperor Charles V., whose dominions were undoubtedly 
 the most extensive that any prince ever ruled — embracing a part 
 of Europe, America, and other quarters of the world — and who, 
 as has been said, never saw the sun set on his vast empire, hav- 
 ing, in 1530, subdued his enemies, resolved to examine into the 
 religious reformation which had taken place in Germany, and to 
 stifle the, so called, heresy. 
 
 He caused himself to be solemnly crowned on the 24th of Feb- 
 ruary, his birth-day, by the Roman Pontiff, and then remained for 
 some time with him in the same palace. The Emperor there pro- 
 mised the Pope to annihilate Protestantism. He even pledged 
 himself, as it appears, to use, if necessary, violence and extreme 
 measures — this, at least, was the request made of him. 
 
 At this news, some advised the evangelical princes to meet 
 Charles, sword in hand, at the foot of the Alps, and to prevent 
 him from entering Germany until he should grant them full reli- 
 gious liberty. But this was mere worldly counsel, and the great 
 reformer, Luther, whom so many are pleased to represent as a 
 man of violent temper, succeeded in silencing these rash counsel- 
 lors ; " For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty 
 through God." 
 
 The Emperor, however, finding it expedient to try first the 
 efficacy of pacific means, convoked an imperial Diet at Augsburg, 
 
CONFESSION OP THE NAME OF CHRIST. 81 
 
 and invited all tlie princes and states of the empire to be present. 
 Several, recollecting the violence of the enemies of the trnth 
 which had been exhibited, among other occasions, at the Conn- 
 cil of Constance, in the torture of the early reformers, entreated 
 the Elector of Saxony, the head of the Protestants, not to go in 
 person to Augsburg. But the Elector determined to accept the 
 Emperor's invitation ; he desired to confess Christ in the imperial 
 presence. He invited Luther, Jonas, Pomeranus, and Melanc- 
 thon, four of his greatest theologians, to draw up for this purpose 
 a confession of the faith of the evangelical party ; and, having 
 ordered prayers for a successful result to be offered in all his 
 states, he set out, the 3d of April, on his journey to Augsburg. 
 
 Many princes, nobles, counsellors, and theologians accom- 
 panied the Elector. The same .spirit animated them all in this 
 solemn path. Luther preached frequently during the journey, 
 strengthening, by his exhortations, the faith of these noble cham- 
 pions of the gospel. 
 
 At Weimar, they all partook together of the communion ; at 
 Coburg, the Elector parted from Luther, and ordered him to re- 
 main there during the session of the Diet. A castle, crowning 
 the summit of a mountain was his home ; twelve knights guard- 
 ed it night and day, but the servant of God had a more secure 
 defence, even the Lord, whom he praises in a beautiful hymn 
 composed at that time, beginning with these words — 
 
 " How strong a fortress is our God." 
 
 The Elector was the first of all the princes to arrive at Augs- 
 burg, to the great astonishment of the many who supposed he 
 would fear to present himself. Soon, however, the electors, 
 princes, deputies, bishops, and a multitude of soldiers, crowded 
 into this city, filling it with all the pomp of worldly splendor. 
 " Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing ? 
 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel 
 together, againstthe Lord, and against his anointed." 
 
 In the midst, however, of all the tumult which surrounded 
 them, the zeal of the ministers of the Word of God who accom- 
 panied the Protestant princes, relaxed not,- they preached the 
 Word, and shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God. 
 Their preaching produced the effect which ever follows the Word, 
 when presented in any spot for the first time. The Wortl of God 
 is the cause of discussion, said Luther. " This is a hard saying, 
 who can hear it .'" Their discourses were complained of, though 
 they declared in them only the simple truth without controversy. 
 Letters on the subject were addressed to the Emperor, who still 
 remained at some distance from Augsburg. In reply, he signified 
 his opinion that preaching should be suspended until the doctrine 
 was examhied and approved. The Elector consulted Luther, and 
 the reformer gave a fresh instance of his moderation, advising 
 that the preaching shoiUd be discontinued if the Emperor persist- 
 ed in his demand ; " For," said he, " the Emperor ought to be 
 4* 
 
82 CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 
 
 master in his own city." The Elector, however, could not bring 
 himself to accede to the wishes expressed to him. " It would be 
 contrary to my conscience," replied he to Charles, " to forbid the 
 preaching of the Word of God ; especially in these times, when 
 we so greatly need all the consolation and assistance which it 
 offers." " Unless thy law had been my delight, I should then 
 have perished in my affliction," said another prince, the royal 
 prophet David. 
 
 In the meantime, while Melancthon, the friend of Luther, 
 assisted by other theologians, was incessantly occupied at Augs- 
 burg in drawing up the confession, which was to be presented 
 to tiie Diet by the Protestant princes, Luther was suffering greatly 
 at Coburg, both in body and mind, and had already chosen in his 
 desert (as he called it) a place for his grave. The Elector sent 
 him some remedies for his malady, and wrote to him at the same 
 time in words full of affection. liUther replied by a letter admira- 
 bly suited to console this Christian prince, amidst the formidable 
 combat in which he was engaged with the enemies of the Gos- 
 pel. "Truly, without cause," he says, "you have graciously 
 condescended to be so anxious about me ; three weeks have pass- 
 ed so quickly, that they seem to me scarcely to have been three 
 days. But it is your Grace who is now in a pamful and danger- 
 ous position. Oh, may our good God, who is in heaven, succor 
 you, so that your heart may remain steadfast and patient in the 
 grace which he has so richly manifested to us. It must be only 
 for the love of God that you endure so many trials and dangers, 
 since all these princes and furious enemies can find no other fault 
 in you than that of loving the pure and living Word of God, and 
 acknowledge that, for the rest, you are a gentle, pious, and faith- 
 ful prince. And it is certainly a strong evidence that God loves 
 you, since he not only gives you His holy Word freely to enjoy, 
 but accounts you worthy also to endure in its cause so much en- 
 mity and odium. It is this which sheds such light and peace over 
 the conscience ; for to have God for one's friend is better than to 
 have the love of the whole universe." 
 
 Strengthened by such words, the Elector awaited the Empe- 
 ror's arrival, which was postponed time after time. 
 
 At length, on the fifteenth of June, every preparation was made 
 for his solemn entrance. The greatest magnificence was displayed 
 on this occasion, doubtless with the design to impress the Pro- 
 testant princes with an exalted idea of the power and majesty of 
 the Emperor. 
 
 The electors and princes, with an immense crowd, went forth 
 to meet him. When they had arrived within fifty paces of the 
 Emperor, they all dismounted. The Roman legate seized the mo- 
 ment to pronounce the papal benediction. The Emperor, and all 
 his followers, received it kneeling; but the Elector, and all the 
 Protestant princes, remained standing — proving thus, in the very 
 outset, their faith and their firmness. They resumed their route. 
 On arriving at the Bishop's palace, where the Emperor was to 
 lodge, all were invited to enter, except the noble Elector of Saxony 
 
CONFESSION OF THK NAME OF CHRIST. 83 
 
 and his generous brother in the faith. They suffered with all joy 
 the reproach of Clu-ist, and soon gave a new proof of their immova- 
 ble courage ; for, King Ferdinand, the brother of Charles, having 
 required them, in the name and presence of the Emperor, to sus- 
 pend the preaching of the Gospel, and to participate in the pro- 
 cession of the Holy Sacrament, which was to take place the next 
 day, the Margrave of Brandenlaurg, standing forth in the name of 
 all, exclaimed, " Rather would J kneel to receive my death-blow 
 at your Majesty's hand, than to deny my God and his Gospel." 
 
 the Emperor having repeated his demand, by a deputation, the 
 same evening, the Margrave and the other princes repaired the 
 next morning, at six o'clock, to the Emperor's palace, and replied 
 — " We will not sanction, by our presence, such impious human 
 traditions, utterly opposed as they are to the word of God and the 
 commands of Christ. So far from it — with one voice, we declare 
 that we desire to see these doctrines of men utterly banished horn 
 the Church, and the yet uncorrupted members of the body of Christ 
 sheltered from this mortal poison. Let not your Majesty be 
 offended if I decline to comply with your Avishes, for it is Avritten 
 that it is better to obey God than man. Wherefore, for the sake 
 of confessing the doctrine which I know to be the voice of the 
 Son of God, immutable and eternal truth, I am ready to face all 
 dangers, and even death itself, with which, as I hear, those are 
 threatened Avho believe in this wliolesome doctrine." 
 
 Glorious courage ! noble renunciation of the world and self ! — 
 would that it might inspire our hearts also ! " He that loveth his 
 life shall lose it : and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep 
 it unto life eternal." 
 
 The procession took place, but none of the evangelical princes 
 engaged in it. They displayed the same firmness with regard to 
 the Gospel. " The Word of God," they said, " caiuiot be liound ; 
 to arrest it — to fetter it, would be a sin against the Holy Ghost. 
 Besides, being only poor sinful men," added these magnanimous 
 princes, " we need the preaching of this divine word to enlighten 
 and console us. We cannot do without the daily nourishment of 
 our bodies — still less can we bear to be deprived of the word of 
 God ; ' for man doth not live by bread only, but by every word 
 that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' " Thereupon, Charles 
 the Fifth caused a herald to publish, with the sound of a trumpet, 
 in the city of Augsburg, that no clergyman should preach there 
 any more, unless by special permission from the Emperor. There 
 was no alternative but to submit. " Thus," wrote the Elector of 
 Saxony to Luther, " our Lord God is commanded to be silent in 
 the imperial Diet of Augsburg." Happy will the Church be, when, 
 from'the greatest to the least, all shall know the value of the pure 
 and faithful declaration of the gospel of our Lord Christ ! " More 
 to be desired than gold — yea, than much fine gold : sweeter also 
 than honey and the honey-comb." 
 
 At last, the Diet was formally opened on the 20th of June. The 
 opening address iinveiled the hostile designs of Charles. It was, 
 as it were, a declaration of war. Then was it necessary to " be 
 
84 CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 
 
 strong ill the Lord, and in tlie power of his might — to be able to 
 withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." On 
 leaving the assembly, the Elector of Saxony invited all the princes, 
 his brethren in the faith, to assemble at his hotel, and there ex- 
 horted them to stand steadfast in a cause Avhich was that of God 
 himself, and of the faith as it is in Jesus. The next day, very 
 early in the morning, he dismissed all his counsellors and ser- 
 vants, and this pious prince passed the whole day in iiis chamber, 
 drawing courage and consolation from the Psalms of David, and 
 supplicating God to grant him His assistance and His grace for 
 the glory of His gospel. 
 
 The Protestants obtained permission to read their confession 
 publicly on the 24th of June, but on that day other affairs occu- 
 pied ihe Diet too long. Their confession was demanded in writ- 
 ing. They insisted that it should be read in full assembly. The 
 Emperor acceded to their wishes, and all awaited with impatience 
 the following day, which, to all appearance, was to decide the 
 destiny of the invincible truth. 
 
 In the meantime, Luther, at Coburg, took to himself the whole 
 armor of God ; he praised God without ceasing — he read His holy 
 word, and was filled with courage, hope and joy. Not a day 
 passed in which he did not spend at least three hours in prayer. 
 He conversed Avith God, his servant tells i;s, as with his father. 
 Once he was overheard praying thus in his chamber : " I know 
 that Thou art our good God and Father ; therefore, I am sure that 
 Thou wilt destroy the persecutors of Thy children. If Thou dost 
 not, the danger concerns Thee as well as us. The whole affair 
 is Thine ; we have done but what we ought to have done ; and 
 Thou, oh, kind Father, wilt protect us." Had I been in the place 
 of our friends," said he to this same faithful servant, " I would 
 have replied to our adversaries, ' If your Emperor will not suffer 
 the empire to be divided, neither will our Emperor (the Lord Al- 
 mighty) sixffer the name of God to be blasphemed. Glory, then, 
 if you will, in your Emperor; we, too, will glory in ours. We 
 shall see who will remain masters of the field.' " 
 
 The wise, and gentle, and apprehensive Melancthon, at Augs- 
 burg, shared not the assurance of Luther ; he was full of fears 
 and anguish. His friend, Camerarius, often surprised him in 
 tears. Luther endeavored to inspire his friends with the same 
 confidence and courage that nerved his own soul. In writing to 
 Jonas, from his desert (for thus he dated all his letters from Co- 
 burg), he said : " It is philosophy that torments Philip (meaning 
 Melancthon), and nothing else ! for our cause is in the hands of 
 Him Avho can say, Avith the power of majesty, ' Neither shall 
 any man pluck them out of my hand.' There I desire to leave 
 it. I have had many affairs in my own hands, and have lost 
 them all ; but all those that I have confided to Him, I still pos- 
 sess securely ; for truly God is our refuge and strength. ' Who 
 ever trusted in Him, and was confounded ?' So Wisdom speaks, 
 and elsewhere says, ' Thou, Lord, v/ilt not forsake those Avho put 
 their trust in Thee.' Let us defy our adversaries, strong in the 
 
CONFESSION OP THE NAME OF CHRIST. 85 
 
 niiglit of the Lord Jesus, for since He lives, ' we siiall live also,' 
 even in death ; and He will protect and bless the widows and 
 children of those who confess Him at the price of their lives. 
 Since He reigneth, ' we shall also reign with Him.' Already we 
 have begun to reign. Oh ! if I were summoned to Augsburg, 
 how quickly, by the grace of God, I would be there ! May His 
 presence attend thee !" 
 
 Still later, he wrote thus to Melancthon : " Grace and peace be 
 given you in Christ ! In Christ, I say, and not in the world. 
 Amen. Why wilt thou thus unceasingly torment thyself.' If our 
 cause is not good, forsake it ; but if it is, why will we make God 
 a liar, when he tells us to be tranquil and ' of good cheer ?' ' Cast 
 thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee,' are His 
 own words ; and again, ' The Lord is nigh unto them tliat are of 
 a broken heart.' The issue of these events torments you, because 
 you cannot foresee it. But I tell you that if I could foresee it, I 
 would not interfere in it — still less would I have begun it. God 
 has placed our cause in a place which you will find neither in 
 your philosophy nor in your rhetoric. That ])lace is called Faith, 
 and there are found all those things which we can neither see 
 nor understand. He who wishes us to see and handle things, as 
 you do, has for his reward only tears and anguish of heart. If 
 Christ is not with us, where in all the universe will you find 
 Him.' If we are not the Church, where then is the Church? Is 
 it the Duke (of Bavaria), Rome, or the Turk .' If we have not 
 the word of God, who has it .' And, ' if God be for us, who can 
 be against us .'' If we fall, Christ falls Avith us, and Christ is the 
 Sovereign of the World. He has said, ' Be of good cheer, I have 
 overcome the ^vorld ;' and I know that it certainly is so. Why, 
 then, do we fear the conquered Avorld, as if it were the conquer- 
 or .' Oh ! precious word of truth ! One would go to seek it on 
 one's knees, even to Rome or to Jerusalem ; and, because we 
 have it and may use it any moment, we lightly esteem it. That is 
 wrong. I know it proceeds from the weakness of our faith. Let 
 us pray, then, with the Apostles : ' Lord, increase our faith.' 
 ' Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not 
 fear.' ' No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper — 
 saith the Lord.' " 
 
 At length arrived the memorable 25th of June, 1530 — that day 
 of triumph for the Church. At three o'clock in the aftewioon, 
 three centuries ago, all the electors and representatives of the 
 empire repaired to the palace where the Emperor lodged, in the 
 chapel of which the Confession was to be read, in order to avoid 
 the concourse of the people. The Emperor commanded that 
 none but the princes and representatives should be present, but, 
 notwithstanding his orders, the palace-court was soon filled to 
 overflowing. The two chancellors of the Elector of Saxony, 
 strengthened by the hand of the Lord, outstretched to bless and 
 protect them, advanced into the centre of the chapel, bearhig 
 duplicates of the Confession, one in Latin and the other in German. 
 The Elector represented tliat, as they were in Germany, he hoped 
 
8D CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST, 
 
 his Majesty would grant permission to read the Confession in the 
 language of the country. The Emperor consented. One of the 
 Chancellors then pronounced a short discourse in the name of 
 the Protestants ; and, at its close, the other began to read the 
 Confession. This he did in so loud and distinct a voice that not 
 a word of it was lost by the immense crowd in the i:)alace-yard. 
 The reading lasted two hours. Heard amidst the deepest silence, 
 it produced a most powerful effect. No one had expected to 
 hear such words as then met their ears. We cannot now repeat 
 them to you, my dear friends ; there are one or two principal 
 points, however, among them, which claim especial attention in 
 our day, when so many have lost all recollection of what that 
 faith is Avhich was " once delivered to the saints." 
 
 " We confess and teach," said the evangelical princes of Ger- 
 many, in the presence of this assembly of kings, who listened to 
 them attentively, " that there is one God, and in this single and 
 same divine Being, three persons, God the Father, God the Son, 
 and God the Holy Spirit, a divine and eternal essence, infinite in 
 wisdom, goodness, and power, the Creator and Preserver of all 
 things visible and invisible. 
 
 "We confess and teach, that, since the fall of Adam, all men 
 are born in sin — that is, from their birth, they are filled with evil 
 desu'es and inclinations, and can have, by nature, no true piety, 
 no true love of God, no true faith in God. We maintain that this 
 inbred sin is an actual sin in them, and certainly condemns, and 
 consigns to eternal death, those who are not born of water and 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " We confess and teach that God the Son became man ; that he 
 closely united the two natures, human and divine, in one person, 
 which is Christ — very God, and very man — and who, being truly 
 born, crucified, dead, and buried, was a sacrifice, not only for the 
 inbred sin of man, but also for all other sins, and thus satisfied 
 divine justice. 
 
 " We confess and teach that this same Christ, having descend- 
 ed into hell, on the third day arose from the dead, ascended into 
 Heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God, where He ever 
 lives and reigns over all creatures ; that he sanciifies, by the Holy 
 Spirit, all who believe in Him — that He purifies, strengthens, and 
 consoles them ; gives them life, and all manner of graces and 
 blessmgs, and protects and defends them against sin and the devil. 
 
 " We confess and teach, that men being born in sin, not obey- 
 ing the law of God, and being incapable by nature of loving God, 
 we cannot merit the pardon of our sins by our works or by any 
 satisfaction, and are not justified before God on account of our 
 works, but are justified for Christ's sake by grace, through faith, 
 when our conscience is appeased by the promise of Christ, and 
 believes that remission of sins is truly given unto us ; that God is 
 favorable to us, and gives us eternal life, for the sake of His Son, 
 who reconciled God unto us by his death. 
 
 " We confess and teach that such faith must bring forth good 
 fruits, and produce good works ; that we ought to do all the good 
 
CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 87 
 
 works which God has commanded from love to God, without, 
 however, trusting on them for justification, for when we have 
 done all things, we still must say, ' We are unprofitable ser- 
 vants.' " 
 
 " This," added the Chancellor of Saxony, before proceeding to 
 the enumeration of the abuses of the Church of Rome, " this is 
 the summary of the doctrine preached in our churches, for in- 
 struction and consolation, as well as for the sanctification of be- 
 lievers." 
 
 After having finished this memorable reading, the electoral 
 chancellor went forward to place the two copies in the hands of 
 the imperial secretaiy. But the Emperor, who had not once lost 
 sight of them, extended his own hand, and received them. The 
 Protestant representatives then returned thanks to Charles, to 
 King Ferdinand, and all the other princes, for the attention with 
 Avhich they had listened to their memorial. 
 
 A solemn act was terminated. The adversaries, and even seve- 
 ral of the bishops, were struck with the admirable exposition of 
 the Christian faith which they had just heard ; and who knows 
 but that the impression which it made on Charles may have been 
 revived in the convent of St. Just, and surroimded his dying bed 
 with imspeakable consolations .' Copies of the Confession were 
 immediately sent to all the Courts of Europe, and thus a know- 
 ledge of the evangelical faith and the seeds of divine truth were 
 scattered abroad even to the most distant lands. 
 
 As for the heroes of the faith who had so boldly confessed 
 Christ and Him crucified, from this hour a new sentiment animat- 
 ed them, a new feeling filled their hearts. They had confessed 
 Christ before men, and felt happy in the blessed assurance that 
 He would " confess them before His Father who is in Heaven." 
 " The S]iirit of glory and of God" rested upon them. They had 
 conquered — they had put to flight all the hosts of the enemy ; an 
 everlasting joy was upon their heads. From that day, the destiny 
 of the evangelical Church was secured, and the Lord proclaimed 
 over it anew, " The gates of hell shall never prevail against 
 thee." 
 
 Such was the confession of the name of Christ in the sixteenth 
 century. Shall not this glorious name be confessed in the nine- 
 teenth with the same boldness and fidelity .> Oh, my dear hearers, 
 shall the adversaries of Jesus, who could not prevail in that day, 
 triumph over us noAV, while Christians remain silent .' This same 
 voice of the son of God which the heroes of the faith heard, when, 
 three centuries ago, they carried ofl^ the palm of faithfulness and 
 victory, speaks still in our day to His people, and proclaims, 
 " Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess 
 before my Father who is in Heaven." 
 
 But can all now confess the name of Jesus Christ .' In order to 
 confess Him, we must know Him, and all know Him not. Tlie day 
 which we commemorate presents to us an assembly in \\-hich 
 were two entirely distinct classes of men; and Jesus, in the dis- 
 course from which our text is taken, declares to us that there are 
 
88 CONFESSION OP THE NAME OF CHRIST. 
 
 those who confess and those who deny Him. A grand distinc- 
 tion, a wide separation exists then between men. This is the 
 first lesson to be learned from the pictnre placed before our eyes 
 to-day. This separation which existed in the times of the Apos- 
 tles, existed also at the time of the Reformation, when on one side 
 we see those who made this noble profession of the truth, and, on 
 the other, those who wished to crush it — and it exists still. We 
 would not dwell now on the distinction established by varied 
 forms of discipline and worship, for God is no respecter of per- 
 sons ; but on that which is found in all nations and in every de- 
 nomination, between those who reject the immutable truth ^vhich 
 the Apostles and Reformers professed. It is an axiom universally 
 recognized, and proclaimed by every philosopher, that, as there 
 is good and evil, so there must be good and evil men, the just and 
 the unjust, saints and sinners ; or, as the Scriptures emphatically 
 express it, " the children of God, and the children of the devil." 
 
 Christianity does but separate these two classes moi-e widely, 
 while declaring that they actually exist before God, and will re- 
 ceive their reward. Him that confesseth me, I "will confess — and 
 him that denieth me, I will deny. And what saith the Saviour of 
 the world, who is the truth, as to the relative number of each of 
 the classes, which the word of God and the day we celebrate 
 present to us : "Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the 
 gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many 
 there be that go in thereat : because strait is the gate and narrow 
 is the way ^vhich leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." 
 These words were true three centuries ago at Augsburg, and they 
 are yet true over all the earth. So, then, if there is now, as in the 
 times of the Ajjostles and Reformers, a doctrine rejected by the 
 world, by the lovers of the riches, honors, and pleasures of this 
 life, a doctrine which the many refuse to embrace, which is con- 
 sidered a strange thing, and is abandoned to a despised few, it is 
 a strong presumptive proof that this doctrine is the truth. And if 
 there is a mode of life which is considered too strict, too severe, 
 which cannot be assimilated to the customs and tastes of the mul- 
 titude, but is ridiculed and given up to a iew, it is probable evi- 
 dence that it is the true one. And if there is a Christianity against 
 which all take up arms, Avhich is rejected by all who are wise in 
 their own eyes, and seek glory from men, and not that which 
 cometh from God only, it would be reasonable to conclude that 
 this was the gospel. 
 
 If I go with the multitude, if I think as everybody thinks, if 1 
 do as all do — well may I tremble ! for those are proofs that I am 
 in the broad way which leadeth to destruction. 
 
 " There are few that be saved," says one prophet; " One of a 
 city, and two of a family," says another. Oh, my soul ! thou art 
 with God, or thou art far away from Him ! Thou art converted, 
 or thou art not ! Thou dost either confess Christ, or deny Him ! 
 One of these two sides thou hast taken, and which is it ? Art 
 thou in the narrow path of life ? or art thou in the broad way to 
 perdition .' Oh, my soul ! this is worth consideration. Examine 
 
CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 89 
 
 ihyself ; prove thyself; seek, and ascertain clearly what thou art. 
 " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith." 
 
 Dear hearer ! you, whose conscience witnesses, this hour, that 
 you do not confess Christ — you do not know Him — you are still 
 in the broad way — why will you not now be saved .' Why will 
 you not this day be transported into the path of life, where the 
 " fellow citizens of the saints" and confessors of Jesus Christ are 
 found .' One thing alone iirevents you, and that we declare to 
 you ; it is your want of faith in the powerful, the life-giving name 
 of Jesus. So long as you do not believe in this name by which 
 alone there is salvation, your sins separate between you and God, 
 and it is impossible for you to confess a name which has no glory 
 in your eyes. But believe the word ; this is what it tells you (and 
 in comparison with its teachings all else is darkness and error), 
 " Christ who is the brightness of the glory of God, and the express 
 image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his 
 power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the 
 right hand of the Majesty on high." Understand well what the 
 word of God here declares to you. Christ has, not by an angel, 
 or by any of the heavenly intelligences which He created, but by 
 Himself, purged the sins of all who believe in Him ; which is to 
 say, He was purified, redeemed, and delivered them from their 
 sins, as effectually as if they had never committed any. At the 
 moment when Christ expired on the cross, being " made sin" for 
 all, all the sins of his people, of every age and every nation, were 
 blotted out. What ! could you believe that the Lord Christ him- 
 self took the trouble to purify His people from their sins, and that 
 there still remains something in them which defiles and hinders 
 them from seeing God ? To use an illustration Avithin the reach 
 of all — if a mother has bathed her child hi pure water, and has 
 said to him, "Go, now, you are clean," her child believes her and 
 goes to his play; Irut if, to assure himself that it is so, he should 
 go to behold his natural face in a glass, according to an expres- 
 sion of Scripture, he would be insulting his mother, by thus ad- 
 mitting the possibility that she could sjieak falsely. Well ! Christ 
 himself, Jehovah, Jesus, says to the believer, " Go, thou art made 
 clean — I have purged thy sins by myself, I liave made an end of 
 all transgression ; he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting 
 life." And we will not believe this eternal word of truth ! we 
 would make our Lord a liar ! Oh, my dear brother ! do you truly 
 believe that Jesus is the Saviour — do you believe it in your heart, 
 and confess it with your mouth ? Then do I declare to you from 
 the everlasting gospel : " You are clean." All your sins are for- 
 given. You have found grace in the sight of God. " There is no 
 more condemnation" for you, says St. Paul. " You, who in limes 
 past were not a people, are now the people of God ; you, which 
 had not obtained mercy, have now obtained mercy." Listen, 
 then, to the voice of the Lord. He summons you to quit the stand- 
 ard of error, that you may range yourself under that of truth. Go 
 forth from the camp of His adversaries, and enter into that of His 
 children and friends. Unite yourself to the holy band of His pro. 
 
90 CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 
 
 phets and apostles — to those illustrious princes and doctors, who, 
 in the days we celebrate, confessed His name so nobly. There is 
 not one of you who cannot do it, and that, too, this moment; the 
 door is 0]3en, wide open, for all. Oh, why will you prefer the 
 sullied and j)erishing banners of injustice and unbelief to the pure 
 and immortal standard of Christ? Behold, "the fashion of this 
 world passeth away ;" already its grandeur is fading, and soon 
 will be no more. What will then remain to you ? " Wherefore, 
 come out from amojig them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, 
 and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, and will 
 be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, 
 saith the Lord Almighty." 
 
 But, if you have ever known Christ, my beloved brethren, if 
 you have enlisted in the army of the living God, what lessons 
 the events of this day teach you ! Soldiers of Christ ! who fight 
 under His eternal banner — all ye who know the Saviour — children 
 of God — strangers, as the Apostle calls you, scattered throughout 
 the world ! listen to the words of a poor, despised Man, who had 
 not where to lay His head, but whom you will soon recognize, 
 by the majestic authority of His language, as your Lord and your 
 God ! " Whoever shall confess me before men, him will I also 
 confess before my Father which is in Heaven." 
 
 The confession of the name of Christ is, perhaps, still more 
 necessary and more difficult in our time than it was in that of the 
 Reformers. There was then but one adversary, fanaticism, or 
 superstition; but God, who willeth that all the enemies of His 
 Church shall manifest themselves, that it may gain over them all 
 a brilliant victory, has permitted a new and not less formidable 
 adversary to spring forth from the age succeeding that glorious 
 period : materialism or infidelity. Its deadly atmosphere is widely 
 diffused, over the lowly as well as the lofty places of the earth, 
 in the institutions of learning, in the workshop of industry, 
 abroad in the country, at home in the fire-side circle ; it has 
 mingled its poison with the very springs from which the people 
 have been accustomed to draw refreshment and life. Satan dis- 
 plays in our day the whole of his imposing army. With fanati- 
 cism as leader of his left wing, and scepticism of his right, he 
 aims at full victory over the high places of the earth, and the 
 establishment of an undisputed empire. Who shall withstand 
 him but you, scattered children of God, who have this promise 
 from the Captain of your salvation, " The God of peace shall 
 bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Therefore, we summon 
 you, on this anniversary of a great victory, to one more glorious 
 still. " Be of good courage," we say to you, as did the leader of 
 the armies of Israel on the eve of a battle with the children of 
 Ammon, " and let lis play the men for our people, and for the 
 cities of our God; and the Lord do that which seemeth Him 
 good." 
 
 " Does not all that is passing around you tend to animate your 
 courage ? What if the enemy of God does multiply his forces, 
 so long as Christ, the Head of His Church, the Captain of your 
 
CONFESSION OP THE NAME OF CHRIST. 91. 
 
 salvation, lifts up still higher his standard against them ? The 
 soldiers of the adversary fill the air with cries of extermination, 
 but the masses which they had heaped up to crush Him against 
 whom they wage war, recoil upon their own heads, and " the 
 Lion of the tribe of Judah" crouches down in triumph over their 
 ruins. Have you not countries under your own eyes, in which, 
 a few years ago, no single tongue confessed the name of Jesus, 
 now filled with His glory ? " There shall be an handful of corn 
 in the earth upon the top of the mountains ; The fruit thereof 
 shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like 
 grass of the earth." 
 
 The distant isles of the ocean are awaking, and stretch out 
 their hands to you : there is a sound of life throughout the whole 
 earth, as of some one collecting his hosts, and marshalling them 
 for the battle. 
 
 " Lord, in thy power's triumphal day, 
 
 Thy willing people shall obey ; 
 And when thy rising beams they view, 
 
 Shall all (redeemed from error's night), 
 
 Appear more numerous and bright, 
 Than crystal drops of morning dew." 
 
 Content, then, oh children of God ! by confessing the name of 
 Jesus. Oh, brothers, well beloved ! after having been saved by 
 the Lord Jesus, it is our duty, as well as our highest joy and 
 greatest glory, to be faithful to Him and to confess Him openly be- 
 fore all men. Doubtless, you are not called to so solemn a con- 
 fession as that which we celebrate to-day ; it is not to a pitched 
 battle that the trumpet summons you ; but each one of you is to 
 confess the Lord, in the peculiar circumstances amidst which 
 God has placed him. There is an essential difference between the 
 two periods that we are contemplating. At the time of the Re- 
 formation, a few great names seemed to fill the whole field of 
 battle ; but, in our day, the armies of the living God have no 
 earthly commanders ; names are lost in a happy obscurity. One 
 Captain alone appears at our head — and he is Christ. Oh, my 
 brethren ! realize the responsibility which this imposes on you. 
 You cannot now rely on a few illustrious leaders ; every one must 
 fight at his post, as if on him alone depended the victory. It is 
 not perhaps by great battles, but by a thousand private combats, 
 that the King of Zion purposes to establish His kingdom. To the 
 handsof eachof you he commits a portion of its destiny. "God hath 
 chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which 
 are mighty ; and base things of the world, and things which are de- 
 spised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to 
 naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence." 
 If God has placed you among cottages, confess Him among cottages. 
 If He has placed you in the dwellings of the rich of this world, con- 
 fess Him in the midst of abundance and prosperity. If He has placed 
 you in tlie sanctuary, lift up your voice there fearlessly. If He 
 has s'lven to vou the seat of the jiiightv, confess Him even upon 
 
92 CONFESSION OF THK NAME OF CHRIST. 
 
 the steps of the throne, as did in those days the princes of the 
 earth within the palaces of kings. Suffer no oj^portunity to escape 
 you of faithfully confessing Christ in the heart of your family, 
 in your daily life and conversation. " Sanctify the Lord God in 
 your hearts ; and be ready always to give an answer to every 
 man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with 
 meekness and fear." This is all that Christ asks of yon, as one 
 of his soldiers ; this is your armor for the gloriovis combat. His 
 name alone, without any human help, gains the most noble vic- 
 tories; His name alone overturns the empire of darkness, and 
 scatters afar the powers of evil. " God hath given Him a name 
 that is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
 should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things 
 under the earth." 
 
 Disciples of Christ ! the truths by which you are to gam the vic- 
 tory over the world, and bring many captive souls to God the 
 Saviour, are the same that the Apostles confessed, the same that 
 the Reformers and illustrious princes confessed so courageously 
 three centuries ago. Men change, but " Jesus Christ is the same 
 yesterday, to-day and for ever." The Christ whom Paul, Peter, 
 and John confessed, the Christ whom Luther, Calvin, and Beza 
 confessed, is He whom you are to confess. Say, as they did, 
 " We are sinners, and in ourselves condemned." Say, as they did, 
 " We are saved by grace alone, by Christ through faith." Say, 
 ■with them, " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
 kingdom of God." Bear witness with simplicity and gentleness 
 to all the truths contained in the Word of God, for it is the testi- 
 mony of God himself. This is confessing Jesus Christ. It is not 
 a doctrine of yesterday — it is an eternal truth which you confess. 
 Human doctrines have been ever changing, and scarcely any two 
 of those floating around you are consistent with each other ; but 
 the truth of God is unalterable. You must expect that the Christ 
 whom you confess will be still, as in ages past, to the world "an 
 unknown God." Some around you will say, " These are old 
 superannuated doctrines;" others, " These are strange novelties." 
 Yes, it is an ever ancient truth which you proclaim, for it existed 
 in the council of God before the creation of the world. And yet 
 it is a truth ever new, for each time that it is manifested to the 
 heart of the sinner, he begins to see things of which he had no 
 conception before. Do not allow yourselves to be hindered by 
 vain clamors such as these. Ever old, yet ever new, twice already 
 has this same truth saved and renewed the world : it has proved 
 itself, if I may so speak. Let us stand firm : a third time it will 
 save it, and I hope for ever. " I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
 and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." 
 
 Forward, then, soldiers of the God of armies, and fight fearless- 
 ly ! In our day, we must have resolution, strength, devotedness, 
 and entire self-renunciation ; for, if the weapons which the world 
 uses are more delicate and subtle than in the times of the Apos- 
 tles and Reformers, they are so much the more formidable. The 
 coldness and ^contempt of those who surround us, sometimes 
 
CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 93 
 
 even onr dearest friends, consume the heart with a keener an- 
 guish than that inflicted by the flames of martyrdom ; and human 
 opinion, the fear or the love of the world, has made more infidels 
 than the sword of the executioner. 
 
 Be strong, then, and steadfast, fixing your eyes on the certain 
 triumph of the Lord's cause. Tlie leader whom you follow has 
 already conquered all His enemies — " He has spoiled principali- 
 ties and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing 
 over them, in the cross." The conversion and subjection of the 
 whole world to Him is the subject of promise. " Yet have I set 
 my King itpon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree : 
 the Lord hath said unto me. Thou art my Son ; this day have I 
 begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for 
 thme inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy pos- 
 session." Already the King of the Universe is preparing all things 
 for the accomplishment of this promise. Already do the Gentiles 
 seek the root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign to the peo- 
 ple. Already does the Lord " set His hand again the second time 
 to recover the remnant of his people" Israel. Already, in the bo- 
 som of our fallen churches, the Lord Jehovah is everywhere 
 forming for Himself a " willing people," and the " Bright and 
 Morning Star" is rising to cast its holy beams over the earth long 
 wearied of the dark and fearful night. Soldiers of Christ ! fight, 
 then, the fight of faith with cheerful courage, knowing that the 
 work in Avhich you are engaged is God's own, and that He has 
 prepared a full and glorious triumph as its consummation before 
 the foundations of the world. Let your hearts be filled with holy 
 zeal. Be vigorous and energetic, " for God hath not 'given us 
 the spirit of fear, but of power ;" and " he that overcorneth shall 
 inherit all things, saith the Lord ; but the fearful and unbelieving 
 shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brim- 
 stone : which is the second death." Believe, and hope, if need 
 be, even against hope ; it is by faith that we obtain promises, 
 subdue kingdoms, or stop the mouths of lions. 
 
 Nevertheless, beloved friends, remember that the combat to 
 which you are called is that of eternal charity. It is not by bitter 
 zeal that you can promote the interests of the kingdom of God. 
 What is the object you have in view .' Is it that yon may be in- 
 struments in God's hands for saving souls ? And how can you 
 save souls, if you do not love them ? Remember how Christ, 
 your leader, walked on earth, in whose footsteps you are to fol- 
 low. He walked in love, and it is by love that he overcame the 
 world and saved His people. " When he saw the multitudes" 
 about Him, " He was moved with compassion on them, because 
 they fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shep- 
 herd." He " went about doing good." Oh, if we had more love 
 in our hearts, what noble victories we should gain over the prince 
 of the world ! How many souls would be saved from death ! 
 Let us, then, oh, my brethren, love souls as Jesus loved them ! 
 Let his spirit be our impulse and example. Never may we cry, 
 " peace, peace, where there is no peace :" but let us beware, also, 
 
94 CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 
 
 of all narrowness of mind — of all bitterness, contention, domineer- 
 ing, and condemnation of others. Let us beware of trusting to 
 ourselves ; but let us abound in confidence in the Lord Jesus, who 
 is love. Let truth be, as it were, the body of the aihleta of Christ, 
 and charity his garment ; for God hath not given us the spirit of 
 fear, but of love. 
 
 And, finally, let us remember, in our confession of the name of 
 Christ, that the war which we wage is that of sovereign wisdom. 
 It is not by precipitancy, or natural zeal, that we can advance the 
 Lord's kingdom, as " novices" may fancy, " being lifted up with 
 pride," and therefore, says the Apostle, they may not bear the 
 office of bishop in the Church of Christ. What an example of wis- 
 dom our illustrious predecessors of three centuries past, have 
 given us. Let us distrust ourselves. Whenever we go forward 
 in our own strength, our own zeal, or our own wisdom, we injure 
 the cause of Christ. Before taking the first step, always ask 
 counsel of God. Be willing to wait, for this is a lesson which 
 every servant of God must learn. Have a sound judgment in all 
 things ; and endeavor to choose always the noblest end, and 
 the most prudent and proper means for attaining it. " Let us 
 not fall into the condemnation of the devil" (or calumniator). Let 
 us have " the "wisdom that is from above," which is not " earthly, 
 sensual, devilish," but " is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and 
 easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without par- 
 tiality and without hypocrisy ;" for again, as says the Apostle of 
 the GentUes, " God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of a 
 sound mind." 
 
 Ministers of the word of God ! you who are, in the strongest sense, 
 my brethren, to you and to myself 1 would first of all address the 
 word of exhortation. May we be found faithful in this combat 
 of eternal love, to which we are called ! Oh, my brethren ! let us 
 pray, much for ourselves, and much for one another. Let us be 
 girt about wiih truth and charity. Let us " hold fast the form of 
 sound words," which Ave have heard. Let us proclaim fearlessly 
 the Divine testimony, declaring the whole counsel of God with 
 clearness and fidelity ;. " for," saith the Scripture, " if the trumpet 
 give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the bat- 
 tle .'" Watchmen of Zion ! let us blow the trumpet when we see 
 the sword coming, that the people may be warned, and that the 
 sword take not away their life. 
 
 Pastors of the Lord's flock ! let us lead them to feed on the 
 plant of renown which has been raised up for them, that they be 
 no more consumed with hunger in the land. " Let us reprove, 
 rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine," for, in doing 
 this, we shall save both ourselves and them that hear us. 
 
 Elders of our churches ! all you, who are called to labor with 
 us — and you, earth's mighty ones ! follow the example of these 
 illustrious princes whose fidelity and glory have been this day re- 
 called to you. Learn from them that the doctrine of the truth is 
 not the exclusive property of the ministers of the sanctuary, but 
 that it belongs to you as well as to them, and that you, as we, 
 
CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST. 95 
 
 are called to be its defenders. " Be not (ye), therefore, ashamed 
 of the testimony of our Lord," but confess Him, as did this as- 
 semblage of princes, before the world. And, as they were th( 
 strong support of the ministers of the Word, grant us also, ■ 
 every occasion, your love, your sympathy, and your prayers, 
 one in defence of the doctrine of the truths which God has e. 
 trusted to our churches. Value the gift of a faithful minister at 
 a very precious privilege. "We beseech you, brethren," says St. 
 Paul, " to know them which labor among you, and are over you 
 in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in 
 love, for their works' sake. And be at peace among yourselves." 
 
 And ye all, disciples of Christ, of every age, sex, and condition, 
 walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called ! Confess 
 Christ in your words, with all humility and modesty ; but, above 
 all, confess Him in your life. Comfort the feeble-minded, sup- 
 port the weak, be patient toward all men. If thine enemy hun- 
 ger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink. Ever follow that 
 which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice 
 evermore, showing forth thus the praises of Him who hath called 
 you out of darkness into His marvellous light; and let your light 
 so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and 
 glorify your Father which is in heaven 
 
 The day shall come Avhen the Lord's promise to you shall be 
 gloriously fulfilled. He will come, with all His holy angels, and 
 then will He say unto you, " Come, my brother, my sister, fear 
 not; thou hast confessed me (on earth) before men, now will I 
 confess thee before my Father which is in heaven. Oh, my Fa- 
 ther ! he is mine — I have redeemed him — he is my friend, my 
 brother. He has made a covenant with me by sacrifice. He has 
 confessed me amidst the scorn of the world ; now do I confess 
 him before Thy glory. Give unto him a white stone, and write 
 upon him the name of my God. Ye everlasting doors, give way ! 
 Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord !" 
 
c 
 
 is X 
 
 and 
 
 fear 
 
 CI 
 
 T 
 
CHRISTIAIITY 
 
 CARRIED TO THE 
 
 NATIONS OF THE EARTH, 
 
 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIAN NATIONS. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY M. M. BACKUS. 
 
TO THE COMMITTEE 
 
 or THE 
 
 AUXILIARY SOCIETY OF BRUSSELS 
 iFor tl)e IJropagatiott of. Cljristianila in tl)e Itno 5nbus. 
 
 THE AUTHOR, 
 Brussels, March, 1830. 
 
A MANUSCRIPT copy of this discourse falling into the hands of a 
 friend of missions in Holland, he translated it by the author's con- 
 sent, and published it in the Dutch language.* The author did 
 not at that time think of publishing it in French. The work that 
 it recommends having been established in a more regular manner 
 at Brussels, by the formation of a Society for the propagation of 
 Christianity in the two Indies, auxiliary to the two Evangelical 
 Missionary Societies, established, the one at the Hague, the other 
 at Rotterdam, the author thought that this discourse might per- 
 haps contribute to enlighten the friends of Christianity and of 
 humanity, concerning the end proposed by the new Society ; and 
 it is consequently published in the language in which it was pro- 
 nounced. That the Lord may make use of it, whether in our own 
 or foreign countries, to kindle the zeal of some in favor of the best 
 work which man can undertake, is the wish and prayer of his 
 heart. The facts alluded to in this discourse, are drawn from the 
 most authentic sources ; many have been extracted from the Let- 
 ters upon India, by the missionary Ward, which have recently been 
 translated into French. Some passages in this sermon were not 
 pronounced in the pulpit, for fear of occupying a longer time than 
 is i;sually accorded to the preacher. 
 
 * Het Nut van Evangelisehe Zendelingen ouder de Heidenen, en onze Vh-pligt- 
 ing om deselve he Bevorderen, in octavo, Amsterdam, by Saaks, 1828, and 
 more recently in 12mo. by the same pubUsher, under the title of PrediJct bet 
 Evangelium alien Creaturen. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT BRUSSELS. 
 
 " And Jesus said unto them : Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
 Gospel to every creature." — Mark xvi. 15. 
 
 The work of publishing the Gospel among all the families of the 
 earth, is the greatest and most glorious work which has ever been 
 or ever will be undertaken. While many deep shadows still ob- 
 scure the tableau of Christian society, and while the reign of self- 
 isliness is still far from being over among men, yet we must 
 acknowledge that the jiresent i^ distinguished for its love of pub- 
 lic good and for its humanity. Numerous as.sociations have been 
 formed in different countries, for oljjects of general utility. But 
 all the associations, all the enterprises of the age, are but trifles in 
 comparison with tlie magnificent undertaking of carrying the 
 Gospel to every creature. The friend of humanity, before engaging 
 in this, can make but feeble efforts ; but when he enters upon this 
 chief work, he pays the debt he owes to his species, and has the 
 glory of bearing in his hand one of the stones destined to raise the 
 temple of the living God in the world. 
 
 Is there anything called great among men, which the work of 
 publishing the Gospel to every creature does not infinitely sur- 
 pass .' Is it an association intended to release some unhappy 
 beings who are pining away in dungeons, or under the pressure 
 of some other misery ? That were a great work ; but the work of 
 which I speak announces to a cajotive world the opening of the 
 prison mid the oil of joy for mourning. Is it a conquest, having for 
 its end the deliverance of a people from the oppressors who deso- 
 late them, and their restoration to their legitimate sovereign? 
 This were indeed a noble task ; but the work of which I speak is in- 
 tent on conquering a// tJie nations of the earth to their true and eter- 
 nal King. Is it the giving to a whole people a legislation which 
 will establish it in peace and iirosjierity .' But the work of which 
 I speak bears to all nations the charter of the human race, the 
 fundamental law of its happiness, a celestial legislation which 
 alone can give them righteousness and peace. The work of Evangelical 
 Missions is the most stupendous of all the works of benevolence 
 in which men can engage, for it embraces the whole world ; it is 
 the noblest, for the benefit which it confers is, of all those which ' 
 man can bear to man, the most in harmony with the immortal na- 
 ture of which our bodies are but the mortal tabernacles ; the most 
 
102 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 generous, since those to whom we send svich gifts are unknown 
 to us, differing from us in manners, in color, in language ; who 
 can never testify their gratitude in person, whom we shall never 
 see but iDefore the eternal throne, whither the preaching of the 
 Gospel may have brought them. Why does this restless age, 
 which is so busy in a thousand different ways, take so small a 
 part in this labor of love ? Why, when they lavish money in so 
 many useless expenses, do they reserve nothing to assist those 
 who would carry to Pagan nations the salvation of the world ? 
 Some object that this work is not necessary ; we will reply by 
 showing the magnitude of the evil. Others pretend that they do 
 not know what remedy to apply to so great misery ; we will pre- 
 sent to them the means, ordained of God from the beginning of 
 time. Others -again object that they have no hope of success in 
 this work ; and we will show them the stcccess with which it has 
 already been crowned. 
 
 The Saviour, when he pronounced the words of our text, was 
 standing on the Mount of Olives, after his resurrection from the 
 dead. Beneath him was the earth which he had saved ; aroimd 
 him his weeping disciples, above him heaven and its glory, of 
 which he was about to take possession in the name of his re- 
 deemed. At this solemn moment, the last he was to spend on 
 earth, he embraced, in the glance of his love, the world and the 
 millions of people and generations whose eternal chains he had 
 come to break, and giving to his disciples his last will, he estab- 
 lished them perpetual executors of his love : " Go ye into all the 
 world, and preach the Gospel to every creature .'" 
 
 Lord ! grant us hearts attentive and obedient to thy Word, to 
 meditate upon its holy obligations ! Amen, 
 
 And first, some say : " It is not necessary to send missionaries 
 to Christian nations ; they are as well off as we are, and are like- 
 wise just as happy. Would to God we had their imiocence, their 
 sweet and gentle manners !" 
 
 It is not necessary! It is impossible that it is a Christian who 
 utters these words. Judge of this : the population of our earth is 
 estimated at about ten hundred millions, of whom only two hun- 
 dred millions are Christians ; one hundred millions are Mahomet- 
 ans ; and nearly seven hundred millions are Pagans. Thus, every 
 thirty years, eight hundred millions of souls, immortal as our own, 
 leave the earth without having known the true God, He who has 
 said: 1 am the lutij, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the 
 Father but by ?«e. Thirty years again roll round, and eight Intndred 
 millions more have followed the former to the grave — and thus 
 generations on generations, millions descend sadly to the sepul- 
 chre, in the midst of a dark and lamentable night. What truly 
 Christian soul, after this solemn reflection, can inquire : " Is it 
 ^accessary .'" 
 
 But the state of the unchristianized world is such, that the 
 friend of humanity, whateA^er may be l^is faith, ought to be the 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 103 
 
 friend of the work which I commend. Everywhere, in the ab- 
 sence of Christianity, the earth is filled with barbarism, with io-no- 
 rance, with horrid superstitions; for Christianity is not only' the 
 salvation of individual souls, it is also the strength and prosperity 
 of nations. Among all these nations, is there one of which a 
 false philosophy would undertake the defence .' Do they speak 
 to us, for example, of China ? We will reply by showing them 
 nine thousand children annually exposed, in the capital of this 
 empire, to the most sorrowful death. Would they exalt Islam- 
 ism, which unites the belief in the unity of God and the immor- 
 tality of the soul, which they imagine sufficient for man ? We 
 will show Islamism extended like a corpse, for several centuries, over 
 the finest regions of the earth, changing, by its impure breath, 
 these countries to a desert, and starting from its slumber only to 
 scatter furiously around it fire and sword, and to spill in torrents 
 the ancient and generous blood of the defenders of the Cross. 
 
 No, my brethren, mild and simple manners are not found among 
 Pagans ! 
 
 Let us make the tour of the world, and see what is the condi- 
 tion of the people among whom the evangelical missionaries 
 labor, in whose behalf we to-day implore your alms and prayers. 
 Do not fail to discover the horrors which appeal to your charity. 
 
 What do we behold, if, leaving Europe, we first pass along the 
 western shores of Africa, from whence are transported, with all 
 their superstitions and terrors, those poor West Indian slaves, to 
 whom our missionaries bear the law of true liberty .' We shall 
 see negro kings celebrating cruel feasts, whicii they crown by the 
 massacre of their prisoners of war and of their own subjects. ' A 
 king dies atAkim: they break the limbs of three hundred and 
 thirty-six of the females of his harem, then bury them alive. Do 
 ambassadors desire an audience of these kings .' they must ap- 
 proach the throne by filing across long rows of still reeking hu- 
 man heads ; such is their method of displaying their magnificence, 
 and of making their glory to shine forth. A king dies in the 
 kingdom of Ashantee, on the Gold Coast: his orams, or servants, 
 to the nimiber of one hundred, are immolated on his tomb, and a 
 great number of his wives submit to the same fate. The reign- 
 ing khig has recently lost his mother, and he testifies his fitial 
 grief and mourning by three thousand human sacrifices, to which 
 each of the large towns are obliged to contribute a hundred vic- 
 tims, and the smaller ones ten ; and, in these unhappy countries, 
 the manners of the subjects are always in keeping with the man- 
 ners of their rulers ! The Bushmen, of South Africa, live only by 
 murder and robbery, and deliver themselves to the commission 
 of the most horrible crimes. There, the mother, the tender mo- 
 ther herself, forgets her child, and, like the beast, forsakes it. In 
 moving about from place to place, these people frequently aban- 
 don, in the desert which they quit, their aged parents and rela- 
 tions: placing near them a little food and some shells filled with 
 water, they salute them — and soon these unhappy beings die of 
 hunger, or become the prey of ferocious beasts. I would ask 
 
104 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 yoii now, my brethren, is it necessary to go to the assistance of be- 
 ings like ourselves, who cover with horror this earth, which is 
 our common patrimony ? 
 
 But leaving Africa, let us visit those countries of Asia in which 
 some of our missionaries are found. What a spectacle is offered 
 to us in India, the mother of civilisation, as she is frequently called ! 
 What ideas have its inhabitants of the living and true God ? We 
 see them bowing down before three hundred and thirty millions 
 of idols. In the^multitude of this army of idols, they know not 
 in whom they ought to trust, whom they should obey. They kneel 
 now before monkeys, and now before serpents, and again before 
 vain shadows. Soon they fall down before the wives and daugh- 
 ters of their cruel and licentious priests, adoring them with abomi- 
 nable ceremonies, not fit to be described by a Christian tongue. 
 Finally, when they have nothing else, they make divinities of their 
 holy books, and prostrate themselves before their vedas and their 
 shasters ; " Everything is a God for them, but God himself!" 
 Wretched people ! your gods are monsters, your priests seducers, 
 your holy writings codes of indecency, of fraud, of vengeance, of 
 murder, your heaven itself an infamous house of prostitution ! 
 
 And how do they wash away their sins .' At the close of the 
 day, numerous bands precipitate themselves into the river Ganges, 
 persuaded that its waves will purify from all evil ; while others, 
 to obtain the pardon of their sins, occupy themselves day and 
 night for years, in repeating the names of their protecting deities. 
 But in the midst of all these useless names, there is not heard 
 THAT ONLY NAME giveu Under heaven whereby men can he saved ! 
 
 But perhaps tlae domestic sanctuary will offer more inviting 
 scenes to our hearts ? No, and this is a solemn truth : the domes- 
 tic circle, which gives to life all its charms, does not exist aside 
 from Christianity. Mahometans, Pagans, are alike ignorant of it; 
 and the most unnatural sentiments supply its place. Full one 
 half of the human race, that which God created to be a compa- 
 nion of man, is degraded to the condition of slaves, and even lower 
 still. 
 
 Among many of those nations, the birth of a daughter is a fam- 
 ily misfortune. Among one of the tribes of India, the Rajapoos, 
 girls are put to death by their fathers soon after their birth. On 
 one occasion, a father, less barbarous than his fellows, could not 
 resolve to destroy his tender infant ; he hid her in a house, \\diere 
 she grew up until the age of ten or twelve years, which is usually 
 that of marriage. At length, on a festival day, he brought her forth. 
 But the sight of a girl was a sight so strange in the house of a 
 Rajapoo, that no father would take the unhappy child as a wife 
 for his son. The distracted father, pursued, terrified by the threats 
 of his friends, and by the shame which oppressed his house, fell 
 mto despair, and beside himself, he went mad, and raising his 
 hand against his young and innocent daughter, he destroyed 
 her. 
 
 But if in other tribes life is allovi^ed to the young females, their 
 fate is still no better: they drag out their early years in the most 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 105 
 
 languishing idleness, in the most barbarous ignorance. Disqi\iet- 
 ed by the most abject superstitions, they frequently wander forth 
 on the longest pilgrimages. One day, sixteen young girls, with 
 as many priests, embarked on the Ganges. Each of the victims 
 bore a vase, fastened to her shoulder. Soon, leaning upon the 
 hand of one of these cruel pontiffs, they cast themselves one after 
 the other into the river, and floated, until the vases filling with 
 water, plunged and kept them firm beneath the rolling flood ! 
 They believed they had taken the direct road to heaven; the 
 priests gloated over the frightful spectacle ; the multitudes on the 
 shore shouted forth their plaudits, and not a single eye wept for 
 the wretched victims ! Oh Thou, who, in ascending Golgotha, 
 wept over the daughters of Jerusalem, Thou at least, beholdest from 
 thy seat in heaven these frightful miseries, and anew Thou sound- 
 est in our ears the words, " Go ye into all the world and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature." 
 
 But let us consider a little further the lives of this half of the 
 human race, the most interesting because the most dependant. 
 Does a Hindoo die, a funeral pile is erected to consume his body ; 
 his widow is dragged thither bound ; her eldest son approaches 
 to kindle it with a parricidal hand ! Sometimes these unhap^jy 
 women break their bands, escape from the burning scaffold, and 
 cast themselves into the river, to extinguish their funeral garment 
 already in flames : but the barbarous priests bring them back, and 
 the child replenishes the fire which is to consume her upon 
 whose breast he has been borne ! 
 
 Are there some castes who bury their dead, in place of burning 
 them ? The fate of these victims is still more frightful ! The widow 
 is conducted with great ceremonies to the tomb, and seated in 
 the trench, holding the body of her husband in her arms ! The 
 relatives and children begin to throw slowly upon her the earth 
 which is to cover her; she remains immoveable; the earth is 
 gradually heaped up around her body ; soon it reaches her waist 
 and neck, her lips; suddenly they cast a great heap upon her 
 head — the earth chokes her — her children rush upon her and 
 tread her under their feet, and the poor mother soon breathes her 
 last !* 
 
 See, my brethren, what is still occurring ; in the single provuice 
 of Bengal two hundred widows annually suffer this dreadful fate. 
 Mothers and daughters of Christian Europe ! do you not hear the 
 cries of your sisters issuing from the llames, and the stifled sighs 
 uttered by these living corpses from the depths of tlieir tombs ? 
 
 If such is the fate of the wives, what is that which they fre- 
 quently cause their children to experience .' Alas ! the spirit of 
 darkness in these unhappy regions exercises his empire over all 
 
 • The English government has at length enacted a law against these sacri- 
 fices, but it can be enforced only in that part of Bengal where there are 
 English troops. In ihe rennainder of India, especially in the provinces 
 submitting to tributary princes, the propagation of Christianity alone can 
 abolish the abominable superstition. 
 
106 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 sexes, all ages, all estates. A mother has perhaps consecrated, 
 even before its birth, her child to some cruel divinity ; when it 
 has attained its third year she leads it to the border of the river, 
 and exciting it by her gestures to enter, in order to bathe its deli- 
 cate limbs, she leads it by the hand, until reaching a certain 
 depth, the river washes and bears it away. Then, seating her- 
 self upon the bank, the mother listens to its plaintive cries, and 
 contemplates its last struggles with death. Others cast theijr 
 iiafants to ferocious crocodiles, and look on with astonishment 
 as these river monsters dispute their prey until one of them has 
 swallowed it up ! Children, poor little children ! you to whom 
 the Saviour of the world has said with so much tenderness, Suf- 
 fer them to come unto me, and forbid tJiem not, for of such is the king- 
 dom of heaven: you whom he took in his arms and blessed, plac- 
 ing his sacred hands upon your head, this is not the fate reserved 
 for you by the gospel of Jesus Christ ! 
 
 And what is the destiny of the old man ? As the end of his 
 days approach, he is dragged to the banks of the Ganges, or 
 some other sacred river. They constrain him to drink abundantly 
 of its purifying water ; they cover his breast, his forehead, his 
 arms, with the slime of the river, they fill with it his mouth, his 
 eyes, and his ears, and before his soul has left his body, they cast 
 it into the homicidal waters. So dies the old idolator. How 
 different from the death of that Simeon, who desired to depart in 
 peace, since his eyes had seen the salvation of God ! 
 
 In what manner do these people adore their horrible divinities ? 
 Let us come and assist at the annual festival of Muha Deo (the 
 great god). Here, some, after plunging iron hooks into their loins — 
 cause themselves to be swung in the air, by means of cords 
 attached to high see-saws ; there, others run upon points of sharp 
 iron, and give themselves mortal wounds with a knife, and all 
 end the festival by dancing with naked feet on burning coals ! 
 Or, come to the festival of Juggernaut : while a great number of 
 worshippers with difficulty drag along the immense car of the 
 horrible idol, multitudes cast themselves in the road over which 
 the murderous car is to pass, and being crushed by its heavy 
 wheels ; sacrifice their lives in the midst of dreadful torments ! 
 Word of the Lord ! resound throughout those distant countries, 
 and say to those unhappy nations: God is a spirit, and those that 
 worship hun, mast ivorship him in spirit and in truth ! 
 
 But let us approach the vast Archipelago of Lower India, to 
 which our missionaries are especially destined ! Alas ! we shall 
 but encounter the same spectacle, stained, perhaps, with still more 
 barbarism and ferocity. The god adored by a large portion of the 
 inhabitants of Java, is the crocodile. The neighboring islanders 
 regard it as their father, and the stem of their species. In the 
 Moluccas the inhabitants appear to recognize a superior divinity, 
 but instead of serving him, they worship the devil. Their 
 manners are grossly corrupt; adultery and debauchery are not re- 
 garded as sins ; idle, false, treacherous, liars, abandoned to all 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 107 
 
 vices, they are terrible wlien offended, and revenge themselves 
 only by murder. 
 
 In the Island of Borneo, whose immense extent we possess, 
 while possessing but a slight knowledge of it, there are found 
 tribes in Avhich no man can marry w'ithoat having committed two 
 or three assassinations. These islanders place themselves at the 
 sides of the highways, covering themselves with branches, skil- 
 fully disposed, and remaining as motionless as if fastened by deep 
 roots in the earth ; the victhn who thinks he sees only a grateful 
 shade, approaches without distrust, and at the instant he passes 
 by, these murderous trees spring up, cast themselves upon their 
 prey and destroy him .' 
 
 In the mountains of Java are cannibals, who ascribe a princii)le 
 of love, as they say, to horrors which human language can 
 scarcely relate. Is one of their friends sick ? They call a 
 soothsayer. Does he announce death .' They kill the sick man: 
 coolly cut his body in pieces ; then the relatives divide it among 
 themselves, and devour this tiesh! 
 
 Oh, horrible scenes presented by the idolatrous world ! oh, 
 darkness, which covers the people, upon whom the Star in the 
 East has not yet arisen ! Hoav lovely thou art, religion of Jesus, 
 and how our affrighted eyes have need of repose in thy mild 
 light ! What, evangelical Christians! Do you think that it is not 
 necessary ? that it is not your duty to come, each according to your 
 means, to the relief of so much misery .' Is this a stateof inno- 
 cence ? Are these siveet and gentle manners ? Is not the evil suffi- 
 ciently great, or shall it become still worse before our charity can 
 move .' Are better days never to rise upon the earth .' Must 
 darkness, superstition, cruelty, brutishness, despair, continue to 
 cover, from age to age, the greatest part of the globe Ave in- 
 habit ? It is easy, in the midst of all the charities, of all the tran- 
 quillities of life, to say : it is not necessary. But, do you not hear the 
 voice of these victims which, from those distant regions, resounds 
 even to you ? If you send away this voice without listening to it, 
 I declare lo you, that it will go to accuse you before the throne of 
 God ! Yes, all these nations, who arc sitting in the horrors of 
 superstition, with their horrible attendants, arise and present them- 
 selves before you, as that man of Macedonia, Avho appeared in a 
 dream to Paul at Troas ; and, surrounded by all their griefs, they 
 beg you, they address to yon, as did that Macedonian, the urgent 
 prayer : Come over and help us. 
 
 THE MEANS. 
 
 " It is true," perhaps you may now say, my dear hearers ; " the 
 wants of these people are i)ressing, but what remedy can be offer- 
 ed to so great misery ? What means in our possession sufficient- 
 ly powerful to cliange the state of nations, and the face of the 
 earth ?" 
 
 Yes, the evil is great, but the remedy is gi"eater still. The evil 
 has arisen from the power of darkness, who lias involved our race 
 in his rebellion j but the remedy emanates from the sovereign 
 
108 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 God, who created the heavens and the earth. It is not man who 
 comes to the help of man ; it is God who advances into this arena, 
 wherein such terrible battles are to take place. You are right, 
 all the philosophy of man could effect nothing. Socrates and 
 Plato, with their admirable reason, and by the poAver of their elo- 
 quence, have not converted a single village from its vain idols 
 to the God whom they knew. He who causes herbs, for the heal- 
 ing of our bodies, to spring up in the ifields, cannot forget the 
 malady of our immortal souls. 
 
 The preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ among all 
 NATIONS, preceded, accompanied and followed by those things, 
 which it usually draws with it, the foimding of numerous schools, 
 the propagation of evangelical knowledge, light and virtues, the 
 introduction of a peaceful, active, social — in a word, of a Chris- 
 tian domestic life ; such are the means that God has proposed, 
 and for the execution of which He has given to the world a Sa- 
 viour ; He has planted, as the Scriptures express it, on eitker side 
 of the river of human generations, a tree of hfe, ichose leaves are for 
 the healing of the 7\ations. 
 
 It is many ages since God began to dispose everything for the 
 accomplishment of this work. He has gone before us, if we may 
 so express ourselves, and nations no longer exist, until he has al- 
 ready with a wise hand laid deei^ the foundations of their salva- 
 tion. 
 
 About tAvo thousand years before the great epoch, which in giv- 
 ing a Redeemer to man, has made all things new here below, the 
 sciences and arts began to spring up among the peoj^le, ideas be- 
 came more distinct, and they began to classify them under certain 
 heads ; each nation was occupied in cultivating the wisdom, the 
 industry that Providence seemed to have assigned for its part. 
 The sciences appear to have found in Egypt and Babylon the soil 
 favorable to their development : the arts in Greece ; commerce in 
 Phenicia. The knowledge of God reclaimed his peoisle. It was 
 necessary that religion which, infinitely more than anything else, 
 contributes to the welfare of man, should have a proper soil in 
 which to deposit its seeds, in which it might increase, and in time 
 might spread its branches over the face of the earth. What it thus 
 required was granted it. God chose and called from among the 
 nations a man named Abraham to be the father of the people from 
 whom should one day spring the founder of his everlasting king- 
 dom. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Such was 
 the motive of the alliance formed with the son of Terah. Isaac, 
 Israel, the twelve patriarchs, succeeded Abraham. The Israelites 
 became a powerful nation, but neither Abraham nor Israel thought 
 of encompassing the whole earth, nor of converting the families of 
 the earth. It was not then for immediate action that God called 
 Abraham ; he must have had in view some future institution, 
 which preparing itself in silence, should, at the appointed 
 time, pour out upon the nations the greatness of its benefits. Gra- 
 dually there was found in the distant future, an image at first in- 
 distinct, upon which the eyes of the Patriarchs were fastened with 
 respect, to which each passing century added some new feature. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 109 
 
 which promised to humanity a mysterious benefactor charged 
 with fulfillino- the promises of eternal love. Jacob on his death- 
 bed had a glimpse of it, and saluting it by the name of Shiloh, ex- 
 plained that unto him should the gathering of the people be ! 
 
 David, seizing his sacred harji, begins with a song of grief. He 
 sees a just one persecuted. He speaks even of the crucifixion. His 
 garments are parted among his enemies. They cast lots upon his 
 vesture. But he ends in a voice of praise and glory, annoimcing 
 a reign in which all the ends of the world, all the hundreds of 
 the nations, shall turn unto the Lord, and shall worship before him 
 whose ineffable griefs he beheld. Isaiah, at the very period when. 
 the ten tribes were already led away into captivity, when the glory 
 of Judah was darkened, when her ruin, the destruction of the city 
 and of the temple, her exile, her dispersion and her great shame, 
 were already prepared, announced to her the most brilliant desti- 
 nies : he saw in the future the tender plant clothed in a dignity 
 altogether new; the Lord gave him for a light to the gentiles, 
 to he his salvation unto the end of the earth ! Arise, he exclaimed 
 to the people oi Godi, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. 
 
 Daniel, in the bosom of the court of Babylon, saw, in the future, 
 the fall of all the power and splendor which surrounded him, and 
 discovered four kingdoms which should succeed it, and then give 
 place to another kingdom, created by the King of Heaven, and estab- 
 lished by the Son of I\Inn, whose kingdom is an everlasting king- 
 dom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. This sound of 
 deliverance, of salvation for all nations, pervades all our revela- 
 tions like the distant rolling of thunder, whose sound increases in 
 proportion as it approaches ; and Avhen the appointed time 
 arrived — when the earth gave birth to her Saviour — when the 
 desire of the nations appeared, the aged Simeon exclaimed, " 3Iine 
 eyes have seen thy salvation, which, thou hast prepared before the face of 
 all people." The son of Zacharias made the desert resound with 
 the words — all flesh sliall see the salvation of God. The son of 
 Abraham, and of David himself, whose glance pierced futurity, 
 made to the earth, divided between a thousand superstitions, this 
 touching promise : There shall be onefold and one shepherd. And 
 finally, at the moment of his ascension, he left to his disciples the 
 testament contained in our text, upon which the words we have 
 quoted are but the commentary : Go unto all the world and preach 
 the gospel to every creature. 
 
 Do you believe, my dear hearers, that a method, prepared so 
 many ages l)eforehand — prepared by God himself, shall not be 
 sufRciently powerfid to attain the end for which it was designed .' 
 A work decreed in the counsels of the Father, for which he has 
 formed a people to himself, has raised up prophets, has filled 
 Israel from age to age with so many mighty promises, shall this 
 be a work for which there is no method of accomplishment .' 
 The blessing announced four thousand years ago to the sons of 
 Terah, on the plains of Haran, shall it not now spread over all the 
 earth 7 That which man designs, so far as he has strength, he 
 executes ; sliall it not be the same with God .' When he has gone 
 
110 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 forward, shall he turn back ; after having spoken, shall he keep 
 silence ? No ; the truth did not lie unto the Patriarchs ; the 
 FAITHFUL does not now repent of that which he then promised ; 
 ■ God is not a man, that he should lie ; neither the Son of Man, that he 
 should repent ; hath he said, and shall he not do it ? 
 
 But, do you still ask, is this way decreed of God so many ages 
 in advance ? is it really appropriate for the end it was designed to 
 accomplish, and capable of causing the abominations of the peo- 
 ple to disappear? Since it is God who established it, God 
 who knows the heart of man, can we doubt it ? But let us in- 
 vestigate and admire how admirable and proper the means are to 
 destroy even the principle of idolatry, and thus to pull up the tree 
 by its roots. From whence has idolatry arisen ? Man bears 
 within him a conscience : this holy voice cries out that he is 
 guilty. Dreading an angry Judge, he seeks everywhere for some 
 support, for some intercessor. The angels, the stars, imaginary 
 beings, men, shall I say, beasts, trees, stones ? become to him so 
 many secondary divinities, so many mediators, to whom he ad- 
 dresses himself to be reconciled with the supreme God, and be- 
 fore whom, alas ! the same terrors soon come to assail him. 
 Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. What 
 shall be done to ruin from their foundations all these systems of 
 polytheism, immensely different, but all having the same origin .' 
 
 Fear has given birth to idols ; love would re-establish the 
 throne of God in the heart. It is necessary that this consoling 
 voice should penetrate the depths of the heart of man : " God has 
 pardoned thee ! God has loved thee !" This voice has been heard ! 
 It sounded eighteen hundred years ago on Calvary ; for eight- 
 een hundred years it has resounded in the world ; and it is now 
 borne to all the inhabitants of the universe. At the moment 
 when the Son of God, bearing our griefs, expiated our sins, satis- 
 fied eternal justice, reconciled the world unto his Father, uttered 
 a loud cry upon Golgotha, fulfilled all things, and bowed his di- 
 vine head, this astonishing mystery was made known to man — 
 God is love ! Nations of the earth ! tremble no longer before 
 your bloody idols .' God is love ! Cease your sacrifices ! reject all 
 your vain practices ! Despise all your powerless mediators ! That 
 Avhich God has already done, you need no longer do. Jesus, the 
 only mediator, has died, the just for the unjust. God has reconciled 
 the world unto Himself. God is love ! At this new voice, which 
 resounds throughout the world, the heart of the people is aston- 
 ished. My brethren, their fears are dissipated ; they abandon 
 their Gods of blood, and cast themselves with tears into the arms 
 of God their Saviour ! " Nothing in the whole Gospel surprised 
 me so much," said a converted African, " as the news that God is 
 LOVE. An inexpressible joy then filled my heart, and I broke my 
 idols." " I have tried," said a Hindoo to a worthy missionary, 
 who had asked him why he wished to become a Christian, " I 
 have tried, in all the ways my countrymen know, to calm the 
 troubles of my heart ; I have bathed in the Ganges ; I have visited 
 holy places ; I have made presents to the Brahmins ; I have re- 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. Ill 
 
 peated all the names of our gods; — but all this has not given 
 peace to my soul. Latterly I have learned that Jesus Christ be- 
 came a man ; that he died for us, his enemies, to take away our 
 sins. This must be the true way of salvation, and therefore I 
 would become his disciple." 
 
 Yes, Lord, it is thy death which must convert the people. To 
 the Jew a stumbling-block, to the Greek foolishness, it is the wisdom of 
 God and the jwwer of God ; and for eighteen hundred years it has 
 not failed to accomplish this word of thine : And I, if I be lifted 
 vp from the earth, will draw all men imto me. But what were your- 
 selves, my dear hearers, before the good news of Christ was borne 
 to you .' Decipher on the ancient monvaments the names of the 
 idols whom your fathers adored, seek in the deep forests far the 
 bloody altars upon which your Dniids immolated their victims, 
 and you will form some idea of the power of this good news of 
 the love of God in Christ, to destroy the superstition of the Gen- 
 tiles. 
 
 Nations of Europe, to what do you owe the light you enjoy, 
 the knowledge of the true God, the civilisation, the institutions 
 of society, the blessings of domestic life, and the many founda- 
 tions Avhich come to the relief of human misery.' To what, if 
 not to the Gospel of Christ ? And why will you not do now for 
 other nations that which was formerly done for yourselves ? 
 
 But does not that which we now see in our midst sufficiently 
 attest the power of the cross of Christ to convert idolatrous hearts ? 
 I have seen the Avorldling converted ; I have seen the unbeliever 
 convinced ; I have seen him who had sacrificed to criminal pas- 
 .sions become holy unto tlie Lord ; and it was the cross of Christ 
 which effected these miracles ! Do you think, then, my dear 
 hearers, that the heart of man may be more capable of resist- 
 ing it inider one zone, than under another? Do you believe 
 that those idols of gold and silver, before which these people 
 prostrate themselves, have chains more difficult to break by the 
 strength of God than the thousand idols of our lusts .' No ! tlic 
 lavcr in which our members have been healed is accessible to all 
 nations, and its water is powerful for all nations ! 
 
 Think, then, my brethren, of your responsibility, and of the 
 fault of which you are guilty, if you do not give to the world the 
 powerful remedy which is found in your hands. If a town was 
 ravaged by a contagious fever, how guilty would that man be 
 who, possessing an infallible remedy, should refuse to make it 
 known ? Oh ! the mental plague of the soul, which desolates ido- 
 latrous nations, is a thousand times more terrible than all the 
 plagues of the body. Wc have in our hands the means which 
 can destroy it, the Gospel of Christ — and will you refuse to bear it 
 to them .' 
 
 God has planted upon the earth a tree, which springing, said 
 the Saviour, from the least of allseeds, is to shelter under its grateful 
 shadow everything under the heavens. Christians of Europe' 
 why do you arbitrarily cut off its branches .' why do you pei lait 
 them to cover only your own dwellings, and why do you hinder 
 
112 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 them from spreading over the most remote nations ? ■ God has de- 
 creed a temple to be raised in the earth, and from the beginning 
 has traced its design in such a manner, that it shall hold within 
 its enclosure all the tribes of earth — who has given you a right to 
 contract its borders, and to narrow the curtains of its habitations 7 
 The Son of God has given up his life for the fulfilment of this 
 counsel, and you, by your indifference, oppose it as much as in 
 you lies ; you render useless the blood of the Son of God, and you 
 lose those for whom Christ had died. What, are not the nations of 
 Asia, of Africa, of America — are they not those families of the 
 EARTH, who were to be blessed m the posterity of Abraham ? Chris- 
 tian souls ! you are now the depositories of the healing of the na- 
 tions, and if you bury it in the earth, instead of trafficking with it, 
 you will hear, in the day of God, these words. Cast the unfaithful 
 servant into outer darkness. These unhappy nations think not 
 as you do. With loud cries they demand of you this remedy. 
 " For a long time," said a Hindoo to the European Christians, 
 " for a long time you have had this glorious book, this book of 
 the nations; for many ages you have known its truth, it has made 
 you free : it has given you peace ; and for us ? — you have left us 
 to languish in the darkness, in the slavery of superstition, of sin 
 and of death." " Woe is me,'" exclaimed the first missionary 
 among the heathen, Paul of Tarsus, and we ought also to repeat 
 it after him, " Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." 
 
 THE SUCCESS. 
 
 Yes, my brethren, the work of publishing the Gospel through- 
 out the world, is the great work designed of God. " But," per- 
 haps some one may say, " why may not even the greatness of the 
 misery of the heathen discourage us ? What hope can we enter- 
 taui of changing all this .' What a multitude of olstacles ? It is 
 an impracticable thing." 
 
 We will begin, my brethren, by a partial recognition of the 
 truth of what you say. Yes, there are and there will ever be a mul- 
 titude of obstacles. We shall find some nations who will ajipear 
 resolutely attached to their superstitions; we shall encounter some 
 who, bearing the name of Christians, will, through different mo- 
 tives, oppose this admirable work ; we shall sometimes, perhaps, 
 be deceived in our missionaries, who will not always be equal 
 to the work ; and other obstacles still will accumulate. But, 
 though those obstacles should rise as high as the heavens are 
 above the earth, we ought not for an instant to hesitate ; for, not- 
 withstanding all these obstacles, our business is still with the 
 work of God, with the Avork of man's salvation. What good en- 
 terprise is there on earth in which obstacles are not found ? What 
 one is there, which would ever be accomplished, did we allow 
 ourselves to be thus discouraged ? 
 
 What should we have become, the nations of Europe, if the 
 missionary Paul of Tarsus had lost all hope when he saw himself 
 in the first European city to which he carried the Gospel, seized, 
 dragged before the magistrates, cast into prison, and his feet put 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 113 
 
 into the stocks ? And when, in the second city to which he came, 
 he raised against himself such a terrible tumult that his friends 
 were obliged to set him without the walls by night, what would 
 have become of us, if, frightened by these obstacles, he had end- 
 ed his mission, had quitted Europe, and returned to Asia ? Igno- 
 rant and barbarous, we should ha\'e still continued to sacrifice 
 in our forests human victims to bloody divinities ! But he feared 
 no obstacle ; he advanced intrepidly on his way ; preached at 
 Athens the unknown God, leaving to all ages an example of cour- 
 age, which ought for ever to animate the disciples of Christ. 
 
 Let not obstacles, then, discourage us, but let them rather 
 redouble our zeal ! When the pilot finds himself on a stormy sea, 
 he does not allov/ the bellowing waves which beat on all sides 
 of his vessel, to check his course ; but he looks at the compass, 
 and holding with a firm hand to the helm, he ploughs the furious 
 waves and stretches for port. My brethren, the compass to which 
 you should look is the Word of God ; there are the promises of 
 God, God himself, who is true, and who will not fail you — look 
 to*Him and go forward. He knows that he gave a difficult order, 
 and that the courage of his disciples wotild often waver. He 
 who said to them in my text, " Go ye into all the zvorld, and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature ;■' lilte wise said to them immediately be- 
 fore, " All POWER is given unto me in he.wen and in earth ;" and 
 immediately after, " Lo ! 1 am with you alway, even unto the end 
 OF THE ^voRLD." Thcso two sayiugs are as two columns which 
 support, on the right and on the left, the work to which we call 
 you. Fear not ! let not] your courage falter for a moment ! 
 Friends of the publication of the Gospel of peace upon the earth ! 
 preachers of righteousness to the distant races of Shem and Ham! 
 it is not your strength, but the power of Christ which is to accom- 
 phsh all this. You fight under the standard of a master to whom 
 ALL POWER has been given in heaven and in earth ! He holds in 
 his hands the hearts of all kings and people, and from the stones 
 themselves, he can if he will raise up children unto Abraham ! 
 Fear not ! " He is always with you, even unto the end of the world." 
 It is his work and not yours that you are to accomplish, and he 
 is himself there to perform his work. O, thou afflicted, tossed with 
 tempest, fear nothing .' says the Lord. Behold they shall surely gather 
 together but not by me ; whosoever shall gather togcth'jr against thee shall 
 fall for thy sake. No loeapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. 
 
 So, my brethren, even when we cannot see the least success, 
 we ought to walk by faith. But is it thus .' No, the voice of re- 
 joicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous.- the right 
 hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.' Who are these that fly as a cloud, 
 and as the doves to their roindows? Thy Church, oh Lord, shall suck 
 the milk of the Gentiles, and shall suck the breast of kings/ 
 
 Never, since the first propagation of Christianity upon earth, 
 has the preaching of the Gospel been crowned with such success : 
 this work is accomplished from the ice of one pole to the ice of 
 the other, and the sun in his whole course does not cease to shine 
 upon it. In the utmost limits of the north, Greenland has seen 
 
114 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 barbarism and the vices of savage life fly, and the icy desert blos- 
 som nice the rose. A little lower, in Labrador, four Christian sta- 
 tions are gradually gathering around them these vi^andering sav- 
 ages, and transforming them into children of God and civilized 
 tribes, " One has only to see an Esquimaux," said a venerable 
 Missionary to us who had labored thirty years in these ungenial cli- 
 mates, " to discover in the peace and love which shine in all his 
 features, or in his stern and ferocious glance, whether he is or is 
 not a Christian." Let us descend to the islands and towards the 
 continent of the West Indies, everywhere the unhapi^y negro 
 slaves are called to the glorious liberty of the Gospel ? We have 
 seen in the house of our colonists at Paramaribo, the negress con- 
 verted by the Moravian missionaries, display all the Christian vir- 
 tues, and act as a mother to the children of her masters. Do the 
 miracles of Otaheite and the neighboring isles salute us .' Otaheite 
 become a Christian church, a Christian state; Otaheite, where 
 horrible debaucheries and human sacrifices have ceased ; Otaheite 
 filled with the Word of God, an object of astonishment to naviga- 
 tors ;* a habitation of light, from which are constantly sent forth 
 a number of native preachers, to bear to other isles the benefits of 
 the Gospel ; Otaheite, whose king, now deceased, gave to a Euro- 
 pean seaman, in place of any other present, a New Testament in 
 the Otaheitan tongue. Shall we visit the Sandwich Islands, a few 
 years ago covered with darkness .' We shall hear there, on Satur- 
 day evening, a public crier passing through the villages, saying : 
 " Inhabitants ! cease from your labors ; the Lord's day a23proaches." 
 Schools are multiplied ; polygamy is abolished ; children are no 
 longer destroyed." " This," said a father, carrying a bamboo filled 
 with oil, designed for the use of the Missions, " this is for my child ! 
 if the Missionaries had not come, my child had lost its life like 
 many others?" And the powerful queen, Keopulani, raising her- 
 self on her dyhig couch, found strength to say to the chiefs who 
 surrounded her : " The Word of God is a true Word ! I have no 
 desire to return to the gods of Hawai : they are all false gods ; but 
 1 love Jesus Christ, and I have given myself to Him !" 
 
 Do we reach even New Zealand .' Undoubtedly the Gospel has 
 not ^^et obtained there such glorious victories ; but it has already 
 commenced to soften the cannibal inhabitants. The chief Banghi 
 has forsaken his god Atna, invisible eater of men ; for he has 
 found Christ, and at the point of death, he exclaimed : " There is 
 great light within me." 
 
 Traversing the vast ocean, passing beyond South America, 
 upon which still rests darkness, let us greet the southern part of 
 the African continent. A continually increasing number of tnrly 
 Christian and civilized communities are formed and are still forming 
 among the Hottentots, the savage Bushmen, the Caflres, the Na- 
 maquas and other tribes. The stupid Hottentot, emancipated by 
 
 * See among others the despatch addressed to his excellency, the Minis- 
 ter of the Marine of France, by M. Duperrey, Lieutenant, commanding H. 
 M. corvette the CoqviUc, in the Mbniteur of the 1st of April, 1824. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 115 
 
 the Gospel, builds asylums in whicli are received his poor, liis in- 
 firm, his aged ; all the arts of civilisation are spreading in these 
 countries, over which the philosophy of ages had pronounced its 
 powerless curse. Upon the western shores of Africa, some colo- 
 nies of free negroes present miracles of humility, of faith, of Chris- 
 tian charity, along with order and industry, and the Children of the 
 burning sands include all Christianity in their touching summary : 
 *• Bad heart, very bad ; but Saviour good, very good." 
 
 Some Swiss missionaries are found on the frontiers of inaccessi- 
 ble Abyssinia, and one of them, whom we have the happiness to 
 know, saw before he had crossed its limits, one of the most influ- 
 ential Abyssinians converted to true Christianity. Cairo, ancient 
 Alexandria, echo to the steps of the preacher of the Gospel. The 
 Greek, who is awakening, will awake, we trust, a Christian; 
 Tliessalonica already renews the spectacle she presented to the 
 eyes of the missionary Paul. Children, young men, old men, a 
 great number of Greek priests, all ask with eagerness for the Holy 
 Scriptures in modern Greek ; and a poor gardener, who lived onlj^ 
 by the produce of his little garden, deposited at the feet of the 
 Missionary a basket of fruit, all his wealth, asking in exchange the 
 Gospel of Christ. 
 
 The ancient and fallen churches of the East begin to stir and 
 to awaken. The sons of the New World hasten from the banks 
 of the Ohio to preach Christ crucified to the inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem. The New Testament is liberally scattered among the dis- 
 persed Churches of Syria and Armenia, even in the midst of the 
 ruins of Aleppo ; a confused sound, as of a corpse that gathers 
 together its bones, is heard throughout these countries. Some 
 American families, protected by the Muscovite standard, have 
 gathered in crowds upon the soil of their ancient country, from 
 which have fled the subjects of the Crescent. Islamism, whose 
 downfall is announced by more than one event, and onepro])hecy, 
 beghis to receive the go.spel of the Nazarcne. The Kurds, the 
 Calmucks, the Burgates ask for Missionaries, and receive them. 
 At Ceylon more than ten thousand children are found in schools. 
 The ancient priests of Buddha annonnce the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ; they are seen in numerous groups, advancing towards the 
 baptismal font, clothed in tlieir sacerdotal habits; then casting 
 them aside and confessing Jesus. The high priest, Nadasis, who 
 had built sixty pagan temples, and who maintained three hundred 
 and fifty priests, is converted to the Gospel — employs all his in- 
 fluence to spread it, and rejilies to those who ask him what he 
 thinks of the religion of Jesus Christ: "The religion of Buddha 
 is the light ; but the religion of Jesus Christ is the sun." The 
 Burman Empire, object of the most admirable devotion, begins to 
 receive the rays of the sun of righteousness. The missionaries 
 have penetrated into tJtc Golden City, and before the golden face 
 of the King. They are cast into dungeons; they see themselves 
 robbed of dear comi^anions,* but they remain firm in the faith ; 
 
 * We refer particularly to the death of Mrs. Jiulson, whose memoirs 
 have been published in America. 
 
116 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 soon they elevate with more boldness than ever, the standard of 
 Christ, and " hail," say they, " the period not far distant, when, 
 like the Otaheitan, the Birman shall break the chains of supersti- 
 tion and idolatry, and shall join those nations w^ho adore the one 
 true and living God." But let us direct our step towards India, 
 whose horrors we have described ; they are not yet converted 
 like Otaheite, Eimeo, the Sandwich Islands, the south of Africa ; 
 but already on all sides these countries begin to open to the 
 Gospel ; say the missionary societies of the Low Countries, " we 
 now hear of young girls at Chinsurah, in Bengal, seated under 
 trees, sheltered from the burning rays of the sun, reading aloud 
 from the Bible, and relating to each other some of the extracts of 
 our sacred books. Wives, in place of being only miserable slaves, 
 sometimes contribute to the intellectual culture of their husbands, 
 often teaching them to read, after having learned to do so them- 
 selves, and both coming to offer themselves to the missionaries as 
 instructors of the rising generation. The poor children, instead 
 of being thrown to the crocodiles, are received into an infinite 
 number of schools. A little girl of nine years, born in Europe, 
 restricted her food, in order to contribute toAvards procuring the 
 benefits of instruction for children of her own age ! " We can- 
 not describe," continue the respected men of whom I have spoken, 
 " the progress that Christianity is making in these countries ! Oh ! 
 if the women of the Low Countries could, through love to the 
 Saviour, take to heart the salvation of their sisters in Bengal ! 
 We who arejhere, cannot cease to supplicate'our friends in Christ to 
 come to ouraid bymissionaries, by prayers and by contributions." 
 And what touching scenes are laid open to us in India ! Here 
 we see a Brahmin who has made a vow of perpetual silence : 
 when he passes through the streets, the richest Hindoos cast them- 
 selves at his feet in adoration. This mysterious personage wears 
 a necklace of serpents' bones ; he seems no longer to have any- 
 thing in common with humanity, and believes himself a god. But 
 a Christian work, in the Bengalese tongue, causes light to shine 
 through the barriers whose perpetual silence surrounds him : his 
 eyes are opened : he casts himself at the feet of Jesus Christ ; he 
 renounces his caste, receives baptism, and becomes an humble 
 disciple of the Saviour. Here I see a man, for a long period the 
 leader of a band of singers, who repeated heinous hymns in idol 
 temples ; now I hear him in a Christian temple, a minister of 
 Christ, conducting with tears the song of thanksgiving of the dis- 
 ciples who are about to partake with him of the supper of the 
 Lord. There I discover an aged Hindoo, who for a long period 
 of his life submitted blindly to his priests, and who at six several 
 times has yielded to the torture of swinging in the air. Now he 
 has become a Christian and his death approaches. The horrible 
 thought of having to pass through the bodies of sixty millions of 
 animals before again becoming a man, does not trouble his soul 
 at this solemn moment. Old things are passed away. A missionary 
 visits his death-bed ; he asks him^if, in the midst of his sutferings, 
 he still feels the presence of his Saviotir ; and the old man placing 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 117 
 
 his hand upon his breast says : •' He is here, he is here, I feel that he 
 is here .'" 
 
 Let us likewise come, my brethren, to Java and the neighboring 
 islands, submitting to our august and beloved sovereign, and on 
 which our missionaries arc laboring at eleven stations. In the 
 voyages made by our missionaries, multitudes press around them, 
 desiring the words of the good news of Christ, like a thirsty soil 
 awaiting the rain from heaven. Heathen princes themselves 
 contribute to the maintenance of Missions ; others call ujion 
 the missionaries to establish a Christian school in their island. 
 Temples consecrated to the worship of the evil spirit are destroyed ; 
 the eagerness of these islanders for the Word of God is such, that 
 the missionaries, not having a sufficient number of the sacred 
 books, are obliged to distribute leaf by leaf, fragments of their 
 own Bibles ; the grace of God works in their hearts, everywhere 
 they are asking for instruction, and the melioration of manners, 
 and industry among these people, furnish striking proof of the 
 progress they have made in the truth. We will show you a Chi- 
 nese widow, long a disciple of Confucius, who having taken 
 refuge in one of our islands, fell asleep shortly after in the Lord : 
 " No, I fear nothing more," said she, on her death-bed, to the wife 
 of one of our oldest missionaries in the East Indies, " I am not 
 afraid of death itself, for I know in whom I have believed, and my Sa- 
 viour is powerful to forgive all my sins !" The very night of her 
 departure she said : " Now I feel that God is reconciled with me, 
 and his peace is diffused throughout my soul." Shortly after, call- 
 ing to the persons who watched near her bedside, she said: 
 " Now you may go to sleep, for I shall soon go to rest." Then 
 she slept sweetly in Jesus. 
 
 How can we better complete our survey than by greeting China 
 herself, who believes herself to be as unchangeable as God, but 
 whom the Word of the Lord has already begun to shake .' Our 
 missionaries of the Eastern Archipelago, in the advanced posts of 
 Christianity, are in the presence of this dreaded enemy : the Word 
 of God translated into Chhiese, is liberally scattered wherever it 
 can find access. One of our missionaries, whose hand we have 
 more than once clasped Avith fraternal pressure,* is unwearied in 
 distributing it upon the Chinese vessels and upon all those that 
 can penetrate our courts. Already Keutcnching, a Chinesn convert- 
 ed by his countryman Lcangafa, lias made the shores of the Ceks- 
 Lial Empire resound with this "touching confession : " J\]y brother 
 said to me ; man, though his sins are as weighty as great mountains, 
 if he sincerely repent and trust in Jesus, the Saviour of the world, 
 shall obtain complete deliverance from his sins and the blessing 
 of eternal life !— I opened my heart; I believed ; I received bap- 
 tism, asking the Holy Spirit to implant within my heart the root of 
 holiness !" 
 
 Thus the pretended everlasting bulwarks begin to tremble. 
 Thus all flesh begins to see the salvation of God. Thus from one end 
 of the world to the other, the knowledge of the Lord and His 
 
 ♦ M. Gutzlaff. 
 
118 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 Anointed begins to fill the earth. God ! of a truth thou hast set 
 u]} thine ensign for the nations ! 
 
 Now, my brethren, we come to solicit you, in the name of God 
 the Saviour, henceforth to take a lively and sincere interest in the 
 great and admirable work of Evangelical missions among the 
 heathen. Nations of Europe ! We have long enough, through our 
 avarice and licentiousness, borne misery, debauchery, discord, and 
 slavery to distant nations. Boast of your civilisation, people of Eu- 
 rope ! and these nations will reply, by presenting to you your errors, 
 your depravity and your crimes ! Such are the influences, which 
 for ages have issued from a corrupt Christianity. We are indebt- 
 ed to these people, my brethren ; we have many faults to expi- 
 ate. Our fathers have left us a debt which we must discharge : 
 new counting-houses must be erected upon all the shores of India, 
 l^eopled with new merchants, circulating new treasures. 
 
 Europe, my brethren, is like a volcano which often keeps 
 silence without, because it is stirring up within its destructive 
 fires ; but at certain periods it casts forth its flames and its burn- 
 ing lava. Eiirope cannot contain all the life that is enclosed within 
 her. Three periods in modern times have already succeeded 
 each other, in which she has cast her power without. Once stir- 
 red by a warlike sj)irit influenced by religious fanaticism, she 
 placed herself in arms u.nder the standard of the Cross, to seek by 
 fire and sword, the conquest of the land once sanctified by the 
 steps of the Prince of Peace. Later, a spirit. of discovery spread 
 along all the European shores ; vessels followed vessels, Europe 
 crossed the seas and discovered with astonishment a new World, 
 peopled by inhabitants of whose being she had until now been 
 ignorant. At a still later period, when her discoveries were se- 
 cured, a mercantile spirit seized the same nations ; they cruised 
 for gold and silver, and everywhere established their counting- 
 houses. 
 
 Now, my brethren, a new period commences. Europe, in peace, 
 has a new necessity for carrymg her strength without. Let the 
 spirit of discovery continue, let mercantile relations be multiplied. 
 It is well ; but meanwhile there are new enterprises to be formed 
 with which it is our business to be informed. All the evangelical 
 nations of Europe feel religious activity kindling within their bo- 
 soms. This period must be marked by a new character and by a 
 more noble zeal than all those which have preceded it. Let us 
 bear to the nations who are our brethren, sprung from the same 
 blood with us, and redeemed also by the same blood, let us carry 
 to them the knowledge of God, civilisation, the Christian virtues, 
 private and public peace, peace on earth, eternal peace ! 
 
 Christians ! think of those who have borne Christianity to you ! 
 Think that if Amand, Elige, Wilfried, Ewald,* and many others, 
 had been so indifferent, neither you nor your fathers would ever 
 
 * Amandus spread the Gospel in Flanders about the year 635. Elizius, 
 in Friseland and Flanders, about the year 640. Wilfried preached also in 
 Frise about the year 680. Willcbrod and Ewald came from England, 
 preaching in Friseland, at Utrecht, about the year 690. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 119 
 
 have become Christians. You owe a tribute of gratitude to those 
 ministers of the Gospel, who first bore into these countries the 
 news of salvation : pay it to their successors ! And if these gene-. 
 rous men were so devoted in diffusing the light, which the errors 
 of men had already begun to obscure, what zeal ought not you to 
 manifest, now that God has placed it in your hands in its primi- 
 tive splendor ? 
 
 Evangelical Christians '. Has not the Lord transmitted the Gos- 
 pel to you in all its purity ? It is not without design that God has 
 given the empire of the seas to evangelical nations. Remember 
 those Missionaries of the truth whom the Lord raised up, three 
 centuries ago, in the midst of slumbering Europe, and send to 
 others the blessings they have borne you.* 
 
 Ye are the light of the world. Neither do men light a candle and put 
 it under a bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all that 
 are in the house, that is, in the world. 
 
 Christians of the Low Countries ! show yourselves worthy of your 
 ancestors ! To them it was given to form the first evangelical 
 Missions ! It is nearly three centuries since, when they had but 
 just broken a double yoke and formed themselves into a nation, 
 under the glorious standard of Orange, that they proposed to pro- 
 pagate in the Indies at the same time with their commerce, the 
 glory of Jesus Christ. There were some pastors who, renouncing 
 all temporal advantages, went to preach the Gospel in Java, Ceylon 
 and other countries. A Mission Institute was founded in that city 
 of the northern provinces, celebrated by her magnanimous de- 
 fence, f What ! my brethren, have the times so changed .' The 
 standard of Orange is always the same ; as it has not ceased to be 
 that of true glory, so it has not ceased to be that of the Gospel, and 
 to cover with its powerful and protecting shade the generous 
 efforts of all who labor to spread among the nations the blessings 
 of Jesus Christ ! Christians of the Low Countries ! hear the voice 
 of your countrymen in the Indies who yet worship idols ! 
 
 AH evangelical nations now rival each other in zeal. Opulent 
 England consecrates to the Lord the tenth of her increase, the 
 speed of her navy, and the influence of her power. 
 
 Reformed France, issuing from her mourning, her long poverty, 
 from her protracted trials, bears onward with joy the first fruits of 
 the new life which animated her.:j: Switzerland listens from the 
 bosom of her mountains, and though distant from the shores of 
 the sea, hears the plaintive cries its waves waft to us. Old Ger- 
 many, always faithful, when the words light, truth, humaaitij, are 
 sounded, gives her sons and daughters in abundance, and makes 
 
 * This sermon was preached the 30th October, that, is on the evening 
 of the anniversary of the Reformation. 
 
 t Leyden. See the history of the efforts of the United Provinces for the 
 propagation of the Gospel, since the year 1602, in the islands of Ceylon, 
 Java, Formosa, Amboyna, etc., in the Journal of Evangelical Missions of 
 Paris, first year, page 289. 
 
 t The first three Reformed French missionaries departed from Paris in 
 the summer of 1829 for the south oi Africa. 
 
120 CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 them slaves unto slaves, in order to convert them to Christ. 
 America, youngest in the ranks of nations, springs up with the 
 ardor of youth, and carries the breath of a new respiration to the 
 languishing countries of Asia, the primitive source of life, and the 
 mother of nations. The love of Christ now embraces the nations ; 
 all evangelical communions stretch out their hands from the four 
 quarters of the world, and march to the same battle imder the 
 same standard. Christians of the Low Countries ! let this uni- 
 versal movement arouse us ! We were formerly the first, be so 
 still at the present hour. Let us rally around those noble men, 
 who have founded in our country the best institutions that grace 
 it, and let that comprehensive charity, which is the token of the 
 strength and greatness of our nation, enlarge all hearts. 
 
 " But," you will perhaps say, " we cannot go, ^ve have our 
 business, our relations." True, my brethren, but we do not ask 
 you to go ; here are those that would go. Eleven young mission- 
 aries* await upon your shores for your offerings, that they may go, 
 m the name of God, taking nothing of the Gentiles, and carry the glad 
 tidings to those who know it not. Give, then, ray brethren, give 
 abundantly ! Let each give according to his means. Give ! all 
 that you possess is from the Lord. He is it who has given it to 
 you ; He asks of you only a small portion of that which is His. 
 Give ! Tliink of the incomprehensible and eternal treasures 
 of the grace of Christ, which have become your portion, and give 
 him in exchange your silver and your gold. 
 
 Do not listen to that secret voice of your heart which counsels 
 you to diminish your contribution, and do not bring to the Lord's 
 altar worthless copper instead of silver and gold. Give me to drink, 
 said Jesus to the woman of Samaria, at the side of the well. 
 Give me to drink ! he still says to each one of you by the mouth 
 of those who languish and die for the want of that water which 
 whosoever drinketh of it shall never thirst ! Give ! but above all bring 
 to this work the contributions of your prayers : nothing can ever 
 be effected in the Pagan world without the prayers of the faithful. 
 Pray, then, that God will send the great, the only missionary. 
 His Holy Spirit, who alone can change the parched grotmd into a 
 pool, and the thirst}/ land into springs of water. 
 
 But I must pause, in conclusion, and ask if I am not myself a 
 missionary, and if there are not in this assembly some souls to 
 whom I ought to announce the good tidings from heaven as if 
 they had never heard them. Listen, my brethren, to a prophecy 
 of the Lord, and tremble : Manij shall come from the east and west, 
 and shall sit doivn with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom 
 of heaven, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out. I am 
 seized with fear while contemplating these words ; seeing how 
 they have been fulfilled to Israel, I tremble lest they maybe again 
 accomplished in us ! Oh ! you who have grown up in the midst 
 of the privileges of the house of God, have you understood, have 
 you believed the good news, published through the world, as 
 
 * They have since gone forth, but others are preparing to follow them. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS, 121 
 
 they are understood and believed by those blessed souls m our 
 days, who have been called from the east and the west ? Alas ! 
 I fear that the constant repetition has only hardened yoiu* hearts ! 
 I come to you now as if I were a missionary, arriving for the first 
 time in a country where the sound of the Gospel had never been 
 heard. Listen, sinful and guilty souls, to the great and heaven- 
 descended news I bear. God saves the world : he luakes peace 
 with his people : he opens the gates of his grace and his glory. 
 Christ gave himself a ransom for all, which has been testified in 
 due time. Listen to this testimony as if it were the first time you 
 had heard it, and seek to understand and believe it. Yes ! eight- 
 een centuries ago, oh soul that believest that Jesus is the Son of 
 God, the Saviour, thy ransom was paid. Already has thy debt to 
 God been discharged, and discharged at an immense price, at the 
 price of the life of the Son of God. At that moment when Christ 
 said upon the cross : It is finished.' the salvation of all the children 
 of God, who have been, who are and who will be upon earth, 
 from every people, every tongue, every tribe, was finished, was 
 perfected, as he said those words. Christ is now the ransom for all : 
 he is the ransom of Europe ; he is the ransom of Asia ; he is the 
 ransom of the distant isles ; he is the ransom of the world ; he is 
 thy ransom, oh soul that believest in the Son of God ! He who 
 is the salvation of the universe is mighty for thy salvation. He 
 whom the Hhidoo, the savage of Labrador, the negro of Africa, 
 the islander of Tahiti, joyfully proclaim as their Saviour, is thy Sa- 
 viour, by the same title as theirs : For as in Adam all die, even so in 
 Christ shall all be made alive. There is therefore now no condemnation 
 to them ivhich are in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Oh ! what glorious tidings ! Shall we say it to others without 
 repeating it to ourselves .' Shall we scatter far from us the pre- 
 cious gold of faith, and shall we ourselves remain empty and 
 poor ? Shall we open to others the gates of glory, and shut them 
 against ourselves, " without entering in ?" Let us believe unto sal- 
 vation ; let us believe it for ourselves ; " Let us bring forth fruit for 
 repentance." " Let us become the children of God !" let us become 
 " new creatures ;" and may the celestial spirit, which makes " the 
 solitary place to blossom and flourish like the rose," vivify our own 
 hearts and cause us to " bring forth fruit unto God." 
 
 Lord ! Has this preaching of the Gospel which I would carry to 
 the heathen, been received and believed in my own soul .> Re- 
 pentance and remission of sins, which I would proclaim to distant 
 races, have they been preached in my own house .' And has thy 
 kingdom, Avliich now extends to the ends of the earth, been es- 
 tablished in my heart.' Lord, may rirv kingdom come; may it reign 
 within, may it reign without ! Amen ! Amen ! 
 6 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM, 
 
 ARE THEY 
 
 TWO DISTINCT THINGS? 
 
 TRANSLATED BY M. M BACKUS. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 FROM THE " ARCHIVES DU CHRISTIANISME," August, 1827. 
 
 It is time. — Psalm cxix. 126. 
 
 There has arisen, in process of time, a new adversary against the 
 Church of Jesus Christ. There sprang up in the last century, a 
 kind of Protestantism, with which neither the Luthers nor the Cal- 
 vins, neither the DreUncourts nor the Dumouhns, neither the Mor- 
 nays nor the Claudes, have ever been acquainted : abastard, gene- 
 rated by that union, Avliich erratic spirits have pretended to effect 
 between the Gospel and the philosophy of the eighteenth century. 
 By an able stratagem, they seek to substitute this feeble and coun- 
 terfeit child of an unbelieving age, for the healthy and powerful d oc- 
 trine which issued forth for the salvation of ihe world, from the 
 times of the Apostles and Reformers. If we do not approve of the 
 substitution, if we do not recognize this intruder for the religion 
 bequeathed us by our fathers, its patrons cry out intolerance, mys- 
 ticism, enthusiasm; or what more .' — perhaps innovation! 
 
 Neither the Reformers, nor any of those who have Avalked in 
 their illustrious steps, have ever known any other Protestantism 
 than Christianity ; but the fathers and protectors of the system that 
 we notice, think not so ; we speak it with sentiments of deep grief, 
 but we can no longer keep silence on a subject which everywhere 
 presents itself to our minds. Instead of allowing Protestantism to 
 be Christianity, all Christianity, and nothing but Christianity, they 
 have made of it a separate being, which is neither this nor that, 
 neither religion nor philosophy, neither faith nor incredulity. 
 This pretended Protestantism issues forth from the camp of Jesus 
 Christ, and raises an independent standard ; an unfaithful deserter, 
 it still pretends to mingle the colors of the Prince of Life with 
 those of this world's wisdom ; but it is only under the latter that 
 it rallies, the other being found there only for convenience and by 
 mistake. In its hands Protestantism becomes a separate idol, to 
 which they offer the homage due only to the Lord, drawing thus 
 upon the work of its hands and itself the adoration which belongs 
 only to God. We do not fear to say, that this kind of view is a 
 revival of the errors of Rome ; it is Papacy under other colors. 
 With what do we reproach Roman Catholicism .' With having 
 
126 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 left Christianity and formed a new being. The same thing is 
 repeated. To the idol of Rome another idol is opposed ; idol for 
 idol, the one may be worth a little more than the other ; but cer- 
 tainly, we do not think we have gained much by the change. 
 " And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us 
 an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are 
 in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true 
 God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols."* 
 
 Besides, there is nothing astonishing in all this ; we ought to 
 expect it. If Phariseeism has taken a body under the triple crown, 
 Sadduceeism, the second vice of human nature, ought also to seek 
 to assume some form ; but we shall do our duty, we shall not 
 leave it to rest quietly m our midst ; we shall raise our voice so 
 that it may be constrained to fly and hide far from our churches 
 its shameful infidelity. 
 
 Our business now is not with those who are in error, but with 
 the errors themselves. As to the defenders of those errors, we 
 recognize among them not only many of distinguished and undis- 
 puted talents, but we also believe their intentions are much 
 better than their system. They do not suspect the mortal blows 
 which they are giving to our churches ; they do not know that the 
 dry Avind which arose in the vast desert of the eighteenth century, 
 and whose breath appears so agreeable to them, will cause 
 vegetation to cease, and will strike with barrenness the ^vhole 
 field of the Lord. Their views are perhaps limited ; their inten- 
 tions are perhaps praiseworthy ; they are urged on by that unfor- 
 titnate desire which has already worked so much evil to the 
 Church, while desiring its good, and against which Jesus with 
 such earnestness has warned his disciples ; the desire of recon- 
 ciling the spirit of the world with the spirit of the gospel — the 
 spirit of the age with the spirit of immutable and eternal wisdom. 
 They think that by harmonizing the wisdom oft he world and the 
 wisdom of God, the great secret will be discovered ; they regard 
 themselves as called upon to accomplish this great design. 
 Doubtless they think in this Avay to effect good for the ivorld, and 
 good for the Church ; but what happens .' They strongly resemble 
 him who, in order to cure a person attacked with a fatal malady, 
 should pretend that he must begin by communicating to the 
 physician the disease of the sick man, mstead of making the sick 
 man take the remedy of the physician. What ^would be the 
 result .' They would both die. These are quite different proceedings 
 from those revealed to us by the Word of God ; it knows nothing of 
 the petty expedients of human wisdom ; it says : — I will destroy the 
 wisdom of the wise, and will bring to naught the vmderstanding 
 of the prudent. Where is the wise ? Where is the scribe .' 
 Where is the disputer of this world .' Hath not God made foolish 
 the wisdom of this world ?t Those who do not fear these words, 
 and who wish to comprehend them, may comprehend them. 
 Is Protestantism anything else than Christianity ? Is it a modified 
 
 * 1 John V. 20-2L t 1 Cor. i. 19, 20. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. l27 
 
 Christianity, having certain attributes not possessed by primitive 
 Christianity .' Perhaps this question is not quite plain. We 
 would ask you, then, do these words, Christ ianiiij, Catholicism,* 
 Protestantism, cause three distinct ideas to arise in your mind ? Ic 
 is i^TObable they do. In this case, in our opinion, yon are wrong ; 
 these three words are only two things, — Christianity and Protestant- 
 ism being two expressions to signify the same thing. Properly 
 speaking, there is no Protestantism ; Christianity is sufficient 
 for us. Protestantism is revived Christianity — but revived abso- 
 kitely sucli as it was. We do not see why, after his resurrection, 
 one ought to be re-baptized. Lazarus was, and called himself, 
 Lazarus after, as before his resurrection. It is unfortunate that a 
 new denomination was given to the reformed religion in the six- 
 teenth century ; we think it would have been better to liave called 
 it simply Christianity, or even Catholicism, in opposition to the 
 Church of the Pope. But as names are only names, and words 
 are only words, we will leave them as they are, and will content 
 ourselves with protesting against tlie idea — against the thing. 
 
 We declare, tlien, with ail the reformers, that Protestantism is 
 Christianity, neither more nor less ; all, that tends to make of it 
 anything else, with particular colors, with principles which are 
 peculiar to it, and still more strange doctrines, are the v,)inatural , 
 since these remove it so far from Christianity, that is to say, from 
 itself. 
 
 Is it necessary to cite here passages from our reformers to prove 
 that they never pretended to form a new Church, but simply to 
 re-establish the old one .' I think we all know, that this would 
 be to cite their whole worlts, for this is the principle which they 
 constantly set forth. Ought w^e to be astonished, however, if the 
 powerful hand of these great men of God is impressed, perhaps a 
 little strongly, on their works, in such a way that human traces 
 are to be perceived by the side of divine ones; and if the reform- 
 ed churches have somewhat forgotten, if not during the lifetime 
 of the Reformers, at least shortly after, that they were anything but 
 a continuation, a I'epetition of the first churches of Jesus ? Glory 
 be ascribed, notwithstanding, to the Protestant Churches, or 
 rather to Him who preserved them, this tendency of derivation Avas 
 imperceptible ; they were truly redeemed Churches. But the evil 
 which has been suppressed shines forth, especially in our days ; 
 in our days the abomination has been introduced into the sanc- 
 tuary, and an idol has been made of Protestantism. But as Paul 
 and Barnabas rent their clothes before the jiagans who wished to 
 sacrifice to them, so Protestantism rejects with indignation these 
 sacrilegious honors : it declares that it is nothing in itself, and 
 attributing all honor to that Gospel which is the power of God 
 unto salvation to every one which believeth, it exclaims — Salva- 
 tion to our God which sitteth u])on the tlirone, and to the Lamb. 
 
 We think the period has arrived, in which the slight human 
 
 * We use the word Catholicism not in its true sense, but in the narrow 
 sense, which is usually given to it in conversation, meaning the Church of 
 Rome. 
 
128 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 foot-prints, necessarily imposed upon the worlc of the reformers, 
 ought to be effaced ; in which Protestant Churches ought every- 
 where to become solely Christian churches, placing themselves 
 above Rome, not simply opposite to her, seizing the sceptre of 
 catholicity, and banishing popery into the obscurity which belongs 
 to it. Protestant Churches ! let us seat ourselves on the twelve 
 thrones of the apostles; let us proclaim and show ourselves the 
 hereditary Churches of the Apostolic Churches of Jerusalem, "Anti- 
 och, Ephesus, Philippi, Rome. Let us seek our armor whence Apos- 
 tolic men drew theirs ; that arsenal which is of so much more 
 avail than that of the philosophy of the world. The time may 
 not be distant when the Saviour will gather together the people : 
 let us stand forth, as did our primitive brethren, to be the instruments 
 of his mercy ; this is a greater, a nobler task, than to form an 
 imaginary mixture of the faith of the Gospel and of the unbelief 
 of the present age. 
 
 Perhaps some one may say, It is erroneous to pretend that Pro- 
 testantism is anything but Christianity ; it is undoubtedly Chris- 
 tianity, but Christianity with a protest against Rome ; it is under 
 some points of view a thing by itself ; this new situation gives it 
 a new character, new duties ; in a word, renders it, in some re- 
 spects, decidedly different from primitive Christianity. 
 
 To this ^ve reply ; if Protestantism is nothing else than 
 Christianity, then Christianity has been nothing from the begin- 
 ning but Protestantism. Has it not always protested against 
 Rome, and is not this one of its essential features .' Has there been 
 an age in which the Church was not tilled with Protestants 1 'Was 
 not St. Paul a good protestant, when in a prophetic tone he wrote 
 to the Church of Rome, If thou boastest thyself thou shalt be cut off!* 
 or when he wrote to Timothy : in the latter times some shall depart 
 from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits a,nd doctrines of devils ; 
 forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats, etc .'f Was 
 not St. John a Protestant, when, seeing the woman seated upon seven 
 mountains and arrayed in purple and scarlet, he called her, " the great 
 Babylon, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the 
 earth, "t 
 
 Was not Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, the disciple of St. John, 
 a Protestant, when he refused to celebrate Easter like Anicetus, 
 bishop of Rome,— placing before him the example of the beloved 
 disciple, who served him as a guide .'§ Were not all the churches 
 of Asia Minor Protestant, when, caring little for the proud preten- 
 sions of Victor, bishop of Rome, they quietly opposed to him the 
 doctrines estabhshed in their apostolic seats, sedes apostoUca 1\\ Was 
 not Irenccus, bishop of Rome, a Protestant, when he rebuked 
 Victor, — reproaching him with his anti-Christian proceedings, 
 which were unknown to his predecessors .'H Was not Cyprian, 
 bishop of Carthage, a Protestant, when he established, with so 
 much force, the independence of the bishops, and accomplished 
 
 * Romans xi. 20-22. t 1 Tim. iv. 1, etc. 
 
 X Rev. xvii. Rome is built, as everybody knows, upon seven hills. 
 
 ^ The year 162. H The years 190 and 196. H Eusebius, Lib. 5, cap 24. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 129 
 
 that which he thought right, in spite of the opposition of Rome ? 
 When writing, in his own and in the name of the synod, to 
 Stephanus,'bishop of Rome, concerning a point in which he differed 
 from him, he spoke to him as a colleague, possessing the same 
 right and dignity with himself, saying : " By virtue of the honor 
 which is common to us, and of the love we have for thee, we have 
 thought it our duty to communicate to thee these things, believing 
 that that which is conformable to truth and piety Avill please 
 thee in like manner, agreeably to thy love of truth, very dear 
 brother ! Besides, we well know that there are those who do not 
 wish to cast away opinions which they have once received, and 
 who do not readily change their sentiments, but who, without 
 prejudicing the bonds of peace and concord, which ought to unite 
 colleagues, preserve certain things that are peculiar to themselves, 
 which have been once established among them. We do no violence, 
 and give no laws to persons in such things ; " for whosoever is 
 set over a Church, of his own free will, need render an account of 
 his actions only to God."* s- 
 
 And after the violent declarations of Stephen, was not this same 
 Cyprian a Protestant, and as much of a Protestant as Luther or 
 Calvin, or ourselves, when, chiding the errors of the Roman 
 bishop, whom he accused of sustaining the cause of heretics 
 against Christians, of saying contradictory things, etc. (quo lecto 
 magis ac magis ejus errorem denotabis, qua hoereticorum causam contra 
 Christianas ct contra Ecclesiam Dei asserere conatur. Nam inter catera 
 vel supcrba, vel ad rem non pertincntia, vel sibi ipsi contraria, qiuB 
 imperite atque improvide scripsit, etc.), he adds respecting that 
 which Stephen called /tomon traditions: " From whence does this 
 tradition come ? Is it derived from the words of the Lord, and the 
 authority of the Gospel .' Does it proceed from the doctrines and 
 epistles of the apostles :" What obstinacy and presumption to 
 place human tradition before the divine comma)Hls, and to think that 
 God is not angry whenever human tradition destroys the divine 
 precepts, as the Saviour has said in the Gospel. " For laying aside 
 the commandments of God, ye hold the traditions of men." The 
 usages which are introduced among some, cannot hinder truth 
 from prevailing, and bearing off the victory ; for usage without 
 truth is only a worn-out error {nam consuctudo sine veritate, vetustas 
 erroris est) ; therefore forsake error and follow truth, knowing that 
 truth will achieve the victory, as it is written : truth dwells, and 
 lives for ever. If we but return to the source and origin of the 
 divine tradition, human error ceases. If an aqueduct which 
 formerly gave water in abundance, suddenly fails, do we not go 
 back to the source to discover the cause, to see if the veins have 
 been dried up, or the source itself has been exhausted, or, if 
 running from the source as freely as before, to see if the water 
 
 * Qua in re nee nos vim cuiguam farimus, aut legem damns : cum habet in 
 Ecciesice administraiione voluntatis suw arbitrium libcrum tmusquisque proposi- 
 tus, ratiomm actus sui Domino ?crffto<»-MS ( Cypr., Epist. 71 ad Stephanum). 
 It is to the bishop of Rome that Cyprian writes, no one need render an 
 account of his actions only to God ! Uthxam ubiqut ! 
 6* 
 
130 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 has been stopped in its course ? And if it happens that the aque- 
 duct drinks up the water, or that it is broken in the centre, is it 
 not immediately repaired , so that the water may flow in its channel, 
 for the use of the town, as abundantly as it flows from its source ? 
 We see in this the duty of the ministers of God, charged with the 
 preservation of the divine precepts. If the truth has been corrupt- 
 ed, and has wavered in anything, let us return to the origin of 
 the Lord, and of the Gospel — to the tradition of the apostles, etc.* 
 We despair of finding the principles of Protestantism more clearly 
 expressed in the writings of Luther and of Calvin, than in 
 this passage of Cyprian. Who can say after this, that Cyprian 
 was not a Protestant ? Finally, was not the bishop Firmilian of 
 Csesarea, in Cappadocia, a Protestant, who accused Stephen, the 
 bishop of Rome, of rending the unity of the Church by his con- 
 duct — full of ambition and bitterness ; and who opposed to the 
 pretended tradition of the Roman Church, the tradition of the 
 most ancient churches^ and likewise many dogmatic proofs ; and 
 who showed that the Romans did not retain the primitive tradition, 
 and appealed in vain to the authority of the apostles, since in so 
 many things they departed from the usage of the Church of 
 Jerusalem, and of other ancient apostolic churches ? Is it neces- 
 sary to quote here all the Protestants of following ages, who in- 
 creased in numbers and strength in proportion as the usurpations 
 of Rome multiplied ? Yes ! since Protestantism is even now nothing 
 but Christianity ; so, likewise, it has never been anything else than 
 Christianity. We do not wish to be better Protestants than John 
 or Paul ! We do not think we have dwelt too long on this point, 
 for it is equally important to prove this point to the Romanists, 
 and to the innovators : both must knoAv that there is not a Christi- 
 anity and a Protestantism, but that they are one and the same ; that 
 truth is not divided into many distinct beings, but that she is, from 
 the begimiing of time to the end of the world, one and indivisible. 
 Farther, it must be observed, that this new Protestantism, which 
 seeks to be introduced in place of the old, is in effect different from 
 Christianity ; in some respects, it is even totally opposed to it. It 
 has preserved but a shigle feature of true Protestantism ; but 
 making Protestantism to consist almost exclusively of this feature, 
 it has, in so doing, rendered it not easily recognized. Freedom of 
 examination, which we have sufficiently defended on all occasions, 
 and are still ready to maintain against and towards all, is the 
 feature to which we allude. This imprescriptible right of man 
 and of Christians, which is absolutely necessary to attain religion, 
 but which (in the present age it ought to be proclaimed on the 
 house-tops) is not religion itself, but is the Gospel of this ne"w sect, 
 is the burden of all their writings, and they speak of it w ith as much 
 enthusiasm as ever St. Paul spoke of the cross of Jesus Christ. They 
 take the scaffolding, necessary to the construction of an edifice, for 
 the edifice itself — the disputed right of those who wish to enter 
 into the kingdom of God, for the precious and eternal privileges 
 of those who are already within it. 
 
 * Cypr., Epist, 74 ad Pbmpeium contra Epistolam Stephani. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 131 
 
 No ! in vain would ihey build this new Protestantism on the 
 ruins of the old Protestantism ; no one would recognize it as the 
 true one. It is not sufficient to take a part of the antique and 
 venerable temple, whatever trouble they may give themselves to 
 adorn it with new ornaments ; it must be taken entire. If they 
 have only a part, they have nothing. What would be said of 
 persons who, wishing to construct a new |house, in place of an- 
 other which appeared to them out of fashion, should erect only a 
 door, only an entrance, and then exclaim : come and see with 
 Avhat skill we have constructed a beautiful edifice in place of the 
 old house, which was only fit for an ignorant age ! Yes, is the 
 reply, but we could seat ourselves in the old house, but in yours 
 there is notlihig upon which to repose ; the old house afforded us 
 a shelter from the wind and rain, but, alas ! you have provided 
 nothing to protect us from the tempests. So is it with this new 
 religion; its fa§ade is superb ; philosophy and literature are ex- 
 hausted for its embellishment, but behold all ! Oh ye Avho are 
 weary and heavy laden ! there is nothing here to give rest to 
 your souls ; Oh ye, Avho are pursued by the shadows of life, 
 you will not find here that refuge Vv^hich is necessary for you, 
 the secret place of the Most High, where one shall dwell in the 
 shadow of the Almighty.* We are reminded of that faithful soul, 
 who, ongoing out from listening to the discourse of one of the 
 adepts in this new religion, said : I was hungry and you gave mc no 
 meat, thirsti/ and ye gave me no drink. 
 
 And after all, what is this liberty of investigation, concerning 
 which there is so much boasting .' Certainly it is not of the genuine 
 stamp, and we do not see that it can even lead to much good. As far 
 removed from Christianity as is the Church of Rome with its in- 
 supportable authority, so far removed is the pretended Protestant- 
 ism that we oppose, with its examination, in which it takes away 
 all means of examination. God who knows man, his nature, his 
 wants, the limits of his intelligence, has in his infinite love pro- 
 vided for his weakness; he has aimed to come to his assistance; 
 he has declared that he himself Avould be his guide, his interpre- 
 ter, his light, his true friend in the examination of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures. There is no promise more clear, more consoling, none 
 dearer to the children of God in the divine Word. How many are 
 there now among 7nen of Ictterx and among the unlettered, of whom 
 the prophet Isaiah speaks in the 29th chapter, 10 — 12, saying: 
 " For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, 
 and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and yourrulers, the seers 
 hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the 
 words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is 
 learned, saying. Read this, I pray thee : and he saith, I cannot ; 
 for it is sealed : And the book is delivered to him that is not 
 learned, saying. Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not 
 learned 1" Thus there are always men in all ranks, of different de- 
 grees of mental culture, who have well turned and re-turncd, and 
 examined on all sides the Holy Scriptures ; they do not understand 
 
 * Psalm xci. 1. 
 
132 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 them because they are as a sealed book to them. But ever blessed 
 be the God of our salvation ! He has declared that he himself will 
 unseal this book, and will open the eyes of the hnmble and the 
 poor, so that whosoever will address himself to Him, shall see ; he 
 shall see that which he never would have seen, had he remained 
 alone. And the deaf (adds the prophet in the same chapter, 18 — 
 19) shall hear the words of the book, and the eyts of the blind shall see out 
 of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy 
 in the Lord, and the poor among men sluill rejoice in the Holy One of 
 Israel. Especially are these promises of assistance to men in their 
 search after truth, and for understanding of the Scriptures, re- 
 peated in holy Scripture. The Lord said to the Messiah in the 
 same prophecy : I will give thee for a, covenant of the people, for a tight 
 of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes. And I unll bring the blind 
 by a way that they kneiv not ; I tvill lend them in paths that they have riot, 
 known: I will make darkness light before THEM,anrf crooked things 
 straight; these things ivill I do unto tJiem and not forsake them. Jere- 
 miah announces the nature of the new covenant that he predicts : 
 " I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their 
 HEARTS, and will be their God and they shall be my people. And 
 they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man 
 his brother, saying, Know the Lord : for they shall all know me 
 from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord" 
 The Saviour of the world himself says : Ask, and it shall be given 
 you ; seek, arid i/e shall find ; knock, and it shall he opened unto you. If ye 
 then, being evil, know hoiv to give good gifts unto your children, how 
 
 MUCH MORE shall YOUR HeAVENLY FaTHER GIVE THE HoLY SPIRIT TO 
 
 THEM THAT ASK HIM .'* Ill St. John, lie rencws these promises in 
 the most positive manner : The Comforter lohich is the Holy Ghost, 
 whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all 
 THiNGS.f But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide 
 you into all TRUTH. He shall glorify me : for he shall receive of mine, 
 and shall show it unto you. In the Gospel, we see Jesus himself 
 acting upon his disciples, Avho had been with him already three 
 years, to enlighten their minds yet darkened, as are the minds of 
 men by nature, that they might understand the Scriptures: Then 
 opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.X 
 And the apostle Paul, who had experienced with the faithful at 
 Corinth, the efficacy of these precious promises, in speaking to 
 them of the things of salvation, of the counsels of God, contained 
 in the Scriptures, and whose search ought to be the object of 
 Christian examination, said : Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
 have entered into the heart of man, the things vAich God hath prepared 
 for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by 
 HIS Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things 
 of God. Now Ave have received not the spirit of the world, but the 
 Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things that are 
 freely given to US OF God. But the natural^ man receiveth not the 
 
 * Luke xi. 9 — 13. t John xiv. 26. J Luke xxiv. 45. 
 
 § Our French translations appear to me to be very defective here ; they 
 have adopted the intei-pretation of the Vulgate, which translates animahs 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 133 
 
 things of the Spirit of God : for tkeij are foolishness unto him ; neither 
 can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned; but he that in 
 spiritual judgeth all things. 
 
 Now this new Protestantism passes by the illumination of the 
 Holy Spirit ; it is ignorant, or feigns to be ignorant, of all these 
 promises of our God— constantly calling upon men to examine 
 with their reason alone, — with its imperfections, its limited facul- 
 ties, its ignorance ; without dependence on and invocation of the 
 Spirit of God. It does not perceive that reason is a glass, which 
 it is necessary to employ, it is true, but it is a glass dimmed by 
 the breath of sin, and that it must ficst be made clear before we 
 can see well by its means {that God may enlighten the eyes of your 
 understanding, is the expression of St. Paul), and that God, the 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, — the Spirit of wisdom and of 
 revelation, can alone do this. Thus it deprives the faithful of the 
 succor that God, in his infinite wisdom, had designed for them; 
 it separates them from their God ; it isolates them; it leaves them 
 in their weakness ; — in their darkness ; it exalts that pride which 
 should be destroyed. What shall I say ! Oh ! blindness, which 
 causes the Christian soul to tremble ! It lifts itself up against the 
 holy doctrines of the Bible, and calls the promises and commands 
 of otir God enthusiasm, mysticism ! " They be blind leaders of the 
 blind," says the Saviour, " and, if the blind lead the blind, they shall 
 both fall into the ditch." 
 
 What would result from this, but that man, left to himself, would 
 fashion a doctrine entirely different in effect from Christianity .' 
 
 We shall not ^^ause here to pa.«s in review the different funda- 
 mental doctrines of the Christian religion, by dwelling at length 
 on each one of them. We have before us the assurance that 
 there is not one of these doctrines which this new Protestantism has 
 not either corrupted or rejected ; many of its doctrines it has even 
 attacked with cimiity ; and a rapid glance will suffice to show 
 that the Protestantism which exists apart from Christianity, differs, 
 in fact, entirely from it. 
 
 homo. I prefer the English and German translations, which render it the 
 natural man. "O t//UTy'uo?, says the Greek: that is, literally, the man of the 
 soul; that is to say, man with his soul and the faculties with which it is 
 endowed in its natural and unregenerated state; and the man, xpvy^tKOi, is put 
 in opposition to the man CTm/ian/cof, that is to say, the man enlightened by the 
 Ti'tT'/za. the Spirit of God, the spiritual man. The word animal being doubtless 
 derived from the Latin o«i»ia, soul, the French translation may have appeared 
 the most literal. But the word animal is taken in so different an acceptation 
 in the French language, that such a translation involves a great error; this 
 is proved by the blunder made by the Academy in its dictionary. " Animal," 
 it says, "in the language of Scripture, signifies carnal, sensual, and is the 
 opposite of spiritual, i' hommc animal nc comprcnd pas ce qui est dc Dieu. 
 But the Greek word rendered here by animal, ipvx'Kn?. is as different from 
 canial, (rafjKiKog, as in French dme is different from chair. The three scrip- 
 tural expressions, !>' nvcv^iaTiKOi, iV ipv^'^^^i, ^ adfuuo?, designate three classes of 
 men entirely distinct ; and nothing can be more erroneous than to make 
 one of the last two. A distinction, definition, etc., etc., of these three classes, 
 would give us the scriptural philosophy of human nature. We may, per- 
 haps, return to this subject hereafter. 
 
134 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 With regard to the fundamental doctrine, not only of reUgion, 
 but, we might almost say, of all true philosophy — the doctrine of 
 the corruption of man, the existence of evil within vis, — we know how 
 the new Protestantism treats the passage on this subject, and that 
 it does not hesitate to say that the declarations of Scripture on this 
 point are but the figures of lyric poetry. This idea of seeing images 
 and figures everywhere is, of all modes invented up to this time, 
 the most expeditious for putting aside Christianity. There are 
 those among the new Protestants of Germany, who see, in the 
 resurrection of Jesus Christ, only a figure, — an image. We must 
 acknowledge that our new^Protestants, through the restraining 
 grace of God, have not yet gone so far. 
 
 Concerning the real divinity of Jesus Christ, and the worship 
 of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed 
 for ever, that foundation of the Christian faith, we know what 
 these iiew Protestants believe, and the pretended absurdities 
 which they, in common with all unbelievers, find in this holy and 
 glorious doctrine. 
 
 Justification by faith in the powerful merits of the great Victim 
 of expiation, offered up for the sinner who repents and believes, 
 is to this one-sided Protestantism a scandal and a folly. It main- 
 tains, with the Romish Church, the merit of works ; not knowing 
 that truly good works can proceed only from a heart touched and 
 regenerated by the grace of God, and full of gratitude and love, 
 and that, consequently, the best method of rendering all good 
 works impossible, is just to hold that man is not saved by grace 
 alone, but jaartly by his merits, partly by the works of the law. 
 
 Concerning the doctrine of regeneration, of the new birth by the 
 Holy Spirit, they would introduce into our Reformed Churches 
 their images and oriental figures ; a terra incognita, of which its 
 patrons imderstand less than did Nicodemus when Jesus taught 
 him this fundamental truth of the kingdom of God ; so that we 
 miglit say to some of them, as Jesus said to the Pharisee, " Art 
 thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things ?" 
 
 HoAV shall we give even a passing notice of the crowd of 
 errors which flow from this new religion, and which are sought 
 to be thrust upon Protestants as great truths ? This is especially 
 manifest in that ■which regards the doctrines of the Church ; it is 
 there that they move in thick darkness. We will attend for a 
 moment to a single example. 
 
 Unity in the Church of Christ, is not only one of the funda- 
 mental doctrines of the Gospel, but likewise one of the greatest 
 benefits promised by the Saviour to his people. Jesus himself, 
 in his sacrificial prayer, had invoked this unity among his own, 
 and announced it unto them with the same breath ; this could 
 not have been a unity to exist only for the Apostles, but likewise 
 for all who, in whatever place and in whatever age, should be- 
 lieve in Christ through their words. " Neither pray I for these 
 alone ; but for them also which shall believe on me through their 
 words : that they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and 
 I in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 135 
 
 believe that thoii hast sent me. And the glory which thou gav- 
 est me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are 
 one ; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect 
 in UNITY." And would not this request of the Saviour, made at 
 the solemn moment when he was about to make his voluntary 
 expiation for the sins of the world, be accomplished ? The Apos- 
 tles speak continually of this tcnity of the true people of God : of 
 all those who are tmlij, and not in name only, members of the 
 body of Christ. So u-e, say they, being many, are one body in 
 Christ. For, they add, by one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
 body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we are bond or 
 free. There is neither, they still further say, Jeiu nor Greek, there is 
 neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, ye are all one in 
 Christ. Endeavoring to keep t/ie unity of the spirit in the bond of 
 peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as yc are called in one 
 hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and' 
 Father of all. These words are explicit, and we could cite many 
 others equally so. Now, how does this Protestantism, which is 
 distinct from Christianity, treat this unity demanded by the Prmce 
 of hfe liimself for his Church, which he has promised, and which 
 the holy Apostles have proclaimed .' It says, that unity is a phi- 
 losophic invention; it speaks of the folly, of the thirst, oi the fury of 
 unity'; it adds that despotism, fanaticism, tyranny, exclusiveness, 
 arbitrariness, are species of unity, or forms of unity, or means of 
 imity, and that the most forcible objections which human rcasoi; 
 can conceive may be urged against miity : that it is absurd, fatal, 
 impossible ; such, according to it, is the doctrine of Protestantism. 
 Having placed the words of tiie Lord and his Apostles side by side 
 with those of the new Protestantism, there remains nothing but to 
 keep silence. The stones, if they could, would cry out. We cannot 
 conceive how it is possible so entirely to put away the Gospel, 
 and to substitute for it the vain dreams of the imagination. May 
 the time be far distant when these shall be the doctrines of your 
 Protestantism ! True Protestantism, however, casts it far from 
 her. To the Law, and to the Testimony ! if they speak not ac- 
 cording, it is because there is no light in them, — and they shall 
 look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness 
 of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness. Thus it is, that 
 the Romish Church on one hand, ar.d Neology on the other, seem 
 to be skilful in M-andering, the one to the right, and the other to 
 the left, from the path of truth and life, trodden by the people of 
 God. The Romish Church hears unity spoken of; and forgetting 
 that the words of Jesus are spirit and life, that his reigu is in the 
 heart, that the question is concerning a unity of spirit, she invents 
 an actual unity of appearance, a patched up unity, a unity of uni- 
 form and parade; provided its recruits all wear, whether good or 
 bad, the same dress, the same cockade, and that at the same word 
 they all turn their lieads at the same moment, this is all that is 
 necessary ; the heart is not her domain ; they may dilTer in spirit 
 as far as the heavens differ from the earth ; no matter ! her con- 
 cern is with that which appears to be, and not with that which is. 
 
136 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 When we think of the infinite number of different opinions 
 inclosed in the body called the Romish Church, is it not laughable 
 to see this unformed mass baptized by the name of unity ? It is 
 the unity of chaos, and darkness is on the face of the deep. For, 
 provided you carry a torch in a procession, or still more, provided 
 you yield to importunities and mark your last moments by a few 
 ceremonies, whatever else you may thmk in your sleeve, the Romish 
 Church will acknowledge you as her child. But neology goes by a 
 still easier reckoning, and needs not observe so many forms ; it pro- 
 claims itself an army without standard, and a people without any 
 common law ; it declares that all its agreement consists in agree- 
 ing upon nothing. The unity of the Romish Church is the Prus- 
 sian drill ; the unity of the innovators is a Cossack band, each one 
 moving as it pleases him. People of God ! such is not your life 
 and your unity! Those whom he •predestinated, them he also called; 
 whom he called, them he also justified ; and whom he justified, them he also 
 glorified; and those who have been the objects of this eternal 
 grace, are one in heart at the foot of the cross ; redeemed unto God 
 by the blood of the Lamb, washed, sanctified, justified, by the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, built upon the 
 foundation of the Apostles and prophets ; Jesus Christ himself 
 being the Chief Corner Stone, out of every kindred, and tongue, 
 and i^eople, and nation ; they are the true Church of God upon earth ; 
 they are the true body of Christ, and they are one, as their Master 
 has promised. Oh, ye, who may perchance read these lines, 
 whatever language you speak, in whatever country you have had 
 your birth, whatever may be the external confession to which 
 you belong, I call you to witness that we are but one! We are 
 but one body, we have only one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, 
 one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and among 
 all, and in all . We are one with the Church which is in Heaven, 
 and with that which is still upon earth. Let those who are with- 
 out, reject with contempt the unity that our Saviour and our God 
 has promised to his people ; but as for us, we guard it as a pre- 
 cious jewel, and it constitutes our joy and glory ! 
 
 There is, without doubt, a great error in that Protestantism 
 which places itself out of Christianity. Perhaps we may take, as 
 a ready example, another, and in some respects still more import- 
 ant one, which introduces into evangelical Christianity one of the 
 most dangerous vices of Rome, and threatens to rob the Church 
 of its liberty, its glory, its greatness, and to drag it down to shame- 
 ful chains. But who will not feel the dangers that would encom- 
 pass our Churches, if this philosophic-religious system, the child 
 of the past century — if this Protestantism which is distinct from 
 Christianity, could prevail therein.' The necessary consequence 
 would be to take away all life from the evangelical Churches. 
 They Avill turn aside the river that waters the roots of this beauti- 
 ful tree, causing it to yield its fruit in its season, and a dry and 
 barren soil will quickly cause it to cast its foliage. Our Churches 
 must be more strongly rooted in Christianity, in the Gospel; it is 
 only from them they can receive life. Transplant them into the 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 137 
 
 soil of worldly philosophy, as they pretend to do, and you will 
 soon see them perish. What is it which has revived them ? Is 
 it not divine grace, evangelical sermons, the Bibles of the Bible 
 Societies, the living spirit of the Missionary Societies ? This is 
 the way in which it must walk. The Protestantism, which is 
 Christianity, is the spiritual lever of the world ; it has received a 
 commission to diffuse light and life throughout the families of the 
 earth. The Protestantism which is not Cl)ristianity, is only good 
 as it is the occasion of a little wit, and to give birth to some pages 
 which amuse the ennui of their readers. Let us then plunge our 
 roots in the spring of living water, and let us not, alas ! plant the 
 tree of our faith in broken cisterns which hold no water. 
 
 It is not only Protestantism considered as Christianity, which 
 has to fear this new direction ; it is likewise Christianity consi- 
 dered as Protestantism, that is in its struggle with Rome. In this 
 exigency, the best method of obtaining strength, is to be vivified 
 by the vital doctrines of faith. The best, or rather the only 
 ground, on which we can meet and oppose to advantage the 
 usurper who has established his camp, with all his hosts, on the 
 seven hills, is that of the Apostles and Reformers. How would 
 the branches be able to offer their fronts to the wind and battle 
 with the tempest, if their roots did not derive from the depths of 
 the earth their strength and their life .' And what would become 
 of soldiers avIio should fight continually without ever partaking 
 of food or rest .' They would soon become wan skeletons, which 
 the least breath could overthrow. 
 
 We would ask, in closing this article : Is it a shadow we have 
 been fighting ! Pastors of our Churches ! you know. Do you 
 find among your flocks any error more general and more opposed 
 to the propagation of Christianity, of the true Christian life, than 
 that which consists in believing that, provided one is called a good 
 Protestant, all will go well ; that if he rejects the superstitions of 
 Rome, her images, her processions, her saints, in a Avord (to use 
 the happy expression of a French Christian universally distin- 
 guished by his birth, his talents, and his piety), if he is a negative 
 Protestant, he is on the way to heaven. Is there an evil which 
 strikes more directly and deeply at the root of piety ? 
 
 If there are some shepherds who do not find this evil in their 
 flocks, we rejoice and bless God for it ; but we have heard the 
 complaints and sighs of many, and this has induced us to lift up 
 our voice in the Churches, that, weak but faitliful sentinels, we 
 might announce the danger which tlu'eatens Zion. 
 
 Faithful, beloved brethren ! raised in the bosom of this Evan- 
 gelical Church caused by the Lord to si)ring up in the midst of 
 darkness, to lead many souls to light and life, it is not sufficient 
 for your salvation that you are called in ordinary language a good 
 Protestant. There is no Church Avhich saves ; there is no more 
 salvation in the Protestant than in the Romish Church ; salvation 
 comes only through Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in any 
 other ; for there is none other name under heaven given among 
 men, whereby we must be saved. Do you not perceive, my dear 
 
138 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 friends, that this is exactly the error of the Roman Cathohcs ? Their 
 capital crime is to put the Church in the stead of Jesus Christ, and 
 to declare it is she who saves. And shall we commit the same 
 fault ? Consider that it is not necessary that this error be acknow- 
 ledged in doctrine, as is the case in the Romish Church ; it lives 
 in our souls, if it renders us satisfied with ourselves, if it stops us in 
 the way of life, if it hinders us from going as poor sinners to wash 
 ourselves in that fountain opened on Golgotha/or sin and undeanness, 
 and which alone deansetk us from all sin — this will ruin our souls ! 
 No, no ! neither the communion of Luther nor of Calvin, and still less 
 of this or of that neology, can save us any more than that of Pius 
 VII. or of Leo XII. ; it is the communion of Jesus which saves. That 
 which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also 
 may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the 
 Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Negative Protestantism is a 
 comfortable cushion upon whichwe can quietly repose and slumber ; 
 we would that we Avere at this moment able to withdraw it from 
 under the heads it pillows, even though it were a little roughly, 
 so that falling naked to the ground they might awaken and seek 
 that true point of support, which alone can give us peace of soul 
 for time and for eternity. Friends and brethren ! These tJmigs 1 
 say, that ye might be saved ; God knows, and our conscience bears 
 us witness. Oh ! that every one to whom these leaves may come, 
 would ask himself : I am a member of the Protestant Church, but 
 am I a member of Christ ? I hold communion with those Avho 
 have separated from Rome ; but do I hold communion Avith God ? 
 I have separated myself from the abominations without, from the 
 worship that is offered to creatures ; but have I separated myself 
 from the corritption w'ithin, from that worship which makes self 
 my idol .' Is there in me an energetic Protestantism against my- 
 self, against sin which dwelleth in me, against the world and its 
 lusts, against the devil and his works .> This is the Protestantism 
 lohich affords salvation ! 
 
 Friends and brethren ! Negative Protestantism is a first step, 
 and we rejoice that you have taken it ; but would you stop here ^ 
 Alas ! you willlo.se the fruit of your first efforts. Is it sufficient to 
 pull down an old and tottering edifice, and to remove the rubbi.sh 
 from its foundations ? This is the work of negative Protestantism. 
 Shall we not also construct in its place a new building full of 
 strength and bloom ? This is the work of positive Protestantism ; 
 and these two Protestantisms, united, form alone Christianity. We 
 beseech you, then, by the eternal compassion of God, to go to the 
 blood of Jesus, there to wash away your sins, and there to find 
 peace for yoiu- .souls. Do not rest until you have proved for your- 
 selves the import of these words of our Saviour : "Except a man 
 be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Then will 
 you be true Protestants, then will you be true Christians, then you 
 would have, together with all the redeemed Churches, whether 
 that which now triumphs in heaven or that which still struggles 
 on earth, " one spirit, one faith, one baptism, one Lord, one Fa- 
 ther." 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 139 
 
 Pastors of Evangelical churches ! the task which has been al- 
 lotted you is a great one. Our voice has been but the echo of 
 yours; and, if you have taken cognizance of the evil, you will 
 the better know where to apply the remedy. Tender guardians 
 of your flocks, you should zealously labor to guard believers 
 against error, which, if not combated, would wither and destroy 
 our Churches. We do not simply say that you should endeavor 
 to make your hearers better Christians, still more finuly rooted and 
 grounded in Christ, knowing that this is the only way of rendering 
 them also better Protestants ; because for a long Avhile you have 
 done this. But perhaps you may still judge it expedient, carefully 
 to avoid everything which might improperly nourish, in your 
 hearers, pride in the name of Protestant, without producing any- 
 thing better. Undoubtedly' you may. incite theiu i to consider 
 the greatness of their advantages ; but you should hasten to 
 add, that in proportion to the magnitude of these advantages are 
 their tasks and obligations, and this should be the point upon 
 which you should insist. You must i^roclaim from the eminence 
 of the jiulpit, that Protestantisin is nothing else than Christianity ; 
 that there is no Protestantism aside from Christianity ; and that to 
 be a good Protestant is only to be a good Christian, such as were 
 the primitive discii)les at Jerusalem, at Antioch, at Philippi. 
 Perhaps you will also think proper to devote some particular 
 meditation to the development of this important truth, and in're- 
 futation of the errors which are opposed to it, so that from one end 
 of our Churches to the other, the standard of Christ alone may be 
 lifted up, and that every new standard should prostrate itself be- 
 fore that of the Prince of Life, and hide in the dust its false co- 
 lors. But what need is there of our words, venerable leaders of 
 our flocks ! God himself has implanted in your hearts the wel- 
 fare of our Churches, and this flame, which already diffuses its 
 genial warmth and rejoicing light, will not be extmguished. You 
 have, so to speak, sent the words that we have uttered; our voice 
 has been only your voice ; our cry is only your cry. Destitute 
 ourselves of wisdom and life, to pretend to convey unto others 
 what we have not received ourselves, will end in ridiculous and 
 powerless attempts. 
 
 Let silence then succeed to our word, and all listening to the 
 voice of the Master who is in heaven, but who now speaks with 
 so much power to the angels of his Churches, let us labor toge- 
 ther with God, not only to strengthen the walls of Zion, but also 
 to multiply in its bosom, abundance, life and peace. 
 
 Have we been severe .' Determined not to go beyond this, have 
 we confounded men with their wickedness and faults .' We think 
 not. We have avoided all personalities ; our concern is with 
 things and not with individuals. If we have contended against 
 systems which appeared to us dangerous, we are ready to tender 
 the hand to those who entertain them, as to brethren descended 
 from the same Father with ourselves. How great would be our 
 joy could we see talents that we appreciate, employed in that 
 which caa alone brmg prosperity to our Churches ! Friends, we 
 
140 CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 trus,t you possess in yonr hearts the same desires as ourselves. Do 
 you not perceive that every period of revival in the Church has 
 been effected by its vital doctrines, by the spirit of power and of 
 life in the Gospel, and not by the efforts of reason or of human 
 philosophy ? Have we not heard you sometimes joyfully declare 
 that it is in these doctrines alone the Church can find her hopes 
 of salvation ? Why then at another period do you oppose these 
 doctrines ? Are you not delighted, do you not boast as Protest- 
 ants, of the admirable labors of England and America, of their 
 Bible Societies and their Missions ? All who compose those So- 
 cieties are one with us ; the same principles that we maintain and 
 have mentioned, are those that animate them. Why then should 
 that which is the subject of your praise beyond the sea, be on 
 this side the object of your attack, of your blame, perhaps of your 
 ridicule .' How can you praise the effects at a distance, and com- 
 bat the causes near at hand .' How can you present the labors of 
 our British and American brethren as a model, at the same time 
 that you rob your brethren on the Continent of the only means, 
 the only power by which they might become their imitators .' 
 No ! no ! you are doubtless deceived, and we call upon yourselves 
 to be better informed of yourselves. There is, it is true, a great 
 temptation in this walki;ig in accordance with the reigning worldly 
 spij.-, d efending Protestantism as a species of ecclesiastical liber- 
 alism, and even in being praised by the organs of public opinion. 
 But are you not called to resist and to overcome this temptation .' 
 Public opinion may be of some value ; we approve it. But 
 evangelical Christianity has received a nobler vocation than that 
 of following in the suite of the world; it is at the head she must 
 walk, strong in her own principles and borrowing from none. He, 
 who walks only in the track of the multitude, may render a few 
 services to humanity ; but he who remains immoveable in truth, 
 opposing a brazen front to the course of the "world in every- 
 thing that is wrong, obliging it, by his perseverance, to turn 
 aside from its shiuous paths into the straight i^ath of rectitude, 
 allowing threatenings, injuries, violent language, and ridicule, 
 to blunt their darts against the buckler of his faith ; he will gain 
 the crown and will have fought the good fight. Such is our vo- 
 cation ; friends, shall it not be yours .' 
 
 It is this vocation to which you look forward, pupils of our 
 Churches ! Levites, who are growing up in the shadow of the 
 sanctuary, and Avho learn in our schools what is the wisdom, the 
 righteousnessythesanctification, the redemption, tliRt you are one day to 
 proclaim to the people, to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified, 
 remember, that if you wallv in the doctrines of faith, you will 
 follow in the footsteps of the greatest and the noblest of the hu- 
 man race ; in the path of Abraham, of David, of Isaiah, of John, 
 of Paul, of Peter, of Polycarp, of Ignatius, of Justin, of Cyprian, 
 of Origen, of Chrysostom, of Augustine, of Bernard, of Wickliffe, 
 of Waldo, of Huss, of Luther, of JMelancthou, of Calvin, of Zuiu- 
 gle, of Favel, of Knox, of Mornay, of Malbranche, Drelincourt, 
 Claude, Bossuet, Fenelon, Bacon and Newton, Pascal and many 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND PROTESTANTISM. 141 
 
 Others who have all believed the same that we believe ; and 
 above all, yoii will walk with Jesus Christ who has taught them. 
 But should yoii abandon these doctrines for those sought to be 
 substituted in their stead, you will drag along in the shameful 
 steps of some pretended philosophers, with some obscure neolo- 
 gians of different coimtries, who are only known for their extra- 
 vagances and for the evil they have wrought to the Church of the 
 Saviour. Be ye not deceived ; the vain objections they may 
 offer to you are only the trifles of wits and sciolists, of superficial 
 minds, who fall back before the steps of truth. All their pre- 
 tended wisdom is only foolishness with God; the gifted, the 
 choice spirits of the world, not allowing themselves to be deterred 
 by these vain sports, have embraced eternal truth as it is revealed 
 in the word of God, and as our Churches have professed it from 
 their birth. Repel, then, a poisoned blow, which will not only 
 convey death to your own souls, but also to the flocks over which 
 you shall be established overseers. Ascend the pulpits, to pro- 
 claim from thence the powerful Word of Truth ; be the noble in- 
 struments of God's mercy, and not the repeaters of man's inven- 
 tions ! Find grace before God for your own souls ; your faces 
 shall be enlightened by it, and you will reflect upon your brethren 
 salvation and peace. Fear not the world. " He that is in you is 
 greater than he that is in the world. Ye are of God, little chil- 
 dren, and have overcome them." Christ says, " Lo I am with you 
 alway, even unto the end of the world, and all power is given 
 ixnto me in heaven and in earth." 
 Oh God ! save thy church. It is timk 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY M. M. BACKUS 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. — Joshua xxiv. 15. 
 
 Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. 
 We have said on a former occasion, my brethren, that if we would 
 die their death, we must hve their hfe. Doubtless there are some 
 cases in which the Lord manifests his grace and glory to man, on 
 his death-bed, saying to him, as to the thief on the cross : To-day 
 thou shah be with me in paradise. The Lord, from time to time, gives 
 such examples to the Church, thus to demonstrate his sovereign 
 power, by which he can, if it please him, subdue the most 
 hardened hearts, and convert the most alienated souls, causing us 
 to see that all depends on his grace, and that he has mercy on 
 whom he will have mercy. But these are only very rare excep- 
 tions, upon which you cannot absolutely count; and if you would 
 have a Christian death, my dear hearers, you must have a Christian 
 life — a heart truly converted to the Lord, truly ready for the king- 
 dom, which, trusting only in the grace of Christ, desires to walk 
 near Him. There are many means, my brethren, by which you 
 can prepare yourselves during life, to obtain, one day, so blessed 
 an end. To one of the most efficacious of these we would lead 
 you to-day. This means is domestic worship ; that is to say, that 
 edification which, day after day, a Christian family receives at the 
 common altar. " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," 
 said Joshua to Israel. We desire, my brethren, to present to you 
 the motives which ought to lead you to this resolution of Joshua, 
 and the necessary directions for its accomplishment. 
 
 THE MOTIVES. 
 
 Domestic worship is the most ancient as well as the most holy 
 of institutions. It is not one of those innovations against which 
 one is easily prejudiced ; it began with the world itself. 
 
 It is evident that the first worship, which the first man and his 
 children rendered to God, could be no other than family worship, 
 since they \yere then the only family existing on the earth. Then 
 began men, says the Scripture, to call upon the name of the Lord. 
 Domestic worship mu.st have been for along period the only wor- 
 ship rendered in common to God ; for as the earth increased in 
 population, each head of a family establishing himself alone, a 
 priest unto God in the place in which his lot was cast, presented to 
 7 
 
146 FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 the Lord of all the earth, with his wife, his sons, his daughters, 
 his men servants and his maid servants, the homage which was 
 His due. It was only when by gradual increase men had infinitely 
 multiplied, that different families dwelt near each other, and then 
 came the idea of offering to God a common adoration, and "public 
 worship had birth. But domestic worship had become too pre- 
 cious to the families of the children of God to be abandoned by 
 them, and if they imited with strange families in worshipping God, 
 how much stronger reasons had they for persisting in adoring Him 
 with their own families ? So, when leaving the cradle of the hu- 
 man race, we transport ourselves under the tents of the patri- 
 archs, we find there also this household worship. 
 
 Go with the angels to the plains of Mamre, when Abraham sits 
 at his tent-door in the heat of the day ; enter there with him and 
 we shall see the patriarch, with all his house, offering a common 
 sacrifice to God. " I know," said the Lord, speaking of the father 
 of the faithful, " I know that he will command his children, and 
 his house after him, to keep the way of the Lord, — to do that 
 which is just and right." Public worship is established by Moses ; 
 he gives many ordinances ; — a magnificent temple is to be raised. 
 Will not domestic worship now be abolished ? No ; by the side 
 of this temple, and all its magnificence, the meanest house of the 
 faithful is to be filled with the Word of God. " These words 
 which I command thee this day," said the Lord, by Moses, " shall 
 be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy 
 children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine 
 house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou 
 liest down, and Avhen thou risest up." Joshua, in our text, 
 declares to the people that they, if they will, may adore idols, 
 but that he will not mingle in their profane feasts, but with- 
 draw into his own dwelling, — he and his house will serve the Lord. 
 Job, rising early in the morning, sanctified his children, and offered 
 burnt offerings according to the number of them all, saying : " It 
 may be that ray sons have sinned !" David, whose whole life is 
 a continual adoration of God, and to whom a day passed in the 
 courts of the Lord was better than a thousand days elsewhere, 
 neglected not the domestic altar, when he exclaimed, " The things 
 that our fathers have told us we will not keep from our children." 
 Transporting ourselves to the times in which our Savioiir appeared, 
 we find domestic instruction in all the pious families of Israel. 
 It is thus St. Paul was enabled to say to Tnnothy : " From a child 
 thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee 
 wise unto salvation. I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith 
 that is in thee, which dwelt first m thy grandmother Lois, and thy 
 mother Eunice ; and I am persuaded that in thee also." Jesus, 
 during hia ministry, laid the foundations of domestic worship 
 among Christians, when he said : " Where two or three are 
 gathered together in my name, there will I be in the midst of 
 them." St. Paul recommends it by saying : " Rule well your 
 own houses, having your children in subjection with all gravity ; 
 speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 147 
 
 singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord ; giving 
 thanks always for all things mito God and the Father in the name 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." Yes, my brethren, if we jienetrate into 
 the humble dwellings of the early Christians, after having been 
 mider the tents of the patriarchs, we shall find there also, this 
 same family worship otTered to the Lord, Ave shall hear in the dis- 
 tance those songs, which may have revealed the existence of the 
 disciples of the Crucified to their persecntors, which they caused 
 to ascend with joy before the throne of their Saviour, because they 
 feared him rather than men; we shall see them gathered together 
 around these sacred books which they hide so carefully, lest they 
 fall into the hands of those who would destroy them. 
 
 An illustrious father of the Church, Clement of Alexandria, 
 about the commencement of the third century, recommends to 
 Christian wives to make common prayers and the reading of the 
 Bible their daily morning employment; then, he adds, "The 
 mother is the glory of her children, the wife is the gloiy of her 
 hu.sband; both are the glory of the wife, and God is the glory of 
 all." And another father, not less celebrated, TertuUian, gave, a 
 little while before, this admirable description of the domestic life 
 of a Christian pair : " What a union is that which exists between 
 two faithful ones, who have in common the same hope, the same 
 desire, the same manner of life, the same service of the Lord : 
 both as a brother and sister united according to the flesh, and 
 according to the spirit, cast themselves together on their knees; 
 they pray and fast together; they teach, they exhort, they mutu- 
 ally support each other with gentleness ; they are t\igether in 
 the church of God, at the table of the Lord ; they partake of pains, 
 of persecutions, of joys; the one hides nothing from the other, the 
 one avoids not the other ; they visit the sick, they succor the 
 needy ; psalms and hymns are heard resounding among them ; 
 they strive to see which shall sing most fervently in the heart to 
 God. Christ has joy in seeing and hearing these things, he sends 
 them his peace. There, where two like these are found, he is 
 found also; and where he is no evil comes." 
 
 Leaving the humble dwellings of the primitive Christians, it is 
 true that we find domestic worship becomi. g gradually rarer ; 
 but with splendor did it re-appear at the time of the Heformation. 
 And what an influence did it then exercise on the faith, the man- 
 ners, the intellectual development of these nations who return- 
 ed to primitive Christianity ! The period is not very distant ia 
 which it was found in all evangelical families. If" our fathers 
 have been deprived of its light, our grandfathers at least knew it. 
 It flourished especially in the evangelical provinces of this king- 
 dom, and we trust that numerous and precious fragments may yet 
 be found. 
 
 My brethren, such luis l)een in all ages a life of piety. Shall 
 we be such Christians or shall we nof .' Do we wish to invent 
 a new species of piety which shall agree very well with the 
 world, or do we wish to retain that wliich God has ordained .' 
 Beholding this worship, which passed from the tents of the patri- 
 
148 FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 archs into the dwelling of the first Christians, and at length estab- 
 lished itself in the households of our fathers, shall we not say, 
 " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord ?" 
 
 But, my brethren, if the love of God is in your heart, if you feel 
 that, being purchased by a great price, you ought to glorify 
 God in your iDody and spirits which are His, where will you de- 
 light to honor him, if not in your own family, in your own house ? 
 You love to unite with your brethren in rendering public homage 
 to Him in his temples : you love to pour out your hearts before 
 him in your closet. Shall it be only in the presence of the per- 
 son with whom he has associated your life, and of your children, 
 that you do not wish to be employed with God ? Will it be pre- 
 cisely there, that you will have no thanks to give ' Will it be pre- 
 cisely there, that you will not have some favors, some protec- 
 tion to implore ? You occupy yourself with everything in your 
 intercourse with them. Conversation turns upon a thousand differ- 
 ent objects ; cannot your tongue and your heart find a ^vord for 
 God .' Can you not lift up your voice in your family for Him who is 
 the true father of your family ; can yon not converse with your wife 
 and children of Him, who may one day be the only husband of 
 your Avife, the only father of your children ? The Gospel has pro- 
 duced a domestic society, w^hich did not exist before it and can- 
 not exist beyond it; it would seem then, that this society, full of 
 gratitude to the God of the Gospel, ought to be especially conse- 
 crated to Him; and above all, my brethren, such unions as fami- 
 lies, who call themselves Christians, who have even a respect 
 for religion, and where there is never a question raised concerning 
 God. What is the condition of immortal souls, who have been 
 united, who never ask themselves who has redeemed them, who 
 has united them, what is their destiny, their future, their end ? 
 What is the condition of those, who, seeking to aid each other in 
 everything else, never think of assisting each other in " the one 
 thing needful," of having a single conversation, of reading a single 
 line, of pronouncing one prayer, which has reference to eternal 
 interests ! Christian partners ! Is it then only in the flesh and for 
 time that you desire to be united ? Is it not in spirit and for eter- 
 nity .' Are you then beings who have met only by chance, and 
 whom a new chance, that of death, Avill soon separate ? Do 
 you not Avish to be united by God, in God, and for God.' Reli- 
 gion would unite your souls in immortal bonds ! But do not 
 reject them ; every day increase their strength by the devotions 
 of the domestic circle. Passengers, whom the same ship encloses, 
 discourse of the place whither they go ; and you, voyagers on 
 the same vessel towards an eternal world, can you not .speak of 
 that world, of the route which conducts you thither, of your 
 hopes, your fears ? " For many walk, of whom I have told you 
 often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies 
 of the cross of Christ," says St. Paul; " for our conversation is in 
 lieaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ." But if you ought for yourselves to be emjjioyed for God in 
 your dwellings, ought you not for those of your household, whose 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 149 
 
 souls have been entrusted to you, especially for your own chil- 
 dren ? You are much concerned for the prosperity, the temporal 
 happiness of your own ; but will not all this care cause your 
 negligence in regard to their eternal prosperity and happiness to 
 appear in the stronger light ? Your children are young trees which 
 have been confided to you ; your house is the nursery in which they 
 ought to grow; you are the gardener. Alas! would you plant 
 these young and precious shrubs in barren sand ? And yet this 
 is what does happen, if there is nothing in your house which 
 causes them to increase in the knowledge and love of their God 
 and Saviour. Will you not prepare a favorable soil, fit to give 
 them sap and life .' What will become of your children in 
 the midst of all the allurements which surround, and would 
 lead them to evil.' What will become of them in this restless 
 age, in which it is so necessary to strengthen the soul of a young 
 man by the fear of God, thus giving to the frail bark the requisite 
 ballast before launching it on the boundless ocean ? Parents ! 
 in whose families your children find the spirit of piety, take 
 pride, then, in adorning them with all manner of outward 
 gifts, in introducing them into the society of the world, in 
 granting all their whims, in allowing them to walk according to 
 their own desires, and you will see them vain, proud, idle, diso- 
 bedient, impertinent, extravagant ! They will treat you with con- 
 tempt ; and the more fond the indulgence you have bestowed, the 
 less will be the regard they will exercise towards you in return. 
 
 It is such conduct as this, which is too often seen : but ask 
 yourselves if you are not responsible for their bad habits and 
 their wicked practices, and your conscience will reply that you 
 are ; that you eat of the bread of bitterness which you have your- 
 self prepared. May you learn from this, what has been your sin 
 in neglecting the means in your power for acting on their heart, 
 and may others be warned by your misfortune and educate their 
 children in the fear of the Lord! Nothing is more healthful for this 
 end than domestic piety. Public worship is often too vague, too 
 general, and not stifficiently interesting for children ; they kno^v 
 not how much of the worship in particular they are to take to 
 themselves. Lessons properly recited, if they are alone, ^vill per- 
 haps easily induce them to regard religion as a study similar to 
 that of foreign languages or of history. Example here as else- 
 where, and even more than elsewhere, will effect more than pre- 
 cept. It is not sufficient to teach them by means of elementary 
 books, that it is their duty to love God, but we must also show 
 them that we love him. If they see that no homage is paid to that 
 God of whom they are told, the best in.structions become useless ; 
 but by means of family worshij), these young plants will increase 
 as a tree jjlanted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his 
 fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not wither : your children 
 may quit the paternal roof; but they will recall in distant lands 
 the prayers offered under that roof, and those prayers will protect 
 them. If any one has children or nephews, let them learn first to 
 show piety at home, says the Scripture. But if any provide not 
 
150 FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he'hath de- 
 nied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 
 
 What gentleness, Avhat peace, wliat true felicity, will not a 
 Christian family lind in the establishment in its midst of the do- 
 mestic altar, and uniting together in sacrificing to the Lord ! It is 
 the employment of the angels in heaven ; and blessed are they 
 who anticipate these pure and immortal joys ! " Behold how 
 good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
 unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran 
 down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard ; that went down to the 
 skirts of his garment : for these the Lord commanded the bless- 
 ing, even life evermore." Oh, what kindness, Avhat new life, 
 piety spreads throughout a family ! In a house where God is for- 
 gotten, there is harshness, ill humor, ennui. Without the know- 
 ledge and the love of God, a family is but an aggregation of 
 individuals, having for each other more or less of natural affec- 
 tion ; but the true bond, the love of God our Father in Jesus Christ our 
 Lord, is wanting. Poets are full of beautiful descriptions of do- 
 mestic life ; but, alas ! the reality is often very different from their 
 pictures ! Sometiines this arises from want of confidence in the 
 providence of God, sometimes from the love of riches, sometimes 
 from a difference in characters, or an opposition in principles. 
 Oh ! what troubles, what miseries in the bosoms of families ! 
 Domestic piety will prevent all these evils; one can draw from it 
 a perfect confidence in the God who " feedeth the birds of the 
 air ;" we can draw from it a real love for all those with whom we 
 are called to live ; not an exacting, suspicious love, but a merciful 
 love, which excuses and forgives, like that of God himself; not 
 a proud love, but a love humble, and accompanied by a feeling of 
 its own faults, of its own misery ; not a changing love, but a love 
 as immutable as eternal charity. " A voice of singing, of triumph, 
 and of deliverance, resounds in the tabernacle of the just." 
 When the hour of trial comes, that hour which sounds sooner or 
 later, and oftener more than once in the dwellings of men, what 
 powerful consolation will domestic piety afford ! Where are trials 
 experienced, if not in the bosom of families .' Where then but in 
 the bosom of families ought the remedy for trials to be found ? 
 What grief is there in an afflicted family which has not this con- 
 solation ! The different persons who compose it, mutually 
 increase their sorrow. But if, on the otlier hand, the family loves 
 God — if it is accustomed to invoke in common the holy name of 
 God, from whom proceeds every trial, as well as every excellent 
 grace, how the bowed soul will be lifted up ! The remaining 
 members, the fragments of the family, gather together around the 
 table upon which is found the Book of God, that book in which 
 they read of the resurrection, of life, of immortality, in which 
 they find the certain pledges of the happiness of him who is no 
 longer of their number, of their own hope. The Lord is pleased 
 to send them in abundance the Comforter ; the spirit of glory and of 
 God rests upon them; an ineffable balm is poured into their wounds, 
 and spreads there great sweetness ; hence peace is communi- 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 151 
 
 cated from heart to heart. They taste in some moments of a joy 
 almost celestial. " When I walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death, I Avill fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy 
 rod and Thy stafl' shall comfort me. O Lord, thou hast brought 
 up my sold from the grave : For his anger endnreth but a mo- 
 ment ; in his favor is life ; Aveeping may endure for a night, but 
 joy Cometh in the morning." 
 
 Who can tell, my brethren, what an influence domestic piety 
 may exert over the whole face of society .' What encouragements 
 to this duty cannot all find therein, from the highest officer of state 
 to the most humble artizan ! If all Avould accustom themselves 
 to walk in this way, not only in the sight of man, but in the eye 
 of God, how would each one learn from it to be content in the 
 station in which he is placed ! Good habits would be formed ; 
 the powerful voice of conscience would be strengthened; pru- 
 dence, decorum, talents, the social virtues would develope them- 
 selves with a strength altogether new. Behold what we may ex- 
 pect for ourselves and for society ; "righteousness has the pro- 
 mise of the life which now is, and of the life which is to come." 
 
 DIRECTIONS. 
 
 If you would profit by all the benefits of family worship, what 
 ought you to do ? It remains for us, my brethren, to give you 
 some directions on this subject. 
 
 And first, as far as it. is possible, these exercises of domestic 
 piety should not be destitute of the lipirit, of truth and of life ; they 
 should not consist merely in reading certain books, or in reciting 
 certain formulas in which the heart has no share. A total ab- 
 sence of domestic piety would perhaps be better than such 
 mockery. These dead forms are too often found in families. 
 But in this age, when the Church is everywhere striving to arise 
 from her ruins, and Avhen the wind, of which Ezekiel speaks, is 
 everywhere breathing upon the dry bones, that they may have 
 life, it is necessary that we should return to domestic worship, 
 and should revive it, not in its perishing and dead state, but in a 
 state of strength and life. What shall we do to effect this pur- 
 pose ? Let us engage in the offices of domestic piety ; not so 
 much as a pious work which we ought to fulfill, for there we may 
 fall over the stumbling-block we have noticed, or into pride ; but 
 let us rather engage in them as poor creatures, who would Iiave 
 better riches ; as those who hunger and would have nourish- 
 ment for that which is the noblest part of them. Perform it as a 
 duty, if you Avill, but the rather as through necessity. The little 
 child knows very well how to ask for a morsel of bread, or even 
 for milk of its mother ; .shall we not know how to ask of God for 
 his spiritual and pure milk ? " Blessed are ^they who hunger 
 and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." 
 
 A second rule that we would give you, my brethren, is this, 
 that yon shoidd not attach yourselves (too exclusively, too ser- 
 vilely, to some particular form. Establish, in the first place, such 
 a worship as is suited to your own wants, and to those of your 
 
152 FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 household ; entire freedom : one day perhaps in this manner, 
 another day in that ; sometimes long — another time short. Per- 
 haps it would be best that this exercise should not at first em- 
 brace all the individuals of the house, but should take place in a 
 narrower and more familiar circle ; in this way you would secure 
 greater facility and edification. Follow these different impulses ; 
 the principal thing is, that God be not forgotten under your do- 
 mestic roof. " Keep yourselves firm in the liberty wherewith 
 Christ has made you free, and submit no longer to the yoke of 
 bondage." But with Avhat, then, ought the moments devoted to 
 God, to be occupied ? 
 
 In the first place, and as it is very natural, the reading of the ivord 
 of God ; occasionally, perhaps, that of other Christian works. In 
 how many families has this admirable book, this book of the 
 nations, been in all ages, and still continues to be, the most pre- 
 cious treasure ! In how many dwellings has the Holy Bible diffus- 
 ed righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and siibmission 
 to every authority constituted of God. The different books compos- 
 ing the Bible, are almost every one of a different kind ; it would 
 be difficult to enclose a greater variety in the same volume, yet 
 everywhere partaking of the same spirit of God. This circum- 
 stance renders it singularly fit for the notirishment of familiesj; 
 and thence it happens, that so many poor and obscure families 
 among Protestant nations, with this book in their hands, so readi- 
 ly outstrip all others, and are brought by it not only into the pos 
 session of eternal life, but still more to a remarkable development 
 of intelligence. The child, the old man, the woman, the man, 
 find alike in it, that which interests and raises them to God. There 
 is something in it suited to every situation in life. What abun- 
 dant consolations may not all agitated and afflicted but faithful 
 souls, draw from the psalms of the Prophet-king ! It is conve- 
 nient to read an entire book in course, but it is not necessary to 
 follow the order in which the different books are found arranged 
 in the holy Volume. On the contrary, it would perhaps be better 
 to pass from the New Testament to the Old, from the Old to the 
 New; from one of the Gospels, for example, to one of the Pro- 
 phecies (how sublime is that of Isaiah, and how he reaches the 
 depths of the soul !), from the Prophets to the Epistles of the 
 Apostles, and then to one of the historical books of the Old Tes- 
 tament. It is desirable that the reader should make some applica- 
 tion of that which he reads. You know how to speak of other 
 things which you have read ; here alone, shall sentiments and 
 words fail you .' Can you find nothing in it which is applicable 
 to the state of your heart, to the situation of your family, to the 
 character of one of your children ? Always read this Book, not 
 as a history of past time, but as a word written for you, addressed 
 now to you; you will ever find in it something to benefit you. 
 If, however, nothing is given you, be satisfied with asking the 
 Holy Spirit to cause His word to bear in the heart, those fruits 
 which he has promised. " For, as the rain cometh down and the 
 snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 168 
 
 earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to 
 the sower and bread to the eater ; so sliall my word be that goeth 
 forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it 
 shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the 
 thing Avhereto I have sent it." 
 
 A second act of worship should be extemporaneous prayer. There 
 are doubtless good written prayers; but would you not know 
 how to pray yourself with a loud voice ? You know very well 
 how to speak to a friend. Why would you not know how to speak 
 to God .' It is so easy to approach Him wli«n one draws near in 
 the name of Christ crucified ! " Thou art God, very easy to be 
 entreated," said David. " He hears us," said he, " before we yet 
 speak." If you pray in a lew voice, would you not also be able 
 to pray aloud .' Be not so careful about your words : " prayer re- 
 quires more of the heart than of the tongue, more of faith than 
 of reason." How can the influence be other than salutary, when 
 the father or mother of a family, for example, prays aloud to God 
 in the presence of their children, entering into the details of their 
 faults before G^Dd, and asking for his assistance and his favor .' 
 And when is a family not in a position in which it is not called 
 upon to raise its prayer to God for deliverance, for succor, for con- 
 solation .' " You shall seek me, and shall find me, after that you 
 have sought me with all your heart," is the promise of God. 
 
 A third act of worship, which, if it is practicable, ought to 
 make a part of domestic devotions, is singing. Man has now as- 
 sociated song with his labors, and above all v.'ith his pleasures ; 
 but to praise God is certainly its first appointment. It was to this 
 that the Prophet King consecrated it. Shall we not devote it to 
 the same .' If they sing so many secular songs in the household, 
 why can they not sing to the honor of God, who has created and 
 has saved us .' " Speaking unto each other in psalms, and hymns, 
 and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts 
 unto God." 
 
 But, does some one ask, ichat time shall we think thus on God, 
 and when shall we draw together towards him .' I reply, at the 
 time that you wish, the time which will best suit your conve- 
 nience, which will derange your affairs the least. Usually this is 
 in the evening ; perhaps, on account of the fatigues of the day, 
 it woi^ld be better in the morning, or rather both morning and 
 evening. After you have taken your morning meal, or even 
 while taking it, could you not consecrate the time that is usually 
 employed in silence, or in useless trifling, to reading or hearing 
 read some words which would lift up your thought to God .' I 
 am about to commence the day by the first function of animal ex- 
 istence ; but thou, my soul, a spiritual and immortal existence, 
 wilt thou do nothing, wilt thou receive nothing now ? I am about 
 to nourish my body with that which God has created ; but thou, 
 my soul, awaken thyself and be fed by the Creator ! Oh Lord, 
 thou art my portion for ever ! Oh God, thou art my strong (iod ! 
 in the morning I will seek thee ! What a blessing, my brethren, 
 would such a commencement shed over the whole dav, and to 
 7* 
 
154 
 
 FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 what happy dispositions would it dispose us ! And to you, Chris- 
 tian parents, 'the evening of the Sabbath, that time which the 
 children of irreligious parents devote to dissipation, ought to be 
 especially precious and sacred. Instruct then your children in 
 the way of the Lord, and your instruction at this moment will be 
 more especially blessed, if they see that you are truly serious in 
 the work in which you are engaged. 
 
 To all this, my brethren, add the main thing, — a life in agree- 
 ment with the sanctity of the worship which you offer to God. 
 Be not different men Jpefore the altar of God, and in the world, but 
 be ever and everywhere the same. Let your conduct throughout 
 the day he a living commentary on what you have read, heard, 
 or spoken, in the hour of devotion. Put in practice the Word, and 
 benothearersonly, — deceivingyourselves with vain words, — for the 
 sacrifice of fools is abomination in the sight of God, but he is 
 well-pleased with the entreaties of the righteous. Such is domestic 
 worship. We have reminded you, my dear hearers, of the 
 motives which ought to hasten its establishment in your families, 
 and we solicit all, but particularly the married, the fathers and 
 mothers, to put their hands to the plough. 
 
 But do you exclaim, "this would be so strange a thing?" 
 What, my brethren ? is it not still more strange, that a family, pro- 
 fessing Christianity, — professing to have a firm hope for eternity, 
 should advance towards that eternity without manifesting in its 
 midst any sign of this hope, any preparation, any conversation, — 
 perhaps, alas ! without even a thought on these things ? Oh I 
 how strange is conduct like this ! 
 
 But, do you say again, " It is a thing of low repute, inglorious 
 in itself, and kindled with a thousand indignities ?" And who is 
 then the greatest ; — that father* of a family, in patriarchal days, 
 who was also a priest of God — who supported his own paternal 
 authority, and imparted to it a divine unction by bending his 
 knee, with his children, before his Father and their Father, or that 
 man of the world, in our day, whose mind is only occupied 
 with vain pursuits, who forgot his own and the eternal de.=tinies 
 of his children, ^whose house is without God? Oh! what a 
 reproach ! 
 
 But do you further object ? " Different ages, — different manners - 
 these things were well enough once ; but now everything is 
 changed !" It is just because everything is changed that we must 
 hasten to set up again the domestic altar in the bosom of families, 
 lest the Aveak bonds, which still preserve these families, should 
 be dissolved, — involving, in their ruin, both Church aird State. It 
 is not until after disease has spread with great violence that re- 
 medies become useless, and before despairing of a man's life, we 
 give him at least the most powerful preservatives. 
 
 You, Avho by the grace of God have with good resolutions, and 
 good dispositions, already made the attempt, do not be discourag- 
 ed ; make another trial still ; have recourse to God m prayer ; ask 
 Him to guide you, to sustain you, to make you united ; ask Jesus 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 155 
 
 to be with you, for where two or three are gathered together- in his 
 name, he will be in their 7nidst. 
 
 But, my brethren, before an altar can be raised to God in your 
 households, there must be one set up in your hearts ! And is it 
 found therein, my brethren? Oh ! if I could draw aside the veil; 
 if [ could now penetrate and read the hearts of those who listen 
 to me, what shoiild I behold ? Or rather, Lord ! what seest thou 
 in our hearts, thou for whom there is no veil, and before whom 
 all is naked and uncovered ? In your heart, my dear hearer, I 
 discover an altar raised to pleasure and worldliness ; upon it you 
 offer your morning sacrifice ; and the smoke of your evening 
 sacrifice ascends even throughout the night, filled with intoxica- 
 tion and stupefaction. In your heart, my dear hearer, I find an 
 altar to this world's goods, to riches, to mammon. In yours, my 
 dear hearer, I see an altar erected to yourself — you are your own 
 idol, wliich you exalt above everything else ; for whom you desire 
 all things, and at whose feet you would see the whole world pros- 
 trate itself! My brethren, is there an altar in your heart raised to 
 the living and true God .' Are you the temple of God, and dwelleth 
 the Spirit of God within you? So long as there is no altar erected 
 in your souls to God, there can be none in your families ; for what 
 participation has justice with iniquity ? • And what connection is 
 there between light and darkness .' What concord has Christ with 
 Belial .' And what agreement has the temple of God tvith idols ? 
 
 Be converted then in your hearts ! die unto the world, unto sin, 
 and above all, to yourselves, and live to God in Jesus Christ, our 
 Lord. Immortal souls, Christ has redeemed you at a great price ! 
 He has yielded up his life on the cross for you ; and know that 
 if one died for all, it was that they who live should no longer live 
 imto themselves, but should live in newness of life unto Him, who 
 died and rose again. Depart, therefore, from idols, and touch not 
 any vile thing, and I will receive you, and I will be to you a 
 father, and you shall be to me for sons and for daughters, saith 
 the Lord God Almighty. 
 
 Oh ! my brethren, happy isthat family which has embraced that 
 God, who has said : " I will dwell in the midst of you, and will 
 walk with you, and ye shall be unto me for sons and for daugh- 
 ters." Happy for time, happy for eternity ! How can you hope to 
 meet your children with Christ, in Heaven, if you do not seek 
 with them Christ, on earth .' How can you meet agaiu your family 
 on high, if you do not concern yourselves in your families below, 
 with the things whicli are above. But the Christian family who 
 have been united in Jesus, will be joined together around the 
 glories of Him, whom they have loved, not having seen. It will 
 but exchange its mean and perishable tabernacle for the immense 
 and eternal mansion of God. Instead of an humble family of the 
 earth, united by the same bonds with all the families in the Hea- 
 vens, it will have become one glorious family which no man can 
 number. She, with the hundred and forty-four thousand, will en- 
 compass the throne of God, saying, as she said upon earth, but 
 with joy, and with glory : <' Lord, thou art worthy to receive glory, 
 and honor, and power !" 
 
156 FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 Oh my brethren, if there is now a single father or mother, who 
 will resolve to assemble together around the Lord ! if there is but 
 one person not yet sustaining domestic relations, who has resolved, 
 w^hen he shall have formed them, to raise an altar to God in his 
 house, and in future years shall put his resolution into practice, 
 causing abundant blessings to descend on him and his ; then will 
 I render thanks to God for having spoken. Oh my dear hearers ! 
 may the Lord so have touched your soul, that you will now ex- 
 claim : As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord .' amen. 
 
CHRISTIAI STUDIES: 
 
 FRAGMENTS GATHERED FROM A COURSE OF PRACTICAL THEOLOGY. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY M. M. BACKUS. 
 
•' Viderint theologi, ne si solitis vel quibuslibet viis immaneant . , ." . , 
 quod omitti non possit sine damno, a negotio eorum, qui a nobis institu- 
 endi sunt, mal^ secludant, vel ad iniquam exiguitatem condemnent.'' — 
 C. J. NiTzscH, Observat. ad Theologi. Practic. 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 FROM THE " EVANGELICAL GAZETTE"— FIRST PUBLISHED 
 
 IN 1833. 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 In nothing has there been a greater variety than in the ideas which 
 have obtained on faith, — and as there is something of truth in all 
 that has been said on this subject, it seems to be the cause of in- 
 terminable disputes. One considers it only in its principle, ano- 
 ther looks merely at its efiects. Yet another believes the same 
 elements of invariable and infallible tru.^t to be divided between 
 them ; — St. James and St. Paul do not seem to have been at all 
 understood. It has happened now according to the saying of 
 Paul writing to the Corinthians, that men have sought out many in- 
 ventions and have " ten thousand masters in Christ" — notwithstand- 
 ing, the unity of faith is not a chimera, lliere is one faith, as there 
 is one only salvation of which it is the object, and only one Lord 
 who imparts it. — What means have we for reconciling all this ^ 
 In our opinion the following: — 
 
 It is necessary simply to put each jiart in its own place. Do 
 not let us invert the natural order of divine operations ; let us not 
 place the end before the beginning, the effect before the cause, 
 the fruit before the plant by which it is borne, nor the plant itself 
 before the root from which it is to germinate — (Rom. xi.l8.) Let 
 us have respect unto the Word, and its divine pages will reveal all, 
 explain all, and satisfy every reasonable curiosity. 
 
 At the first enunciation of the term faith there arises before the 
 mental vision an iniique and complete picture of that light which 
 a knowledge of evangelical doctrines bestoAvs on man, as well as 
 of the convictions which the proof of that trust engenders in the 
 mind, and of the sentiments which that species of conviction 
 awakens in the soul, and which are its inseparable companions — 
 a picture, in fine, of the deeds to which faith stimulates us; of 
 the fervor it imparts to the will, of the life it communicates to our 
 zeal, and of the constancy it confers on the obedience of the 
 Christian. It is, in a word, the entire life of the believer. We can 
 dignify with the title of true faith, only that complete outline of zeal 
 and efficient Christianity which alone was that of the primitive dis- 
 ciples of Jesus, and that which alone has never belied the excel- 
 
160 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 lence of its origin. Is this demonstrable ? Beyond all question ; 
 the Scriptures are rigorously definite upon this point, and reject 
 without mercy every phantom of faith, all empty appearance, all 
 purely nominal profession, and all unfruitful pretensions to its gifts. 
 
 As a consequence of this, all treatises, religious systems, and 
 nicely adjusted catechisms, give themselves ample latitiide on the 
 subject. It has not been deemed sufficient to define faith as a stiong 
 belief, it has become necessary to reclothe it in numberless new 
 characters, by which it should acquire cleanness, depth, fervor, 
 efficacy and life. 
 
 What has been the consequence .' They have mingled with it 
 some show of faith, yet so little, that it is impossible to offer it as 
 a resource to those who are destitute and ready to perish; they 
 have made it a by-path to those who have neither the time nor in- 
 clination to travel the long and difficult road of obedience. 
 
 How can one be saved by it ? I dare not say he is sure that 
 he possesses it ; no one would be so rash as to testify of himself 
 that he haM really acquired it, so full is it of forms and of condi- 
 tions ; it would be necessary to any degree of assiu'ance in the 
 matter, to have first obtained perfection itself, to have become a 
 sainted disciple, and who dare to give himself out for such ? Hu- 
 mility seems to forbid it, till at length it has become a point of 
 modesty among Christians, an element of security as 1 have al- 
 ready said, that strong assurance, that one cannot know positively 
 that he possesses faith. 
 
 Was this the primitive design — the end of the preaching of faith, 
 which should conduct by a certain way, which the law had failed 
 to attain .' Who could justify the circumcision by faith, and the un- 
 circumcision also by faith ? I dare to make the assertion, — no one ; 
 and I add, moreover, that men have completely lost sight of the 
 primitive types of that faith and its most striking examples — that 
 faith which our Saviour dignified with the title, and commended, 
 with the highest praises, seeming, at the first blush, to expect 
 nothing else. Faith, such as duties and human works have made 
 and described it, is no longer that which was conspicuous in the 
 Canaanite woman, who said, " if I may but touch his garment I 
 shall be whole," or the centurion of Capernaum, who said, " but 
 speak the word only and thy servant shall be healed ;" and which 
 then animated so many simple minds, destitute of all that is now 
 supposed of such essential importance to true believers. 
 
 Without misapprehending, therefore, the effects and tendencies 
 of faith, — all the developments it can receive or furnish, and all 
 the riches which it is able to disclose, and the entrance to the 
 possession of which it opens to its votaries, it concerns us, in my 
 judgment, to have recourse to some very simjile idea — the very 
 commencement of the way, in fact, — for it is but one, — namely, 
 the way of God. It is not an end to reach, but a road, a route, a 
 path to follow. From the moment that the foot is truly planted in 
 it, the believer has but to take one step, and he is in the faith 
 which he has begun to exercise. 
 
 Faith is defined by the Apostle Paul, just as we define senti- 
 ments, by its results, rather than by its essence. Faith, accord- 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 161 
 
 ing to him (Heb. xi. 1), is, to him who possesses it such, that 
 he ahead y has to a certain degree the good that it promises ; and 
 its subject hves always in the presence of" God and eternal reaU- 
 ties, and is no longer under the influence of sensible objects. 
 
 But what is it, we would ask here, what is this principle, the 
 effect of which is so powerful as to give a reahty to things as yet 
 invisible ? What is faith in its foundation — in its first act ? 
 
 Faith, in its first elementary act, is belief; the taking, the lay- 
 ing hold of the soul upon the Word of God. If the truth of God 
 is iinparted by instruction, then faith receives it in the Word 
 which contains it — it seizes, apprehends, and comprehends this 
 hving seed. If the truth gf God assumes form in facts and 
 promises, then faith accepts and embraces them, not in a pas- 
 sive manner, which would be dead and indifferent, but in an 
 active manner ; it fastens itself to them, it attaches itself to them, 
 it submits to their influence, and adopts whatever consequences 
 they may lead to. If this truth is a commandment, faith becomes 
 an obedience — called the obedience of faith ; if it be a doctrine, 
 then faith becomes a profession : " obey the doctrine," says St. 
 Paul; " obey the truth through the spirit," says St. Peter (Rom. 
 vi. 17. ; 1 Peter i. 22). 
 
 Faith thus receiving this truth of God, communicates through 
 it to man a knowledge of divine things. It is the illumination 
 of which the Evangelist speaks (John i. 7. ; 2 Cor. iv. 6. ; Eph. i. 
 18). — But it gives something more than light and knowledge, it 
 affects the whole man. Like the sun, which at once imparts 
 both life and heat, it is also a resuscitator as well as light to the 
 soul that feels its influence. Like the fire which purifieth all 
 things, it purifies the heart, — " God has purified the hearts of the 
 Gentiles through faith" (Acts xv. 9). It is the introduction of a 
 new principle, which renovates the entire man. 
 
 Faith, if we may so speak, takes God at his word — receives 
 the truth instantaneously, and lays hold on eternal life the moment 
 it is offered (1 Tim. vi. 12). 
 
 Thus conceived, it is unique, and the same throughout the 
 whole extent of the Bible. The faith of the elders (" for by it 
 the elders obtained a good report," Heb. xi. 2) is only that of the 
 New Testament. To the one as to the other, to the first equally 
 with the last, it is an overture, an entrance of the divine principle 
 into the soul, which has operated everywhere uniformly Avhen 
 it has operated unto salvation. It is a hold which God has had 
 upon every species of sou), whatever may have been its dispo- 
 sition. It is a handle by which to rescue them from the seduc- 
 tions of the world, and the engrossing cares of life. By this the 
 Lord, who knoweth them that are his, chooses them/;-o??2 the world, 
 that he may keep them from tlie evil thereof God has done it all 
 through faith; by its influence only does he operate on man, and 
 througli man, as there is nothing accomplished in the world but 
 by his sovereign power. And as the influence of God upon men 
 is attributed to men themselves, according to appearances, the 
 men (of God) have done it all through faith, and through it3 
 
162 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 influence alone. Here, then, is the secret of the eleventh chapter 
 of Hebrews, otherwise inexplicable; but thus comprehended, 
 it becomes the key of the Scriptures, the chain of revelations, 
 the summary of divine dispensations. 
 
 Beautiful unity of faith ! Misunderstood by the world, and by 
 philosophy 1 " They are all dead in faith." 
 
 For its operation in all time, notwithstanding the diversity of 
 eras, and upon every species of person, of character, of qualities, 
 and of different forms, God has given but one way, simple and in- 
 dependent of these varied accidents. Otherwise, that which has 
 happened to one, would not have happened to another; and the 
 same salvation Avould have been applicable only to men placed 
 in analogous situations, or assimilated by a common education. 
 But no ! the faith of Abel is the faith which is yet preached in the 
 Church as in an eternal school ; the faith of Jairus, the leader of a 
 synagogue, that of the Syro-Pha?nician, who came from without, 
 and that of the Roman centurion, although a Gentile, are not dif- 
 ferent in capacity or object ; for all lay hold on a truth which 
 penetrates them, a reality which strikes them, a promise which 
 wins, rejoices, and consoles them, a succor "which relieves, and 
 a divine power which, for them, clothes Nature with a new 
 aspect, and all attain their end on the very spot where they stand : 
 so that the chain of true disciples is continued uninterrupted to 
 the end of time ; so that He, who should be most stringent in the 
 act or form of faith, inasmuch as he cannot misapprehend it, and 
 cannot be imposed on, ajjproves, commands, and testifies of them. 
 " Be it unto you according to your faith." " I have not found so 
 great faith, no not in Israel." Who, then, shall dare to say that 
 this is not faith in its simplest, clearest, and most powerful form ? 
 when the Master himself has said that this is the virtue of faith, 
 and that at bottom it is nothing else. It refers beforehand to Him 
 future ; subsequently to Him present ; and once absent from the 
 earth, it refers to Him past and to come, with entire submission. 
 " Whom having not seen ye love ; in whom, though now ye see 
 him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full 
 of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation ^of 
 your souls." 
 
 On the other hand, the regenerative power of Christ acts wholly 
 spiritually — every one receives the simplest definition of faith in 
 regard to worldly matters, Avhy not then in spiritual .' It is justi- 
 fying righteousness which becomes its object; it is not a mere 
 healing of the body, but a blessing shed on the entire soul of 
 man. " We believe from the heart to obtain righteousness," says 
 St. Paul ; " for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from 
 faith to faith, and reigns in all, and over all who believe." Who, 
 then, will refuse to believe it in this its fullest, richest, and most 
 obvious meaning .' 
 
 The unity of faith thus apprehended is admirably perfect, be- 
 ca.use it is a unity in every sense — an historical unity — a unity of 
 cause and effect. We can truly say of it, here is one faith. We 
 can thus speak of it independently of time and circumstance, in- 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 163 
 
 cident to different ages. There has been a j)rogress in all other 
 things, but none in faith, or rather there is a progress in the faith 
 of every believer, an onward progress from " strength to 
 strength ;" but there never can be any increase in the nature or 
 essence of faith, for God is unchangeable. Man goes on to per- 
 fection ; he believes ; he goes on from faith to faith (if indeed he 
 has commenced this divine life): but faith never changes from 
 century to century — never becomes other than that it always has 
 been. Abraham will always be the type, the model ; and those 
 who have the faith of Abraham, are and ever will be his chil- 
 dren. 
 
 He whom God has called, like Abraham, will obey ; lie to 
 whom Christ has said, as to Levi, " follow me," will also walk 
 in his footsteps. Every Christian feels the force of the Centuri- 
 on's words and faith — " I say luito this man go, and he goeth ; to 
 another do this, and he doeth it." It is thus God would have us 
 believe and live ; and this faith, so simple, childlike, and yet in- 
 stantaneous, is supported by that cloud of witnesses who have 
 already attained to its full fruition — " of Moses who left Egypt, 
 not fearing the anger of the king, of Gideon, of Barak, of Sam- 
 son, &.C. It is the faith of the learned Nicodemus, of the just 
 man, Joseph of Arimathea, of Zaccheus the publican, and of the 
 simple-hearted Mary. All else is only opposition, doubt, blind 
 groping, or vain pretension, false and faithless. All who have 
 ever believed, " the multitude of those who have believed" (Acts ii. 42), 
 all continuing faithful in the doctrine of the Apostles, will ever 
 be a cloud of witnesses to show what kind of faith we should 
 exercise. 
 
 We seem to have taken at least one important step in our day 
 towards the truth — that of valuing useful knowledge above every 
 other consideration. It is but a few years since evangelical 
 truth was refused, because unsupported by mathematical demon- 
 stration ; and failing to see all that appertained to faith, of prompt 
 discernment and confident profession, reduced to the form of an 
 equation, they have pronounced it a string of abstruse definitions, 
 vain, incorrect fables, powerless to persuade. Let us be thankful 
 that we do not now live under the influence of these ill founded 
 prejudices — this superficial judgment. No ! faith is the instru- 
 ment by which God saves man, and man may lay hold on God ; 
 it is the channel, the medium of communication between the visi- 
 ble and invisible, the natural and supernatural, the human 'and 
 divine; faith, as an immediate and transcendent faculty, shall go 
 on conquering and to conquer, till it shall be received by all who 
 are truly wise, as that alone embodies the highest elements of 
 reason. 
 
 It is necessary to commence here, since our concern is with an 
 instrumental faculty, or rather with all our faculties taken together. 
 To say that religion should enlighten man, that it should be his 
 guide, is only saying that he should be guided by reason, for rea- 
 
164 CHRISTIAN STUDIES, 
 
 son properly is the entire mental part of man, the means by which 
 he acquires all knowledge. But if, in place of the vague term reli- 
 gion, we substitute that of Christianity, the Gospel, and if the 
 Gospel preaches, recommends, inspires faith, as a primary means, 
 if Christianity is a religion of faith, our theme then is enlightened 
 and guided by faith, -which thus becomes its master and school- 
 master, whose science, object, and study are the Gospel. 
 
 Speaking thus, we assxu'edly do not wrong reason — it is ■without 
 dispute the master faculty of man ; his head or rather his eye, 
 placed as a sentinel on the height of this moving tower, to watch 
 the dangers which threaten him, and avoid the snares which sur- 
 round him. It serves both as a light and sentinel while the night 
 lasts, and even wlien the day breaks, it is a day which only makes 
 clearer those objects it faintly observed — the first rays which 
 bring the pure light. It receives and profits by them, and only 
 gains knowledge through them. This comparison involves the 
 principle of an irrefragable demonstration. 
 
 In the mmistry of the reconciliation of the Gospel, it is to the rea- 
 son of man that all appeals are made. But for this it is first necessary 
 to form an accurate estimate of its capacity. To the rightful ex- 
 ercise of its privileges, we must not exaggerate or abuse them, 
 much less turn against God the sovereign reason (otherwise called 
 the WORD, 'Xoyoi) he has given us to submit to him. How can he 
 ■who has never humbled himself before God, nor surrendered the 
 weapons of his unrighteous warfare, lead others " to the way of 
 peace" by the path of reconciliation ? To such a spiritual guide 
 St. Paul says in vain, " Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil 
 (or the rebellious spirit), and he will flee from you." 
 
 How can he triumph over rebellious men " who obey not the 
 truth," who remains himself a rebel and gainsayer of the Gos- 
 pel of the grace of God ? Hoav can he lead captive souls to Christ, 
 who has not first given himself to him .' How can he spread in 
 the world this victory which is our faith, whose weapons are yet 
 carnal, and who fights not with the sword of the Spirit, but with 
 vain reasonings (James i. 22). Now this is the case of a large 
 number of divines or spiritual guides, who cherish the most false 
 ideas both with regard to their own reason and that of those to 
 whom it is their duty to speak of the things of God. If there be a 
 subject on which they are in error, it is certainly this of reason. 
 After all that has been given us for the exercise of reason in mat- 
 ters of faith, how is it yet misapprehended .' 
 
 Do not think that we have come before you to declaim against 
 one of the holiest prerogatives of men. No — let us rather deter- 
 mine its true province, and thus assured, facilitate and perfect its 
 highest aim. You say that it is reason which distinguishes us 
 from brutes ; we will place it still higher. Bv;t we add, that it 
 places us far below men, if it does not raise us to God himself, 
 and receive the impress of his divine Spirit; for alone and de- 
 pendent on itself, it can only lead us in blind paths, precipitate us 
 in the most frightful errors, down hideous precipices, while the 
 brutes, imable to pass beyond certain limits, have consequently a 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 165 
 
 fixed, imperfectible, determinate nature, which never deceives 
 them. 
 
 Reason is the eye of the soul, and not its torch. For the eye is 
 not the hght : it is merely the organ by which light enters — an 
 organ to the body is as a faculty to the soul. 
 
 There is, however, a light. It shines forth from the Gospel, not 
 vague and indefinite, but positive, determined — even personified. 
 (See John i. 8.) Somuch the more efficacious is that light. "The 
 hght manifests all things. All hidden things are made manifest 
 by the light. Has any one regarded it .' We are all enlightened 
 by it. In thy light we see light. I am the light of the world, of all 
 men who come into the world." (Who shall except himself from 
 this rule .') Purify yourselves, that you may also become lights. 
 Formerly you were darkness, now ye are the lights of the Lord. 
 Such is the theory of faith. It is entirely i^hilosophical. 
 
 That this light may be effective, it must be received, admitted, 
 till it penetrate the eye of the soul — its organ of vision, of 
 intuition ; that so it .shall reach the depths of the soul, its most 
 secret sanctuaiy. With the best eyes, it is plain one can see no- 
 thing in a dark room. At midday it will be night in a house 
 closely shut. It is not therefore the eye which makes light — but 
 is made light. Or if we say it enlightens in its turn, we do not 
 speak correctly. Material light is that which enables man to see 
 and to read — it is a .space, a medium between him and exterior 
 objects, by ■which he acquires the idea of their existence — their 
 presence or approach is revealed to him. Much more then is 
 this true of the divine light. It reveals, it demonstrates, it opens, 
 it instructs ; and here we come back to the definition of faith: 
 " the evidence of things not seen." Thus Christ, Light of the soul, 
 Reason even of reason, wishes to be received. It is upon those 
 who have received him that he has conferred this right of divine 
 adoption. |This is the cause^of condemnation and also of error, that 
 " the darkness received not the light," as there would be an end- 
 less night to the world if the sun never rose upon it, or if an im- 
 penetrable cloud hung over it which intercepted its rays. These 
 are no metaphors — they are realities — ideas almost mathemati- 
 cally true. 
 
 Light has only to appear, and shine upon the organ to which is 
 appropriated and given. It is its own demonstration. It does 
 not prove its own existence, it simply offers itself to the eye, and 
 seeing is evidence sufficiently strong — like the definition of the 
 word evidence — that which is so plain and stands forth so boldly 
 that it cannot be proved. The internal evidence of the Bible, 
 therefore, particularly of the gospel, is more powerful to con- 
 vince the soul than the whole assemblage of external evidence. 
 If a light is held before me, do I need one to tell me it is a candle .' 
 I see it: it shines upon me. Thus the evidence, the illumination 
 of the truth of Christ is brighter, and goes farther than all these 
 proofs, which should, say they, precede it. By this short, rapid, 
 and perfect way is a system of faith formed, so clear that one 
 would only become confused who should endeavor to simplify it. 
 
166 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 Thus we see how one may commence the study of the Word of 
 faith with a preconceived opinion This disposition toward faith 
 will assist, mucli more will it lead farther, than the system of phi- 
 losophical doubt many have instituted in the research of truth. 
 It will be one thing to reason along with faith, or to look wnth an 
 eye which sees perspicuously ; and quite another to search for 
 the reasons of faith with a reason which sets out with refusing 10 
 believe. 
 
 Thus apprehended, the words of Christ are easily understood. 
 It is a clear light itself, or which promises to become one, as the 
 Saviour has said : " The eye is the light of the body ; if therefore 
 thine eye be light, thy whole body shall be full of light." These 
 words contain the most valuable information. How can one see 
 clearly with diseased eyes .' How can one make a right use of a 
 perverted faculty .' How dare one pretend to be enlightened or 
 judge of His Word, which judges not only himself, but the thoughts 
 and intentions of the heart ? Would it not be better first to heal his 
 diseased organ, to recover his reason .' And in order to recover 
 his reason, should he not, like the staggering invalid, learn to walk 
 step by step, foot by foot, or rather after the infallible guide which 
 is given him .' 
 
 From that time, the character, the design, the capacity of rea- 
 son is marked. We say in two words, that one should become 
 scholar and not master, should learn to be reasonable, not a rea- 
 soner. It is said of the true wisdom, that it comethfrom above, and 
 that it is not cavilling. Yet it is, without doubt, right that one 
 should be able to judge for himself, to defend himself, as is recom- 
 mended in the Holy Scriptures. " Are you that are Avithout able 
 to judge of the least things .'" " Judge yourselves, whether it is 
 right before God to obey you rather than God." But, at the same 
 time, take heed how you judge. "Judge not according to appear- 
 ance, but judge righteous judgment." " Prove the spirits." " Exa- 
 mine all things." " Inquire carefully what is the will of the Lord." 
 " I speak as to ivise men ; judge ye what I say." 
 
 And here let us rectify a common prejudice. Vain is that ap- 
 plication which is used without distinctness, according to the ap- 
 parent sense of these last words. It concerns a sincere Christian 
 here, to be assured of his faith and of his doubts in this true 
 light. Faith is this wisdom, which St. Paul calls spiritual, as given 
 by the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Christ. It testifies of 
 believers that they are happy ; they are enriched ; it asks yet 
 more for them with the most fervent prayers. The proof that this 
 intelligence is nothing else than faith, is, that Jesus called his dis- 
 ciples a long time men ivithout knowledge, and these ^vords are 
 equivalent to men of little faith. He explains this thought by add- 
 ing, " Slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have said " 
 (Luke xxiv. 25). It was this, consequently, which deprived them 
 of a higher degree of knowledge, of discernment concerning the 
 most important, simple, and obvious truths. The absence of this 
 principle of light held their mhids in total darkness, as we speak 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 167 
 
 of those whom Christ has not eiihghtened by his Sphit, or who 
 have turned back after receiving a knowledge of the trutli. 
 
 Let us inquire what St. Paul means when he speaks of the 
 natural man (1 Cor. ii.) It is not the purely natural mau of which 
 the other writers of the Scriptures si^es-k, ahruti ; it is the man 
 with his soul, as he actually exists, avOpw-Koq ipvxKog, even the psy- 
 chology of the sovil. How few are they who give it any atten- 
 tion ! And yet this natural man comprehends not the things of 
 the Spirit of God, because they are spirilually discerned, ilvzvfia- 
 riKCjg (spiritually) expresses a .species of spirituality widely differ- 
 ent from intelligence. Speaking according to the Word of God, 
 spiritual cannot mean intellcctital. One may, perhaps, be very in- 
 telligent, and yet have only a carnal understanding with regard to 
 divine things. Observe the particularity with which St. Paul 
 distinguishes the precept on Avhich this discernment rests. " Now 
 we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spiiit which 
 is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to 
 us of God." Let us mark carefully the words, when, in speaking 
 of the same things, he adds, " Which things also we speak, not 
 in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
 Ghost teacheth ; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." Thus 
 are the words of Christ made manifest, " his words are spirit and 
 life," that " flesh and blood hath not revealed these things ;" that 
 no one could discern, or teach, or comprehend them by his own 
 inteUigence ; and thus is the wisdom of God folly in the sight of 
 the world, and, in return, the wisdom of this world folly before 
 God. 
 
 Having named the doubt, we say that it is erroneous and fool- 
 ish to desire this unceasing discussion, without holding anything 
 as received or established, as if every man, entering into eternal 
 life, must tear down and rebuild the edifice Avhich lias furnished 
 him a sanctuary and a shelter. He might as well call in question 
 his own nature or the existence of his body ; — too happy if, like 
 Descartes, he can return from it to the simplest exercise of 
 thought. God protects his servants from this foolish distrust, 
 which is only a confidence in the works of their own hands. If 
 you can only believe in the God you have made for yourselves — that 
 you have consecrated, — which shall come out of the crucible of 
 your own weak imagination, if you cannot certify, publish, or 
 offer anything better to your contemporaries, you do not give them 
 much that is worthy their acceptance. How can you convict 
 them for your penury .' Proud in their own strength, which 
 after all is only a created power that destroys more than it 
 edifies, the men of our day, destitute of the erudition of the giants 
 of past ages, reject, with contempt, the traditions which, though 
 perhaps confused, are rich from centuries which are no more. Un- 
 grateful, they misapprehend their benefits, and yet make no pre- 
 paration to leave to succeeding generations the treasures they 
 have themselves amassed. 
 
 Truly this is strange folly and presumption to desire to i)rove 
 all things, and yetbeheve nothing — accept nothing with confidence. 
 
168 
 
 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 Try not to prove all things, you who desire salvation ! Be not 
 so foolish as to make everything depend on your proofs .' 
 
 Acknowledge intrinsic excellence without these— independent 
 and irrespective of these antique verities ; and do not offer your 
 proofs in comparison with the testimony of reiterated experience, 
 — of accumulated evidence, as if your happiness depended on 
 adding yet your testimony. Believe, therefore, and, above all 
 things, wear the air of belief, that Christianity may be able to live 
 and extend its roots ; that it may teach you it has need of nothing 
 else ; that, while it offers you a refuge, it asks nothing for itself in 
 return. Conseqviently, if you neglect this salvation, you shall be 
 the first punished, the first to complain, and all that you have 
 known, or desired, or deemed advantageous, you shall regard 
 lost, &c. Therefore, in place of this endless disputation, open, 
 rehearse, search, repeat divine things ; but the echo — the echo of 
 this misapprehended verity, understand it for yourselves — yea, 
 search to the very foundation. 
 
 Let not this century, already so vain of its acquisitions, behold 
 you in pain, in labor — destitute of the everlasting gospel, — of an 
 eternal Saviour. Let it see rather that you desire him for yourself, 
 and treat it as a criminal, as it will appear in the presence of its 
 judge, according to the words of our Lord : " Now cometh the judg- 
 ment of this u'orld,''' and with it that of reason also. 
 
 We sympathize, therefore, Avith the great apostle who had 
 attained the highest point of knowledge, and knew well how to 
 appreciate himian success. " We preach wisdom not of this 
 world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught — a 
 wisdom which none of the princes of this world knew, — a wisdom 
 among them that are perfect." 
 
 Among other strange mistakes incident to human reason is that 
 of taking the effect for the cause ; and vice versa — many who would 
 shrink back with horror from speaking of the grace of God, the will 
 of God, and His sovereign power as first and last cause of all 
 things, speak affectedly of nature, and personify it as it were, a 
 creator rather than a creature. It is Nature who has done this, 
 ■who has done that ! Because God moves in man, and by the ad- 
 mirable efficiency of his continued power ever sustains and directs 
 him, they have come at length to think it is man who acts for 
 himself, and who finds in himself his origin and design. The 
 first steps of salvation are revealed to him, and those things give 
 him all the merit of its acquisition. How can reason, strict and 
 severe, allow itself to forget the only hand which can guide un- 
 failingly, the only piercing eye that can foresee the issue, God who 
 worketk in us to ivi/l mid to do according to his own good pleasure ? Ah ! 
 this only shows too plainly that it has lost, even by the manner in 
 which it addresses itself to man, the means it uses for his conver- 
 tion. Instead of preaching, that is, of publishing, of proclaim- 
 ing that it is God who gives grace, Avho converts, who touches, 
 who strikes, who breaks, who subdues, who awakens, who ani- 
 mates, who changes, in short, who begins and ends his work, also 
 in a God who temporarily enriches and impoverishes, who abases 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 169 
 
 who exalts, who is the first and the last; it reduces to amass of 
 ruins the honor of belief, hoping itself to rise from the midst of 
 the ruins, and elevate itself upon them even to the highest heaven. 
 Because there is necessarily something human, terrestrial, mate- 
 rial in the Bible, since it is a book) and has a natural correspondent 
 action), they forget, they lose sight of its only object, namely, to 
 bring the soul in contact with the divine nature, only influencing, 
 only powerful in itself; that the grand design is to furnish a point 
 of meeting, of incidence, which once found regenerates the soul. 
 (A simple analysis of the Parable of the Sower will enable us to 
 comprehend this readily, and we may therefore return to it ) The 
 eyes, the hands, and the feet, are all necessary to the body, so, 
 wit, memory, the attention which compares, the judgment which 
 concludes, are necessary to the perfection of the mind. But after all, 
 what has it for its final end, if it be not to place the soul in com- 
 munication with this livehj or living word which regenerates, which 
 can save the soul, yet which can do it alone through the Eternal 
 Spirit, ever the same, who operates on the minds he has formed ! 
 
 Thus, therefore, speaking simply, giving heed and examining 
 the Word, without desiring to find one meaning rather than ano- 
 ther, without endeavoring to avoid anything — without adding or 
 subtracting therefrom, this is the right, sincere, and correct de- 
 sign of reason, equally with the pastor as with the simple believer, 
 and even he who does not possess this humble, docile spirit 
 (which Paul calls the same spirit of faith), as well as the first, will 
 be governed by it. For this spirit is not natural to man ; they have 
 it not who make the greatest pretensions ; they who really pos- 
 sess the largest share see their ignorance, it can with difficulty 
 enter a 2">roud heart. Christ himself is the Master Sovereign, 
 the Shepherd of the sheep, and manifests his willingness to impart 
 this spirit to those who desire it. " Learn of me, for I am meek 
 and lowly of heart ; according as it is written of me in the vo- 
 lume of the Word ; Lo ! I come to do thy will, God !" — It is 
 written .' comprehend it well ! and this is the substantial Word 
 which refers to the Scriptures ! What obedience of faith ! 
 What fidelity! What docility! Eternal, uncreated reason, the 
 Logos, who has only to s])eak of divine things, teach us therefore 
 to listen meekly while it is said — Hear ijc Him. 
 
 But what difference, after all, is there between our exposition of 
 the Scriptures, and that of those who explain it only by their rea- 
 son, since we both agree that reason is only the medium by which 
 we see the light placed on that candlestick, or the eye by which 
 we read it there .' 
 
 The eye sees undoubtedly in the Bible, as in any other book, 
 characters traced, and from them forms words and phrases, and as 
 the mind apprehends the meaning seizes finished or isolated 
 passages, otherwise limited and dependent on that which precedes 
 or follows. This is the nattiral process, and the same for all 
 works. But how different the result ! The disciple can never ex- 
 ceed his prescribed bounds, and God says to him as to the sea, 
 " Thus far shalt tuou go and no further." The mouth of the Lord hath 
 8 
 
170 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 spoken, Give ear, heavens, and keep silence, earth ; hearken, 
 my people, and I will speak. We have heard these marvels from 
 our fathers, and we will tell them to our children and to our chil- 
 dren's children, and generations yet to come shall praise the Lord. 
 Let us not shrink back because they are mysteries. This is the 
 mystery of God our Father and of Christ, and concerning the 
 things of Christ, these are they hidden from the foundation of the 
 World, but now revealed to those who believe : for " eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man 
 to conceive the things which God hath prepared for those that 
 love him." " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and 
 He will show them his covenant." Let us look at it in this light, 
 at all times. God speaks to man generally and to the individual 
 sold particularly, to give it to knoiv his designs and the riches of his 
 grace. It concerns us, therefore, man ! to read, to listen, to re- 
 ceive it ! 
 
 And what can be more reasonably simple than to enter and take 
 a seat, if you please, in the school of one Tyrannus (Acts xix.), 
 where Paul disputes Avith his disciples. What can be better added 
 to your faith, to make it reasonable, or even to transform 
 your reason into faith, than this sure foundation, not on the un- 
 certain, variable knowledge of man, but on the power of God — 
 than to rest on the foundation of the Apo.stles and Prophets, 
 Jesus Christ being the head stone of the corner ' This is spoken 
 concerning the word: but this word alway remains; for it is 
 written: " Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written 
 for our learning" (Rom. xv.41 — 1 Cor. x. ii.). While we read, there- 
 fore, and admit all that we find in agreement with the analogy of 
 faith, of an unchangeable faith, a faith more open, which existed 
 before it was thus called, our belief is confirmed by the testimony 
 of a great cloud of witnesses — all receiving the Bible with equal 
 respect, and comprehending it under the bright manifestation of 
 prayer. We certainly, therefore, are not degraded in receiving 
 truth, like these worthy fathers, since we are all baptized under 
 the same cloud, and receive of the same Spirit. 
 
 No ; the Gospel has nothing stable, nothing veritable, or else it 
 is really a charge — a good trust. " 0, Timothy, keep that which 
 is committed to thy charge ! Hold fast the form of sound words." 
 Whosoever does not thus fear the obligation to teach in one 
 only irreproachable way, is declared even by this Word, who is 
 the sovereign Judge of his servants, to have an endless contro- 
 versy of words, to have rejected the faith, and to be reproved by 
 this knowledge. He vainly boasts his reason, who has never yet 
 offered this reasonable service (ri]v hjx'Kin' Xarpdav) which the Apostle 
 says is due to his God, when he beseeches the Romans to offer their 
 spirits and their bodies for a living sacrifice. 
 
 We come now to the weighty matter of authority. Many de- 
 claim loudly against all authority; but does that detract from its 
 value, or prove it useless .' I think not. There certainly is some 
 authority. 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 171 
 
 The analogy of faith is nothing more nor less than authority — 
 the consideration of that which has always been true, that has 
 always been received as such, the authority that the Bible has 
 published, spread and rendered common among all Christians, 
 whicii the Gospel has taught and presented to the Church uni- 
 versal, for the approbation of the universal Church. But who 
 speaks of approbation, who of confession ? 
 
 A Christian who would be alone in the world in his particular 
 belief, would indeed have good reason to judge himself and to 
 count himself rashly proud of his own understanding. This 
 would truly be an isolated sense that he possessed, not common 
 sense in the Christian Church. What we call common sense in 
 earthly matters, in matters of faith is only an individual and par- 
 ticular interpretation. Here the customary expressions are nei- 
 ther corres])ondent nor synonymous. Christianity is not an isolat- 
 ed system ; it is, on the contrary, one of reconciliation — it is a 
 social system; the Christian is not a monad, but a part of the 
 great whole which diffuses life and improvement among all the 
 members. He is not merely one who believes, but one of the 
 great number of believers. 
 
 When one is seeking salvation, at the commencement of the 
 spiritual life, he should undoubtedly act and feel as if he were 
 alone in the world. His relations with God are the same as if 
 God had done all that he has done, and said all that he has said, 
 only for him. Thus the Eternal Word causes the soul to feel its 
 burden, and produces its effect; but when it concerns the piety of 
 the individual, his perfection in faith, then has it reference to the 
 whole, for this is their common fnith, [hnt'whick has been given to the 
 saints, which unites, renders them members one of another. 
 
 There is an agreement in this faith which furnishes the be- 
 liever a guiding thread — and he cannot take one step without 
 holding it. There is a common understanding in the Church, or 
 an unanimous consent which rules, concerning the particular 
 .sense ; and that is the unity of the spirit ; this is also a true 
 authority. 
 
 The faith of every true Christian should correspond with that 
 of all others, and this agreement is the analogy of faith. 
 
 Such an authority is not a yoke ; it is a guaranty. Without it, 
 one sails at random on the ocean of the Bible, as without a com- 
 pass on that of this world. Were it possible to bring together the 
 whole universal church to hear this, what it would declare to be 
 true would undoubtedly be the truth, and thus it would unavoid- 
 ably be brought under submission. Now in history we see the 
 Church, as it appears to be that of all times and in all places. 
 Here it is we hud the summation of centuries. Those wlio were 
 under its jurisdiction have mianimously acknowledged this is not 
 a false agreement, but gives the weight of authority. This is 
 what we can and must respect. This is no longer acting the 
 severe theologian, but submitting to gross misconception. 
 
 We should not submit blindly to the opinion of men, it is true, 
 because the Bible says, tntlij evenj man is a liar, from which we 
 may infer that all men are liars, as Paul quotes from the poet. 
 
172 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 that all the Cretans are liars — but all Christians are not liars; 
 for, 1st, Faith is not a hnmau opinion ; it has been given once to 
 the saints : and 2dly, the Spirit of truth is with the Church, and 
 not only the Spirit, the mind of Christ (1 Cor. ii. 6), but also the 
 expression of this mind on the Word of truth, and not only the 
 written Word, but a constant living Word. Our Confessions 
 rightly say, the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of 
 God. It carries not only in itself, but tvith itself, its own w^ork and 
 the declaration of its unchangeable .stability. 
 
 What has always proved true for Christians, is given for truth. 
 Denial is heresy. We do not teach according to our own under- 
 standing of God, manifested in the Gospel. We speak as we 
 have heard (for faith cometh by hearing). We give as we have 
 received (tradere). I give you that which 1 also have received, says 
 the Apostle. Who shall be angry at such a tradition, and deny 
 it a just title ? 
 
 Thus we see orthodoxy exalted throughout all time by the 
 voice of centuries, and reigning triumphant above all the contests 
 which have divided the churches of the East and the West, the 
 churches of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and even of the Reformed 
 Church, and the sects which have been springing up around it. 
 That which has been, is yet, and will be true above all others : 
 orthodoxy has become a fact. Yet can one hope to possess this 
 truth if he keeps himself beyond its reach ? 
 
 Wherefore seek to make this authority obnoxious .' What does 
 it contain so repugnant to the nature of man .' Do we not see 
 these very individuals who become so passionate at the mere 
 mention of the word duthority, exercising it each in his own 
 sphere, as pastors, as fathers, in the circle of their families, or of 
 their external influence, the authority of age, even of that forbid- 
 ding physiognomy, of gesture and appearance ; speaking, for cx- 
 amjale, of the importance of religious education, they say, " These 
 first impressions are never effaced, &c." And wherefore, if it is 
 not that children, scholars, inferiors, receive with confidence and 
 deference these opinions given with an air and show of author- 
 ity ? What inconsistency in ihose who cry up the use of reason, 
 in matters of faith, in the sense of absolute independence ! To 
 reconcile all things by the opinion of the day, to avoid walking 
 by a simple rule. This changing opinion, which appears to 
 them a formidable power, has become a very different thing from 
 simple authority (2 Peter ii. 19). 
 
 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 There is not a more imj^orlant element among all those, which 
 will increase the zeal of a minister of the Gospel, than con- 
 science ; but there is also no element which deserves to be better 
 known. Shall we content ourselves, then, Avith common ideas 
 with regard to it.' It is worth the trouble of an examination. 
 
 There is necessarily something vague and ill-defined in the 
 common acceptation of the word. It is in effect often mistaken 
 for the point of a sentiment which it resembles, and often these 
 metaphors are used in describing it. "Conscience ! conscience !" 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 173 
 
 cries John and James, " immortal and celestial voice!" Again, 
 with others it is by moral axioms, fixed principles, and uncreated 
 laws, that they speak of it; it is an engraved table, say they, 
 like that of Sinai. As a mute and defined, yet constant witness, 
 they call upon it immediately, consult it at all times, question 
 and make it speak like a living witness, which cannot remain 
 unmoved ; they call to it, trouble it, excite and endeavor to re- 
 move it. Is it, therefore, of no consequence to discover, or at 
 least to become acquainted with this strange character, this 
 mysterious agent .' And if it be a power in man, should it not, 
 at least, have a Christian }iame .' 
 
 The commonly received ideas of conscience, which obtain in 
 life, and in ordinary conversation, are really imiu.st, and very 
 incomplete, from which results a very imperfect development 
 of the moral sense, that fails to lead man to his highest perfection. 
 They speak of conscience merely as we have noticed them speak- 
 ing of reason ; yet it seems that it should be something by itself — 
 a guide, a master, &c. We have seen formerly that the eye is 
 not the light, but the organ through which light is seen ; and, 
 again, that the eye must be sound, and the light reach it, be ad- 
 mitted and not decomposed, in order to obtain and form just ideas 
 of things. We here repeat it, and liken conscience to another 
 of our senses. Not now the sight, but hearing which shall serve 
 as a common point. There is a singular agreement between the 
 precision of the first and the confusion of the second of these 
 senses (considered psychologically), at the same time a delicacy, 
 a sensibility, which distinguishes the hearing, by which it attains 
 a relative perfection, while the sight is incapable of this same 
 perfectibility, — yet its exactness and force confine it to a fixed 
 point. There is, I say, a remarkable analogy between the two 
 senses we have just observed, and reason, as compared with 
 conscience. 
 
 Instead of speaking of conscience as a voice, it will be better 
 to regard it as the organ by which this voice is recognized, which 
 collects the sound, gives new shades to famUiar perceptions — in 
 fine, that a delicate conscience, like fine hearing, or a practised 
 ear, will be the most exquisite organ, while a penetrating reason, 
 like long, far-reaching sight, is, in other respects, the strongest of 
 our faculties. 
 
 Conscience is less the voice, thougli it has long been represented 
 thus, than the localitij where it dwells, and where we must hear 
 it. It is less the oracle itself, than the sanctuary Avhere it speaks 
 and gives its responses : but language confounds, by vague ex- 
 pressions, the Deity who inspires the tem])le where he resides, 
 and the medium, the instrument, by Avhich he communicates a 
 knowledge of himself And here we find the difhculty in what 
 has already been said of conscience. For, in fine, we attribute 
 it to God, when we say it is God whispering to man the claims 
 of judgment, when we say it is a tribunal established in nuin, or 
 a judge, a guardian, a witness who Avatches his actions, an an- 
 ticipated judgment, a present and lasting judgment, a prelude of 
 
174 CHRISTIAN STUDIES, 
 
 the final ; all these images revolving around the principal idea, 
 render it obscure and indistinct. 
 
 This leads us into contradictions, and difficulties, deeper than 
 those from Avhich we "would extricate ourselves, and makes us 
 in practice feel sensibly the description of St. Paul (Rom. ii. 14), 
 that at lea.st on one head, conscience has something natural, com- 
 mon to all men — even to the savage. At length we come to the 
 inquiry, what is this conscience of the righteous and the Chris- 
 tian (" void of reproach before God and man"), since the idea 
 of conscience is only an idea of reproach, of profound guilt, 
 which becomes more lively and intense, in proportion as it is 
 enlightened and cultivated.* 
 
 For he who examines, who listens, who cleanses slightly his 
 conscience, will have the fewest reproaches — while he, on the 
 contrary, who watches more carefully, will become most suscep- 
 tible to uneasine.ss and anxiety on this account. How pretend tO 
 have a conscience without reproach before God ? Since that 
 which escapes man, magnifies itself in the light of his countenance 
 (Psalm xc.) ; and before men who never can read the conscience 
 accurately, and should therefore abstain from it, what are we to 
 understand by a conscience void of reproach, since no one has a 
 right to force it to reveal that which is hid, and no one knows to 
 draw the soul from its depths .' The feeling that every one has, with 
 regard to this, is, that he would not for all the world have his inner- 
 most thoughts brought to light or exposed to the judgment of the best 
 disposed assembly or the most indulgent ear. I call every one here 
 to witness'! One feels, after all that has been said, the necessity of 
 a more logical, and at the same time a more scriptural exposition. 
 We have already given the principle in our definition. We know 
 assuredly that it is rather the ear of the soul to hear, than the sound 
 and the voice even ; it is the most retired, the most secret, the most 
 interior locality ; as in the physical ear there are some chambers 
 more interior than others. We say simply that God speaks in 
 man. Man speaks from without, but God speaks from within. 
 
 * At least man, in his natural state, can have no other ; and it is 
 of this we now wish to speak. Take for example, modesty: why should 
 modesty blush? Does not the word even (pudor) express shame? Is it 
 not a sudden revelation, a subtle accusation, of a secret sympalhy, an 
 unknown correspondence with something hidden and impure within, of 
 which one hardly believes himself capable ? Can an angel feel it ? No. 
 Modesty shows that all evil is not from without, as would have been the 
 case with simple, perfect innocence. Conscience gives the knowledge of 
 sin, in whose presence evil should be held in check, yet which, turned aside 
 from its original rectitude, cannot always tell when the Evil One approaches. 
 " He comes, but has nothing in me-" — (John xiv. 30.) It is true, say some, 
 conscience approves us when we do well ; but, certainly, that is doubtful. 
 How can it prompt one to a secret approbation, when everything in its 
 nature shows us the danger of indulging any feeling of complacency toward 
 ourselves ? And, after all, which is the most frequent, the most conscien- 
 tious of the two — that which approves, or that which reproaches? Cer- 
 tainly the sphere of conscience is to reproach, and if it performs its duty, 
 this is its most natural and most common office. 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 175 
 
 (See Imitat. of J. C.) God speaks to the heart, say tlie prophets, or 
 rather, according to the original, in the heart, where it awakens a 
 mighty echo. 
 
 Having placed this principle in advance, let us endeavor to give 
 a scriptural and logical exposition of the nature of conscience, 
 and then follow it out in its various steps. 
 
 1st. As in the faculty of vision, it is said that the light lightens 
 all men coming into the icorld, a.ud kindles in him the flame of intel- 
 ligence, lays down the rules of these principles, founds the axioms, 
 adjusts the measure of truth, so the natural oracle the conscience, 
 speaks in the Jieathen himself, in the natural man, unconverted, 
 causes him to hear a voice of reproach, enough, at least, not to leave 
 himself ivithout a ivitness, although the natural man gives little at- 
 tention to this first degree of instruction, of divine warning which 
 he hardly regards. But let us proceed — 
 
 If man becomes, by the gift of a positive revelation, a worshipper 
 in spirit and in truth, he will enter most willingly and most joyfully 
 into the mysterious place where this oracle resides, he will listen 
 to it silently, he will tremble at its voice, and he will say before 
 it as young Samuel was instructed by the High Priest — Speak, Lord, 
 thy servant heareth. — (I.Sam, iii. 7, 9, 10. Heb. ii. 1., iii. 7, 15.) 
 
 2d. Then the oracle itself will become new (for all is new, under 
 a new dispensation). " I will hear what He will say to those who 
 love Him," says the Psalmist. " The merciful God will speak 
 peace to them." This will be a voice of mercy and of pardon, in- 
 stead of a voice of reproach, continual and pitiless. And St. Paul 
 says three times in succession, that it is the Spirit which says — 
 " To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." That 
 this conscience is not natural, you can say nothing less. And this 
 only can explain the gospel expression, conscience of sin, opposed 
 to a good conscience, or conscience without reproach, that is, a satisfied 
 conscience, renewed by God himself, or a sentiment acquired by 
 a reconciliation. The Apostle does not say that he himself at- 
 tempts to accomplish it, but to preserve and guard it when it has 
 once been given him. St. Peter speaks concerning baptism as an 
 answer before God. It is the testimony of faith, which is double, 
 " when the Spirit witnesses with our spirit, that we are the chil- 
 dren of God." We also render this testimony (John xv. 27.), " I 
 know in whom I have believed, in the Lamb of God who taketh 
 away the sins of the world," and wlio has power to justify those 
 who receive it. St. Peter makes this a consequence of the resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ (I Peter iii. 21), for, having died for our 
 offences, he is raised again for our justification. It is, in short, con 
 science pur if cd from dead works (Heb. ix. 14), the conscience of justi- 
 fication. 
 
 3d. There is yet a moire perfect conscience, or rather a third 
 degree, relating to sanctification, upon which we must enter by 
 a new way. Tiiere is a Councillor, as well as a judge, as well as 
 a Saviour of .souls. " Thou shalt hear," says the prophet Isaiah, 
 "the voice of one behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye 
 in it." This Councillor is h(^ "-^om the Gospel, whom Jesus Christ 
 
176 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 calls by the beautiful name of Comforter, and to whom he deliv- 
 ers, commits and ever assigns the keeping of the saved soul, 
 after having by the former act recovered it from sin, liberated it 
 by grace, and delivered it by a full remission from the burden of 
 sin. This also explains the expression of St. Paul in Romans 
 (Rom. ix. 1). "My conscience also bearing me witness in the 
 Holy Ghost." Here you see necessarily a privileged conscience, 
 more, much more, than the obscure conscience of the heathen; 
 more also than the enlightened conscience of a civilized man — 
 more than one enlarged by education and the light of the age. 
 Moreover, the doctrine of adoption not only establishes and affirms 
 that the Spirit of God witnesses with our spirits, that we are the 
 children of God ; but also that this spirit leads the children of God, 
 and that " those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children 
 of God." From that time, a Christian conscience receives not 
 merely this first, and I may affirm greater witness of just or unjust 
 actions, honest or dishonest, as we may say of all things, but it 
 adds a yet finer tact, a new sense, a superior discernment almost 
 heavenly, which St. Paul characterizes as very glorious, when he 
 says, " the spiritual man judges all things, yet is himself judged by 
 no man." For who has a right in this world, to judge the con- 
 sciences of those who are justified, since one is even forbidden to 
 judge of the carnal conscience .' The spiritual man is drawn by 
 strange impulses to the will of the flesh, which is not subject to 
 the Law of God, neither indeed can be. His aspirations soar 
 higher, and his motives are not only purer and more elevated, but 
 the movement which follows them, the active thought, the move- 
 ment of the Spirit, is quite a different thing from that natural activ- 
 ity by which the human will is determined in the enterprises of 
 this world. Who shall be able to judge of this life and principle ? 
 
 4th. There are therefore two consciences. I see first a con- 
 science of sin, then a conscience without reproach, that is, a con- 
 science justified ; and then follows conscience, a councillor or 
 guide. Finally, a good conscience, or witnessing by the Spirit, 
 and " obeying the truth through the Spirit, with a true heart, with- 
 out hypocrisy, keeping the mystery of faith in a pure conscience," 
 such as the heirs of the kingdom God ought to possess ; and as 
 the Apostle dares to affirm of himself — " We trust we have a good 
 conscience, in all things willing to live honestly." (Heb. xiii. 18.) 
 Finally, we may truly say, there is a good conscience, or a con- 
 science planning rightly. 
 
 This regards equally the past, present, and future ; and supposes 
 already a certain degree of spiritual force, acquired, and rooted 
 in the sttbject of grace. This is the established resolution of good, 
 of holy resolution, and the solid, vigorous root of anew and pow- 
 erful will, hi vain does the sinner form plans of conversion and 
 of a better life, while his will is yet ungrafted, like a good graft 
 on a living tree, and while there stands against him a permanent 
 accusation, which deprives him of strength and all true courage, 
 and which also reduces him in spite of" himself to remember the 
 depths of iniquity which yet remain uncleansed — unremoved. 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 177 
 
 That conscience is the master-piece of grace, and constitutes 
 the true renewal of the divine image in justice, and in true hoU- 
 ness. The foundation is Avanting in the sinner, even in his best 
 moments he has not even a velleity for good — he is ahogether 
 corrupt, from the head even to the feet. For though he may have 
 something which men cah sincerity, and wliich resembles it some- 
 what ; this sincerity, which does not justify by itself, is then really 
 the commencement of the kingdom of God — the invisible Empire, 
 extending itself over the soul of the converted man; and when one 
 can say he really belongs to God, from that moment integrity sub- 
 sists before him and all his promises are realized. 
 
 This con.scienee corresponds with the simple eye. To a simple 
 view of the only path of duty, the only right line, is joined an in- 
 tention or simple wish to walk in it. Its root is like an undivided 
 thread ; and now there is no more of this division of the heart, so 
 subtle, so condemned in the Word. " The man whose heart is 
 divided, or double-hearted, double-minded" (James i.), "You 
 who are double-minded " — by which he does not mean here gross 
 hypocrisy, — but division between its own desires, secret and al- 
 most imperceptible, which yet remains with those who wish to 
 be free, yet by this course dissipate all their strength, and paralyze 
 their efforts, by their own carelessness pr mistakes, and thus make 
 life a perpetual inconsistency ; 
 
 "O God, whaj .cruel strife i 
 I find two wills within me," &c. 
 
 instead of all this, a condition truly miserable and worthy of pity 
 — a movement, a momentary impulse (as there is one only faith 
 .and one only grace), to combat or to fly temptation, not only 
 without an agreement with it, but without stopping even to con- 
 sider the doubt ; yes, without a particle of time for hesitation. 
 It is God in the soul, with all that is jealous and absolute in his 
 jove, according to the summary of the law ; it is faith ojieratrng 
 by charity ; it is the liidden mystery, to know " Christ in us, the 
 hope of glory." 
 
 There is, therefore, something more than this good and honest 
 heart necessary to receive the seed of God at the very commence- 
 ment of the work of God. It is the crown of the Jiew man — it is 
 his integriii/ — it is the fulfilment of the wish of Paul, " That all 
 THAT IS WITHIN YOU, Spirit, soid, and body, may be preserved blame- 
 less ;" — it is the fulness of praises of which David speaks in 
 Psalm ciii. : '^Let all that is within me bless the name of thy ho- 
 liness !" 
 
 This, then, is the end of this unhappy division of the powers 
 that God has created to desire good; and not only to desire it, but 
 to do it ; and of which Paul laments in the close of the seventh chap- 
 ter of Romans, saying that he had a will to do well, but could not 
 find the means of accomplishing it ! This good conscience gives 
 the true conductor, which shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, 
 and attain otherwise inaccessible heights. 
 
 Now is mercy complete ; it is not received in' vain ; all is ac- 
 9* 
 
178 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 complished ; for God is obeyed. What though the external effect 
 be not yet perfect, the will at least, the internal disposition to pro- 
 duce it, is entire, and avows itself boldly ; not fearing to be proud 
 to say to the Lord, " Try me," and is willing to be submitted to the 
 fire which tries all things, inasmuch as he can endure the flames, 
 who can look it steadily in the face, like the eagle, who, in its up- 
 ward flight, fixes its steady gaze on the sun, through the power 
 given him by its almighty Creator. 
 
 For holiness is equally essential to the children of God as to his 
 angels : the sinner will therefore first speak of his goodness, af 
 his love, of his mercy, in approaching the Lord, in tasting that 
 He is sweet. But holiness — oh that he knew it, and desired to 
 walk in it ! 
 
 SOME OF THE PILLARS OF THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD. 
 
 The glory of the workman shines forth in his works. The 
 genius of the artist appears in the characters that he knows how 
 to sketch, to ornament, and sustain, than which, perhaps, no- 
 thing could be more perfect, because he has placed there some- 
 thing of his own spirit. You admire it as, a choice specimen of 
 human workmanship. The spirit of poetry charms you, and you 
 have felt its power. Confess, then, candidly, have you never re- 
 marked some of those silent beauties with which the Book of 
 God is ever clothed .' It is, perhaps, one of the most singularly 
 gi"aiid and original characteristics of the Bible, that those men, 
 whom it does not call great men, who bear no resemblance to 
 our heroes, it describes in passing, as if Avithout design, with a 
 kind of generous forgetfulness and divine negligence, yet imparting 
 to them a glory which exceeds all who name themselves, in 
 sketching some of their marked characteristics. It exceeds all 
 that has ever been told by any other historian, or traced by any 
 other limner. It exceeds, as one remarks, those sculptured by 
 Plutarch. Human statuary ! Stop and admire ! Man of God, 
 take thy pencil ; thou hast only to copy, to repeat the image. 
 Open thy repository ; it is rich, it is vast, and in the first leaves 
 equally with the last, shalt thou see beings passing from this 
 world to that which is to come. Enoch, "the seventh man," 
 foretold the coming of the great King, and from the beginning: 
 looked even to the end of the world to behold him, saying, " Be- 
 hold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute 
 judgment upon the earth" (Jude xiv. 15); and the man who, 
 many centuries later, composed " the pleasant songs of Israel," 
 cries out, " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thou- 
 sands of angels : the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, as in the' 
 holy place" (Ps. Ixviii. 17). Let us go on a little farther; yield 
 an attentive ear, and listen to the funeral oration of a great peo- 
 ple, who wept for him thirty days. His body cannot be found ; 
 God has hid it from them, lest it should become an object of wor- 
 ship. Upon none other of the sons of men has there been such 
 an eulogy pronounced : " And there arose not a prophet since in 
 Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to fa-ce " (Deut, 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES, 179 
 
 xxxiv. 10), whose vigor was not abated (at a himdred and twenty- 
 years of age), and whose eye was not dim. He was truly one 
 whom we may call an oak of justices a plant of the Lord, to 
 glorify him ! Abmliam had also seen his day, and had re- 
 joiced in it : Abraham, father of nations, lord of the cove- 
 nants, patriarch of the promises, representative of the true faith, 
 he whom God called his friend, and from whom he did not conceal 
 his plans. " Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do .'" 
 But wherefore follo\v the succession of time, when He who has 
 made it oliserves not its order .' See you not that he annihilates 
 all time to re-unite, to group these subjects of His royal kingdom .' 
 Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they should deliver but 
 their own souls by their righteousness. Seek the Lord, " That 
 he may better judge of tlie greatness of His indignation, and the 
 power of His dreadful anger ;" hear now the protestation, even the 
 oath of Him who, *' because He could swear by no greater, swore 
 by Himself." (Hela. vi. 13.) " As I live, saith the Lord, I will not 
 show mercy to you." " For I hft up my hand to heaven, and say 
 I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword, I wiU make my ar- 
 rows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, &c." 
 (Dent, xxxii 40, 41, 42.) The Judge of the world will say " That 
 these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job icere in it " (Ezek. xiv. 14, 20), 
 and this is indeed a remarkable expression. But wherefore this 
 group ? "Why this sacred trio .' History of the Helirews, unroll 
 thy pages : sacred volume of the annals of this great people, 
 teach us now, " For what nation is there so great, who hath God so 
 nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon 
 Him for ?" (Deut. iv. 7.) Though Noah, Daniel and Job stood be- 
 fore me ! They are too great for all panegyric. A few words 
 from the Bible, one characteristic of each will express more than 
 we could say ; this is their due. Noah " the tenth " (we have 
 seen the seventh man, for we consider as ages these men, these 
 giants, these men of renown), Noah the tenth, the Prophet, the 
 herald, the " prophecier of Justice," herald of judgments. He built 
 the Ark, and by this Ark which he built by faith, he condemned 
 the world I The world then perished in the flood — not one of the 
 imgodly escaped ; he had warned them, he had cried to them, he 
 had published, threatened and preached, during the space of a 
 hundred and twenty years, all in vain. Type of the future. So 
 will it be in the end of this world, as it tvas in the days of Noah. 
 And Daniel, in the days of the captivity ! Daniel a pleasant man, 
 a man to be desired ! From the commencement of his prayer, the 
 
 word of deliverance has gone forth the throne of heaven is 
 
 moved — the archangel spreads his whigs and prepares at that very 
 hour, at that moment even, to leave the presence of Him whom 
 he never ceases to worship and adore. Daniel, Belshazzar, chief 
 of the Magi — Daniel, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods ! 
 What glory, what happiness, Avhat honor ! He has shut the moutlis 
 of the lions. ... 0, Daniel! thy God sees thee yet ! He has de- 
 clared to this king of kings and of nations who boasts himself, 
 that seven times shall pass over him, and he shall be driven out 
 
180 CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 
 
 with the beasts of the field, until he knows that the Lord reigns, 
 and that His Kingdom ruletli over all. Bnt I mnst hasten to the 
 end of my journey. Job, the most powerful of the Orientals . . . 
 his reasoning with the great God, who deigns to reply to him from 
 out the whiiiwijid. He only can silence Job, before whom his 
 ehlers were as children and fools. Behold these three men, has 
 there ever been any like them .' Let us speak of the great king, 
 who built, who consecrated a holy temple to the Lord, who fell 
 upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and prayed 
 and blessed the people with his hands raised to heaven. There 
 are here yet greater than Solomon, of whom, hoAvever, we cannot 
 speak. We will not speak of the giant slain by the youthful shep- 
 herd, the son of Jesse. We will say nothing of Nehemiah, Avhose 
 countenance was sad when he thought of the desolation of the 
 city of his fathers, and Avho, after a painful journey, was obliged 
 to make by night the circuit of the city in a country surrounded 
 by enemies. We will merely name Ezra, and his honorable title, 
 Ezra scribe of the ivords of the Lav: of the Lord, with prayers and 
 tears confessing the sins of the people. 
 
 Let us change the scene. Behold Moses and Elias on Mount 
 Tabor ; the Law and the Prophets united ; the latter yet great by 
 his challenge, his defiance and his victory over the four hundred 
 priests of Baal. Besides these men, who are those three, so 
 different in their appearance, and yet so closely related in their 
 interests ? They are Peter, James, and John, afterwards known 
 as THE PILLARS. Scc thcsB fivc Avituesses of the double covenant, 
 making by tlieir presence here a moving pavilion, a tent prepared 
 for a night, like the mortal life of man ; like the tabernacle in the 
 Avilderness, raised in honor of Him, who, descending from the 
 skies, walks upon the heights ; goes from hill to hill, from the 
 mountain of Capernaum, where he teaches, to Moriah, where he 
 preaches ; from Jordan Avhere he is baptized, to the Mount of Olives, 
 where he suffers ; and to Calvary, where he expires, fulfilling the 
 words of the prophecy. " How beautiful upon the mountains, 
 are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings ; that publisheth 
 peace ; that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth !" Glorious beauty, 
 hidden loveliness, the perfection of love, of mercy, and truth 
 shining from the cross. 
 
 TheHoly One is dead, and no one regards it. But the Gospel 
 is preached — witnesses are multiplied — the Holy Ghost accompa- 
 nies their words, with the demonstration of the spirit, and with po"w- 
 er. Look at them once more unitedly before they separate to preach 
 the Gospel to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. The disciple 
 whom Christ loved, and who loved Christ. * * * * James and John, 
 you were well called Boanerges — sons of thimder. Without doubt, 
 your irresistible word, your pow^erful spirit, which vanquished all 
 error, and silenced all falsehood, tells this which distinguishes you. 
 
 Cephas, Peter, rock — rock of faith, rock built upon the waves, 
 which yet the tempest cannot shake ! And Saul become Paul, 
 incomprehensible man, standing alone from all the world (like 
 Job of old) without the sacred college of the prophets. Hear him 
 
CHRISTIAN STUDIES. 181 
 
 speak of himself as an untimely birth, as the least of the apostles, 
 not worthy to be called an apostle, because he had persecuted 
 the Church of Christ. Yet, he dares to add: "I have labored 
 more abundantly than they all ; yet, not I, but the grace of God 
 wliich was with me." Tlie love of Christ constraining me. And 
 how did it operate.' "In dangers oft; in dangers from false 
 brethren ; a day and a night in the deep," &c. (2 Cor. xi. 26). 
 
 Singular preaching of doctrine ! Revealing in detail the Lord's 
 Supper, at which he had not been present, but which he had re- 
 ceived from the Lord himself ; and presenting it in its most perfect 
 development, and with all its mvsterious excellence. — (1 Cor. 
 xi. 23.) 
 
 Let us praise, says the son of Sirach, let tts praise these illustrious 
 men, &c. — Chap. li. In the midst of this glorious cortege, the 
 august image of the Son of man shines forth : the root and the 
 offspring of David, his Lord and his Son, the bright and morning 
 Star, with a new and purer brilliancy. The messenger who pre- 
 pared the way before Him, in the spirit and power of Elias, 
 though holy from his mother's womb, and greater than all who 
 had preached him, yet felt himself unworthy to unloose the shoe 
 from his foot. What a man among such men, how wise among 
 so many wise men, each of whom is one of a thousand. What a 
 prophet in the midst of the prophets ! Truly this is He of whom 
 Moses sj)ake to our fathers : " The Lord thy God will raise up 
 unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren ; and 
 whosoever shall not hear this prophet, shall he cut off from the 
 midst of the people." " This is my beloved Son in whom I am 
 well pleased, hear ye him." God of God, Light of Light., ascend- 
 ing upon high — the Counsellor wonderful. 
 
 We have now seen some of the pillars of this holy temple ; but 
 is the temple itself empty .' What is the temple without the 
 Divine presence .' Destroy this temple ! He will raise it up! Is 
 not His name Emmanuel ! God with us ! " Behold I will send 
 you the Comforter." And now, pious souls, the Lord whom you 
 love — the Angel of the Covenant that ever attends you will enter 
 His temple, and will not wait. Behold ! He comes, saith the Lord 
 of Hosts. 
 
FAITH 
 
 KNOWLEDGE 
 
 TRANSLATED BY M. M. BACKUS, 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 'El' rr] TTiaTti v^Hiv . , . rhv yvoj(rtv. 
 
 " Add to your faith .... knowledge." — 2 Peter i. 5. 
 
 Knowledge and faith, as set forth in onr text, are, in the opinion 
 of the world, two opposite things, and mntually exchule each 
 other. Faith in revealed verities, as one has remarked, is incom- 
 patible with that profound erudition of the human intellect, which 
 probes the depths of the earth, measures the expanse of the hea- 
 vens, and explores the still more mysterious realms of the spirit of 
 man. The names of Bacon, Newton, Pascal, Leibnitz, Euler, and 
 a host of similar spirits, have come into collision with, and more 
 than once repelled, that singular assertion. You will nevertheless 
 constantly meet it in the world, for there is not a single error 
 which men are not incessantly strtiggling to rebuild in our 
 midst. 
 
 It is not, however, to combat this error that we shall devote the 
 present hour. Our design is to penetrate farther into the essence 
 of faith, audi nto the domain of knowledge. We shall consider 
 another faith and another knowledge ; the faith of the heart, or 
 the Christian life, and theology, or the knowledge of God. 
 
 In reality, if we step beyond the threshold and enter the sanc- 
 tuary of divine knowledge, we will there discover the same claims 
 set up, which we had just left behind in the world, applied, how- 
 ever, to other objects. Faith is there the new principle of life, 
 and of holiness, which the word of the Holy Spirit develops in the 
 hearts of the elect of God. 
 
 Knowledge, or theology, is the philosophy of that faith, the re- 
 sult of researches, reflection, and i)atient labor of the human in- 
 tellect applied to divine things, and endeavoring to investigate 
 and impart to them clearness, detiniteness, and that systematic 
 oneness, of which they are susceptible. 
 
 In this novel field the spectator is immediately struck with the 
 decision of its incomjiatibility with knowledge ; not, it is true, 
 that certain historic faith, of which all theologians ought to a 
 greater or less degree to be in possession, but the living faith of 
 Christians. Unregenerate theologians direct against this doctrine 
 the same attacks, and the same engines of war, as the-\vise of this 
 world employ against the wisdom of God. There is not the slight- 
 est agreement, if you listen to those men, between a living faith 
 and theology. 
 
18f5 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that there is some truth concealed 
 iinder their assertions. Tlie two things, faith aud theology, have 
 been, and are still often separated by many ministers of the gos- 
 pel. Among them are tliose who are uniquely theologians, inti- 
 mately acquainted with the various branches of theological sci- 
 ence, and able to explain the Christian system with the most me- 
 thodical exactness, but in whose hearts the life of faith never had 
 existence. On the other hand, there are some of their number who 
 enjoy the faith of the heart, the Christian life, but are strangers to 
 theology, and regard it as an undoubted science, but still a barren 
 one, from whicli they may never hope to derive any personal ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 Your feet are exposed to both these by-paths of error. With a 
 large number of theologians we have believed that it was unne- 
 cessary for the ministers of Christ at the present day to isolate 
 these two things, and that their just combination would result in 
 the greatest utility to the service of God. We have concluded, in 
 accordance Avith the apostolic declaration, that the pastor ought 
 to be a teacher. (Ephes. iv. 11.) 
 
 Let us then briefly investigate the relations in which faith stands 
 to knowledge ; let us indicate the necessity of the former, and the 
 advantages of the latter, and at the same time lay down in our 
 charts the sunken rocks which we shotild avoid. 
 
 And first, I address myself to those who, not having in their 
 heart the living faith of Christians, may be harboring the imagina- 
 tion of supplying its place with theology. 
 
 It is impossible for a Christian, and by consequence for a minis- 
 ter, to exist without the life of faith. You may think that the sci- 
 entific development of Christian doctrine will produce within you 
 that living faith, without which you cannot exist. No, my breth- 
 ren. The work of man cannot create the work of God. Theology 
 is not the mother of faith, but faith is the mother of theology. 
 
 The cultivation of theological science has never produced a 
 renovation of Christian life in the church. It is the simple preach- 
 ing of Christian truths, it is that faith of the heart, that conviction, 
 and those intimate experiences, which are expressed by the Apos- 
 tle with a holy enthusiasm — " I believed and therefore have spok- 
 en" (2 Cor. iv. 13) — from which such renovations have ever tak- 
 en their rise. If these are instances where theological instruction 
 has been the means of producing the faith of the heart — and the 
 number is by no means small — it was due not to the theological 
 element, but the element of faith, which was found in that instruc- 
 tion. It was because the teacher was full of faith, and not be- 
 cause he was full of reflection, that he became a means of regene- 
 ration. Faith produces faith, but idea produces only idea. The 
 purity, the definiteness, and the systematic arrangement of doc- 
 trines, has never given birth to spiritual life. 
 
 It is not a school, nor a theologian, to whom the minister or the 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 187 
 
 simple believer in quest of faith ought to address himself It is 
 to the chief, to Jesus Christ. Seek life not in tlie apophthegms of 
 knowledge, but in Him " in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the 
 Godhead bodily," (Col. ii. 9.) Every believer, and consequently 
 every minister, is called upon in his office of prophet, to ask im- 
 mediately fro]n Jesus Christ his own measure of grace. The 
 quality of mediator between God and man no more appertains to 
 the knowledge of the theologian, than to the hierarchy of the 
 priest. It is not in any theological summary, nor in any common 
 places,* in which men should search for faith ; but in the Bible, 
 immediately in the Bible, through the illumination of the Holy 
 Spirit, promised unto all. 
 
 Let us advance another step. How far soever theology maybe 
 from producing life, it is nevertheless the Christian life which pro- 
 duces theology. It is faith which furnishes science ^\^Mi the 
 media of knowledge, the ideas upon which it ought to reflect, and 
 the elements which it ought to combine. For the true knowledge, 
 which enlightens the eyes, is constructed not out of abstract ideas 
 and dead elements, but out of living doctrines and jprinciples, 
 Avhich are quickened into life by the Spirit of God. 
 
 There is another point farther on, which we may also reach. 
 It is a 'living faith, which imparts to the spirit that rapture, that 
 expansion, that depth, and that activity, necessary to set in mo- 
 tion the primitive elements, and thus give birth to a system with 
 all its ramihcations entire. An epoch dead in the matter of faith 
 has never produced, and never will produce, a theology. The 
 epochs which have been creative of knowledge have uniformly 
 been preceded — history assures us of the fact — by a revival of 
 Christian life in the Church. It was the ujisoaring of faith which 
 was the parent of those theological treatises that signalize the 
 age of Augustine, of the scholastics of the thirteenth century, 
 and of the Reformers. 
 
 If you would be theologians, cast yourselves into the current 
 of living waters. It is faith wiiich gives the impulse, without 
 which no noble deed can ever be produced : that just truth, M'ith- 
 out which you will ramble in despair among vahi systems; that 
 life, without which ^your path will only lie through a valley of 
 dry bones. 
 
 Test, then, the opposite system. Let the Christian life be only 
 a principle of your theology, and then you will fall into the one 
 or the other of two evils : for either you will cast yourselves, as 
 thousands have done before you, upon the speculative distinc- 
 tions of useless dialectics ; or, choosing a negative tendency, 
 and a hostile attitude, you will take up arms against what you 
 ought to defend ; you will exercise, in the sphere which is as- 
 signed to you, only a destructive inHucncc, and instead of erect- 
 ing an edifice to the living God, you will be amusing yourselves, 
 as so many theologians, alas ! have done, in destroying that 
 which already exists, and rejoicing over its ruins. 
 
 * Summa theologica and Loci communes, were the ordinary titles of theolo- 
 gical theories before and after the Reformation. 
 
188 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 And what basis, gentlemen, would you construct for theology, 
 if not the Word of God, and faith in the divine testimony wrought 
 ill the heart by the Holy Spirit? If theology has not that basis, 
 it must of necessity repose either upon the transitory direction 
 of the spirit of the age, or else upon the adventnresome specula- 
 tions of the human reason. Witli only such points of support, 
 knowledge will have strange wanderings, lamentable falls, and 
 will soon be lost from view in those winding passages, the limits 
 of which are overhung with the shades of night. In order that 
 the tree of knowledge may prosper, it must, as David says, be 
 planted upon the banks of the stream of the law of God ; and it 
 should uniformly and exclusively gather from that pure current 
 its sap and its elements of life. Then it will send forth its fruit 
 in its season ; its foliage will not dry up ; it shall flourish for 
 ever. But if any strange elements should be absorbed by the 
 roots, the same tree will soon change its color, will languish, will 
 perish and die. 
 
 Or rather, plant the tree upon the declivity of Golgotha, in the 
 shadow of the cross, and under the very eyes of the love of the 
 crucified God, who is the wisdom of God and life itself. That 
 wliich gives life to the most humble faith of the poorest believer, 
 is the same as that which gives it the most sublime knowledge of 
 the wisest teacher. 
 
 Faith is not only the creative principle of theology, but is 
 also its renovating power. Knowledge — we have too many ex- 
 amples of the fact — can detach itself from the Word of God. At 
 such times it goes astray ; a fever of incredulity rages in the 
 veins, and a crisis has entered upon its development. What will 
 heal the disorder .' What will restore the wanderer to the right 
 path ? 
 
 Statutes, laws, acts of power .' Doubtless those who have been 
 appointed to the oversight of education ought to guard against 
 the influence of that which, instead of communicating life, gives 
 only death. But any external force, arrests of justice, and human 
 power, will never suffice for the cure of the malady. Restrain its 
 action temporarily without, and it will only commit the greater 
 ravages within. 
 
 What then shall save knowledge .' 
 
 The life of the Church, my brethren, the simple faith of be- 
 lievers. That faith and that life existed anterior to all theology, 
 and independently of all knowledge ; they can never perish, and 
 in them is found the energy which is to heal the nations. Upon 
 theology they exercise a powerful reaction. The teachers, envi- 
 roned on every side Avith manifestations of the Christian faith, 
 \vi\\, in spite of themselves, be drawn back, and that by an irre- 
 sistible force, towards the focus of light and life. They will be 
 constrained to abandon, one by one, all their perilous jiositions. 
 Truth every day will gain greater power in the camp of the ene- 
 my, and will gradually concentrate an overwhelming opposing 
 force. Knowledge itself, obliged to recognize the fact of her for- 
 mer detachment from that to Avhich it ought to have been united. 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 189 
 
 will elevate her standard again, and cover the errors of knoAV- 
 ledge. It may be, for the case is not an extraordinary one, that it 
 was scepticism in the Church which carried scepticism into the- 
 ology. The faith of the Church will restore faith to theology. 
 
 That which has infected must heal ; that which struck the blow 
 will bind up the wound. The life and light of the Church are 
 the sun of theology : when the sun is concealed, knowledge is 
 overshadowed and perishes ; when he shines forth anew, know- 
 ledge reappears in his train under the impulse of a new life. 
 
 Therefore, my brethren, in order that knowledge may be cul- 
 tivated with success in a university, an academy, or a school, 
 there is need of the presence of liberty, but first of all of piety ; 
 there is need of ideas, but before them there is need of faith ; 
 there is, in tine, need of knowledge, but antecedent to all else 
 there is need of submission to the Word of God. Schools of 
 theology, in order to prosper in a scientific form, ought to become 
 sanctuaries. Far from them be every profane mocker — far from 
 them all buffoonery, unseemly jesting, loose morals, and con- 
 formity to a world buried in sin. These would prove their de- 
 struction, both as temples of knowledge and as seminaries of the 
 prophets. 
 
 The holiness of a school is the surest guaranty for the knoAv- 
 ledge of a school. 
 
 " The Levites .shall be mine," saith the Lord. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 Faith, then, is necessary to theology. Bnt there is a second 
 rock which we must lay down in the chart : that against which 
 all those have dashed who have regarded theology as a sterile 
 science, without ai^plicatiou and without advantage to the 
 Church. 
 
 Let us first then obtain a definite apprehension of what we now 
 mean by the term knowledge. It is not that haughty knowledge 
 which pufleth up, but an humble science, which is conscious of 
 knowing nothhig by itself, and of being bound to apprehend 
 everything from the word. It is not a knowledge detached from 
 God, but one Avhich God himself accords to fervent prayers, to 
 conscientious investigations, to serious and holy meditations, and 
 all the works which arc vivified and rendered elRcacious by the 
 breathings of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The actual state of the world, and of the French nation in par- 
 ticular, demonstrates too forcibly the utility and necessity of this 
 knowledge. Why is Christianity so little known, and its funda- 
 mental doctrines so grossly misconceived .' Wc will not hesitate 
 to declare our own conviction of the cause. It is because, while 
 other sciences have been taking a rapid flight, the science of 
 theology has had no existence with us during the present gene- 
 ration, or at best has existed in an enfeebled frame. 
 
 There are perhaps certain epochs in the social and intellectual 
 development of a people, in which it will suffice for the Christian 
 life to animate the church. But that will not suffice in the pre- 
 
190 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 sent actual state of society. When man is fully develoxjed in 
 every function, it is man in liis maturity which religion should 
 embrace. She is large enough for the task, and there is nothing 
 in the man which can escaj^e her grasp. The facnlty of cogni- 
 tion, which is within us, must find aliment enough of the kind 
 it requires, and ample room enough for the development of its 
 energies. The intellect comes from God, as well as the affections 
 and the will. To pretend, as some have done, that it is sufficient 
 for Christianity to speak to the heart, and that it can abandon the 
 intellect without yielding any satisfaction to its demands, is to 
 advance the same proposition as that the sun rises only upon a 
 part of the creation of God ; it is the same as to revolt against 
 that order which has been established from on high. 
 
 It has become necessary for Christianity to defend her own 
 position. She must maintain her own rank in the face of all 
 human sciences. Theology must take up its residence in the 
 bosom of Christian societies, and become, what the great regene- 
 rator of modern sciences. Lord Bacon, has called it, " the transcen- 
 dental science." 
 
 Do not imagine that the existence of this science is useless for 
 the salvation of souls. Wherefore is it, that in all countries where 
 theological science is cultivated, as Germany for example, so 
 much knowledge and intelligence is found among the laity, and 
 so many true Christians, while with us they are so rare in the 
 same proportion .' 
 
 The existence of the science alone will explain the phenome- 
 non. It has rendered men of wit and education attentive to the 
 instructions of God. It has led them also to direct their eyes 
 towards the branches of the tree which they are cultivating. 
 Science has rendered the Word of God and Christianity honora- 
 ble, even in the eyes of philosophers : some of their number have 
 investigated it for the simple pleasure of its knowledge, but in 
 that propitious moment Christianity has seized them, and the 
 Word of God has proved their salvation. 
 
 Let us, then, lament, that while all sciences enjoy so much 
 favor and so many worshippers among Frenchmen, the science 
 of theology is still without monuments and without trophies — 
 we should almost have said, without an existence and a name. 
 Let us weep over the fact, that while all the branches of the tree 
 of knowledge, under the shade of which our generation delights 
 to repose, are full of vigor, and loaded with the richest fruits, 
 still that branch Avhich is the pruicipal one of the tree, is fragile, 
 desiccate, despoiled of its verdure, and barren of fruit. This 
 immense vacuum is one of the most efficient causes of the humiliat- 
 ed condition of the faith. 
 
 The general opinion, however, tends in a contrary direction. 
 Vou will meet not only men of the world, and adversaries of the 
 faith, but even men and ministers of unquestionable piety, who 
 jiretend that every evil in the Church comes of theology. 
 
 Theology, say they, with its precise definitions, its subtle dis 
 tinctions and its sententious systems, darkens the simplicity of the 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 191 
 
 faith, dampens the fervor of the Cliristian life, and dishonors reli- 
 gion in the sight of all well educated men. s Theology has loroved 
 the bane of Christianity. Happy days, when there was no theo- 
 logy ! 0. the simplicity of Christian doctrine in the primitive ages 
 of the church ! Would to heaven we might return thither ! 
 
 This so much vaunted simplicity of the primitive ages, I will 
 here remark, does not deserve to be all that is made of it. In a 
 great number of instances it was the offspring of ignorance rather 
 than of a strict attachment to the line of trrith; it was the simpli- 
 city of infants, who knew but little, rather than that of men, who, 
 having weighed good and evil, chose to attach themselves to the 
 good. Thus that simplicity so much regretted by men, who are 
 crying out for piety and not for knowledge, was far from being 
 exempt from errors, and oftentimes very grave ones. 
 
 But let us come to that objection, which has been deemed wor- 
 thy of signal repetition ; namely, that this study is no protection 
 against the waywardness of science and none against science 
 itself It must be confessed, that that is a false direction of know- 
 ledge which makes it come in collision with the simplicity of 
 the faith. But it is only in the Christian life that. true knowledge 
 has any guaranties for its vigor and prosperity. Whenever it is 
 developed independently of that life, it is soon seen to lose itself 
 in vain formulas and in idle distinctions : it becomes a game of 
 dialectics, which stifles in all who cultivate it the last respirations 
 of life, and destroys in theology and religion all that consideration, 
 which is their peculiar i)roperty. 
 
 This, however, is not knowledge : it is not a legitimate branch 
 of the tree. It is a parasitical plant, which, in spite of its efforts 
 l^ut forth to confound its woody boughs and yellowish leaves with 
 the true branch, will still be detected by the master of the tree as 
 illegitimate and pernicious, and will be forced to disengage itself 
 from its unnatural union. 
 
 The objection, then, turns in favor of that true science, which, 
 emanating from the word of God, and intimately connected with 
 the Christian life, flees from such vagaries. It is not a dry skele- 
 ton, which it would present to the world as the symbol of truth : 
 it is a body, clothed with flesh, and filled with tlie Holy Spirit, and 
 with the life that cometh from on high. It will not isolate any of 
 the faculties of man. Addressing itself to his intelligence, it also 
 addresses itself to his heart. That which you reproach it with 
 lacking, is precisely that which, above all other things, it possess- 
 es in the most eminent degree ; consequently it will be the very 
 opposite of that, which your fears have represented it to be. At- 
 tacking every individual, it will gain over every individual to its 
 cause. 
 
 Doubtless, says another objector, the science is useful to the 
 v/orld, for those without, as the Scripture says— but it is useless 
 for the church. 
 
 Strange illusion ! The legitimate science, such as we have de- 
 scribed to you, will render the church the most distinguished ser- 
 vice. It will maintain the Christian doctrine pure from all strange 
 
192 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 elements : and when the latter may receive contamination from 
 any quarter, the former will be at hand as its refiner. 
 
 Such strange elements too readily penetrate, first, the Christian 
 life, then the idea of Christianity, and at length knowledge itself. 
 This is what took place in the first periods of the Church. Strange 
 elements had gradually united themselves so intimately with the 
 scriptural elements, and so effectually incorporated themselves 
 with the faith of Christians, that it was almost impossible to dis- 
 tinguish the true from the false. Teachers and simple-hearted 
 believers presented an inconceivable mixture of falsehood and 
 truth. 
 
 The discernment of these diverse elements, the separation of the 
 false from the true, is one of the most ennobling tasks of true sci- 
 ence. It is one of the works to which she has been destined by 
 God. Her piercing and unfailing eye discerns in that confused 
 assembly that which is from God, and that which is from man. 
 A true servant of the domestic head, theology is constantly drag- 
 ging the net, which is cast into the sea of ages, and is constantly 
 amassing, in the lapse of time, materials of every conceivable 
 variety of character. With the torch of Revelation in her hand, 
 she discovers and disentangles that which is corrupt from that 
 Avhich is pure : she stores away all that is good in chosen vessels, 
 and flings away again all that is worthless. 
 
 And what she has once purified she will keep pnre. She will 
 w-atch with all the vigilance of a sleepless sentinel, that the pride 
 of human reason and the vagaries of enthusiasm do not approach 
 to injure the plant which she has preserved. As the officers who 
 are placed in charge by the sovereign, to see that no vulgar in- 
 gredients be combined with the pure gold in the formation of the 
 royal jewels, so a pure theology is charged by our Lord to main- 
 tain Christian doctrine, that jewel of God, pure from all himian 
 dross, and in the holiness and regal beauty which belonged to her 
 upon her first descent from heaven. 
 
 We turn, however, to remind you of the advantages it offers to 
 you, who are educated in her holy tuition, called to be one day 
 the dispensers of her treasures. And what advantages has not 
 knowledge to bestow upon the minister of the word? What ser- 
 vice in particular has she not rendered to the very age in which we 
 live .' Of how great necessity is her existence at an epoch when 
 there are so many objections, doubts, and controversies, not only 
 in relation to this or that unimportant point but also to a point, 
 which concerns the fundamental doctrines of salvation. 
 
 It is true knowledge — knowledge formed imder the combined 
 influence of the Holy Spirit and the word, and blessed from above 
 — which will enable you to penetrate most deeply into divine 
 revelation; which w'ill capacitate you to find new treasures, un- 
 foreseen and veiled from the ordinary reader, and which, while 
 they augment your knowledge, w^ill also enrich your experience, 
 and increase the efficiency of your ministry. 
 
 It is this which, giving importance both to the holy doctrines 
 and the sad errors of times which are no more, making manifest 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 193 
 
 the faith and disclosing the failings of the church, will explain to 
 you what is and what ought to be, by what has been ; and will 
 supply to your youth all the riches of a tried experience. This it 
 is, which will qualify you to penetrate with a keen glance the 
 actual condition of the church ; which will enable you to perceive 
 the evils against which you have been forearmed ; which will 
 place you on your guard against exaggerations, hesitations, and 
 all peculiar and individual determinations, to which your heart 
 exposes you ; and which, in the midst of the whirlwind of human 
 opinions by which you are encircled, will communicate to your 
 convictions, your views and your judgments, that perspicuity, that 
 erect attitude and that immovable solidity, for which you will 
 search in vain in your own selves. 
 
 It is this which will render you capable of discerning good and 
 evil, what is useful from what is injurious, either in relation to the 
 Christian church generally, or to the particular flock, which the 
 Chief has placed under your direction ; which will put you in a 
 condition to keep a reckoning of times, places and circumstances, 
 and which Avill clearly discover to you the end which you should 
 propose in your career, the proper means of attaining it, and will 
 impart to your ministry a real and enduring usefulness. 
 
 It is this which will assist, you to avoid those rocks against 
 which —alas ! we have too many examples — the purest zeal, when 
 it is unenlightened by knowledge, is liable to dash and go to 
 pieces ; and which, impressing upon all your works the characters 
 of wisdom, reflection and discernment, will render your ministry 
 honorable even in the eyes of the world. 
 
 It is this which will give you those qualifications so indispensa- 
 ble in a Christian minister, and so rarely found in combination ; 
 largeness without latitudinarianism ; an exclusive snbmission to 
 the word \vithout bigotry; and which, rendering your convictions 
 at the same time profound and expansive, strengthening your 
 spirit, and enlarging your heart, will permit you to throw wide 
 open the arms of charity and embrace all your brethren without 
 leading you astray from the isolated focus of truth, and the unas- 
 sailable central point of faith. 
 
 The knowledge- which emanates from God will forearm you 
 against that sad formalism which so often infects the evangelical 
 minister, and transforms the services of Jesus Christ into a sordid 
 trade. True knowledge will ever call back spirit, thought and 
 life, in all your reflections and in all your works. It wiU Jiot suf- 
 fer your intellect to become a thing of manoeuvre. It will con- 
 stantly recall the truth, and the Spirit of God should be combined 
 with every affair of human life, the breath from on high with 
 those elements which the earth presents. It wfll recall to you 
 the fact, that you are of the number of " wise men." It will 
 make head against everything which could tend to your ruin, 
 and as the organ of God, will prevent your intellectual perceptions 
 from growing dull, and your spirit from yielding to habits of slug- 
 gishness. 
 
 The knowledge which emanates from God will save you from 
 
 9 
 
194 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 rationalism. Why do so many young intellects plunge themselves 
 into that heresy, and run with such avidity through all its various 
 stages ? Simply because they thinli to find in it food for their in- 
 tellect and their reason. Vain attempts! For meanwhile their 
 heart is drying uii, their reason degrading itself, and their intellect 
 is making to itself more straitened limits. It is Christian know- 
 ledge alone Avhich holds in reserve all that of which their vague 
 desires, sometimes the offspring of pride, but often of generosity, 
 are in quest. To that knowledge, young Levites, address your 
 inquiries. She has somewhat to answer from her oracle. Seek 
 not in the wnsdom of a day that which God offers you in the secret 
 depths of His eternity. Knowledge Avill satisfy all your wants. 
 She will show you in Christ all the treasures of a divine wisdom. 
 She will put you in possession of a light, which is to that of ra- 
 tionalism what the sun in the heavens is to the will-o'-the-wisp 
 hovering over a bog. Then discovering at once the meagerness 
 of all the erroneous offspring of human wisdom., and the grandeur 
 of the manifestations of the reason of God, you will cry out, as 
 did the first of theologians, Augustine, when, after having long 
 wandered in the labyrinth of systems, he at length found the true 
 divine knowledge, " Alas ! too slowly have I learned thee." 
 
 The knowledge which emanates from God will guard you against 
 that false enthusiasm, which, entertaining certain sensations with 
 great avidity, or tearing away certain ideas from the several groups 
 to which they belong, abandons both of them to an unbridled 
 imagination, "where they boil and ferment until they break out into 
 deplorable excesses — sometimes these \vi\\ appear in theosophic 
 speculations, sometimes in the disordered efforts of a vapory spirit, 
 and sometimes in haughty pretensions to gifts and commissions, 
 which no longer have existence, or to a fantastic condition of the 
 church. Theological science will render you timely service in 
 discovering to you all these errors. It will point them out to you 
 in ancient times along with the sad fruits they there brought forth. 
 It will discover to you their intimate connection with the corrup- 
 tion of the heart, and Avith deadly doctrines. It will at the same 
 time enable you to sift the good from the evil in those ancient 
 dogmas, and thus furnish you a shelter against a wonderful con- 
 tagion. 
 
 The knowledge which emanates from God will put weapons in 
 your hands to refute the vain sophi-sms of the times; to make 
 successful attacks upon specious errors ; to measure weapons, if 
 it be necessary, with those who are practised in the use of arms 
 of the intellect, with the wise in employing the weapons of know- 
 ledge — weapons, as we have already remarked, to which God 
 has not assigned the office of changing the lieart, but Avhich ne- 
 vertheless can often remove lamentable prejudices, and thus pre- 
 pare the way for that joy of heaven, the conversion of a sinner. 
 
 But, it m.ay be a.sked, is it required of us to prove the necessity 
 of knowledge for the minister of Christ, as long as its necessity for 
 every disciple, for every Christian, ought to be a truth of gene- 
 ral recognition ? 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 195 
 
 It is to all Avho have obtained an equal faith with the servants 
 of Jesus Christ, that the Apostle Peter addresses the exhortation, 
 " Add to your faith . . . knowledge." Doubtless there are de- 
 partments of knowledge which are not absolutely necessary 1^^ 
 every Christian, although it is very desirable for all to be pos- 
 sessed of them. But there is a Christian knowledge in which all 
 ought to be making constant progress, according to their peculiar 
 faculties and circumstances. Is not this demanded of those who 
 are charged with teaching the natural sciences .' And why should 
 it not also be required of theologians, who are studying theology, 
 that is, the science of God, of that God " who is above all, and 
 through all, and in you all?" In an infected district, at the ap- 
 proach of a formidable pestilence, all seek to acquire some de- 
 gree of medical knowledge. And should not the science which 
 treats of the remedy by which man can escape eternal death, be 
 regarded of sufficient magnitude and importance in the ej'-es of 
 you all to deserve your earnest application ? And where more 
 important than for you, ministers of Christ ? 
 
 What we have said will suffice, we trust, to demonstrate to all 
 who will give it their serious attention, the necessity of not sepa- 
 rating faith from knowledge, theology from piety, the shepherd 
 from the teacher; and we have at the same time contributed to 
 unfold one of the causes of the institution of this Theological 
 School, both to those who, overlooking faith, speak only of 
 knowledge, and to those who, overlooking knowledge, speak 
 only of faith. 
 
 To study, then, my young friends, and to prayer : to prayer and 
 to study ! Let prayer first acquire for us the gift of the Spirit of 
 God. Let us abase ourselves by true humility, before elevating 
 ourselves by reflection and knowledge : for " if any man think- 
 eth that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he 
 ought to know." Like the air vehicles invented by the wisdom 
 of man, we must first exhaust ourselves, before we will be able to 
 mount into the elevated mansions of knowledge and contempla- 
 tion. 
 
 Let faith be the key with which we approach the treasure, for 
 the possession of which we are .striving. For faith enables us to 
 imderstand what the human intellect never could discover. The 
 life which comes from God explains what meditation could never 
 unfold. Faith is the eye with which we ought to be furnished, 
 in order to penetrate into that unknown world of divine things 
 which is the domain of theology. Faith is the true organ of the 
 knowledge of God. It enables us to see the invisible, to compre- 
 hend the incomprehensible. " For what man knoweth the things 
 of a man save the spirit of man, which is in him ? Now the 
 things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we 
 have received, not the .spirit of the world, but the Spirit which 
 is of God : that we might know the things that are freely given 
 to us of God." 
 
 One thing more. Let holiness, let a life and conversation truly 
 Christian, give us an intellectual perception, which can only be 
 
196 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE, 
 
 obtained with them. For, Avhat is it that beclouds our spirit and 
 darkens our understanding, unless it be sin ? Lift the veil, and you 
 will see. The more dead you are to sin, the more keen will be 
 your eye, the more luminous your knowledge, and the more ex- 
 panded your conceptions. Every Christian work, every self-re- 
 nunciation, is not only a step in sanctification, but also one in 
 knowledge and in theology. If the angels know'more than we, it 
 is because they are purer than ourselves. Darkness — that is sin : 
 light— that is holiness. Let us press on, then, toward the light, 
 in order to know Him who is light. " We shall see Him as He is ; 
 and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." 
 
 Thus, then, disciples in the knowledge of God, we speak to 
 you. " Pray, believe, be holy and blameless." But allow us to 
 add to this, " Work." 
 
 Work, then, my young friends. Examine with care those two 
 mighty instruments of sacred theology, the Old and the New Tes- 
 taments : those two columns, at the base of which the simple seek 
 protection, and which even to the experienced and far-sighted 
 lose their mysterious heads afar in the clouds of heaven. 
 
 Review "with discrimination all the facts, the teachings, the 
 theories, the truths and the errors which history records for us, 
 and even all the glimmering beams which philosophy throws upon 
 the domain of knowledge, ever holding fast with an unfailing te- 
 nacity to the thread, which is the conductor of our holy faith. 
 
 Let us employ our intellect — explain, distinguish, and re-exam- 
 ine all the elements which science offers us. Let us fathom every 
 point of doctrine, considered apart and by itself: let us sound it to 
 its deepest signiticancy, and at the same time let us collect all the 
 parts, apprehend their several relations and their affinities, admire 
 their proportion, their unity and their magnificent harmony. 
 
 Let us by sanctified meditation elevate ourselves above the im- 
 mense field which stretches before us. Let us consider science in 
 all its phases. Let us place ourselves ujDon a holy mountain, 
 from which we may discover all the country, which the Almighty 
 has given us to conquer and possess. Let us trim our sails upon 
 the stream, and, if needs be, trace the current in all its windings, 
 re-mounting at one time to its source, and at another, following it 
 to the end of its journey. Let us distinguish the primitive from 
 the tributary M-aters, the principal from the accessory branches. 
 Let us examme the marsh in which its pure water is defiled, be- 
 cause the original impulse of the current fails. Let us contem- 
 plate it when it glides sweetly v/ith its fertile Avaters under the 
 banks that are enriched with its gifts, and when it casts itself 
 headlong with the roar of breaking waves. Let us study the tribu- 
 taries, which bring to it their strange waters, and the various soils 
 over which it rolls its waves, that we may clearly apprehend the 
 elements which it imprints upon them. Of all these constituents 
 is our present science formed ; weighing all influences, and dis- 
 cerning all combinations, for the purpose of disengaging the Chris- 
 tian system, and constructing a sacred theology, which is the 
 highest human science, because it is the science of God. 
 
FAITH AND KNOAVLEDGE. 197 
 
 Observe, my young friends, the fervor with which those apply 
 themselves who are studying either the material body of man, or 
 his legislations, or the natural sciences. Students in theology, 
 know and rest assured that you possess a still more beautiful 
 field. Let the zeal of your contemporaries for the works of their 
 vocation make you enter again into yourselves, and inspire you 
 with a new ardor ; yours is the study of God and man. Think of 
 these things. 
 
 Take then this science, which is calling your attention, from 
 the humiliating state into which she is fallen. Restore it to its 
 primitive greatness. Be filled with an holy jealousy for its ad- 
 vancement ; for upon whose aid can she count, if not upon yours ? 
 After reaching that point, having according to Scripture become 
 " men in understanding," return according to the same Scriptiure 
 to being " children in malice." Let our knowledge recall us to 
 the faith of the simple ; but to a faith more thoroughly strength- 
 ened, less exposed to change, and which, explored through all its 
 Avindings, and examined in all its phases, can be defended at our 
 hands with warmth, and distributed with wisdom, as sincere milk 
 to babes, and as strong meat to them that are of full age. 
 
THE 
 
 VOICE OF THE CHURCH ONE, 
 
 UNDER ALL THE SUCCESSIVE FORMS OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY REV. R. SMITH, 
 
 OF WATBRFORB, N. V. 
 
THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH ONE. 
 
 A DISCOURSE, PRONOUNCED AT THE OPENING OF THE 
 THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL AT GENEVA. 
 
 What astonishmg labors — what untiring activities — what varied 
 efforts, do men employ on earth ! But time passes its level, for 
 the most part, over their productions ; while they imagine them- 
 selves to he building a tower which shall reach to the heavens, 
 their proud works are confounded, after a few generations, with 
 the sands of the desert. 
 
 There is nothing stable here, but Christianity. That alone is 
 immovable, like its Author. It is this rock against which have 
 broken, and are still breaking, waves ever new, without being 
 able to shake it. 
 
 If, then, there is any one who Avishes to give stability to his 
 work on earth, let him connect it with Religion : it will receive 
 from this connection an impress of immortality 
 
 I am aware,. gentlemen, that these are truths not generally re- 
 cognized among men. There are two prevailing errors on this 
 subject. There arc those who find nothing inichangeable even in 
 the essence of Christianity. " The Christian doctrine," say they, 
 " is only a particular development of the religious sentiment. This 
 form has succeeded to a previous one, and will, in turn, be suc- 
 ceeded by another. The Religion of Christ sprang necessarily 
 out of the state of humanity in the time of the Cscsars, as a tree 
 in Spring produces buds and flowers." Singular error of Ration- 
 alism; but which history refutes in the clearest manner. History 
 shows that Christianity was not in accordance with the directions 
 of the human mind, at the time it appeared, but in direct opposi- 
 tion to them. The wisdom of the world did not give Christianity 
 birth ; — it sought to crush it. Christianity was not the child of 
 the times ; it was, on the contrary, its adversary and regenerator : 
 and as it was not from the dust of the earth that this precious 
 fruit sprang, it cannot of course return thither again. Then did the 
 Heavens give a treasure to the world, which successive genera- 
 tions ought to transmit uncorrupted from hand to hand. This is 
 the treasure which we have received ; which -w'e arc to hold with 
 fear and reverence in earthen vessels ; and we, in turn, must trans- 
 mit it to our posterity, still unchanged and unchangeable amongst 
 9* 
 
202 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH." 
 
 millions of men, "until the Heavens and the earth flee away, and 
 there is found no more place for them." 
 
 But if we encounter, on the one hand, the triflers with Christi- 
 anity, we meet, on the other, with those who would give to it 
 a uniformity of appearance in all ages. There is something, un- 
 doubtedly, which never changes in Christianity, and that is its 
 essence ; but there is something also, which does change, and 
 that is its appearance : and it is for want of properly vinderstand- 
 ing this distinction, that so many have erred in regard to the in- 
 variableness of Christ's religion. A man changes his appearance 
 at different ages of his life : his essence, never : — he is still the 
 same man. 
 
 The Christian Religion, at the time it came from heaven, was 
 under the necessity, as is everything else in this world, of cloth- 
 ing itself in a human form. The external circumstances of differ- 
 ent epochs must exercise an influence upon the successive de- 
 velopments of Christian truth. To such a form must succeed 
 such another ; nor could these forms be things altogether indif- 
 ferent. Some have been better than others ; but the same essen- 
 tial verities have been found in all past varieties, and will be, in 
 all which are to come. 
 
 Gentlemen — the work in which we are engaged, and of which 
 I am to give you some account to-day, is, in itself, a feeble, an 
 humble work ; but here is its glory, that it belongs to the work 
 of eternity. If we attach ourselves to that which belongs to the 
 appearance of Religion only, we can have no security for that 
 which we labor to defend. The first revolution of society would 
 sweep our work to the tomb. But if we address ourselves to 
 the essence of Christianity, the cause to which we devote our- 
 selves partakes of the perpetuity of the work of God. We may 
 fail ; and being mortal, we shall fail ; our school may fail ; but 
 the cause to which it is devoted shall not fail, neither in this 
 place, nor in all the earth. To that cause, according to the an- 
 cient oracle, " the gathering of the people shall be." Yes, Gen- 
 tlemen, here lies the foundation of all our hopes ; it is this which, 
 by the grace of God, shall animate us in all our difficulties and 
 trials : and it will be worth our pains to explain and defend, on 
 the present occasion, this remarkable characteristic of the Reli- 
 gion of Jesus Christ — The invar iableness of its doctrines, under dif- 
 ferent forms ; or, The voice of the Church one and the same, in ail 
 ages. 
 
 If we search in the different periods of history for the human 
 fornas in which the truth of God has been clothed, we shall find 
 a great number. It is necessary, therefore, to bring them together 
 — to reunite and amass them. We shall obtain thus, in the last ' 
 synthesis, four periods, or principal forms of Christianity. — The 
 first is the primitive, or the form of Life ; the second is the form of 
 Dogma ; the third, the Scholastic, or, the form of the School ; and 
 
 the last, the form of the Reformation. The Church of Christ, to 
 
 use a Scriptural illustration, is like an individual man. It has 
 
THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 203 
 
 its youth, its maturity, its old age — and then, if we might so say, 
 it has, without dying, a glorious resurrection. 
 
 Let us run rapidly over these four forms — so diverse, I had al- 
 most said, so opposite, in appearance — and see if we do not find, 
 under each of them, the same unchangeable truths. 
 
 We shall hear the voice of Doctors. Undoubtedly, the declara- 
 tions of no one single man are sufficient to satisfy us what was the 
 faith of the Church ; but if, on examining those Doctors Avho lived 
 in countries the most distant from each other, we find, amidst 
 great diversities of vieAvs, some doctrines on Avhich they are all 
 agreed, shall we not safely conclude that these doctrines have also 
 been those of all the Churcii throughout the earth .' 
 
 What, then, are the points on which to direct our present in- 
 quiry .' 
 
 All Christianity, as well as all religious Philosophy, has respect, 
 necessarily, to three principal points. It has respect, at first, to 
 God; and then, to Man ; and then, to the relation between God 
 and man ; or, the scheme adopted by Deity to restore man to him- 
 self, "which is Redemption. 
 
 Let us now see what the voice of the Church has taught us, on 
 these three points, in the different periods of Christianity. — There 
 is, 
 
 I. THE FORM OF LIFE. 
 
 In considering this form, Ave shall omit the time of the Apostles ; 
 since that deserves to be considered by itself. The primitive form, 
 according to our plan, commences Avith the successors of the Apos- 
 tles, and extends to the time of Arius. The character Avhich dis- 
 tinguishes it, is that of life. The truths of Religion Avere not yet 
 exhibited Avith that precision and system Avhicli distinguished 
 them at a later period. The essential thing was the life Avhich 
 results from these truths, when jiroperly received. They liA-edfor 
 ChrJ.st, in the midst of a Avorld of idolatry ; they died for Christ, in 
 the arena and on the funeral pile, and Avithout much discussing 
 the nature of his person, or disputing about his Avork. Christiani- 
 ty was content to exist, and to knoAv and profess that it existed, 
 Avithout enunciating and classifying all the parts in Avhich that 
 existence consisted. Just as a man is satisfied for a long time to 
 have and enjoy being, Avithout studying and explaining in Avhat 
 that behig consists. 
 
 Certain Rationalistic Doctors strangely infer from this character 
 of the primitive form of Christianity, that the Christian truths did 
 not then exist, and that because there Avas no dogmatism, there 
 Avere therefore no doctrines. But to reason thus, is to reason as 
 strangely and falsely as would that inexperienced observer, Avho 
 sliould maintain that the essential parts of a human being did not 
 exist until the man had made a precise and rational analysis of 
 them. 
 
 It results from this characteristic also, that the controversies of 
 this period turn very little upon dogmas. The differences are in 
 
204 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 tendencies rather than doctrines. We shall meet with families pre- 
 senting different aspects, rather than sects maintaining different 
 doctrines. Let us trace these families a little, before proceeding 
 to notice the doctrines Avhich they all agreed to proclaim. 
 
 To the inspiration of the Apostles succeeded the simple Chris- 
 tianity of the Apostolic Fathers. It would seem that the ordinary 
 course of nature had in this case been reversed, and that the in- 
 genuousness and simplicity of infancy had followed the strength 
 and maturity of the full-grown man. The Church, under the 
 instruction of her Ignatius, her Polycarp, and many other faithful 
 disciples, lived under the great idea of the speedy return of Jesus 
 Christ : andbehold the summary of her faith ! " A new creation must 
 he accomplished in Immanitij, before the arrival of that solemn day." 
 " There are," says Barnabas, " three constitutions, or three economies 
 of the Lord ; — the hope, of life (the Old Testament), and the commence- 
 ment of life (the New Testament), and the consummation of life (the 
 Kingdom of heaven)." 
 
 But by little and little this direction towards' the heavens seems 
 to decline in the Church. A generation appears, which does not 
 so deeply penetrate the spirit of Jesus Christ. They gather curi- 
 ous traditions concerning this terrestrial appearing of Christ. 
 Some carnal Jews, who are still ex2:)ecting a Messiah altogether 
 human, brought in the grossest views under a Christian name. It 
 seemed as if the Church was fatigued with her exalted flight and 
 was beginning to seek the earth. Let us not be astonished at this. 
 One always experiences languor and drowsiness after long watch- 
 ing and care. 
 
 But there now appeared on the limits of Christianity, and al- 
 most beyond it, a tendency directly the opposite of this. Oriental 
 philosophy attempts to unite itself with the Religion of Jesus. It 
 seeks to take away from Religion its practical character, and to 
 convert it into systems, which lose themselves in the clouds. 
 Gnosticism substituted for a salutary faith, a fantastic ^cosmogony, 
 by means of which it proposed to explain that which is inexplica- 
 ble, and to cultivate a theosophy» which would procure for man 
 on earth the sublime contemplations of Heaven. The West recoils 
 before these adventurous vagaries of the East. In Proconsular 
 Africa, and among the Gauls, the Tertullians and the Irenccuses 
 arise. These offer a Christianity simple, positive, historical — and 
 propose to men that faith which nourishes alike the little and the 
 great. Regarding philosophy as the source of Gnosticism, they 
 begin to view with distrust the wisdom and scientific culture of 
 the Greeks. 
 
 But this exclusive simplicity has also its dangers. The cultivat- 
 ed Pagans, not finding in the Christianity offered them, anything 
 which responds to their intellectual taste, remain in the worship 
 of their false Gods, or precipitately cast themselves into the adven- 
 turous systems of the Gnostics. Alexandria — situated on the bor- 
 ders of the Nile, between the East and West— remarks this : Alex- 
 andria, the grand mart of the Sciences — where the gospel is said 
 to have been carried by the Apostle Mark — undertakes to medi- 
 
THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 205 
 
 ate between these'two tendencies of man, into which the world 
 was divided. Panta?nus, Clement, and Origen, found o. Christian 
 Science, and in that approach the East ; bnt they found it on 
 the ScnpHtres, and in that are nearer to the West :■ — '{yvomts aXnOU'n — 
 true Scieiice.) Alas, it was not wholly so: and these Doctors, al- 
 though they did not abandon the fundamental principles of Chris- 
 tianity, incorporated in their system the insidious germs of the two 
 great heresies, which have since troubled a subsequent epoch and 
 all the epochs.* 
 
 . -The School of Alexandria, by little and little, supplanted Gnosti- 
 cism. But against that, in turn, are directed the arms of the severe 
 and practical School of the west. A contest of a remarkable char- 
 acter arises between these two churches, or Schools rather, in the 
 third century. But the opposite tendencies seem to balance each 
 other, and thus contribute to the pro.sperity of Religion. Alexan- 
 dria originates a Theological spirit in the church. She begins to 
 .systematize, to elucidate her doctrines. She prevents a gross 
 Ant/iropomnrp/i is?n from mingling with the celestial doctrines of Jesits 
 Christ. The West is always bringing back to the simple and lite- 
 ral word of Scripture. It calls to mind constantly, that Christianity 
 is a thing, to be felt, proved in the heart, and exhibited in the life. 
 It prevents the changing of tliese positive and salutary doctrines for 
 vain aiul fantastic speculations. 
 
 Such, Gentlemen, are some of the successive phases of our 
 primitive form of Christianity. But in the midst of all a spirit of 
 life still animates the Church. It is the age of her youth. These 
 Christians, delivered from the sins of Paganism, feel the transform- 
 ing influence of the gospel, ^vith more energy, from being able to 
 compare Avhat it has made them, and what they were before. 
 This conflict with the world reminds them constantly of their voca- 
 tion as soldiers of Jesus Christ. Everything in the Church now 
 lives — everything moves. She aspires to the skies ; she seems half- 
 way ascended ; and although the age of gold must be reserved for 
 " the new heaven and the new earth," which she is expecting, 
 the Christian Church presents, in these days of her youth and life, 
 traits of beauty, that are absolutely celestial. 
 
 And what are the doctrines, which are i)rofessed by this new 
 people, which the breath of the Almighty has created in the earth .' 
 They recognize one living and true God. They worship in God, 
 not only the principle of all things {The Father), but the Redeemer 
 also (37(e Son), and the sanctifier of fallen humanity ( T/fe Holy 
 Spirit). They believed that the same God, who created man in 
 righteoitsness, has redeemed him from sin, and does not cease to 
 sanctify him until he comes to everlasting life. They knew no- 
 thing of the strange error, by which some would rob God of the 
 woric and glory of Redemption, by giving it to a creature. , 
 
 The idea of a Trinity in the Godhead discovers itself from the 
 very beginning of the primitive epoch, and never ceases to be pro- 
 claimed, in a manner the most distinct. How does the voice of 
 these early soldiers of the Cross confound the bold pretensions of 
 modern times ! Hear it : Clement of Rome, a disciple of Paul, 
 
 * Arianism and Pelagianism. 
 
206 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 renders glory to God in the following profession, — " One God, one 
 Christ, one Spirit of Grace :" while Poiycarp, a disciple of John, 
 dying in the midst of the flames, ascribes eternal glory " to the 
 father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Justin Martyr, a converted sage, who, in the time of the Anto- 
 nines, poured out his blood for the cause of Christ, proclaims, 
 " a unity in Trinity." — -Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, about the 
 same time, and in a manner still more explicit, professes " The 
 Holy Trinity." 
 
 A little afterwards, we find Tertullian, a lawyer of Africa, now 
 become a pa.stor of God's flock, proclaiming " a Trinity of one 
 Divine Being, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit !" and in 
 another place — " Let us guard well the sacrament of our econo- 
 my, ' a unity in Trinity,' recognizing //tree, the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost. — One in substance, one in estate, and one in 
 power, became one God."* 
 
 And let us hear a Bishop of a city near our own, a city trampled 
 by the fury of Christ's enemies in his day, and by other furies in 
 our own — let us hear Tren^eus, of Lyons, Avho had left the enlight- 
 ened shores of Asia to bear the glad tidings of salvation to the 
 barbarous Gauls — how does he defend the great doctrine of God 
 manifest in the flesh ! " Christ," says he, " united in himself God and 
 man : if man had not vanquished the enemy of man (i. e. the 
 Devil), he had not been properly vanquished : but, on the other 
 hand, if God had not wrought salvation, we could never have 
 been assured of possessing it." 
 
 We have thus passed, as yet, only some few scores of years, 
 from the death of the Apostles, and we have found proclaimed by 
 so many illustrious Doctors, this doctrine of Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost, a doctrine of which Christ designed to establish a 
 perpetual monument in the Church by the institution of Bap- 
 tism. The first of all the Church's Teachers defend this most 
 consoling doctrine of God become Man. The further we advance, 
 the more do these testimonies increase : throughout, is most deep- 
 ly engraven, both in the sentiments and worship of God's people, 
 the eternal Divinity of the Son of God. Even one of the wisest of 
 the Heathen sages could say of them, " These Christians meet to- 
 gether, to sing hymns to Christ, as being God." — But do we inquire 
 now, what these Christians of the primitive epoch believed con- 
 cerning man 1 They did not imagine, with certain Pagans and cer- 
 tain modern Doctors, that all evil proceeds from natural organiza- 
 tion in man, and that this evil is not in opposition to the holiness 
 
 of God ! Their sentiment was, that the first man, having, by 
 
 disobedience, separated his will from the will of God, human na- 
 ture has been abandoned to itself, and thus separated from God, 
 has fallen under the dominion of evil. 
 
 Let us approach, for proof, the college of the Apostles : let us 
 
 * JVbie hy the Translator. — The original authorities are referred to, and 
 printed in full, in the notes to Dr. Merle's pamphlet; but it has not been 
 deemed necessary to insert them here. 
 
THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 207 
 
 interrogate those who either surrounded or succeeded them. Bar- 
 nabas, the companion of Paul, has these words : " Before we be- 
 lieved, the habitation of our hearts was full of corruption and sin ; 
 filled with idolatry, and a dwelling-place of demons." Justin, 
 who had sought in vain, in all philosophy, a key to the history of 
 man, finds it, at length, in the fall of Adam, effected by the seduc- 
 tions of Satan concealed in the form of a serpent. (See his Dia- 
 logue with Trypho, p. 306.) 
 
 The first man, according to the simple and practical Irenmus, is 
 " like the case of one who, being incarcerated, propagates a race 
 in prison." The profound Tertullian has already called the cor- 
 ruption of human nature " original sin." ( Vithini Urigmis.) " The 
 first man," says he, '• infected the species descending from him, 
 and rendered them 'partakers of his condemnation." Cyprian, 
 Bishop of Carthage, understands the origin of sin in the same way. 
 " The infant, at birth, has no sin," says he, " unless it be, in that 
 it is descended, according to the flesh, from Adam, and has, by 
 its birth, contracted the contagion of death." 
 
 And now, if we betake ourselves to the school of Alexandria 
 and think to hear something more flattering to our pride from these 
 philosophical Theologians, even there we shall learn from Origen, 
 that " Adam turned from the straight way of Paradise, to take the 
 evU ways of mortal life." In consequence, all those who, de- 
 scending from him, have come into the world, are also turned 
 out of the way, and become, like him, unprofitable." " Every 
 man is corrupted in his father and in his mother : Jesus Christ 
 alone was born pure " " It is impossible that man, since his 
 fall, should regard God ; he must be subject, at first, to the do- 
 minion of sin." • 
 
 Thus Egypt, as well as Gaul, and Africa, with Asia, alike re- 
 cognize man as a being fallen and impure. 
 
 And how is this fallen and defiled being to be reconciled to a 
 holy God .' What thought the Christians of this primitive epoch, 
 of the means by which God saves .' Let us interrogate those 
 again who surrounded the Apostles. They will teach us those 
 sacred doctrines of Grace, which were more fully explained at a 
 later period. " The Son of God has suffered," says Barnabas, " that 
 his sufferings might give us life. He offered in sacrifice for us, 
 the vessel of his spirit (i e. his bodij)." Again, " Having learned 
 to hope in the name of Christ, and having received the remission 
 of sins, we are become 7ieio men, and new-created." Hermas — the 
 same perhaps of whom Paul speaks — (Rom. xvi. 14) — says: 
 " Before man receives the name of a child of God, he is condemn- 
 ed to death ; but when this seal is applied, he is delivered from 
 death and passes into life." " The law of God," says Justin, 
 " pronounced a curse upon man, inasmuch as he could not fulfil 
 it in all its extent. (See Deut. xvii. 26.) But Christ has delivered 
 us from this curse, in bearing it on our behalf." Do Ave speak 
 differently at the present day ? 
 
 JrencBus sees in circumcision " a type of the saving blood of 
 Christ, and in the tree of life, a type of the cross of Christ." 
 
208 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Elsewhere he declares " that man must no longer seek to purify 
 himself by sacrifices, but by Christ's blood and his death." The 
 Paschal Lamb, according to him, foreshadowed Christ, " who 
 saves those that believe in him, by the sprinkling of his blood ;" 
 and the two goats — of which the one was sent away into the 
 wilderness, and the other sacrificed to God — were a rejoresentation 
 of the two-fold coming of Christ, the one for death, and the 
 other for glory. He opposes to the disobedience of Adam, the 
 obedience of Christ. " Christ reconciles the Father to us," says 
 he, " in replacing, by his obedience, the disobedience of the first 
 man ;" and, pursuing his comparison of a man cast into prison by 
 sin, and into captivity to the Devil, declares that " Christ has paid 
 the ransom necessary for deliverance from this captivity." 
 
 In the same v'ay does Origen represent the death of Christ as 
 " that power which delivers man from sin." Indeed, the entire 
 Church regards the sufferings of the Lamb of God as the means 
 by which the way to the Father has been re-opened to the children 
 of men. It is faith which renders man a partaker of this deliver- 
 ance, and this comnumicates, at the same time, a divine life. 
 " Called by the grace of God," says Clement of Rome, " we are 
 justified — not by ourselves, not by our wisdom or goodness, or 
 any Avorks which we have wrought in the sanctity of our hearts ; 
 but by /a/M, according to which a sovereign God has justified 
 men in all time. Do we live at ease, then, on that account.' Do 
 we cease to do good works .' Far from it. We do good works 
 with joy — even as God for ever works, and rejoices in his activity." 
 
 Behold, then, this holy Church of the primitive epoch. Hear 
 how she speaks to us from the bosom of her griefs, and, as it 
 were, from the height of the scaffolds where she suffered. She 
 confesses her miseries, and embracing the knees of Jesus, calls 
 him her " Saviour and her God." Who can misunderstand the 
 profound accents of her sincere piety .' IIow pitiable the occupa- 
 tion of those who would despoil her of these white robes, and 
 clothe her with the tattered garments of a modern Infidelity ! 
 But this profane effort is> in the meantime, a homage rendered to 
 the Church — the first Unitarians had recourse to the same ex- 
 pedient. 
 
 Vain are all these devices ; for whoever will listen, shall always 
 hear the voice of the primitive Church proclaiming, with one 
 accord, these unchangeable truths. 
 
 II. — THE FORM OF DOGMA. 
 
 In our view of the primitive epoch of the Church — although 
 we have gathered only here and there a sheaf from the vast har- 
 vest — we have already extended ourselves beyond the proper 
 limits of this discourse. We have done so, because it is in this 
 age alone that our adversaries are wont to hazard the controversy. 
 They despair of other periods; and they make loud and violent 
 complaints, if the faith, which they cannot but acknowledge, is 
 to be found in them. We will not, therefore, greatly strive for a 
 
THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 209 
 
 field, on which our foes proclaim in advance that they are van- 
 quished and must abandon. 
 
 This epoch opens as the era of great Doctors, great truths, and 
 great heresies. It was the period in which Christian Theology — 
 of which the elements had been preparing in a preceding epoch 
 — was carried, by illustrious men of God, to its highest point of 
 elevation. It Avas the era of Athanasius, of Hilarij, of Gregory, of 
 Basil, of Ambrose, of Augustin, and of Chrysostom ; the time of lofty 
 spirits ; the age mature of the Church. The last murders of the 
 confessors of Christ have ceased — the memorable Council of Nice 
 has been held — the epoch of Life is finished — the form of Dogma 
 begins. Not that there was no longer any life in the Church ; but 
 that the characteristic of dogma is that which now prevails. Now 
 man loves to have distinct ideas of what he believes ; to method- 
 ize ; to render reasons. The Church, no longer obhged to struggle 
 with persecution from without, has more room to occupy herself 
 with that which is within. She arranges the faith which she has 
 long possessed. 
 
 The different tendencies of a former age, in the meantime, de- 
 velope more and more ; and, by a remarkable transformation, 
 arrange themselves in opposing doctrines — ^justas the dispositions 
 of youth, at first vague and indeterminate, are resolved uito dis- 
 tinct characteristics, in the mature man. The two great heresies 
 appear, conducted by Arius and Pelagius ; but even these heresies 
 became the means which God uses for the better establishment of 
 the truth. The doctrines so clearly defined by the Church of this 
 period will now be faithfully transmitted. They will be preserv- 
 ed and perpetuated amidst all the troubled barbarism of succeed- 
 ing times. The Dogmatic form shall be, by divine grace, the 
 shield of these truths in days of coming struggle and revolution, 
 and the very hammer to break their way into minds of hardened 
 barbarism. But while, in order to recognize truth more distinctly, 
 they divide it into many tninutice, it must be confessed they some- 
 times seem to lose sight of the essence — the life itself. 
 
 The East and West preserve, in the meantime, their peculiar 
 characteristics. The East remains the country of lofty specula- 
 tions — the West, that of practical qtiestions. The East discourses 
 concerning God — the West occupies itself more with man. The 
 East produces an Athanasius — the West a Pelagius and an Augus- 
 tin. But both in the one country and in the other, the truth is 
 assailed, and obtains distinguished victories. Having ])assed the 
 time of its youth, the Christian doctrine, like the just man, is put 
 to trial, but was not to prove a second fall. It will resist seduc- 
 tion ; it \v\\\ remain firm. 
 
 The doctrine concerning God was first expounded now, and with 
 great clearness ; because it was the first u[)on which man had 
 dared to lay a menacing hand. Athanasim, a distinguished Doctor 
 of Alexandria, discovers, in the profound mystery of human re- 
 demption, the necessity of the eternal Divinity of the Redeemer. 
 Earth has no Saviour, if its Saviour be not God. If Athanasius con- 
 secrates his life, and submits to so many exiles, to defend the 
 
210 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 identity of substance between the Father and the Son, it is not that 
 he attaclies so great vahie to a dialectic subtlety ; no, he combats 
 for the essence of Christianity itself, and for the salvation of souls. 
 Christianity has for its object to re-establish man in communication 
 with God. In order to this, there must be a Mediator. " But," 
 said Athanasius, " if the Son of God be different in essence from 
 God, then would there be need of another Mediator, to unite him 
 with God. He alone can establish a real communication between 
 God and his creatures, who has no need of a mediation for him- 
 self — but who is himself ?i part of the Divine essence. No'w such 
 is the Son of God. Were he a creature — be it the most excellent 
 and exalted — he would, in interposing between God and man, in- 
 stead of uniting, separate them one from another." {Athan. Ora- 
 tio contra Arian.) 
 
 But let us hear the entire Church in the Symbols of her faith. 
 " This is the faith universal," says she, "that we worship one 
 God in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity — without confounding the 
 Persons or dividing the Substance : for the person of the Father is 
 one : that of the Son, another, and that of the Holy Spirit, ano- 
 ther. But the Father, Son, and Spirit, are one same Divinity — one 
 equal Glory — one co-eternal Majesty. Such as is the Father, such 
 is the Son, andsuchthe Holy Spirit. The Father is uncreated — the 
 Son is uncreated — the Spirit is uncreated : the Father is God— the 
 Son is God — the Spirit is God; but at the same time there are not 
 three Gods, but one God. And the true faith is : — We believe and 
 confess that our Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and 
 man : God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the 
 world began ; and man, of the substance of the mother, born in 
 time — perfect God and perfect man — equal to the Father accord- 
 ing to his Divinity — less than the Father according to humanity." 
 {Athanasian Creed.) 
 
 A controversy of sixty years (from 320 to 381) was necessary to 
 determine, explain, and defend this doctrine of the Divinity of 
 Christ. 
 
 But new combats now commenced to determine another dogma. 
 A little after Athanasius and those who followed with him, appear- 
 ed another Teacher in the Church who seemed to have received 
 a commission to explain and defend the true doctrine concerning 
 Man. This was Augustin. Already, indeed, had the truth on this 
 subject been believed and confessed by those who had gone before 
 him. " By the sin of one Adam," says Hilary of Poidiers, " all the 
 human race has sinned." " We have all sinned in the first man," 
 says Ambrose. " In him human nature has sinned." But it was 
 when the great Doctor of the West arose ; he under whose influ- 
 ence were to be found, during many ages, all Avho .should have 
 clear ideas of truth ; it was when Augustin appeared, that all the 
 depths of human impotency were developed. 
 
 This man had abandoned Manicheism, then Platonism — not find- 
 ing in the one or the other that inward peace which he needed in 
 the midst of life's tempests — and he seized with avidity on the 
 Gospel, which dissipated his doubts, consoled his heart, and scat- 
 
THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 2ll 
 
 tered light in all his ways. In these combats with sin and a vain 
 philosophy, he had learned to recognize iii himself vdl the corrup- 
 tion of the human heart; and here is the chord which henceforth 
 vibrates in all his instructions. Pursued at once by the sublime 
 ideal of sanctity, and by all the seductions of sensuality, he sees 
 opened, by the shock of these conflicting elements, the deep pro- 
 fundities of his own heart — even as the tempests of the ocean will 
 sometimes uncover the depths of the abyss. To perfect his op- 
 portunities, he now comes in contact with a man, who, without 
 ideal, is placed in easy and ordinary circumstances of life, and 
 who has formed thence, the most preposterous oiiinions of^the 
 morality of human nature. 
 
 August in enters the lists with Pelagius. But this is not a con- 
 troversy between two men alone : it lies between priuciples — two 
 leading tendencies of the human mind, which have appeared in 
 all ages. Augustin sees the first man estranging himself from 
 God : from this estrangement proceeds sin, and from this, the 
 moral disorder of all humanity. Human nature, according to him, 
 is a mass of ruin {31assa pcrditionis). The consequence, as well 
 as the punishment of sin, in all his descendants, is the obligation 
 to sua also (Obligatio pcccati). Man has lost his liberty, and his 
 power to do any good work. He can no more have anything, 
 except as God is pleased to give it to him. If some come to have 
 the faith of the Gospel, while others do not — the reason cannot be 
 found in man ; since all are equally incapable of any good : it is 
 to be found in special act of God alone — in the secret counsels of 
 the Almighty — in an election of grace. After a controversy of 
 nearly thirty years — carried on in Africa, in Italy, and in Middle 
 Gaul — the truth triumphs, and the doctrine of the total inability of 
 man remains m the Church. 
 
 In the same spirit was the doctrine 'of grace explained and en- 
 forced by these great minds ; and this brings us to the third point, 
 which is to be examined. Already had it been said by the excel- 
 lent //i7«j-(/.- "Redemption is given gratuitously — not according 
 to .the merit of works, but according to the will of the giver — 
 the choice of Him who redeems us."^ — " In this consi.sts the grace 
 of God — says Augustin — that He justifies, not by our righteousness, 
 but by his own." But he insists above all, that the idea of grace 
 excludes all merit, and all natural disposition in man to receive 
 salvation. God is the Alpha and Omega with him — the beginning 
 and the end of our salvation. " That which God begins by operat- 
 ing — says he — He ends by co-operating : Commencing — He ope- 
 rates, that we might be willing — and to finish, he now co-ope- 
 rates with those who have the will : — " He that gtorieth let him glory 
 in the Lord." 
 
 Thus is the Christian science greatly advanced in this era. 
 The doctrines of God, of man, of salvation, which the teachers of 
 the first period had indeed seen in the Scriptures, are now sound- 
 ed with greater jirecision and more profound research. Under 
 the influence of the Spirit of God, Theology advances; for there 
 is, gentlemen, such a thing as progress, even in Theology. What 
 
212 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 shall we say then of those, Avho, even at this day, would persuade 
 us not only to abandon this advance, but to return to those errors 
 which the Church has long since rejected ? " Leaving the princi- 
 ples of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection." 
 
 III. — THE SCHOLASTIC FORM. 
 
 A new form succeeds to that which has supplanted the primi- 
 tive. After ages of darkness, the East beheld a great intellectual 
 movement in the eleventh century. This form has been called the 
 Scholastic from Schola — the School. The School seeks to separate 
 itself from the Church, which hath hitherto been supreme — to ob- 
 tain action and authority, independent of the hierarchy. Certain 
 liberal-minded men, who were in the beginning at least neither 
 monks nor ecclesiastics, determined to establish schools altogether 
 distinct from those which had hitherto existed. From these 
 schools soon arises the University of Paris, the mother of Scholas- 
 tic Philosophy. The general character of the scholastic form, 
 then, is the Spirit of the Schools, we may say, of tkeUniversity , or of 
 Science. To apply philosophy to Christianity ; to reduce Christian 
 doctrines to systems ; to show their connections, their internal 
 proofs, and to measure them not only by the heart, but by the un* 
 derstanding ; such is the tendency of the Scholastic form of Eeli- 
 gion : so that if the first era may be called the form of life, and 
 the second that of doctrines — the third is that of system. There is 
 yet life — there are yet doctrines ; but that which prevails is the 
 systematic. It was then that each Doctor published his system — 
 his Summa Theologies. It was the age advanced of the Church, 
 which naturally succeeded to its youth and manhood. It is the 
 age which loves to arrange Avhat it had before collected. It medi- 
 tates : it has little of impulse, but more of reflection. There were 
 indeed men of great force in this middle era ; but the prevailing 
 disposition vi^as to reflection and system. 
 
 Historical studies there were yet none : the exegetical were no 
 more as esteemed ; and yet the human mind was awaking with 
 great force all over Europe. It needed a guide to direct it, and 
 this guide was found in Dialectic Philosophy : and as Theology 
 was the science of the age, the human mind adventured upon this 
 field, under the auspices of their new leader. This tendency of 
 the scholastic might lead to rationahsm — to infidelity; but the 
 good doctors of the age opposed to these the holy truths of The- 
 ology " The Christian (says Anselm, the father of Scholastic The- 
 ology) should come to understanding through faith, and not to faith 
 through imderstanding. I seek not to comprehend, in order to 
 believe; I believe, that I may comprehend." "And I believe 
 even, because, if I did not believe, I .should not comprehend." 
 Immediately Abelard and his school avail themselves of the scho- 
 lastic principle, and become the advocates of free examination. 
 They wish first to comprehend, and then to believe. " Faith, say 
 they, established by examination, is much more solid. It is ne- 
 cessaiy to meet the enemies of the Gospel on their own ground : 
 
THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 213 
 
 if we are not to discuss, we must believe everything, the false as 
 well as the true." 
 
 In the meantime, whatever may have been the danger of these 
 tendencies, and whatever the reproaches of the Church, we can- 
 not accuse these doctors with having abandoned any doctrine of 
 the Christian faith. We cannot, however, wholly absolve them. 
 Scholasticism often disfigured Christian truth. Its tendencies and 
 the times in which it appeared, necessarily led to this. Human 
 reason never ventures without danger on those great truths which 
 surpass created intelligence. The school of the middle ages, like 
 that of Alexandria before, shook the foundations of the Christian 
 system, in attempting to establish them. It had its great minds, 
 and under its influence there was progress — I will not say of Re- 
 ligion, but of science, of Theology. The great men, who were 
 the lights of these times, communicated much instruction to the 
 scholars, who filled their schools, and Avho followed them by 
 thousands, and into the descent, if necessary, where chairs of doc- 
 trine were established. 
 
 It has become common, with certain nnbelievers, to brand 
 Christian orthodoxy as an invention of the middle ages. This trite 
 accusation does too much honor to the age in question : The 
 Christian doctrine already existed. But let us interrogate some 
 of the men of this age. 
 
 For their exposition of the doctrine of Salvation, let us hear An- 
 selm, the most influential perhaps of all the Philosophical Theolo- 
 gians — Anselm of Canterbury, the second Augustin of the Latin 
 Church, who knew so well how to unite the researches of Philo- 
 sophy with the purity of the Christian faith. The system of Re- 
 demption is developed by him, in a manner to satisfy at once the 
 iinderstanding and the heart. " All rational creatures," says he, 
 " are under obligation to submit their wills to the will of the great 
 Creator. This law, the first man transgressed, and thus destroyed 
 the harmony of moral order. Now the law of eternal righteous- 
 ness demands, either that the human race should be punished, or 
 that by some satisfaction, proceeding from humanity, that order 
 should be restored. Without this, it would be altogether incon- 
 sistent that polluted man should hold communion with happy 
 spirits. But man could not, of himself, accomplish this satisfac- 
 tion. As human nature had been corrupted by one, so by one 
 ought the satisfaction to be made. 
 
 "He, who should effect this, must be some being above creatures. 
 He must be God himself; and in the meantime he must be human 
 also, to the end that the satisfaction may be applicable to human- 
 ity. This could be none other, then, than God-man, the Mediator. 
 This God-man must deliver himself vip to death voluntarily, since 
 he was not, as God, subject to death : and he must exhibit perfect 
 obedience in the midst of the greatest sorrows. God would then 
 owe to Christ a recompense ; but Christ, as God, covdd need no 
 recompense : he could therefore transfer his merits to the world, 
 and demand for his reward the salvation of believers. " Thus 
 speaks Anselm in his Treatise — Sur Dens homo. 
 
214 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 But what is remarkable — considering the common opinion form- 
 ed of these men — is, that they insist much on the sandifying iiiflu- 
 encc of faith. " The sufferings of Clirist," says Peter Lnmhord, the 
 iUustrious Master of Sentences — " dehver us from sin ; for this im- 
 mense sacrifice of divine love inspires us with love for God, and 
 this love works our sanctification." " The just man, who lives 
 by faith," says Robert PuUcijn, " is already sanctified within, and 
 exhibits good works as signs of his faith and sanctification : faith 
 first produces righteousness of heart, and righteousness of heart 
 produces good works." Alexander de Hales, who was called the 
 irrefragable doctor, speaks thus : " Man in his original state never 
 opposed himself to God. He then had need only oi formative 
 grace ; but now that there is something in him o^iposite to God, 
 and which cannot be removed except by the power of God, man 
 needs transformative grace." 
 
 There are undoubtedly some differences between these great 
 men, but these differences only show how firmly established they 
 were in the essential truths of Salvation. Anselin, for instance, 
 Tliomas Aquinas, and others supposed that the sacrifice of Christ 
 effected the salvation of man, in virtue of an intrinsic value {ex 
 insito valore) ; Avhile many other Scholastics, and Duns Scott in 
 particular, contended that it was owing solely to the design and 
 counsel of God. This was the difference ; while all proclaimed 
 that a man was a lost being, and saved alone by the death of the 
 God-man Jesus Christ. 
 
 IV. THE FORM OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Such is the testimony of these last ages, to say nothing of the 
 WickUffs and the Waldos, the forerunners of that great movement, 
 which now began to appear in the world. The Church had had 
 its youth, full of life and vigor, its manhood mature with strength 
 and clearness, and its ripe age of reason and of system. But af- 
 ter the period of the schools the age of rationalism "was past. 
 Now the hierarchy sought to embrace all within its iron grasp : 
 life, dogma, system, lay as under a funeral stone, and all the no- 
 ble tendencies of the Church must die. Vain effort ! She burst 
 these bands of death, rolled back the stone of the Sepulchre, and 
 came forth, a dead man restored to life ! Let us salute her, under 
 this fourth form, the form of the Reformation. 
 
 If the three preceding forms were those of life, of doctrines, of 
 system, Avhat shall be the characteristic of this ? Gentlemen, the 
 Reformation was the re-establishment of former things. But this 
 re-establishment will not have respect to any one of the preced- 
 ing forms exclusively ; it shall be the re-uniting of the Avhole. 
 Of these, which had before existed only in separate forms, it will 
 now form an admirable Triology. Behold, our fourth form, an 
 epoch of the Church. The Reformation takes the form of sys- 
 tem, carries that back to dogma, and then crowns all with the 
 characteristic of life. It unites the three wisdoms of preceding 
 
THE VOICE OP THE CHURCH. 215 
 
 She commenced Avith the life. Luther proved, through divine 
 grace, the Uviiig iniluence of Christianity, as no preceding Doctor, 
 perhaps, had ever feU it before. The Reformation sprang hving 
 from his own heart, Avhere God himself had i)laced it. Tlie era 
 which passed during the time of the teacher of VVittembnrgh, 
 was, so to speak, aJl life. This is so true that the admirable work 
 published by Melanttkon (the TJieologian of the Reformation), we 
 speak now of the first edition of his Loci Communes — omits the 
 doctrine of the essence of God and the Trinitij. Not that he con- 
 sidered these doctrines unimportant ; they are, on the contrary, 
 the basis of his system; but because, in his own words, " it is 
 more profitable to adore these mysteries, than deeply attempt to 
 sound them." 
 
 But even here you will find that Christian life is built on Chris- 
 tian doctrine : and then accordingly, in the second period of the 
 Reformation (that wliich produced the confession of Augsburgh, 
 drawn up by Melancthon liimself), these doctrines are presented, 
 defined, and illustrated in all their force. The Trinity, total de- 
 pravity, and above all, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, 
 are there exi)Iained with a clearness and force scarce equalled iu 
 the epocli of dogmatism itself. You find sijstetn, also, in the har- 
 monious distribution of all the doctrines of Christianity; and this 
 characteristic appears above all in the third period of the Re- 
 formation, imder the influence of IMelancthon of Germany, and 
 Calvin of Geneva. The Christian Institutes of our Reformer 
 will remain for ages one of the most beautiful monuments of the 
 Christianity oi system. 
 
 Would you know how strong is the testimony of this epoch to 
 the immutable truths of the Go.spel, hear the great Doctor of Wit- 
 temburgli on the Divinity of Christ. " If Christ," says he, " be not 
 the true and essential God, begotten of the Father in eternity, and 
 the creator of all creatures — we are lost: for of what avail were the 
 sufferings and death of Christ, if he were only man like you and 
 I.' He could not, in that case, conquer Satan, sin, and deatli. We 
 need a Saviour who is truly God over all: the conqueror of sin 
 and death, of Satan and hell, hi vain do tlie Arians tell us he is 
 the most exalted of creatures. They A\'ish in this way to screen 
 their sliamefnl error, that the people may not perceive it; but if 
 we corrupt the Doctrine of Christ in the least degree, irreparable 
 mischief is done. If yon take away his proper Divinity, there is 
 no deliverance for us from the wrath to come." 
 
 And what is the doctrine of the Reformation concerning man .* 
 It reduces to powder the subtleties of tlie Scholastics on this point, 
 and presents the truth with an admirable clearness and simplicity. 
 Luther, even before the publication of his famous Theses on In- 
 dulgences, published others concerning man; and here are some 
 of the great truths, which, even at the morning of the Reformation, 
 lie declares himself ready to defend. 
 
 " That man has become an evil tree, and can neither will nor do 
 anything but evil." 
 
 " On the part of man, there is nothing preceding grace but im- 
 potency and rebellion." • 
 
216 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 " There is no moral virtue without pride, or discontent (iristesse), 
 that is, without sin." 
 
 " He who is destitute of the grace of God sins continually, though 
 he should not steal, kill, or commit adultery." 
 
 But in what manner shall we speak, gentlemen, of the testimony 
 which the Reformation gives to the doctrine of grace ? It was by 
 this doctrine that it overturned entirely the foundations of Rome. 
 
 The Reformation never suffers man to rest the hope of his salva- 
 tion in anything done by himself or in himself. Christ is the only 
 foundation : and faith, in his name, the only means of grace. 
 Every other view leads either to pride or despair. Hear Luther : 
 writing to his friend Sphanlein, he says, " Have you at length de- 
 spaired of your own righteousness .' And do you rejoice and con- 
 fide in the righteousness of Christ.' Learn, my brother, to know 
 Christ and him crucified ; learn to despair of yourself and to sing 
 this song, ' Jesus, my Lord, thou art my righteousness, and I thy 
 sin : thou hast taken that which was mine, and given me that 
 which belonged to thee : thou hast become that which thou wast 
 not, and caused me to be what I was not myself.' " Works," says 
 he, " on one occasion, are not taken into consideration, when jus- 
 tification is the subject concerned. True faith, indeed, will never 
 fail to produce good works, any more than the sun will fail to 
 shine ; but after all, it is not our good works which dispose God 
 to justify us." 
 
 " Undoubtedly," says Melancthon, " renovation of heart must 
 flow from faith ; but if you inquire after justification, turn your 
 eyes from this renovation and fix them on the promises — on Christ 
 — knowing that \ve are justified only for the love of Christ, and not 
 on account of our new nature. Faith justifies, not, as some sup- 
 pose, because it is in us, as the root of a good tree ; but because 
 it lays hold on Jesus Christ, for the love of whom we are rendered 
 acceptable to God." " We offer nothing to God," says Calvin, 
 " but by his grace, we are become, as it were, all pure without 
 regard to our works." 
 
 All the Reformers, while they differ on some points, are of one 
 accord in this. In Germany, in Switzerland, in France, in Great 
 Britain, in Italy even, and in Spain, they teach the doctrine of 
 Justification by Faith alone. 
 
 But why do I enlarge ? Have we not the Confessions of the Re- 
 formers, and do not the adversaries of our faith, as well as its 
 friends, agree that this was j)re-eminently the doctrine of the 
 Ileformation ? 
 
 Gentlemen ; there is yet another period — a fifth form, perhaps, 
 now commencing for the Church ; — a form unknown, mysterious; 
 and of which the characteristics cannot yet be very clearly 
 defined. Of one thing, however, we may be confident : one thing 
 the past teaches, and that is, that the same great verities which 
 have formed the foundation hitherto, will be the essence of the 
 form which is yet to come. The salutary doctrines which have 
 yet governed the Church, will not relinquish her helm now. This 
 precious vessel shall not be abandoned to perfidious and epheme- 
 
THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 217 
 
 ral winds ; — to the heresies of Theodoskis and Pelagius — of Arius 
 and Soa'nus. Ce qui 6t^ sera! That which has been, will be. 
 
 Further than this : the histoiy of the past is a guarantee that the 
 future shall re-unite all which was good in forms, that arc now 
 no more God will not permit anything to be lost, which was 
 once in his Church, and for his Church. And this leads me to 
 glance at an error of some well-intentioned Christian.s, who speak 
 of returning to primitive Christianity, without caring for what lies 
 m the way from that to the present times. The Church could no 
 more disengage itself from the influence of the difl'erent forms 
 through which she has passed, than a tree could despoil itself of 
 the diiTerent layers with which each returning spring has clothed 
 it ; or the body of a full grown man get rid of the accretions of 
 previous years. 
 
 For us, gentlemen, we will not indeed turn our eyes wholly to 
 the future ; but neither will we wholly reject the past. The past 
 will be in the future. Life, 'doctrines, system, all will be united, 
 and perfectly, in the form which is yet to be. 
 
 In the meantime there will undoubtedly be something to dis- 
 tinguish this new form from that of the Reformation ; but who 
 shall say what it will be ? I will venture to say thus much, — that 
 perhaps the principal characteristic will be the missionary spirit — 
 the carrying to all the race of men, and to every individual, that 
 which the preceding forms have preserved and produced. Did 
 not the period of the Reformation unite the isolated good of three 
 preceding eras, to the eud that the new period might stretch out 
 its hand, laden with these riches, and scatter them abroad over 
 all the earth .' Ought not these riches to become the i^roperty of 
 all men, and in a manner they have not yet been .' But I refrain 
 from these suggestions — covered as they are with a veil of deep 
 obscurity. 
 
 But one thing is certain and we ought to know it. We are, 
 gentlemen, entering on a new era for science and for the Church : 
 and ours i.«; the generation which must give to this new era its 
 first and most important impulse. There is much to do, and but 
 few as yet to accomplish it. You, at least, my voice can reach. 
 Destined, therefore, to open this new direction of piety and of 
 science, form yourselves as scribes and teachers for the work. 
 Understanding, tkat to conquer a strong infidelity will require a 
 strong faith and extensive knowledge. Enrich yourselves with 
 the past, to prepare for the future. Ye young men, who are yet 
 to serve the Church of Him who has given his life for the sheep ; 
 and ye who are already established over the flock, understand 
 weU what it is, which a sound Theology will require. Profit by 
 the instructions of history. Let her carry you beyond the narrow 
 bounds with which prejudice or locality may have surrounded 
 you— and leave the dull track where servile spirits are willing to 
 (Irag themselves along. Live— not alone with the passing moment, 
 but with other ages. History invokes them ; history surrounds 
 you with them, and makes you hear their grand and solenan testi- 
 mony 
 
 10 
 
218 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Will you reject the voice of all the Church, and of Jesus Christ 
 himself, for the voice of a single teacher ? Will you despise that 
 glory which comes from God, and seek for that which comes from 
 the present world ? Pursue this wonderful chain, the first link of 
 which is God himself, and which, forming itself through so many 
 ages, has reached at length even unto us. Be unwilling to turn 
 aside for some obscure heresy : be firm and faithful, should you find 
 yourselves alone — alone in the Church, alone in the world — a con- 
 fessor and a martyr for " God manifest in the flesh." Be not dis- 
 heartened, but comfort yourselves in reflecting that you have God 
 for your witness, and the company of all those illustrious men, 
 whose voice you have to-day heard. History shows that Christi- 
 anity has, in all ages, acted with force upon the minds of men ; 
 but shows at the same time, that it is by the same doctrines that 
 this regenerating influence has been felt. The orthodox dogmas 
 alone have had this power, whether on individuals or a people. 
 All others have served only to amuse, and to ruin them. Never 
 will you find life, where you do not truth. Are you willing then 
 to be mere rhetoricians, and amused by high-sounding language ; 
 or do you desire to be the benefactors of your race, and save them 
 by the power and wisdom of God ? Attach yourselves, I pray 
 you, to that which is saving — immutable- — eternal : associate 
 yourselves with a sacred host. Behold ; what mighty efforts are 
 now making in Switzerland and in France, in Germany and Holland, 
 in Great Britain and America, to restore to the world a sound 
 Theology and establish the throne of truth." 
 
 And thou, O God most High : by that light which causeth to see 
 Hght — illuminate our minds, and open the portals of that science, 
 whose unsearchable treasures are concealed in Jesus Christ .' 
 
VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY 
 
 MEN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
PROLOGUE. 
 
 BETWEEN THREE YOUNG MEN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 First Young Man. — Society is dissoh'ing. Where is the link that once 
 bound it together ? Is there anyone sentiment that governs it 1 Yes, one 
 — and that is selfishness. Selfishness resulting in despair; and despair 
 often in suicide ! What can check this disease that is consuming us ? 
 
 I— Faith. 
 
 First Young Man. — Yes, faith. A noble sentiment, doubtless : but what 
 faith ■? Shall it be that of the Sergeant who blew out his brains, crying, I 
 believe in Victor Hugo, or 
 
 I— Faith in God. 
 
 First Young Man. — Does not everybody in France believe in God in one 
 way or another ? And yet France is not cured. 
 
 /. — Faith in God consists not only in believing that He is, but in believ- 
 ing also what He says. When we have faith in any one, we believe his 
 word ; now in France people do not believe what God has spoken. 
 
 First Young Man. — I can easily know what Cousin, Hugo, Lamartine or 
 Chateaubiiand have said, for their works abound among us. But pray, 
 where shall we find what God has spoken ? 
 
 I. — In the Bible ; in the Book, the Book of nations, the Book of God. 
 
 First Young Man. — The Bible ! Yes, I have heard of it, but must con- 
 fess I have never read it and not even seen it. It is far from being gene- 
 rally diffused, like the Meditations of Lamartine, or Beranger's Songs. It 
 is scarcely spoken of in France. Is it much known in other countries ? 
 
 L — The Book of God is translated into more than 150 languages ; it is 
 scattered among all tribes and nations of man. There are languages in 
 which it is the only written book. The savages of distant islands come in 
 crowds to lie down for days and nights before the humble missionary 
 dwelling where it is being printed in their own tongue, that they may be 
 the first to bear it away in fragments, leaf by leaf: and already has it begun 
 to circulate among the three or four hundred millions of the Celestial 
 Empire. 
 
 First Young Man. — It must be very ancient, to have travelled so far. 
 
 /■ — When the first of its writers composed his books, Greece knew not 
 yet her letters. 
 
222 PROLOGUE. 
 
 First Young Man. — But what has it been doing in the world ? Has it 
 produced effects comparable to those of the works of modern authors ? 
 
 1. — When the world was sinking into decay, in the time of the Roman 
 Emperors, this Book triumphed over the corruption of the South, and 
 created a new world. And when the Barbarians had threatened to stifle 
 our Europe in its new birth, this Book triumphed over the barbarism of 
 the North, and created modern society. It is able to save us for the third 
 time — and, even now, is converting the ends of the earth to the knowledge 
 of the true God. 
 
 First Yoimg Man. — Certainly if these things were known and understood, 
 this Book would command more attention. 
 
 1. — It must be read ; it must be found in every school and in every 
 cottage ; every Frenchman must own a Bible. 
 
 Third Young Man. — My dear friends of the city, you have been talking 
 this half hour about religion, and you have not mentioned either church, 
 bishop, or curate. It is not so with us in the country. We have a great 
 respect for what you imagine to be no longer in existence. Know then, that 
 in France we still go to confession, and still believe in the priest who 
 alone has the right to direct us. Now, sir, the Church forbids the people 
 to read this Book, whose cause you so valiantly espouse; 
 
 /. — How can the men of God prohibit the reading of the Word of God? 
 
 First Yoimg Man. — What is that you say ? An advertisement of this 
 book, wluch I read in a paper, announced that it was published under the 
 auspices of the Archbishop of Paris. 
 
 /. — The priests forbid the people to read the Holy Scriptures ! As well 
 might the king's ministers prohibit Frenchmen from reading the charter 
 which they are bound to observe. 
 
 First Young Man. — Some ill-disposed minds would be ready to infer that 
 the priests have special reasons for concealing the contents of that Book. 
 
 Third Young Man. — No matter : the Church is always the same. What 
 the holy Fathers enjoined from the earliest ages, she enjoins still, despite 
 the pretensions or tVie ridicule of the present generation. We ought to sub- 
 mit to what has been acknowledged from all antiquity to be true. 
 
 /. — But where do you find that the Church wishes to keep for her own 
 use, the treasure which was entrusted to her to distribute generously to 
 all? 
 
 Third Young Man. — If the early Fathers of the Church had wished us to 
 read it, why is it not given to us ? 
 
 First Young Man. — If this book is what you say it is, why has there been 
 no appeal made to the present generation, to induce them to read it ? 
 
 /• — (To the first.) — You, on the one side, demand an appeal to the men 
 of our day. ( 2b the third.) And you, on the other, desire to hear the voice 
 of the ancients. If such an appeal and such a voice are heard, promise me 
 one thing. 
 
 First You/)Tg Man. — What? 
 
 /. — Serious attention. 
 
 Both. — We promise, 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 Verbum autem Domini manet sternum. — St. Peter. 
 
 I. 
 
 Oh, Earth ! earth ! earth ! hear the voice of the Almighty ! God 
 has spoken. He who in the beginning made the heavens and 
 the earth, has caused his voice to be heard among men. His 
 voice is powerful as the whirlwind that cleaves the mountains 
 asunder, and rends the rocks from their base. 
 
 His voice is gentle and consoling ; it penetrates the depths of 
 the heart, and makes sunshine there. Oh man ! thy Creator, thy 
 Father, thy Friend, thy Saviour, thy God has spoken here below, 
 and thou hast paid no regard to Him. 
 
 Thou hast listened to the voice of thy gay companions, to their 
 tales, their jests, and their boisterous merriment, but thou hast 
 given no attention to the words of thy God. 
 
 Thou hast listened to the voice of seducers, of those whose 
 words were flattering, whose lips drop as an honey -comb while 
 the poison of asps was concealed beneath ; — of those who said, 
 " Come with us" — but whose feet go dowir to death, and their 
 steps take hold on hell ; and still thou hast regarded not the mes- 
 sage of tliy God. 
 
 Thou hast listened in the haunts of business to the voice of 
 those who buy, and those who sell, to the voice of stewards and 
 of the servants of mammon — to the voice of thine own heart, 
 which repeated evermore, "Give!- Give!" — and yet thou hast 
 had no ear for the words of thy God ! 
 
 Thou hast listened to the voice of the courier as he swept by 
 thee with the words, " a wonderful event has just transpired" — 
 to the voice of friends who answer thy eager question, " what 
 news to-day .'" — to the voice of those who relate to thee the de- 
 bates of statesmen, or the battles of soldiers — and yet thou hast 
 disregarded the voice of thy God. All — all could gain attention 
 from thee except thy Creator and Sovereign. 
 
 fell: 
 
 ' Oh Earth ! earth ! earth ! hear the voice of the Almighty ! 
 Could He forget thee who has given thee life - Could He who 
 
224 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 called thee into existence, fail to show thee the path of happi- 
 ness ? Must not He who formed thee, understand thee perfectly, 
 and know certainly what is best for thee ? Oh man ! where wilt 
 thou find a protector more powerful — a friend more tender than 
 thy Creator, and thy God ? To whom oughtest thou to listen if 
 not to Him ? 
 
 It was early spring time; all was calm. The silver moonlight 
 streamed into a spacious hall, lately resounding with the voice of 
 song and laughter ; graceful forms had glided through the dance 
 there, and sounds of deep melody had floated on the evening air. 
 But the gay groups had separated ; the silence of night had suc- 
 ceeded to the confused murmur of the festival ; and thought 
 awoke. The hearts of some among them said, " This is not hap- 
 piness ; we need something beyond this. The period of our life 
 is as nothing in God's sight. There is a higher, an eternal happi- 
 ness. Who will give it to us ; who will show us the way to it .'" 
 And I seemed to hear a voice from Heaven answering — The 
 WORDS OF YOUR GoD ! Oh sons and daughters of men ! behold 
 the guide to that better land — read them. 
 
 It was summer ; All was activity m city and field. The mer- 
 chant was busy at his counting-house, the workman in his shop, 
 the mother in her household, the soldier at his post, the laborer 
 in his field. 
 
 There was a murmur like the humming of insects, in the heat 
 of the day, but vast and deep, for it was the busy hum of men. 
 And numbers among them said with hollow eyes and mournful 
 voice, "Alas! true happiness is not found in the whirl of busi- 
 ness. Who will tell us where to seek it ?" And again I seemed 
 to hear a voice from Heaven, answering, the words or your God 
 — oh, children of men — will show you the path of happiness. 
 Read them. 
 
 It was a day in autumn. The wind had stripped the trees, 
 their dry leaves carpeted the earth, old men and women were 
 reposing in the faint sunshine before their houses, while their 
 children "were at work, and each one thought to himself; Soon 
 my last sun will rise ; soon will the sharp blasts of death detach 
 me from the tree of life, and lay me low, like these leaves, on the 
 earth. Who will give me the assurance of immortality .' Who 
 will give me eternal life .' And again I seemed to hear a voice 
 from Heaven, answering, " Aged men, the words of vour God 
 can give it to you. Read them." 
 
 It was winter. Everything was dry, frozen, dead. It was the 
 time when men assembling, incite each other to crime ; but it 
 was the time also, when God speaks powerfully to the soul. 
 Conscience, that invisible witness, which each of us bears within, 
 seemed awakened in many. Men and women, young and old, 
 in the country, and in town, mourned over their faults. One 
 voice in a tone of terror exclaimed, " I have sinned. The death 
 which now reigns over all nature, dwells also in my soul; I do 
 nothing but what is wrong; who can endure the day of the 
 Lord's coming.' Who shall stand when He appeareth .' "My sins, 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 225 
 
 my sins, who will deliver me from them ? Who will save me ?" 
 And I seemed to hear a voice from Heaven, saying, Jesus Christ ! 
 Jesus Christ will deliver thee. He has come to seek and save 
 that which is lost. Read the word of God and thou wilt know 
 thy Saviour, thou wilt possess salvation ! 
 
 ni. 
 
 " Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamen- 
 tation, oh house of Israel." There seems a spell cast upon men. 
 Despite all solicitations they will not take this precious Book to 
 their hearts, though the words of God are written in it. 
 
 It was offered to a woman with white hair, and shrunken hands 
 and tottering limbs; "Ah, leave us in peace," she exclaimed, 
 " do not trouble us with your Bibles ;" and she shut her door 
 against the holy volume and him who bore it. Ah, Lord ! the 
 children of this generation seek books of amusement, but they 
 despise thy Word. 
 
 It was next presented to a man of haughty appearance, with a 
 lofty glance and an air of dignity. He laughed in scorn at the 
 offer ; with a demoniac sarcasm and a fearful oath, that caused 
 the Book to fall from the hands of the trembling listener, he went 
 his way. Ah, Lord ! the children of this generation feast on 
 infamous books, but they despise thy Word. 
 
 Another approached. One would liave taken him at the first 
 glance for a truly venerable personage. His words were smoother 
 than oil, but they left a sting behind sharper than any two-edged 
 sword. Under the sheep's clothing, glittered the cruel eyes of a 
 devouring wolf " You must not read the Word of God," he ex- 
 claimed. Then he uttered blasphemy against it, and snatching 
 the book from the hands of an old man who had found there the 
 hope of eternal life and heavenly consolation, he threw it with 
 sacrilegious hands into the fire; the flames arose and consumed 
 it. I looked and behold I nothing but a.shes remained of the ora- 
 cles of Israel. 
 
 Ah, Lord, the children of this generation seek after cunningly 
 devised fables and false doctrines ; but they despise thy word. 
 " You must not read the word of God," say they, and yet the 
 voice of antiquity has spoken. The exhortations of the saints of 
 the Eternal have been heard. All the teachers of the flock of 
 Christ in the early ages of pure Christianity have entreated men 
 to read the Holy Scriptures, and to listen to the oracles of the 
 Almighty. But Christianity is sadly fallen, and neglects the voice 
 of its early benefactors. 
 
 Oh proud and audacious tongue that dared to say, " Read not 
 the word of God ;" didst thou not fear lest the breath of the Al- 
 mighty should smite thee into eternal silence, with a word ! And 
 you, ye sacrilegious hands, that snatched from the old man those 
 oracles of truth, feared you not the paralyzing touch of death ? 
 earth ! earth '. earth ! hear the voice of God's people, of the 
 teachers of the Truth, of the Fathers of the Church of Christ, of 
 10* 
 
226 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 those who are now in the kingdom of Heaven with Abraham, 
 and Isaac, and Jacob. 
 
 Christians ! they speak to you from the stake and from the 
 cross, to which they were condemned here below for the love 
 they bore to Jesus. They speak to you from the height of 
 Heaven, where they are reigning in glory now with their Re- 
 deemer. Listen to their voices ; they are the voices of friends. 
 They " fought a good fight" in behalf of this Gospel to which 
 you owe every blessing you enjoy ; the dedication of your little 
 children to God's service ; the peaceful rejjose of your aged 
 parents ; the intelligence of your mature age ; the sweets of 
 home-happiness ; the arts of peace, and above all, eternal life. 
 
 Child of man, whoever thou art, man or woman, yoitng or old, 
 master or servant, layman or priest, wise or ignorant, rich or poor, 
 listen ! This cloud of witnesses calls to you out of heaven to 
 take up the Book of God; to read it, to treasure its teachings in 
 your heart, and to act them out in your life. 
 
 Come then — traverse with me the early ages of the Church, 
 but first put off your shoes from off your feet, for the place 
 whereon we tread is holy ground. He who calls himself, I am, 
 the author and finisher of our faith, is about to speak. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " In the beginning Avas the Word, and the Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning 
 with God ; all things were made by Him, and without Him was 
 not anything made that Avas made. And the Word was made 
 flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory 
 as of the only begotten of the Father) full of gTace and truth." 
 He called Himself 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Eighteen centuries ago earth was filled with rejoicings— God 
 was made man ! All who heard and believed the tidings receiv- 
 ed eternal life. Darkness fled before this light. 
 
 " Ah, we can no more hear Him ! We can see Him no more ! 
 He has gone back to Heaven." Sons of men, you can yet hear 
 Him ; His word is in the midst of you ; Why do you not read 
 it .' He who was from everlasting, and who for man's salvation 
 veiled Himself in flesh, eighteen centuries ago, cast His far-reach- 
 ing glance over ages to come. He saw that future generations 
 would also sigh after eternal life, and He wished to open a way 
 by which they too might be saved. Therefore, He gave them a 
 commandment. Earth ! earth ! earth ! listen to the command 
 of Jesus Christ: "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye 
 
 THINK YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY ARE THEY WHICH TES- 
 TIFY OF ME."* Thus spoke the Lord Jesus. 
 
 v * The Gospel according to St. John, v. 19, translated from the Vulgate 
 by the Master De Saci, printed in 1759 by De Bret, ordinary printer to the 
 King and clergy of France. 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 227 
 
 This is the first voice, and the greatest. Lord, enable ns to un- 
 derstand thy words ! 
 
 SONS OF MKN ! READ THE BOOK. 
 
 A certain man urged on the murderers of the first martyr, and 
 kept their clothes while they stoned him to death. This man, as he 
 journeyed at noon on the highway, was startled by the splendor of 
 a supernatural light that burst upon him, and he fell to the earth. 
 He heard a voice calling him byname, and answered, " who art 
 thou .'" The voice replied, " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest : 
 rise up, for I will send you to the Gentiles to open their eyes that 
 they may be converted." And this man became the chief laborer 
 under God. in planting anew the tree of life in the desolate home 
 of man. He was called St. Paul. Asia, Macedonia, Greece and 
 Rome heard his voice, and a living spirit was infused into their 
 dead bodies. 
 
 Men of this generation, he has instructions for you also. There 
 are some Avho in their sad delusion say, " All Scripture is not 
 good ; it is not sufficiant to teach us, to show us the way of salva- 
 tion, to prepare us for good works." Listen to the words of St. 
 Paul — "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is pro- 
 fitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
 righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly fur- 
 nished unto all good works."* 
 
 This was the second, voice. Lord, enable us to understand 
 these words! 
 
 Yl. 
 
 SONS OF MEN ! READ THE BOOK. 
 
 The Son had scattered the seed. The Holy Spirit vivified it, and 
 Jews and Pagans, that long sterile soil, gave signs of life. Holy 
 churches sprang up everywhere, like trees bearing flowers and 
 fruit. Of the believers among the Jews, there were some who re- 
 ceived the name of " noble," and the commendations of the Holy 
 Soirit. They were the faithful Bereans. 
 
 And wherefore were they so honored ? Because they searched 
 the Scriptures daily, to see if these things were so ; and believed 
 nothing which their preacher told them, unless it corresponded 
 with the teaching of God's Word. And yet these preachers were 
 great apostles ; they were St. Paul and Silas. 
 
 Children of the present day —imitate the Chri.stians of Berea. Be- 
 lieve nothing that your preachers tell you, unless you find warrant 
 for it in the Bible ; and that you may be able to judge whether 
 their teachings correspond with it, read it daily — read it much. 
 
 * 2d Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy, 3d chap., 16, 17 verses, Omnis scrip- 
 tura divinitus inspirata utilis est ad docendum, ad arguendum, ad corri- 
 pendum in justitia: ut peifectus sit homo Dei, ad omne opus bonum in- 
 Btructus. — (Vulgate. ) 
 
228 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 St. Luke says — They of Berea " Avere more noble than those in 
 Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness 
 of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether these things 
 were so."* 
 
 This is the third voice. Lord enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 vn. 
 
 SONS OF MEN ! READ THE BOOK. 
 
 Sixteen centuries ago, on the i^oint where the Rhone and the 
 Saone mingle their waters, there arose a great light. A son of the 
 East, a disciple of Poly carp, who had himself sat at the feet of the 
 disciple whom Jesus loved, crossed the seas, ascended the Rhone, 
 and took up his abode in the city of Lyons, in which he became 
 a minister. 
 
 All who lived on the hanks of the Rhone, of the Saone, and far- 
 ther still, were charmed with his teachings. 
 
 They abandoned their idols, and adored the Lord Jesus. The 
 Saviour lifted up his pierced hand on them in benediction, and 
 they began to live. 
 
 This man was called Saint Irenaius. (A. D. 177.) 
 
 Listen to the lessons w'hich he gave on the banks of the Rhone 
 and Saone 1600 years ago : 
 
 You say that the Scriptures are obscure and ambiguous. Ire- 
 na3us says, " These things are placed before our eyes openly and 
 without ambiguity in the different books of Scripture. f All these 
 may openly and without ambiguity be equally understood by all t 
 They must be very stupid§ who close their eyes against so clear 
 a revelation, and refuse to admit the light of the preached word." 
 
 This is the fourth voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 VIIL 
 
 SONS OF MEN ! READ THE BOOK. 
 
 A man, in eager pursuit of science, but still under the yok^ of 
 heathenism, traversed Greece, Ionia, and Italy, and visited in these 
 abodes of high civilisation the schools of the world's jphilosojihers, 
 hoping to find truth there. 
 
 * Acts xvii. 11. Hi autem erant nobiliores eoruin,qui sunt Thessaloni- 
 cae, qui susceperunt verbum cum omni aviditate, quotidie scrutantes scrip- 
 turas, si haec ita se haberent. (Vulgate.) 
 
 t Aperte et sine ambiguo. 
 
 J Similiter ab omnibus audiri possint. 
 
 § Valde hebetes— Tarn lucidam. (Five books against all heresies, by St. 
 Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons, Book II., chap. 46.) We do not give at length all 
 the quotations in Greek and Latin from the Fathers, because they would 
 occupy too much time and space, and would be without interest to a large 
 class of readers. But a few are given to show the care that has been taken 
 to have recourse to the original writings of the Fathers. All the passages 
 alluded to may be found in an elegant work, entitled " The Select Library 
 of the Fathers of the Church," by Mr. N. S. Guillon, Professor of Theolo- 
 gy at Paris, Preacher in Ordinary to the King, &c., Paris, 1824. 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 229 
 
 In his journeyings he arrived at a city, famous for its splendor 
 and wisdom, near the banks of the Nile. There he heard, for the 
 first time, of the Lord Jesus, and there he believed. He received 
 from the Redeemer remission of his sins, and brake his idols in 
 pieces. A few more months passed, and he was himself spread- 
 ing the light of truth through Egypt, Jerusalem, and Antioch. — 
 Thousands of ministers of God were formed under his teachings. 
 He was called Saint Clement of Alexandria. (A. D. 190.) 
 
 It is said by men of our day, " The spirit of the age and errone- 
 ous doctrines have misled great numbers ; the Scriptures are no 
 longer fit for them: they cannot understand them." 
 
 Hear what the Doctor of the Nile replies : 
 
 " Let him whose eyes are obscured by a bad education, and by 
 false doctrines, hasten to the light, to the truth, to the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, which will reveal to him what cannot be written. The 
 Bible kindles a spark in the sou! ; it opens the spirit's eyes, that it 
 may see ; and like the gardener who grafts a tree, communicates 
 to it something new."* 
 
 This is the fifth voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 Avords ! 
 
 IX. 
 
 Persecution was devastating the churches of Egypt. The popu- 
 lace rose in crowds against the Christians, and Severus crushed 
 them with his sceptre. 
 
 A young man of sixteen years saw his father seized by a band 
 of soldiers. He implored them to release him, but in vain. Leo- 
 nidas was thrown into a dungeon. The young man determined to 
 present himself before the heathen tribunal. He also would con- 
 fess his Saviour — he would offer his life to those who murdered 
 his Ijrothers, while his father tried to shield them at the expense 
 of his own. His heart-broken mother clasped him in her arms ; 
 and seeing him about to escape from her, she carried away his 
 toga and tunic, and hid her son's garments that she might save 
 his life. Then the young man, seeing that he could not share the 
 death of his father, exclaimed, " At least, do not abandon, for our 
 sakes, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Leonidas died a martyr's death, leaving his wife a widoAV, his 
 son without a protector, and six other children, still very young. 
 The young man became a minister : he rose to the chair of Cle- 
 ment. And if Clement instructed a thousand, the son of Leonidas 
 instructed ten thousand. He was called Origcn. (A. D. 220.) 
 
 Men of our day— listen to the voice which charmed the eastern 
 world. You say, "Who can explain to us these Scriptures? 
 Shall men imfold their mysteries, and explain their hidden sense 
 to us .' Shall we have a human tribunal ?" 
 
 The Doctor of the Chiu-ch replies : 
 
 " My son, read above all, with deep attention, for this is requisite 
 in order to speak and judge of them Avithout precipitation. If 
 
 • Works of St. Clement of Alexandria, Stronriatunn, Book I., p. 274. 
 
230 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 yon persevere in the reading of the Bible with a fixed mind aad 
 with faith, knock, and whatever is shnt will be opened to you by 
 the porter of whom Jesus speaks in the Gospel according to St. 
 John, chap, x., verse 3. Nevertheless, it is not enough to seek and 
 to knock ; that which is most of all necessary to enable us to un- 
 derstand heavenly things— is prayer. The Saviour enjoins it on 
 us when he says, not only ' Seek and ye shall find — knock and it 
 shall be opened unto you ;' but also ' Ask and it shall be given 
 luito you,' "* 
 Lord, enable us to understand these words ! 
 
 X. 
 
 A certain bishop devoted his life to the preaching of the cross 
 throughout Carthage, Africa, and all the West. Persecution ra- 
 vaged the empire — and soon the venerable head of the bishop of 
 Carthage was to be laid low on the scaffold. His persecutors 
 were about to convey him to Utica, the birthplace of Cato, but he 
 escaped from them, determined that if lie was to die for his Mas- 
 ter's cause, it should be among his own people — among the men 
 and women, the aged and the young, whom he had taught, so 
 that they might receive the last testimony which his words and 
 his death could render to the glory of his Saviour. And when he 
 learned that it was in Carthage, in the very bosom of his flock, 
 that he was called to the crown of martyrdom — he cheerfully re- 
 signed himself into the hands of the proconsul. At the moment 
 when the magistrate was pronouncing his sentence of death, his 
 heart bounded, his eyes were raised to Heaven with a hopeful 
 gaze, and he uttered these simple words. " God be praised !" 
 He was called Cyprian. (A. D. 258.) 
 
 Before the murderous sword shall have stifled in death that 
 voice of wisdom, speak, oh man of God, to the people that sur- 
 round thee, and tell them how they may flnd the path to that 
 heavenly home, towards which thy looks of love and hope are 
 directed. 
 
 He did speak — and spoke for all ages. Listen lo the voice of 
 the martyr. 
 
 " God was pleased to reveal much to his servants, the prophets,^ 
 but how much greater are the revelations which His Son has 
 given us,]: those which the word of God, who inspired the prophets, 
 has made known to lis, with his own voice. He commands no 
 longer that the way shall be prepared before him ; but He comes Him- 
 self. He points out to us the way of life, and freely opens its en- 
 trance to us ; and we who were lying in darkness, and in the 
 shadow of death, are enlightened by the illumination of His Spirit, 
 that we may be enabled to walk in that path under His divine 
 
 * A letter from Origen to his former pupil, Gregory of Nazianzen. Phi- 
 localia, chap. 13. (Collection of the Writings of Origen made by Saint 
 Gregory and Saint Basil.) 
 t Multa et per prophetas servos suos, etc. (The Old Testament.) 
 J Sed quanto majora sunt quae filius loquitur. (The Gospel.) 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 231 
 
 guidance. Oh brothers, Avell beloved ! the teachmgs of the Gos- 
 pel are the lessons of God Himself — these are the foundations on 
 which our faith must rest, the helm which directs our vessel,* the 
 citadel in which we find safety. They who in sincere faith receive 
 these teachings on earth, will be guided to that glorious Home 
 which God has prepared for those who love Him. 
 
 This is the seventh voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 XL 
 
 Persecution raged against the Christians, but the truth of God 
 spread faster and wider. 
 
 The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church. Then 
 Satan, who was the spirit that animated the princes and priests 
 of Paganism, inspired them with a new idea. " Let us burn," 
 they said, " all the copies of the Scriptures ; let us destroy the 
 word of God : so shall we annihilate the source from which this 
 religion flows, and Christianity shall be for ever banished from the 
 earth." 
 
 This design bore direct evidence of its infernal origin, but Jesus 
 was "watching over His people and His cause from His throne of 
 glory in the Heavens. 
 
 The priests of Jupiter .and Bacchus demanded the Bible with 
 loud outcries. The proconsuls caused the houses of Christians 
 to be searched. Alas ! alas ! some poor timid wretches were cow- 
 ardly enough to deliver vip the book of God rather than face death 
 in its defence. But others, faithful even luito death, refused to 
 surrender it, and resigned their lives rather than their Bibles. 
 
 All the copies that could be collected were heajjed up in the 
 public squares and burned. The faithful saw from afar the rising 
 flames, and stole mournfully and secretly by night to the spot 
 where profane hands were committing to the fire the holy words 
 which God has spoken. Tears flowed down their cheeks, and 
 anguish filled their hearts, as they saw the oracles of Israel re- 
 duced to ashes. They were the priests of the dissolute Jupiter, of 
 the impure Venus, of the reeling, drunken Bacchus, who then 
 burned the New Testament. Men of the nineteenth century ! who 
 are tiiey that burn it no^v ' 
 
 " Shame, shame, everlasting shame," cried the Christians, " to 
 those who delivered to unholy hands the sacred Word of God." 
 They gave the name of traitorsf to these cowards, and drove them 
 from their Churches. 
 
 " Glory, glory, everlasting glory," sang the angels of Heaven, 
 " to the witnesses for the truth and its defenders !" they are the 
 Christian Martyrs. 
 
 " Have you the Holy Scriptures ?" demanded the barbarous pro- 
 consuls of these holy men ? 
 
 " I have," was the reply. 
 
 ♦ Gubernacula dirigendi itineris. (Works of St. Cyprian. De Oratione 
 dominica, in initio, p. 217.) 
 t Traditores. 
 
282 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 " Where are they ?" 
 
 " In my heart." 
 
 And they burned the defenders of the Word of God, in order to 
 reduce to ashes even the hving tables on which the finger of God 
 had inscribed His glorious truths.* 
 
 This is the eighth voice. Lord, enable us to profit by these ex- 
 amples ! 
 
 XII. 
 
 What man is this in the midst of the assembly of bishops, like 
 a rock in the bosom of the ocean, who silences all those that deny 
 that he who died on the cross was the true God, and who suffers 
 repeated banishments for maintaining the supreme Divinity of his 
 Saviour and mine .' 
 
 He is called St. Athanasius. (A. D. 325 ) 
 
 He speaks thus to Christians who have strayed into error. " If 
 you would bring forward something beyond what is written, why 
 do you dispute with us ? We are determined to speak and to hear 
 nothing in these matters but what God has revealed to us in Scrip- 
 ture." f 
 
 Then addressing the heathen who were seeking God, he said, 
 •' The Holy Scriptures are inspired by God and are sufficient to 
 guide you into all truth." J 
 
 This is the ninth voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 XIII. 
 
 On the banks of Vienne, a bishop feeds his flock, and within the 
 walls of Poictiers delights the Gauls by his piety and the depth of 
 his Avisdom. He is called St Hilary. (A. D. 350.) 
 
 He turns towards the East, towards the magnificent city of Con- 
 stantine, and addressing him, who from that majestic throne gov- 
 erns the world, he says — " Oh Emperor, yon are seeking faith ! 
 Turn not in search of it to new and entichig books, but search the 
 Scriptures, where alone its true foundation lies." Theii address- 
 ing the Christian people arovmd him, he said, " Let i;s read the 
 things which are written, let us understand what we read, and 
 then our faith will be perfect." 
 
 This is the tenth voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Who is this young man who studies in the flourishing schools 
 of Athens, Alexandria, Constantinople and Caesarea, and who, after 
 having cultivated ancient letters, displays as bishop, all the trea- 
 sures of wisdom and benevolence, and endeavors to restore 
 peace between the contending East and West .' 
 
 * Acts of Saturninus, of Dativus and others in Africa. Ruinart, Du 
 Pin,&c. 
 t Works of St. Athanasius. De Incarnatione Christi. 
 } lb. Oratio contra gentes. 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 222 
 
 It is Saint Basil. (A. D. 870.) He tells us, " it is right and ne- 
 cessary that each one should learn from the inspired word of God 
 whatever is needful for his growtli in grace, and to defend him- 
 self against the evils of hitman tradition." * 
 
 And wishing still more eftectually to warn men against mere 
 human treachery in divine things, the holy man adds, " it is want 
 of faith, it is great pride, it is a heinous crime, to wish to take any- 
 thing away from Scripture, or add anything thereto." f 
 
 This is the eleventh voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 XV. 
 
 Who is this that dares to bar the way against imperial majesty 
 because its garments have been dipped in blood, and refuses to 
 celebrate the Holy Communion in the presence of him, before 
 whom Asia, Africa and Europe tremble, because he delivered up 
 his subjects to the fury of his soldiery .' From within the walls of 
 Milan he summons the great Theodosius to bow before Him who 
 alone is truly great and glorious. It is Saint Ambrose. (A. D. 
 380.) 
 
 He points both kings and people to the source of life. " Drink," 
 he says, " of the two cups of the Old and New Testament, for 
 from each of them you may drink of Christ.f Thus shall you 
 drink of the blood by which you are redeemed. Thus shall yon 
 drink His words. The Old Testament, no less than the New, is 
 all His word. We drink the Holy Scriptures, we devour the sa- 
 cred Book, when the aliment of the eternal word descends into the 
 veins of our soul and the powers of our mind,§ for " man shall 
 not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out 
 of the mouth of God." 
 
 This is the twelfth voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A recluse sits with his head bowed in deep study over the Book 
 of God, in the birthplace of the Saviour. Around him from the 
 fields of Bethlehem a multitude of disciples are assembled to learn 
 the truths of Scripture, and from him the knowledge of the word 
 of God is spread throughout the West. This is Saint Jerome. 
 (A. D. 390.) 
 
 From his hermitage, he casts a mental glance over the children 
 of that generation within the bounds of Rome, the magnificent, 
 and writes thus to a Roman lady of high ranic : 
 
 * Works of Saint Basil — Bishop of Caesarea. Regulse breviores, Re- 
 sponsio 95. 
 
 t Ibid, Sermo de fide, page 224. 
 
 t Uliumque poculum bibe Veteris et Novi Testament], quia exutroque 
 Christum bibis. 
 
 § Bibitur scriptura divina, et devoratur scriptura divina, cum in venas 
 mentis ac vires animi succus verbi descendit aiterni. Works of Saint Am- 
 brose. Bishop of Mian, in Psalm 1. Enarratio. 
 
234 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 " Teach your daughter, from her earhest years, to love the 
 Holy Scriptures better than gems and silks.* Let her learu from 
 Job a lesson of patience and fortitude, and passing thence to the 
 Gospel, let her never relax her hold on its blessed truths. "f 
 
 Then addressing those who affirmed that the Bible could not 
 be understood by all, the hermit of Bethlehem said : 
 
 " The Apostles have written, and the Saviour Himself has 
 spoken in the Gospels, not that a few, but that all might under- 
 stand."t 
 
 Plato wrote for the learned few, not for the mass ; and few 
 indeed vmderstand him. But these, that is the princes of the 
 Church, the Prophets and Apostles of the Lord Jesus wrote not 
 for the few, but for all.§ 
 
 This is the thirteenth voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 xvn. 
 
 « 
 
 A young man of seventeen, just released from the faithful in- 
 structions of his pious mother, mingles with the heathen of Car- 
 thage in all the pleasures and disorders of that great city. But 
 the pious Monica continued to pray, " Oh Lord, convert my son." 
 The young Numidian is seduced by the deceitful religion of 
 Manes : and soon after, his spirit is filled with enthusiasm for the 
 philosophy of Plato. Still Monica continued her prayer — " Lord, 
 convert my son !" 
 
 Next, he gave himself up with intense interest to the study of 
 the art of rhetoric. The reputation of Ambrose attracts his notice. 
 He enters the Christian temples of Milan in search of eloquence, 
 and the words of the holy bishop break over his heart like the 
 waves of the sea against its shores. And Monica, trembling with 
 hope, prayed yet more earnestly — " Oh God, convert my son." 
 
 Her son, filled with anguish, ashamed of himself and of his dissi- 
 pated youth — sought one day the solitude of his garden, that he 
 might yield to his emotions luiobserved. He threw himself down 
 under a fig-tree ; he wept bitterly ; out of the depths of sorrow he 
 cried unto the Lord. And a voice, soft and sweet as that of a 
 child, stole on his ear, saying, " Take and read." He arose ; a Bi- 
 ble was near him on a seat ; and as he opened it, his eyes fell on 
 these words, " Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." (St. Paul's Epis- 
 tle to the Romans, chap. xiii. verse 14 ) — Peace flowed into his 
 soul like a river; and a great light, like the sun of righteousness, 
 shone in upon his understanding. He had found his Saviour. 
 
 He rose to the episcopal chair of Hippo ; he became the torch 
 
 * Pro gemmis et serico divinas codices amet. 
 
 tAdEvangelia transeat, nunquam ea positura de manibus. Works of 
 St. Jerome, author of the translation called the Vulgate, used in the Catho- 
 Hc Church, Epistola 107, § 12. 
 
 J Non ut pauci intelligerent, sed ut omnes. Ibid. S. Hyeronymi in 
 Psalm 87. 
 
 § Non scripserunt paucis, sed universo populo. lb. Comm. S. Hyero- 
 nymi in Psalm 87. 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 235 
 
 of the West, and all ages acknowledge him as the greatest of the 
 Fathers. He was called St. Angiistme (A. D. 396.) 
 jj iln his time the Bible formed the sitbject of stttdy and meditation 
 among Christians of all ages, sexes, and conditions. What books 
 are these which men are carrying on highways, in villages, in 
 lanes, in the streets of cities, offering them to soldiers and to wo- 
 men, to young and old, to great and small .' 
 
 St. Augustine joyfully replies, " It is the Holy Scriptures which 
 are thus publicly exposed for sale."* 
 
 A multitude of errors began to darken the horizon. The doc- 
 trines of Pelagius, of Priscillian, of Arius, of the disciples of Dona- 
 tus, mingled in the spiritual kingdom like the fearful lightning 
 preceding a night of storms. The Bishop of Hippo, calm as the 
 luminary which receives its light from the sun, shed his safe and 
 peaceful beams on all around. 
 
 With what weapon will you repulse these false teachers, oh son 
 of Monica .' and to what authority will you appeal, oh venerable 
 man of God ? He replies, " Who knows not that the canonical 
 Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are contained within 
 certain limits, and that they are to be preferred far above all the 
 later writings of the bishops, f so that it is impossible to bring in 
 doubt or question whether what is written be true and authentic ?{ 
 There are, midoubtedly, certain books of God, whose authority 
 we all recognize ; we believe them, and we obey them. There 
 let us seek to identify the Church : by them let us discuss our 
 cause. § Let us cast away all arguments drawn from other sour- 
 ces, i cannot admit the authority of human documents as a rule 
 of the Church, nor anything but the oracles of God."|| 
 
 But what will the simple and unlearned, who shun controversy, 
 find in the Sacred Word, servant of God .' He replies, " The soul 
 and the object of all Scripture is the love of Him who is the su- 
 preme good, and the love of His creatures, who are capable of 
 obtaining happiness from him.iT The legitimate effect of Holy 
 Scripture is, first, to bring him who reads it to acknowledge him- 
 self in bondage to the love of this world, and a stranger to the 
 love of God and of his fellow-beings, Avhich the Word enjoins. 
 The knowledge of the truth gives life, and excites in man, instead 
 of his former presumptuous pride, humility and holy grief. Filled 
 with deep sorrow, he is led to constant prayer, and in answer to 
 it, receives, by the grace of God, joy and peace in bclieviug. He 
 does not sink iuto despair at the sight of his guilt, but is filled with 
 an hungering and thirsting after righteousness. He flies from the 
 
 * Scriptura venalis fertur per publicum. Works of St. Augustine, Bish- 
 op of Hippo. In Psalm 36. 
 
 t Omnibus posterioribusepiscoporum litteris esse praeponendum. 
 
 j Works of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. Epistola de baplismo con- 
 tra Donatistas;.t. 9, p. 98. 
 
 ^ Ibi discutiamus causam nostram. 
 
 II Ibid. De unitate ecclesiae, p. 341. 
 
 t Works of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. De doctrina Christiana ; 
 L. I., c. 35. 
 
236 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 allurements of worldly and perishable pleasures, and a love for 
 that Avhich is unseen and eternal is kindled Avithin him."* 
 
 This is the fourteenth voice. Lord, enable us to imderstand 
 these words ! 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 SONS OF MEN ! READ THE BOOK. 
 
 A hermit descended from the mountains near Antioch. He 
 lifted up his voice in that metropolis of Asia, and ears and hearts 
 were thrilled by his discourses. The imperial court soon resound- 
 ed with his name, and he was called to the patriarchal chair of 
 Constantinople, the new Rome, the capital of the world, which 
 crowned with splendor the banks of the Bosphorus. 
 
 Who of all the children of men spoke like him ? 
 
 A multitude hung upon his words; the poor were consoled ; 
 the great astonished; and the Gospel, by his indefatigable exer- 
 tions, was carried to the barbarous gentile nations. 
 ' But suddenly a noise, as of approaching tempests, was heard 
 in the palace of the Emperors. A desolating wintry wind sweeps 
 howling from the magnificent dwelling of the haughty Eudoxia. 
 He casts out the patriarch from his seat ; he banishes him to the 
 desert ; — and there, an exile in a barbarous land, consumed by 
 fever, as he is dragged onward by the satellites of the Emperor, 
 he dies in the grasp of the soldiers, exclaiming triumphantly, 
 " Glory be to God !" The people, charmed by his eloquence, had 
 given him the name of St. Chrysostom (A. D. 400), or the Golden- 
 Mouth. 
 
 Oh ! if the patriarch of Constantinople could speak, at this mo- 
 ment, to the aged man by his fire-side— to the young man in his 
 fields — to the noble in his palace — to the man of business in the 
 midst of his sales and purchases — to the priest among his presby- 
 tery, and to the mother in her nursery — what would he say to 
 you all, rich in this world's goods, who have all things, except 
 the Word of God, or -who have it merely as an ornament on the 
 shelves of your libraries .' Listen ! The Golden-mouth says — 
 " There are dice to be found in most houses, but Bibles in few, if 
 any ; and those who have them, are as if they had them not, for 
 they keep them magnificently bound, and shnt up in cases ; and 
 own] them, not for the benefit they may draw from them, but to 
 display their taste and opulence. It was not for the purpose of 
 shutting them up in rich covers that the Holy Scriptures Avere 
 given us, but to be engraven upon our hearts."! 
 
 What would the patriarch say to you, men of the world, Avho 
 ask, " How can Ave be expected to read the Word of God? The 
 multiplicity of our public and private affairs leaA^es us no time for 
 such a purpose." 
 
 * Works of St. Augustine, L. II., c. 7. 
 
 ■\ Works of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. Homil. 
 Johan, 32 Savil. II., p. 686. 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 237 
 
 Listen to the Golden-Mouth. " Is not the very fact a reproach 
 to yovT, that you have allowed yourselves to become so absorbed 
 in earthly things, that you have no leisure left for the most impor- 
 tant and indispensable of all ? But we have witnesses who declare 
 that to be merely a vain excuse. These witnesses are your gay 
 social assemblies, your presence at the theatre, and at other pub- 
 lic places, where you sometimes spend whole days."* 
 
 Listen, men in humble life, whether in the city or the country, 
 to what the Golden-Mouth says to you — you who say, " We are 
 poor, how can we obtain a Bible .'" •' Let me ask you," he says, 
 " if you have not all the implements necessary for your occupa- 
 tion ? And is it not in that case folly to allege poverty as an ex- 
 cuse, in a question of such immense advantage. "t 
 
 To you who affirm that " the readmg of the Holy Scriptures be- 
 longs to the clergy and the priests, and that laymen have nothing 
 to do with them," the venerable patriarch says : listen to him of 
 the Golden-Mouth — 
 
 " Let no one utter in my presence those cold and wicked words, 
 ' I am a man of the world ; 1 have a wife and children ; it is not 
 nay business to read the Bible ; such an occupation becomes those 
 who have renounced the world to lead a life of seclusion with 
 God.' What sayest thou, oh man ! Is it not thy business to ap- 
 ply thyself diligently to the Scriptures, because thou art driven 
 and tossed by ten thousand conflicting cares ! Precisely the re- 
 verse ; it is much more needful for thee than for those of whom 
 thou dost speak. Far from the field of battle, they receive few 
 wounds, but thou who art always on the scene of combat, art in- 
 cessantly wounded anew, and hast consequently need of many 
 more remedies to cure thee. Let us not delay, then, to obtain a 
 Bible, lest we meanwhile receive a mortal stroke. Let us not heap 
 up gold, but let us collect Bibles : the very sight of that holy Book 
 makes us shudder at our sinfulness. What then will it be, Avhen, 
 from a diligent reading of it, our souls sliall have become living 
 stones in the temple of our God .'"t 
 
 For you who say that the Bible cannot be understood by all ; 
 that it was made for the priests, and for the deeply learned ; but 
 that the mass, the artisans and laborers, cannot comprehend its 
 sense ; — the patriarch has a word also. " The grace of the Holy 
 Ghost has caused these holy books to be written by publicans, by 
 fishermen, by tent-makers, by shepherds, by herdsmen, by the 
 illiterate, for the express purpose that no person, however igno- 
 rant, might have recourse to that pretext for not reading them ; 
 that the contents of the Scriptures might be intelligible to all, and 
 that the laborer — the servant — the poor widow — the most igno- 
 rant of men, might draw instruction from them. Destined to be 
 teachers of the whole world, these sacred writers, who were in- 
 spired by the Holy Si^irit, have made known all things in a clear 
 
 * Works of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. Homil. 
 Johan. 32 Savil. II., p. 686. 
 
 t Ibid., Homil. 9, in Johan. J In Lazarum Cone. 3. 
 
238 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 mid distinct mariner, for the express purpose that each one might 
 understand them, for himself, without finding it necessary to have 
 recourse to another. " I come not (to you)," said St. Paul, " with 
 excellency of speech or of wisdom." (1 Corinthians ii. 1.) Take 
 the Bible in your own hands — read ; retain firmly what you un- 
 derstand ; read over many times what seems to you obscure ; and 
 then, if repeated study fails to make it clear to you, ask the assist- 
 ance of a more enlightened brother, or of a teacher. God, who 
 sees your zeal, will not allow your efforts to be fruitless. And 
 even should no man make known to you what you seek, God liimself will 
 reveal it to you in his own good time and manner." 
 
 " Remember the ' Eunuch of great authority' under the Queen 
 of Ethiopia. (Acts viii.) He read as he journeyed, seated in his 
 chariot. He had no one to explain to him what he read ; but God 
 saw his zeal, and sent him a teacher. True, we have no longer a 
 Philip, but we have the Holy Spirit still who inspired Philip." 
 
 This is the last voice. Lord, enable us to understand these 
 words ! 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Thus .spoke those holy men who stood foremost in the ranks of 
 the Redeemer's service on earth, and who have now sat down in 
 the kingdom of heaven with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. 
 
 Who Avill dare to contradict what they have spoken .' Who 
 would blacken the memory of the confessors of Christ? Who 
 would dishonor the ashes of his martyrs ? 
 
 Soldier, who hast taken arms that thy countrymen may enjoy 
 in peace the fruits of their labor ; husbandman, who at night-fall 
 dost leave thy fields and bend thy weary steps towards thy cot- 
 tage home ; artisan, who remainest in thy shop while thy com- 
 panions are Avasting their time and energies in folly ; merchant, 
 before the hour of business ; magistrate, before the hour of duty ; 
 woman, in the quiet of the sanctuary of home : young man, daz- 
 zled by the illusions of the present ; king, upon thy throne ;— 
 beggar, by the way-side ; listen, all, to the counsels of the saints 
 of the most High God ; their wise admonitions reach you across 
 the vast space of many ages. Read ! read ! read ! the Word 
 of God. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Lord, if another voice than thine or than that of thy servants 
 appealed to me ; if though while upon earth thou didst say 
 " search the Scriptures," other voices tell me, " shut them from 
 sight, cast them away — burn them," what should I do. Lord .' 
 
 And I seemed to hear a whisper escaping from the leaves of 
 the holy volume before me, and sAvell into a strong voice " as 
 the sound of many waters," saying, " though an angel from 
 
 HEAVEN PREACH ANY OTHER GoSPEL UNTO YOU THAN THAT WHICH 
 WE HAVE PREACHED UNTO YOU, LET HIM BE ACCURSED."* GalatiailS 
 
 * (Licet angelus de caslo evangelizet vobis praeter quam quod evangeli- 
 zavimus vobis, anathema sit. Vulgate.) 
 
A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 239. 
 
 i. 8. And I replied, " What wilt thou say, then, oh Lord, to 
 those who oppose the reading of Thy Word by Thy people ; 
 who forbid them to obtain it, who demand it from them when 
 they own a copy, or order them to cast it into the fire ?" And I 
 seemed to hear again a solemn response from the pages of the 
 Holy Scriptures before me in these words, " Wo unto you, 
 Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of 
 heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither 
 suffer ye them that are entering to go in !"* 
 
 XXI. 
 
 There is a certain place, whether a city, a village, or a hamlet, 
 I shall not say, in a country which shall be nameless. Its inha- 
 bitants desjMse the Word of God; they will not read it; they 
 will have none of it: and every copy that could be found they 
 have seized and torn up or burned. 
 
 What has been the consequence ? Falsehood prevails there ; 
 hatred has engendered quarrels among neighbors ; they eat the 
 bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence : idleness 
 has brought them to poverty ; and famine stalks abroad in their 
 streets. " Away Avith the noise of your 5ongs," said the Almigh- 
 ty, " I will not listen to the music of your flutes. This people 
 have fallen for want of Avisdom, and their paths have gone down 
 unto the dead." 
 
 There is another place — whether a city, a village, or a hamlet, 
 I shall not say — in a country which shall also be nameless. 
 
 The yoimg men there have sought for the Word of God ; those 
 of mature years, too, read it : the aged meditate upon it. A man 
 clothed in black stands among them ; he is venerable in his ap- 
 pearance, and benevolence illuminates his features; they [call 
 him pastor. He says, " My children, take the Bible — read it — it 
 is the Word of God ;" and they follow his precepts. 
 
 My heart bounded with thankfulness as I gazed on that happy 
 scene ; for I saAv the people prospering, because the blessing of 
 the Lord rested upon their dwellings. Their bams were filled 
 with plenty, and their presses burst out with new wine. Their 
 ways were ways of pleasantness, and all their paths were peace. 
 The divine Word had become a tree of life to all who had laid 
 hold on it ; and all who retained it were richly blessed. 
 
 A soul lies surrounded with the terrors of deatli, with the sobs 
 and tears of a family mourning in deep bitterness ; the glory of 
 hfe is passing rapidly away, yet that soul abides in unutterable 
 peace, and seems a triumphant victor over the grave ! How can 
 this be ? Because it has believed the assurance of the Gospel. 
 Jesus is " the Lamb of God who takelh away the sins of the world." 
 
 Why is this soul carried in the arms of angels, amidst innume- 
 
 * Vae autem vobis scribae et Pharisaei hypocritae; quia clauditis reg- 
 num cselorum ante homines ; vos enim non intratis, nee introeuntes sini- 
 tis intrare. (Vulgate) Matthew xxiii, 13. ' 
 
240 A VOICE FROM ANTIQUITY. 
 
 rable worlds, up to the bosom of God ? Why does it see God, 
 face to face, having awakened in His Ukeness ? Because it has 
 believed the Word of God which says, Jesus is " the way, and 
 the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father but by 
 Him." 
 
 " Yes," says the Spirit, " blessed is the man whose delight is in 
 the law of the Lord ; and in his law doth he meditate day and 
 night." 
 
 And all the saints and the angels in light reply : " He shall be 
 like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his 
 fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he 
 doeth shall prosper."* All celestial intelligences respond, "Amen !" 
 And all unite in the ascription, " Glory be ,to the Father, and to 
 the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, 
 and ever shall be, world without end. Amen !" 
 
 • Psalm i. 
 
LUTHER AID CALVIN; 
 
 TRUE SPIRIT OF THE REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This address was delivered June 6th, 1844, at the General Meet- 
 ing of the Evangelical Society of Geneva. The Rev. Frederic 
 Monod, deputy from the Evangelical Society of France, afterwards 
 addressed the meeting, and iu concluding spoke as follows: "I 
 should not do justice to my feelings, if, before sitting down, T did 
 not pray the committee of this Society to take into consideration, 
 whether it would not be for the interest of the work of God in 
 France, to have the address of our brother M. Merle printed 
 separately, and circulated extensively among our churches. The 
 evil pointed out in this address, is an evil which menaces — which 
 advances on us more every day, and I know of nothing more 
 suited to point it out, and consequently also to combat it." (See 
 Report.) It is in compliance with this request that this address, 
 which is not given in the Report, is published by the author in 
 France,* and he feels himself constrained to add two remarks : — 
 First, the following pages were never intended for publicity of 
 this description ; being nothing more than notes thrown rapidly 
 together on the paper. Again, very far from exhibiting a new and 
 particular idea, as some people have supposed, they verify or 
 prove an ecclesiastical fact, a fact which has long been recognized 
 by the most respectable authorities, as could easily have been 
 shown, had it not been thought necessary to be sparing of quota- 
 tions. 
 
 * The address was published in the origiaal language in Paris. See 
 publishers' Preface. — Tr- 
 
LUTHEE AND CALVIN; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE REFORMED CHURCH 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 The times are pressing. We must proceed to what is use- 
 ful ; and not lose ourselves in much speaking, but search, accord- 
 ing to the apostolic precept, for what may truly contribute to the 
 edification of the Church. It is this thought which induces me 
 to bring before you the following question : 
 
 What is it, in our French reformed churches, that has charac- 
 terized the year that has passed since our last anniversary .' 
 
 It is, unless I am deceived, the manifestation anew of principles 
 which have often been designated by the name of parties opposed 
 to us, but of which from the heart we wish to speak in a friendly 
 style, and shall therefore call them (making use of a name which 
 is dear to us) the principles of Lutheranism. 
 
 Lutherauism and Reform* have distinctive characters; but they 
 are not separated so much by errors as by diversities. 
 
 God Avilled that diversity, that the work of the Reformation 
 might be complete. His powerful hand, intending from the be- 
 ginning to cause immense bodies to move round the sun, endowed 
 them with opposing forces, the one of which tends to take them 
 away from the centre, and the other to draw them closer to it. 
 From these ajiparent contradictions, he produced the course of 
 the universe, and the admirable unity of the celestial system. It 
 was the same in the times of the reformation. Opposing tenden- 
 cies were necessary for that work ; and these same tendencies it 
 is which imprinted upon it such admirable unity. 
 
 " In the garden of my master, 
 There are flowers of ev'ry kind," 
 
 sings a Christian author.f Shall we, gentlemen, only perceive 
 
 * It is almost unnecessary to remind the reader that the word Reforma- 
 tion applies to the whole work of the 19th century, and the words Reform 
 and Reformed apply especially to the work of Zwingle and Calvin. 
 
 t Tersteegen. 
 
246 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 there one flower ? Ah ! let ns beware, careless gardeners that 
 we are, of tearing up indigenous plants whose nature is pecu- 
 harly adapted to our soil, to our climate, and of planting in their 
 stead exotics which require a different soil, and which may per- 
 ish among our hands. 
 
 Yes, gentlemen, let us comprehend it well ; there is not only 
 friendship — there is not only agreement between Lutheranism 
 and Reform — there is more tlian all that — there is unity. 
 
 There exists, above all, between them a profound unity, which 
 results from both being animated by the same living faith. They 
 believe equally in the complete incapacity of man to do good ; 
 they believe in God manifested in the flesh ; in expiation by his 
 blood; in regeneration by his Spirit; in justification by faith in 
 his name ; in charity and good works by the power of his fellow- 
 ship. 
 
 But it is not this unity of identity of which we wish now to 
 speak. We go much farther. We propose to shoAV that Luther- 
 anism and Reform are one even by their diversities, from which 
 we shall draw the conclusion, that in place of effacing the 
 greater part of these differences, and more especially those of 
 Reform, which we should defend, they ought to be carefully 
 preserved. Such is our thesis. 
 
 Yes, gentlemen, those individuals deceive themselves strangely, 
 who, knowing how to reckon the very different characteristics 
 which at the present day distinguish Lutheranism and Reform, 
 would cry out with painful surprise, " How then ! friends fewer, 
 enemies more !" The body and the soul are very different in 
 their attributes, nevertheless they are but one single being. Man 
 and woman have quite opposite capacities and dnties, and not- 
 withstanding they are but one flesh. In Christ the human and 
 divine natures were certainly distinct, but nevertheless there is 
 only one Saviour. In the same manner, gentlemen, Lutheranism 
 and Reform, though very different, are but one unity. 
 
 Do they talk of their strifes ? Ah! gentlemen, are there never 
 then strifes between the body and the spirit, between the husband 
 and the wife ? Did none exist even in Christ between his human 
 and divine nature .' " My soul is troubled, and what shall I say .' 
 Father, save me from this hour !" cried his human nature, shudder- 
 ing at the approach of the cross. Strife, but strife overcome, far 
 from being contrary to unity, is essential to it, at least upon the 
 earth. I believe, gentlemen, that with Lutheranism and Reform 
 the happy moment in which strife is overcome and unity triumphs 
 is neary arrived, if imprudent friends of the former do not seek 
 to bend the latter under its laws. Observe that Reform, which is 
 the friend of proselytism, does not proselytize in Lutheranism; it 
 loves it, respects it, and leaves it to its own strength, or rather to 
 God's. But, wonderful to be told ! it is Lutheranism (certainly 
 neither that of Germany or Geneva), it is Lutheranism passive in 
 its character, ■ which advances heedlessly, and apparently wishing 
 to deprive us of our patrimony, and to suljstitute itself in the place 
 of the tricentennial work of our reformers. To bring about unity. 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 247 
 
 is it then in reality necessary to slay one of the two members ? That 
 may perhaps be one method, but it is not onrs. 
 
 Gentlemen, Lutheranism has great duties to discharge towards 
 Reform, and we know too well the noble principles of the excel- 
 lent men in Germany, its true representatives, not to be assured 
 that it will not fail in its duty. If one of two allied and friendly 
 armies were to be beaten and dispersed by the common enemy, 
 whilst the other was restuig on its arms, with its leaders and 
 standards, would the latter take advantage of the moment when 
 the former was rallying, but still stunned with the blow it had 
 received, to impose its colors upon it? or would it not rather 
 generously aid in recovering the ancient standard of its fathers ? 
 This is what we require from Lutheranism. 
 
 We do not require to inform you that we have not the slightest 
 prejudice against Martin Luther. If in the history of the world 
 there be an individual w^e love more than another, it is he. Calvin 
 we venerate more, but Luther we love more. Besides, Luthei'an- 
 ism is of itself dear and precious in our eyes, and with reason. 
 In Reform there are principles of which we should be afraid, were 
 it not for the counter-balance of Lutheranism ; and there are also 
 in Lutheranism principles Avhich would raise our alarm, were it 
 not for the counter-balance of Reform. Luther and Lutheranism 
 do not possess, even in Germany — even in Wittemberg — friends 
 and admirers more ardent than we. 
 
 But if the question be placed before us : " Ought Reform to give 
 way in France, in Switzerland, and elsewhere, to Lutheranism .'" 
 we answer without hesitation, Most certainly not ! 
 
 Nevertheless, we think this is the question which has been 
 placed before our Churches during the course of the past year. 
 
 Has this question been replied to eveiywhereas it ought to have 
 been .' We believe not. Reform is misrepresented even within 
 Reform. Two centuries of persecution and humiliation have caus- 
 ed it to lose its fairest traditions ; and principles to which it is 
 opposed find pious and eloquent defenders. There are in its bo- 
 som distinguished minds that hesitate, that are irresolute at the 
 moment of reveille, and who, mistaking one voice for another, 
 are about to undergo a strange transformation. After what is go- 
 ing on at the present hour, it might be said that Reform might well 
 institute societies, and exercise a certain external activity ; but if 
 principles are involved, Lutheranism ought to supply them, so that 
 it only remains to place ourselves under its tutelage. A banner 
 of three centuries old is treated qs a novelty and an innovation, 
 and colors rejected by ten generations begin again to flourish here 
 and there, in this Presbytery and in that Church; and this society 
 even, composed as it is exclusively of the Reformed, is almost 
 giving them its support. There are countries covered with elo- 
 quent ruins, sown with the sepulchres of the saints, where such 
 thmgs are going on, and where, unless they are arrested, the very 
 stones will cry out. 
 
 Gentlemen, we believe firmly that the Reformed French and 
 Swiss do not require to beg directions from a stranger Church, and. 
 
248 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 particularly, from a Church to which it is true they should be 
 united hi the same faith and charity, but which does not know 
 them, and which, it must be said, notwithstanding notable excep- 
 tions, has often been found awanting to them in justice and im- 
 partiality. If Reform is to survive, it must live the life which 
 befits it. In its own traditions it possesses abundance where- 
 withal to produce the most splendid inspirations, but unfortunate- 
 ly it does not appreciate them; and, in place of exploring the 
 golden mine of its antiquity, tliough certainly with some difficulty, 
 and with the sweat on the brow, it prefers receiving from hands 
 eager to enrich it, a coinage already struck, but struck with the 
 stamp and the arms of a stranger. 
 
 That the Reformed Church may apply herself to guard the 
 principles which God has confided to her keeping, she must first 
 know them. What are they, then .' It is to the searching out of 
 these that we shall devote this address ; and we shall only ad- 
 duce truths recognized these three centuries past, but which in 
 our days seem to be forgotten. 
 
 A great mind, the penetrating genius of Montesquieu, already 
 perceived the fundamental diiference between Lutheranism and 
 Reform, when he says in his Spirit of the Laws {Esprit des Lois), 
 " Each of these two religions may think itself the most perfect : 
 Calvinism believing itself more conformable to what Jesus Christ 
 has said, and Lutheranism to what the Apostles have done." 
 Doubtless, as much as to say that Reform has for its basis the 
 word of God, and Lutheranism the acts and usages of the Church. 
 This distinction has much profoundness in it, and, generally speak- 
 ing, even truth. 
 
 But let us examine these differences more closely, without, 
 however, attempting to enumerate them. Let us leave aside the 
 specialties of doctrine, and in particular that free and eternal 
 grace of God which is our most precious jewel. Let us neither 
 speak at present of the election of the Father, nor of the manner 
 in which the divine and human natures are united in the Man- 
 God, nor of the nature of the Suj^per, nor of the doctrine of bap- 
 tism, particularities the most generally known, and from which 
 all others flow ; and let us attend specially to what belongs to 
 the Church, for it is the Church which is every day becoming 
 the greatest, the most exciting question. 
 
 I. The Reformed Church lays down as the basis of Chris- 
 tianity the Scriptural principle that the Word of God is the positive 
 rule, the absolute standard, the only source of faith and Christian life, 
 whilst Luther lays down as the basis of his reformation a princi- 
 ple not less vulnerable, but quite different; faith, justification by 
 faith. 
 
 We believe it was w^ell that these two bases were established 
 at the same time. The combined action of Lutheranism and Re- 
 form, in this instance, was admirable; that of Lutheranism, in 
 particular, fills us with the profoundest veneration. Not only did 
 Luther and his friends exhibit the fundamental doctrine of justifi- 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 249 
 
 cation by faith in a manner still more marked than was done by 
 Reform, but, we must assert boldly, if they had not done it there 
 would have been no reformation. Why was not the great Re- 
 formation accomplished by the sects of the middle ages, who all 
 started from the same principle as Reform ? Undoubtedly for 
 many reasons, but above all, perhaps, because they were not 
 penetrated with sufhcient power by that grand thought, that 
 grand doctrine, of which, after St. Paul, Luther has been the most 
 faithful promulgator. 
 
 The Reformation, and before it early Christianity, possessed 
 two fundamental principles : one formal, the principle of Reform, 
 one material, the principle of Lutheranism. Reform requires in 
 addition, faith ; and Lutheranism the Bible. But each of these 
 two principles was confided separately and specially to the care 
 of a faithful guard. These two distinct forces were destined to 
 traverse the new world created in the sixteenth century ; and 
 here already let us with gratitude admire the most perfect unity 
 in the diversity of the work of God. 
 
 We do not intend, however, to justify all the conclusions to 
 which Luther carried his principle. Applying it to the Word of 
 God with a hardihood which astonishes us, he declares in the 
 Preface to his translation of the New Testament, that the Gospel 
 of St. John, the Epistles of St. Paul, among others that to the Ro- 
 mans, and the First of St. Peter, are in truth the marrow of the 
 Scriptures, because they treat especially of faith ; he e.stimates 
 the Go.?pels under the Epistles, and makes very little account of 
 the Revelation of St. John, and pronounces, respecting an 
 Epistle (that of St. James) a well-known saying, but one which I 
 shall not repeat. Rationalism, which shakes or revokes all the 
 canonical writings, has appeared, and in my opinion, could only 
 appear in the Church of Luther. 
 
 Swiss and French Reform never had to rei:)roach itself with 
 such a disrespectful walk. On the contrary, detaching itself from 
 the authority of the Church, it ran to the sovereign authority 
 which the Church itself has always proclaimed, that of the Holy 
 Scriptures. " Abandoning," says one of its chiefs,* " the decrees 
 of the Popes and Fathers of the Church, I came to the source it- 
 self. My soul was there reinvigorated, and ever since, I firmly 
 maintained this principle : the Holy ScriiJtures alone must be fol- 
 lowed, and all human additions rejected." 
 
 " The Church of Christ," .said the Bernese pastors, in the famous 
 dispute which decided the Reform in that Canton in 1528, "in- 
 vents neither laws nor commandments beyond the Word of God. 
 For that reason, all human traditions, called ecclesiastical, are only 
 binding upon us in so far as they are founded on and commanded 
 in that Word." And in the middle of the seventeenth century 
 one of the reformed, a member of the Church of England, 
 Chillingworth, the chancellor of the diocese of Salisbury, the 
 whole of whose opinions we do not wish to justify, but who 
 
 • Wolfgang Joner. 
 
250 LUTHER AND CALViN. 
 
 having been a Papist, understood well what ought to be the 
 essence of Reform, tittered this beautiful expression—" The Bible, 
 the whole Bible, nothing but the Bible, such is the religion of the 
 Reformed Christians." In reality, gentlemen, let us remember 
 that the Church of England is Reformed-— not Lutheran. It is so 
 not only by the name which it bears, but also by its admirable 
 Articles of Faith, and above all by the marked homage which it 
 renders to the Word of God. 
 
 This principle of Reform is older than Luther's views ; for not 
 only was it that of the primitive Church, that of Wickliff, of the 
 Vaudois, and of many other true Christians ; but it was also pro- 
 claimed at the beginning of the Reformation in 1518, by Carlstadt, 
 who in the theses in which he attacked Doctor Eck, says, " The 
 text of the Bible must be preferred not only to one or several 
 doctors of the Church, but even to the authority of the entire 
 Church." 
 
 Everything in the Reformed Church exhibits this great principle, 
 the exclusive authority of the Word of God. While the confes- 
 sion of Augsburgh is silent upon the sole authority of the Scrip- 
 tures, all the confessions of the Reformed Church are unanimous 
 on this point.* 
 
 Whilst the Lutherans hold by the apocryphal books, and some- 
 times take their texts from them, the Reformed always distinguish 
 them with care from the canonical books ; fight, if it be necessary, 
 decisive battles on their account, as has but lately been done by 
 the British Bible Society, urged on by Scotland, that eminently 
 Reformed country ; and they regard it as a matter of the greatest 
 importance to define exactly the extent of the Word of God, and 
 to prevent any hiunan words from creeping into it. 
 
 Whilst in the text of the Lutheran Bibles no distinction is made 
 between words human and divine, in all our translations of the 
 Scriptures, on the contrary, such words as are not to be found in 
 the original text are printed in italic characters, so that the reader 
 may be able to distinguish, as far as that can be done in a transla- 
 tion, between the word of man and the word of God. And it 
 may be said that the version of the New Testament published 
 some years ago at Lausanne, which is simply and purely a fac- 
 simile of the text, is the product of the Spirit of Reform. Such a 
 production could not, I believe, have been given forth by Luther- 
 anisni. 
 
 Reform has not, however, as some in our days have pretended, 
 presented the Bible as a volume sufficient of itself, no matter 
 what doctrine might be drawn from it. 
 
 " We are persuaded," says the Helvetic Confession, " that the 
 sound knowledge of the true religion depends on the internal 
 illumination of the Holy Spirit. We only regard as true and 
 orthodox, those explanations which are derived from the Holy 
 Scriptures in conformity with the analogy of faith and the rules of 
 love." 
 
 * Confess. Gallica, art. 5 ; Confessio Belgica, art. 5; Confessio Helvetica, 
 art. 1 et 2 ; Confessio Anglicana, art. 6 ; Confess. Bohemica, art. 1 ; West- 
 minster Confession (of Scotland), chap. i. 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 251 
 
 Nor is it any more true, as some have asserted, that Reform has 
 no kind of tradition. There is not an age, nor a generation, whose 
 voice Reform does not wish to hear and by which it is not ready 
 to profit — only it i^Iaces always the great voice above all the 
 little ones ; and in 2^1ace of judging of the sense of Scripture by 
 tradition, it judges, according to the jarinciples of the Fathers, the 
 truth of tradition by Scripture. 
 
 Such, gentlemen, is our First principle, 
 
 Reform is supremely the confessiou of the Bible. 
 
 There never is to be found among us an esteem of men, of the 
 servants of God in the Church, which resembles, as it has been 
 appropriately designated, a Lutherolatry.* Writings are never to 
 be seen with us like those published in Germany, with the titles : 
 Luther a -propliet — the ■second Moses — an Elias — a star — a sun. We 
 have no other prophet than Jesus Christ, and no other sitn than 
 the Bible. And Avhilst for a long time all sorts of relics of Luther 
 were preserved, we scarcely know where the great Calvin dwelt; 
 there is not even a little stone in our cemetery to mark the spot 
 where his ashes repose, and four old trees, we saw five or six 
 years ago, and which shade tiie ground where it is said the re- 
 mains of this great servant of God were interred, have been cut 
 down to give room ! . . It is doubtless an excess, but it pos- 
 sesses great significancy. It recalls to our memory that Calvin 
 forbade any monument to be erected to him, because he wished 
 the Word of God alone to be honored in his Church. 
 
 Yes, gentlemen, the rock of the Word — such is the basis of Re- 
 form ; we know no other. Let other churches boast of their eccle- 
 siastical foundation ; we, we shall only boast of our foundation in 
 the Bible. And in that we believe otu'selves more truly ecclesias- 
 tical than those who add to the divine rock the moving sands of 
 human traditions. We shall not abandon this foundation at any 
 cost; neither for the Pope nor for Luther. What do I say .' — not 
 even for our Reformers. Cursed be the day in which the Reform- 
 ed Church shall glory in being the Church of Calvin or Zw ingle. 
 TJje Bible — the Bible— the whole Bible — nothing but the Bible. 
 
 We have seen at the beginning, that the principle confided to 
 the Lutheran Church possessed in the days of the Reformation, an 
 importance at least equal to that which God confided to the Re- 
 formed Church. Which of these two is the most important in our 
 days .' I dare not say, gentlemen. But I will say, however, that 
 the principle of the Bible appears to me, at this hour at least, 
 equally important with that of faith. In fact, what are the two 
 great adversaries called forth to engage in the battle of the nine- 
 teenth century ? Evangelism and Church ism. And how are we to 
 put to silence Churchism with that cloud of human traditions and 
 human works by which it is surrounded .' By the Bible. 
 
 If we hesitate about the importance of the principle of Reform, 
 shall we not be convinced by all those voices which at the pre- 
 sent hour are calling out, The Church ! The Church ! and wish to 
 put the visible Church above the Word of the Lord ? Shall we 
 
 * French Lutherolatrie,'a word formed upon the same principle as idol- 
 at'-y. — Tr. 
 
252 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 not be convinced by that proud pontiff who calls us Bible sectari- 
 ans,* by that audacious mouth, speaking great things, as is said by 
 Daniel the prophet, which has just uttered a cry from the depths 
 of the magnificent halls of the Vatican, and who, stretching forth 
 his arm with fear in the midst of his Apollos and Venuses, and of 
 all those trophies of paganism by which he is surrounded, has just 
 resounded throughout all Christendom that word of terror and 
 alarm, The Bible ! the Bible ! What ! gentlemen ! would he who 
 reveals secrets have declared to him in the watches of the night 
 what was about to happen ? would he have shown him the Bible 
 at the gate of Italy ? or above Rome, and already suspended in 
 the air, the stone cut out without hands, which is destined to 
 overthrow his ancient statue, and to lay it in the dust, in the midst 
 of the rains and debris which twenty centuries have strewn 
 around it ? Ah ! gentlemen, if there ever was a time when Re- 
 form aught to remain firm to its principle, it is the time in which 
 we live. To conquer by the Bible or perish ; such is the futurity 
 before us. 
 
 One thing among others, gentlemen, alarms me — the state of 
 England. Very recently, about a month ago, while the meetings 
 connected with each particular church (English or Dissenting), 
 filled the vast extent of Exeter Hall to the door — for the first time 
 the meeting of the Bible Society was comparatively thinly attend- 
 ed. I would not willingly deduce from that fact too dark canclu- 
 sions ; I know that there may be many different causes for it ; but 
 I confess that on reading the account of it, a shivering seized me, 
 and I recalled to memory with sadness ihe words, Ichabod .' Icha- 
 bod .' Is then thy glory departed ? 
 
 II. If the Reformed Church places the word of God in such a 
 positive manner above all human writings, if it places it even 
 above faith, it places, on the other hand, faith above the Church. 
 One of the oldest doctors, Irenajus of Lyons, has already noted the 
 grand antithesis, where the Spirit is, there is the Cliurch — this is the 
 principal reform ; and where the Church is, there is the Spirit — this is 
 the principle of Rome and of Oxford ; and also, though in a less de- 
 gree, thai of Lutheranism. A distinguished theologian who occu- 
 jiies in the University of one of our confederate cities, the chair 
 instead of Strauss, I refer to Doctor Lange, has recently revived 
 this antithesis, by turning it into a formula thus : the Church comes 
 from Faith, or Faith comes from the Church. We do not hesitate, 
 gentlemen, to assert, that these propositions are both true in a 
 certain sense, if the visible church be not confounded with the in- 
 visible ; for there is a wonderful difference between Fahh and the 
 Church. Bnt let it be remembered that while Lutheranism places 
 the emphasis upon the second, and says specially that, since the 
 foundation of the Church, God does not make Christians but by the 
 Church ; Reform, on the contrary, places the emphasis on the 
 
 * Encyclical Papal Address, the day after the Nones of May, 1844. 
 [Portions of this notorious document were quoted extensively in the Jour- 
 nals of the day. — Tr.] 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 253 
 
 first, and says, that faith alone, the faith which God has put mto 
 the heart, creates the Church. Thus, Reform does not say, the 
 Church which is the assembly of the faithful exists first, and then 
 each believer ; but that each believer exists first, and then the 
 Church, which is the assembly of all. Lutheranism says, first 
 the genus, and then the individual ; Reform says, first the individ- 
 ual, and then the genus. I am quite ready to give reason for both ; 
 but I add, that our duty is to maintain the principle of Reform. 
 
 Wherefore, gentlemen .' Because, if we say in an absolute 
 sense, Faith comes: from tlie Church, we establish by that the very 
 principle which leads to the Inquisition, andwhich formerly created 
 it. At the epoch of the Reformation, however, in a time when for 
 ages preceding they had stretched upon the wooden horse, who- 
 ever would not receive his faith humbly from the hands of the 
 visible Church, it was necessary the renewed Church should raise 
 the opposing principle to a lofty elevation. Reform is therefore 
 here in diametrical opposition to Rome and also to hyper-Luther- 
 anism. I name thus that extreme Lutheran orthodoxy, which, in 
 the days oftheCalows and the Quenstedts, exaggerating the Lu- 
 theran principle, resuscitated the scholastic method, and raised the 
 doctrines of the Church and of the means of salvation above all 
 others ; while, on the contrary. Reform, remembering that it is 
 soul by soul that Christ saves his peoi^le, gives, has given, and 
 will always give, the first place in Christian theology to what con- 
 cerns the individual work, the regeneration, the justification, the 
 conversion of the believer. 
 
 Thus, gentlemen, what distinguishes Lutheranism is the impor- 
 tance given to the Church, the whole Church, and most particu- 
 larly to its ministers. It is not even entirely removed from that 
 sacerdotalism Avhich is the essence of Rome and of Oxford. The 
 Lutherans are not afraid to give their pastors the name of 
 priests ; and in a celebrated Practical theology, by one of the Ger- 
 mans, whose memory is most precious to me, Claude Harm, the 
 prevot of Kiel, one of the parties is entitled the Preacher, another 
 the Pastor, but a third the Priest. 
 
 Gentlemen, this much was still necessary for our unity. The 
 individual element of Reform might have brought on a dis- 
 solution and a dispersion of the members of the Church, which 
 would have been fatal to the whole body, had it not been re- 
 strained by the ecclesiastical element, that is to say, excuse the 
 Avord, the gatherer of Lutheranism. In a like manner, the tenden- 
 cy of this last might have led to stagnation, petrifaction, and 
 death, had it not been restrained by the active, spontaneous, vivi- 
 fying element of Reform. It is the union of these two forces, die one 
 centripetal the other centrifugal, which has launched forth a new 
 world into the imiverse of God, and which sustains it in its place. 
 
 Shall we then abandon our position as we are summoned to 
 do .' God preserve us, gentlemen, from such a wicked attempt 
 on the eternal decrees of his providence ! Let us not look to one 
 side only ; I pray you let us look at both, and embrace the whole 
 magnificence of the work of the Lord. If they be Lutheran, they 
 
254 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 are right, quite right, to appear Lutheran. Well then, but if they 
 be Reformed, if they address the Reformed, let them not act, let 
 them not speak as if they were Lutheran, as if they were speak- 
 ing to Lutherans, and thus contradict, arrest, destroy the element 
 of Reform, even in the bosom of Reform. 
 
 We shall not here enumerate all the excesses to which a too 
 exclusive application of the Lutheran principle has led. Thence 
 has arisen the usur^iation of the clergy, the excessive authority 
 of the pastor, or rather of the confessor (for among Lutherans 
 each believer has a pastor to whom he gives this name), so that 
 during the past century, these confessors, having become infidel, 
 and the good Lutheran people being always humbly submissive, 
 infidelity spread among these poor Churches with inconceivable 
 facility. Some Lutherans have even asserted that we ought to 
 keep strictly by the spiritual guide supplied by the competent 
 ecclesiastical authority, even if he were a stranger opposed to 
 the faith ! Never will Reformed Christians recognize such a 
 maxim. They will ever place the Bible above the pastor, and 
 should there be a decided disagreement between the one and the 
 other, then, rather than allow themselves and their children to be 
 led on to infidelity, they will separate themselves from their pas- 
 tor, and take refuge under the Word of Christ. In so doing, they 
 will carry the Church with them, and leave together the sect and 
 the pastor. 
 
 Further, gentlemen, from this Churchism arises the different 
 meaning which Lutherans and Reformed attach to Church con- 
 fessions of faith. The Lutherans regard them as rules of faith — 
 norma: normata — " rules regulated" (by the Word) ; and they have 
 even gone so far as to affirm that their authors possessed a cer- 
 tain kind of inspiration, a deutero-canonical inspiration as the 
 Roman Catholics say, Avhen speaking of the Apocryphal books. 
 Among the Reformed, on the contrary, the symbolical books or con- 
 fessions are only regarded as the expression of the faith of the 
 Church. Our Chiu'ches do not say to those who present them- 
 selves to occupy their pulpits — believe! btU they say — do you be- 
 lieve ? as these two men dear to us, Cellerier and Gaussen, set it 
 forth twenty-five years ago, in the true spirit of Reform, when 
 reprinting the Helvetic Confession at Gene-tta. And here, gentle- 
 men, although to another amongst us this privilege by right be- 
 longs, permit me, in passing, to lay with respect a flower upon 
 the tomb of that faithful servant of Jesus Christ who was taken 
 from us a few weeks ago, full of days, and whose glory it will 
 remain to have been the first, after a century of infidelity, to raise 
 in our native country the standard of the Gospel and of Reform.. 
 
 I repeat it again. Tke Church comes from faith, before that faith 
 comes from the Church. 
 
 Such is our watchword. And who will dare to assert that the 
 moment has arrived when we ought to lower this banner and 
 range ourselves meekly under a standard presented to us by 
 others, and which even the papacy itself raised many centuries 
 ago ? If it be our brothers who believe that it ought to be done. 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 255 
 
 we, we say it decidedly, we will not do it, convinced as we are, 
 that even at the present hour, to maintain the principle of Reform 
 is to save the Reformation. 
 
 But, it may be said, if the maxim that faith comes from the 
 Church, taken absolutely, leads to the Inquisition, the maxim that 
 the Church comes from faith leads to separatism. 
 
 We do not deny that that would result from the excess of the 
 principle, and that this excess is seen in our days. But we deny 
 that an abuse ever overtiTrns a principle ; no, the princijale of Re- 
 form is not essentially separatist ; it does not necessarily flow 
 from it that Christianity should be divided into thousands of sects. 
 Doubtless it is a right possessed by tlie Christian, it is his duty, as 
 was done at the epoch of the Reformation (and has been done 
 since then), to separate himself from every community which 
 does not confess Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the only 
 justification of his people. But to make separation a duty, con- 
 stantly to be renewed, is, according to Reform, to trample under 
 foot a numerous class of passages of the Word of God ; it is to 
 call forth that which the apostle Paul orders to be rejected — 
 " strifes, seditions, heresies," Gal. v. 20. 
 
 " I say," thus speaks Calvin, " that we must not, under the pre- 
 text of minute differences, separate ourselves lightly from a 
 Church ui which the fundamental doctrine of salvation is preserv- 
 ed entire, and in which the sacraments are properly administered 
 according to the institution of the Lord." — (Christian Institution, 
 book iv., chap, i.) 
 
 However, if we must choose between uniformity and error on 
 the one side, and diversity and truth on the other, Reform will not 
 hesitate ; it ranges itself always on the side of truth ; truth is its 
 grand aim. 
 
 III. But, gentlemen, and this third characteristic affords a tri- 
 umphant answer to the reproach of separatism which is made 
 against Reform, it has always been distinguished by the Christian 
 liberality with which it has never ceased to stretch forth the hand 
 of brotherly love to every communion which has preserved the 
 doctrines of salvation. So that, whilst the spirit of sectarianism 
 has in various degrees animated other Churches, Reform has al- 
 ways borne on its forehead the seal of true catholicity. 
 
 1 shall not speak here of the sectarian spirit of Rome, nor of Ox- 
 ford ; these are facts too generally known; but history compels 
 usto recognize this spirit even in Lutheranism. The Lutherans, like 
 the Roman Catholics, have always wished, not to unite with Re- 
 form in the bands of brotherhood, but to absorb it. 
 
 Exdusivcncss is a character of Lutheranism. Here at least it will 
 be said, what becomes of your unity? Yes, gentlemen, even tins 
 exclu.sivene.ss is necessary to it. It is one of the Avheels which 
 must enter into the construction of the admirable machine pre- 
 pared by the hand of the great Architect three centuries ago. Ex- 
 dusiveness is essential to the Church. Who was more exclusive 
 than he who said; " No one cometli to the Father but by me;" and 
 
256 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 again ; " without me ye can do nothing." The Church ought to 
 have a holy jealousy for the eternal truth of God ; for latitudinari- 
 aaism is its death. The history of all ages has demonstrated this 
 fact, and nothing could demonstrate it more clearly than the his- 
 tory of our own. Tliis exclusiveness was what was confided to 
 the charge of Martin Luther ; and although he deceived himself 
 by carrying it out, not only with regard to fundamental dogmas, 
 but also \vith regard to the different ways of understanding the 
 same truth, although it was against our Reform that his thunders 
 were directed, I love, I admire Luther, even in his wanderings ; 
 and I see in him not a. furious Orestes, as he was named often, even 
 by Bucer and Capito, but a Prometheus, who, wishing that man 
 should raise his looks to heaven, 
 
 — erectos ad sidera tollere vultus, 
 
 and in order to animate him, having stolen fire on high, Avas pre- 
 cipitated by his very elevation, and saw his entrails torn by 
 cruel A'ultures. " Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall .'" 
 Luther believed that the corporeal fpresence of Christ was God's 
 truth, and he went out of himself — for that 'truth. — Thou didst 
 well, great Luther ! God teaches what thou didst not, to 
 distinguish what is true from what is not true — what is essen- 
 tial, from what is secondary; God gives us, what thou didst 
 not know, to treat with mildness those who differ from us in opi- 
 nion ! But God grant at the same time, as with thee, that the 
 rights of the truth inspire us, and the zeal of God's house eat 
 us up. 
 
 However, here again I cannot justify everything ; for history is 
 inexorable, and points out to us sad excesses. Here, gentlemen, 
 is the most painful part of our task; for Luther is our father (I 
 speak after the manner of men), a father whom we surround with 
 the most profound veneration and the most filial affection ; the 
 true Lutherans are our friends, our well-beloved brethren — they 
 are of those with whom we one day hope to sit at the table in the 
 kingdom of God. If then their opposition cause us to give forth a 
 groan, let it not, at least, create any bitterness in our heart. Let 
 us rather remember that the violence of controversy, far from 
 showing us to be enemies, is a proof of the intimate bonds which 
 unite us to Lutheranism ; for in all times, and on every subject, 
 the more parties agree on essential points, the more are they borne 
 away to disagreement on those which are secondary. 
 
 It was Luther, that great man of God, who marched here, as 
 everywhere, at the head of his Church. When, as early as 1527, 
 the Reformed requested brotherly love and Christian concord, he 
 repUed, " Cursed, even to the lowest depths of hell, be that cha- 
 rity and that unity." He himself relates to one of his friends, that 
 in the conference, at Marbourg, convoked by the Landgrave of 
 Hesse, for the purpose of uniting the Lutherans and the Reformed, 
 Zwingle being moved, approached him, shedding tears before the 
 whole assembly, and saying : " There are none on the face of all 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 257 
 
 the earth with whom I so much desu-e to be one, as with the Wit- 
 tembergians ;" and that he, Luther, repulsed the Zurich reformer, 
 answering : " Your spirit is not our spirit !" and refused to call 
 Zwingle and the Swiss his brethren! 
 
 Since that time the sectarian spirit has never ceased to exist in 
 Lutheranism. In 1553, wheii the unfortunate Reformed were 
 driven from London by the bloody Mary, they were, at the insti- 
 gation of Lutheran theologians, repulsed cruelly in the dead of 
 winter from the walls of Copenhagen, of Rostock, of Lubeck, and 
 of Hamburg, where they sought an asylum. " Rather a Papist 
 than a Calvinist," said they to the people, " rather a Mahometan 
 than a Reformed." And on a house in Wittemberg may be read : 
 " The sayings and writings of Luther are the poison of the pope 
 and of Calvin." They called their cats and dogs by the name of 
 Calvin ; and published books with titles such as this ; " Proof that 
 the Calvinists have 666 errors in common with the Turks ;" or 
 this, " Short proof that the present (1721) attempt at union with 
 the self-styled Reformed or Calvinists is in direct opposition to all 
 the ten commandments, to all the articles of the apostles' creed, 
 to all the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, to the doctrine of the holy 
 baptism, to the power of the keys, to the holy Supper, and to the 
 whole catechism." 
 
 In a Lutheran Catechism, of the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century, we read this question : " Dost thou believe then fully that 
 the Calvinists, in place of the living and true God, honor and adore 
 the devil .'" — answer; " I believe it from the bottom of my heart." 
 A Lutheran doctor, still living, a man to be admired for his piety 
 and his zeal, applied to the Reformed the passage from St. Paul; 
 " Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers." And you know that 
 the Lutheran missionary societies have recently broken off from 
 Bale, which, nevertheless, is nearer to Lutheranism than any other 
 of the Reformed churches. What shall we say then in the face of 
 these excesses .' We shall say with St. Paul ; "they have zeal 
 for God without knowledge ;" and we shall add, smiling with 
 Jerome of Prague, when he saw a peasant come loaded with a 
 large bundle of wood, and place it at his stake : Sancta simpli- 
 citas .'* We shall also repeat ; Nevertheless, nevertheless, the Lu- 
 therans are our brethren notwithstanding, and our well-beloved 
 brethren ! 
 
 Gentlemen, a spirit of conciliation, of union, of brotherhood, has 
 animated our church in every age, and is, perhaps, its brightest 
 oruaraeiit. ZAvingle, (Ecolampadius, Calvin, Farel never ceased 
 to stretch forth the hand of brotherhood to Luther and to all his 
 friends. Calvin did not even fear to say, that in his eyes Luther 
 was far above Zwingle ; — Nam si inter se comparantur,scis ipse qiianto 
 intervallo Lutherus cxccdat-j And he writes lo Bulhnger, the 25th 
 November, 1544; " I imderstand that Luther pours out atrocious 
 
 * Sacred simplicity. — Tr. 
 
 1 For if these two be compared, you yourself know by how much Luther 
 excels. 
 
258 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 invectives on you and on ns all. I dare scarcely request you to 
 keep silence. But I supplicate yoi; at least to remember what a 
 great man Luther is, by what admirable qualities he is distin- 
 guished, what courage, what constancy, what ability, what power 
 of doctrine there is in him to beat down the kingdom of antichrist, 
 and to propagate the knowledge of salvation. I say it, and have 
 often repeated it, even though he called me Satan, I would not 
 cease to honor him, and to acknowledge him as an illustrious 
 servant of God." Gentlemen, behold these beautiful expressions. 
 Let Reform never forget them ! And they are expressions of Cal- 
 vin, of that man who is represented to us as so irritable and so 
 proud. 
 
 On several occasions propositions of peace, and projects of 
 t;nion, were brought forward on the part of Reform. The Swiss- 
 French Reformed above all exhibited, in this respect, an unshaken 
 perseverance. At the moment when the ultra-Lutherans, West- 
 phal, Timann, von Eitzen, and many others, had made a violent 
 discharge of their heavy artillery against the Reformed, Calvin and 
 his friends appeared on the field of battle, in the midst of clouds 
 of smoke, with the olive branch in their hand. The same year 
 (1557) in which Theodore Beza and Farel visited all the Swiss 
 towns to excite public sympathy in favor of the Vaiulois, who 
 had been cruelly butchered in the valley of Angrogne, these two 
 Reformed doctors, extending their charity out on one side and 
 another, entered Germany, and there exhibited a confession of 
 faith of the Churches of Switzerland and Savoy, with the intent to 
 unite the whole Reformation, by showing to the Lutheran church- 
 es that they also were brethren, companions in arms, in the war 
 against antichrist. In 1631, the general synod of Charenton, near 
 Paris, took the lead, and effected the union bypassing a resolution, 
 in which it was declared, " that the churches of the confession of 
 Augsburg being one in opinion with the other Reformed ones in 
 all the essential articles of true religion, the members of their 
 churches may present themselves at the holy table in the Reform- 
 ed churches without any previous abjuration." In our own days, 
 it has always been from the Reformed that the propositions and 
 eiibrts to re-establish a true union in the church have come. 
 
 And wherefore, gentlemen, is there this difference between Lu- 
 theranism and Reform ? Doubtless it arises in a great measure, as 
 far as regards Luther and the Lutherans, from the importance 
 which they place in the corporeal presence of Jesus Christ in the 
 Supper; from that unshaken attachment to what they believe to 
 be the truth, an attachment which we sincerely respect ; but it 
 flows also, it must be said, from the difference which we have for- 
 merly pointed out. The Biblical tendency of Reform ought to in- 
 duce every member of the^Reformed Church to place little impor- 
 tance on ecclesiastical ditferences, much on Bible truth, and con- 
 sequently engage him to stretch forth the hand of brotherhood to 
 every church, to every individual who has the word of the Bible. 
 It is thus that from good principles good consequences will al- 
 ways flow. 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 259 
 
 Gentlemen, let us be faithful to this spirit of true catholicity. 
 Let us not cease to recall, both to ourselves and to our brethren, 
 these words of the apostles: " one God, one Lord, one Spirit, one 
 body." Such is the special mission of Reform. 
 
 IV. If Reform be possessed of great breadth, it is not less dis- 
 tinguished by true depth. It is not only a Reformation of the 
 faith like Lutheranism, it is also a Reformation of the life ; and thus 
 it is more universally Christian. Lutheranism is certainly free 
 from antinomianism : Luther himself fought against it. Never- 
 theless, there is a great diflerence in the manner in which Luther- 
 anism and Reform consider the law ; one of the principal of which 
 is pointed out by a single and characteristic trait. In the Luther- 
 an catechisms, the law, the ten commandments, are placed before 
 faith, before the fundamental doctrines. Their use is to convince 
 man of sin, and bring him to Christ. In the Reformed catechisms, 
 on the contrary, the law (considered especially in the precepts of 
 Christ and the apostles) is j)laced after faith, after the doctrines 
 of salvation, as the expression of the gratitude of the child of God 
 for the redemption given him by Christ. The law, according to 
 Luther, only addresses itself to the unconverted, or at most to that 
 portion of the faithful not fully converted. "According to Calvin, it 
 addresses itself also to the faithful, how believing soever they 
 may be. 
 
 Luther accomplished no Reformation of manners ; he did not 
 even attempt it. Not certainly because he did not consider it im- 
 portant. " How," wTote he to the Bohemian brethren, who ex- 
 horted him to establish a discipline similar to theirs, " how is it 
 possible that we, who live in the midst of Sodom, of Gomorrah, 
 and of Babylon, can make that order, that discipline, that pure 
 life to prevail." Luther thought that the Reformation of manners 
 ought to flow simply and Jiaturally from the influence of sound 
 doctrine. 
 
 Let us here remark again, gentlemen, how much the diversity 
 of Lutheranism and of Reform is necessary to the unity, to the life 
 of the Reformation. Who does not recognize a profoundly Chris- 
 tian truth in the opinion that faith itself will form the manners ? 
 Was it not necessary that after ages, in which the discipline of 
 the Church had been the cause of numerous vexations, and of su- 
 perstitions still more numerous, there should be a protest taken 
 against such fatal errors .' Was it not neces.?ary that alongside of 
 the power of Reform, which here tends to bind, there should be 
 another power in the renewed Church, tending unceasingly to en- 
 large and relax .' Was it not necessary that, above all the exer- 
 tions of man, and his elibrts " to recall the wanderers and to 
 W'atch over the heritages of the Lord," there should be a finger 
 pointing to heaven, and a great voice proclaiming, " The good 
 shepherd goes before his sheep, and his sheep follow him, be- 
 cause they know his voice .' " 
 
 If, however, the one of these tlnngs was necessary, the other 
 was no less so. The work of Christian vigilance, of pastoral su- 
 
260 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 perintendence, was confided to Reform ; and, gentlemen, we are 
 reformed. 
 
 Zwingle set out from this principle : '• A. universal re-establish- 
 ment of life and manners is as necessary as a re-establishment of 
 faith." Immediately", at Zurich, at Berne, at Bale, ordinances for 
 regulating manners were issued, the women of unchaste life were 
 banished, the boarding-houses and the hotels were suppressed ; 
 aud when at a later period the pope, according to the ancient cus- 
 tom, requested troops from Zurich, the IZurichers offered him as a 
 compromise 2000 monks or priests. Would to God we sent at the 
 present day no other Swiss to Rome ! In particular, they insisted 
 on the manners of their ministers ; " as the word of truth is 
 grave," says the ordinance of 1532, " the life of its servant ought 
 also to be full of gravity." 
 
 But it was in Geneva especially, that this principle was realized. 
 Calvin, with the zeal of a prophet and the devotion of a martyr 
 who submits himself unreservedly to the stern Word of God, ex- 
 acted from the church imder his care an absolute obedience. He 
 strove hand to hand with the libertine party, and by the grace of 
 God he I'emained the stronger. Geneva, formerly so corrupted, 
 was regenerated, and displays a purity of manners, a Christian 
 simplicity, which drew from Farel, after an absence of fifteen 
 years, a shout of admiration, and these remarkable words : " I 
 would rather wish to be the last in Geneva than the first anywhere 
 else." A.nd fifty years after Calvin's death Jean- Valentin Andrese, 
 a fervent Lutheran, having passed some time within our walls, 
 said, on his return ; " What I have seen there I shall never forget, 
 and I shall ardently desire to attain it all my life. The fairest orna- 
 ment of that republic is its tribunal of manners, which makes in- 
 quiry every week into the disorders among the citizens. Games 
 of cards and chance, oaths, blasphemies, impurity, quarrels, ha- 
 treds, deceits, infidelities, drunkenness, and other vices are sup- 
 pressed. Oh ! but this purity is a beautiful ornament of Christi- 
 anity ! We (the Lutherans) cannot shed tears enough over that 
 in which u^e are awanting. If the difference of doctrine did not 
 withdraw me from Geneva, the harmony of its manners would 
 have retained me there for ever." 
 
 This character of morality was not confined to Switzerland and 
 Geneva ; it spread into France, Holland, and Scotland, into every 
 place where Reform penetrated. It still remains in some of these 
 countries ; and a German author, M. Gobel, after mentioning that 
 a modern traveller, also a German, could not find in the Scotch 
 churches, which he visited, a single instance of adultery or divorce, 
 and very little impurity, exclaims : " Let them compare with that 
 the horrible immorality of Germany ; in the country as well as in 
 the towns let them only interrogate the pastors, and they will be 
 filled with astonishment and fear." 
 
 Alas ! gentlemen, we have no longer any reason to be proud ; 
 these manners no longer exist. I do not say that there was not 
 in this discipline an element fitted to bring on its destruction. On 
 the contrary, I think that the part taken by the state in this order 
 of manners necessarily induced its fall. I reject every kind of 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 261 
 
 Christian discipline exercised by magistrates and police ; but I 
 believe that they might have laid aside the civil power, and still 
 preserved the strength of the watch, by charity and the Word of 
 God. 
 
 They did not do so, and what is the result ? Senebier said ; 
 " the prosperity of Geneva was for a long time the fruit of the 
 wise laws of Calvin. The purity of our ancient manners was our 
 boast; and it could be shown that one of the causes of our mis- 
 fortunes is ihe diminution of their influence. Thus Rome was 
 lost when her censors could no longer make themselves heard, 
 and Sparta fell with the reputation of those who were charged 
 with the care of making her virtue respected." If Senebier spoke 
 thus in 1786, what shall we say at the present hour ? 
 
 Ah ! gentlemen, who could not understand what was said by 
 Montesquieu, that the Genevese ought to bless, to celebrate the 
 day of Calvin's birth, and of his arrival among them ? But what 
 was understood by the profoundest politician of the eighteenth 
 century, the Genevese have not comprehended ; instead of cele- 
 brating the birth of the Reformer, they celebrate and cause their 
 children to celebrate the birth-day of a famous sophist, an ardent 
 soul, a man of inimitable talent, but who sent to the foundling 
 hospital the sad fruits of his libertinism ! They are raising a 
 magnificent statue to Jean Jacques, and they raise none to Calvin. 
 " We shall do it in Edinburgh," said a Scotch doctor to me last 
 year; " it is Edmburgh," added he, " which is now the metropolis 
 of Reform." 
 
 Gentlemen, the re-establishment of faith and manners in Reform, 
 that is the statue which Calvin, that extraordinary and modest man, 
 would have desired. Will it not be raised to him.' And if, as in 
 Saxony in the days of Luther, a too strict rule be at present inap- 
 plicable, let us not the less remember, that whoever asks for the 
 discipline of manners, is in the spirit of Reform, and that it is the 
 most sacred duty, not only of the ministers, but of all reformed 
 Christians, to strive that those who call upon the name of the Lord, 
 be " blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the 
 midst of a crooked and perverse nation," Phil. ii. 15. 
 
 V. This brings us, gentlemen, to the fifth character. Reform 
 possesses, both in its principle and its course, something decided, 
 of which Lutheranism is destitute. The principle of Lutheranism 
 was, to preserve in the Church everything that is not condemned by the 
 word of God ; while that of Reform Avas, to abolish, in the Church 
 everything that is not prescribed by the word of God. Lutheranism is 
 a Reformation of the Church, Reform is a renewal of it, or the 
 difference may be indicated, if desired, by merely changing an 
 accent: Lutheranism is a Reforwfltion, Reform is a Re-/ormation. 
 Lutheranism took the Church as it was, and contented itself with 
 effacing its blemishes. Reform went to the foundation of the 
 Church, and built its edifice upon the living rock of the apostles. 
 AVhilst Luther, when he heard what Carlstadt was doing, writes; 
 " we must keep in the middle path," and rise up_,against those 
 
262 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 who overthrow the images, Carlstadt, the first Reformed, from 
 1521 boldly reforms the Church of Wittemberg, of which he was 
 prevot, abolishes in it the mass, the images, confession, fast days, 
 and every abuse of popery. Zwingle, almost at the same time, 
 acts in a like manner at Zurich. And for what was done at Ge- 
 neva, I shall content myself with transcribing the inscription which 
 was for nearly three centuries, from 1536 to 1798, fixed upon the 
 walls of our Hotel de Ville, and which expresses better than we 
 can do the marked character of Reform. It ought to have been 
 restored since the Jubilee of 1835, and placed in the Church of 
 St. Peter ;* but that has not been done. Here it is : — 
 
 "In the year 1536, the tyranny of Roman antichrist hav- 
 ing BEEN OVERTHROWN, AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS ABOLISHED, THE 
 MOST HOLY RELIGION OF JeSUS ChRIST WAS RE-ESTABLISHED HERE 
 IN ITS PURITY, AND THE CHURCH IN A BETTER ORDER, BY THE EX- 
 TRAORDINARY FAVOR OF God. And at the same time, the city 
 
 ITSELF having REPULSED AND PUT ITS ENEMIES TO FLIGHT, WAS 
 
 freed, not without a biarked interposition of providence. 
 The Genevese council and people have raised this monument, 
 that the memory of these events might be perpetuated, and 
 that a testimony of their gratitude to god might be handed 
 down to their posterity." 
 
 What has been the result of this difference of character between 
 Lutheranism and Reform ? 
 
 Two very distinct courses, and which, we notice here again, 
 have each their good side. The course of Lutheranism is de- 
 fensive, successive ; the course of Reform is offensive, conquer- 
 ing. To Lutheranism belongs the principle of resistance, of pas- 
 siveness ; to Reform the principle of movement and of life. 
 
 Gentlemen, is it necessary to remind you how important these 
 two tendencies are to the prosperity of the church .' Must I in- 
 sist upon this, that in every well-constituted community, the im- 
 mobility of principles must be united to the mobility of life ? 
 
 There is not even a family in which two opposing tendencies 
 are not to be found. The decided and imposing authority of the 
 father must be accompanied by the more conciliating and more 
 indulgent tenderness of the mother. The same in a political 
 state, the conservative and the liberal element must always ex- 
 ist. An exclusive immobility leads to violence, to hatred, to 
 revolution ; has not Charles X. taught us this much .' An exces- 
 sive mobility leads to fickleness, superficialitij, agitation, pride ; is 
 there not a nation which shows us this .' These two elements are 
 so indispensable to the life of the whole body, that if by any 
 means you should destroy one of them, it would re-appear im- 
 mediately after. In France, in 1830, the old conservatives being 
 thrown out, those who, during fifteen years, had played the part 
 of liberals, became conservatives themselves. 
 
 And what is necessary in the state, what is necessary even in 
 every family, you do not wish in the church ! You wish by 
 some revolution to eject one of these elements ! Impotent con- 
 
 * The Church in which Calvin preached. — Tk. 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 263 
 
 spirators ! — even were you able to destroy the element of Reform, 
 you would be compelled to become Reformed yourselves ! 
 
 But, doubtless, Lutheranism suffered in the sixteenth century, 
 for having pushed its principle to an extreme. Divided between 
 the Bible and the church, between what it wished to take away, 
 and what it wished to preserve, it had a difficult and uncertain 
 course to pursue ; its Reformation was never able to reach the 
 extent to which its aim was at first directed, and Luther, whose 
 character was so full of gaiety and joyous humor, spent at last 
 days of sadness and full of sorrow. While Reform, having a pre- 
 cise and definite aim — the Bible, — nothing but the Bible, pro- 
 ceeded with power; and Calvin, Farel, Knox, Zwingle even, 
 died with joy and in triumph. What death was that of Calvin, 
 and what adieux were his ! 
 
 Lutheranism, paralyzed from the beginning of its existence, 
 saw, after the death of Luther, conservation changed, in its bosom, 
 into stagnation. 
 
 The Lutheran princes, unfaithful to the glorious memory of 
 the illustrious diet of Spires (1529), opposed all extension of Pro- 
 testantism, and were but too well seconded by their theologians. 
 
 Now also, a new society, which we salute with affection and 
 respect, the society of Gustavus Adolphus, faithful to this Lu- 
 theran principle, endeavors, it is true, to sustain the falling Pro- 
 testant churches, but declares itself opposed to all exertion be- 
 yond recognized Protestantism, to all proselytism. 
 
 Such is not the case with Reform. It marches, it advances, it 
 progresses, it gains everywhere. Our Evangelical Societies of 
 Paris and Geneva, with their essentially proselyte character, and 
 all our missionary societies, are the fairest fruits of the spirit of 
 Reform. 
 
 B\it it is especially in the relation which these two churches 
 bear to papacy that this distinguishing character is shown. Luther- 
 anism, which is offensive towards Reform, remains defensive towards 
 the pope ; whilst Reform, on the contrary, stretching forth the 
 hand of brotherhood^to Lutheranism, takes openly and courageously 
 the offensive against Rome. At Augsburg, in 1530, Melancthon 
 said to the cai'dinals, that there was only a small line of separa- 
 tion between him and the pope, but that an immense abyss 
 separated him from Zwingle !* Lutheranism, with which the 
 visible church possesses so much weight, could capitulate with 
 Rome. Reform, which only wishes the Bible, would run tilt 
 against her. Wherever, also, superstitious fears exist of a con- 
 flict with papacy, wherever^extreme circumspection prevails, the 
 idea, for instance, that prudence forbids Protestants ^to stretch 
 forth the fraternal hand to priests who reject the pope and confess 
 Jesus Christ, there, perhaps, hyper- Lutheranism will be found, 
 but not certainly the spirit of Reform. 
 
 Inspired by a holy love for souls and with a profound conviction 
 
 ♦ Dogma nullum habemus diversum ab ecclesia Romana. Parati sumus 
 obedire ecclesiae Romanae. {Legato Pontifico Melancthon.) Ambiunt 
 (reformat]) colloquium cum'Philippo ; sed hie hactenus recusavit. [Brentius.) 
 
264 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 that Rome leads them to destruction, Reform, three centuries ago, 
 seized the sword of the word, and began, with the papal power, a 
 war of life or death. Notwithstanding the constant and violent 
 opposition of themostpowerful European monarchs, notwithstand- 
 ing the redoubled efforts of that hierarchy which drew the world 
 after it, Reform, like little David, advanced against this gigantic 
 Goliath, Avith nothmg in its scrip but the well-smoothed pebbles of 
 the word of God, and it has conquered through the name of the 
 Eternal of armies. Unquestionably, I am grateful for all that has 
 been done by Christian princes, and especially by the immortal 
 Gustavus AdoliDhus. But that was rather a matter of princes and 
 perhaps the work of policy ; with us it is rather a matter of the 
 faithful, the work of faith. It was Reform which saved the Re- 
 formation in disastrous times, and it will still save it in the days 
 in which we live. 
 
 It is true, that it has saved it at the expense of its blood. 
 Whilst the Lutheran church scarcely possesses a single martyr, 
 our churches count them by thousands, and their fidelity has ac- 
 quired for them the respect and admiration of the best of Luther- 
 ans, the tender soul of the Spencers and Zinzendorfs. In Swit- 
 zerland, in Scotland, in England, and especially in Belgium and 
 France, the inquisition, the papacy, their poniards and their 
 scaffolds have covered the soil of the Bible with the bodies of the 
 slain. Reform has seen it, but it has not bowed its head. It has 
 seen its children deliver up their blood Avith joy, looking to Jesus 
 Christ, and it has held on its course. 
 
 A mandate, written in the name of a priest who styles himself 
 Count of Lausanne and prince of the holy Roman empire (although 
 the holy empire ceased to exist at the beginning of the present 
 century), has dared to say quite recently in this city, " The 
 pontiffs and priests of the Church (of Rome) have been continually 
 and everywhere persecuted from the times of the apostles till the 
 present day. The holy Pontiffs, the holy priests of Jesus Christ, 
 laboring from the origin of Christianity for the conversion and 
 sanctification of souls, have never employed any means that the 
 gospel, conscience, and reason unite in condemnmg."* 
 
 This is in verity too strong, and a sigh escapes us. How then ! 
 you dare to hold such language in this city, in the midst of a 
 population which is but formed, so to speak, from the debris 
 which escaped from your wheels, your wooden horses, and your 
 knives ! We are accustomed to the effrontery of Rome, but we 
 have never had such a specimen as this. 
 
 Forgetful people ! from whom, tell us, came the bloody appli- 
 cation of the passage. Constrain them to enter ? By whose orders 
 were shed those torrents of Vaudoisian and Albigensian blood, 
 which inundated the middle ages .' Who, if it was not your Pope, 
 when in the night of August 24th, 1572, in the midst of nuptial 
 rejoicings, the old Coligny had been butchered on his knees, and 
 with him fully sixty thousand of the Reformed, who caused the 
 behs of Rome to be rung, the cannon of the castle of St. Angelo 
 
 * Mandate of the Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva, May 17th, 1844. 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 265 
 
 to be fired, and medals to be struck ? Who was it who, in 1685, 
 overturned in France sixteen hundred temples, slaughtered thou- 
 sands and thousands of Protestants, and forced the remainder to 
 flee ? In our own days, who is it that closes almost every Roman 
 Catholic country to the preaching of the Gospel ? Who con- 
 strains the poor inhabitants of the Zillerthal to quit the country of 
 their fathers ? Who in Austria makes laws against conversion to 
 Protestantism ? Who condemns to prison that Maurette who last 
 winter contended with the priests charged to read your mandate 
 from the pulpit ? Who, two months ago, in a neighboring frontier 
 village, distant a league from this, caused a poor peasant to be 
 seized, thrown into a dungeon, and then condemned to the gal- 
 leys, who had committed no other crime save that of reading the 
 Bible ? Who, not in the fourteenth nor fifteenth century, but a 
 few weeks ago, condemned to death Maria Joaquina for having 
 denied the duty of worshipping the Virgin and the doctrine of 
 transubstantiation ? And you talk of Rome as a perseaUed church. ! 
 And you say she never employed other means than those of con- 
 science and gentleness ! Forgetful people ! go ! go ! when you 
 persecute you are quite in harmony with yourselves. Persecu- 
 tion must be and in truth is one of your dogmas. No one shall 
 take away that opprobrium from you, and no one shall deprive 
 u^ of this glory. Your church is the church of executioners ; ours 
 ihe church of martyrs. 
 
 VI. I only take one other character from among all those that 
 still remain. It is derived from the one we have just described ; 
 the difference which exists between our two communions as to 
 the liberty of the Church and the State. 
 
 Luther was an humble and submissive monk, even according 
 to his adversaries ; and although he possessed great powers of 
 speech, he kept always, in presence of the emperor and of his 
 prince, within the limits of the most perfect obedience. And even 
 in 1530, that same Luther, who in 1522 wrote a book "Against 
 the state of the pope and the bishops falsely called spiritual," 
 showed that he, as well as Melancthon, was quite disposed to 
 recognize the bishops, if only the bishops would recognize the 
 Gospel. Luther's reformation was essentially monarchical as 
 regards the state, hierarchical as regards the church. The people 
 never appear in it but to receive modestly what the authorities 
 give them. Luther, in short, defined, it is true, the two swords 
 clearly enough^the power of the state and that of the church ; 
 but after his day, and even while he was still living, the Lutheran 
 princes, clothed with territorial episcopacy, absorbed all the 
 ecclesiastical liberties and independence 
 
 Is it necessary, gentlemen, to remark, that Lutheranism pos- 
 sesses, in this character, an excellence which is peculiarly its 
 own.' The car which bears the human mind stood, in the six- 
 teenth century, at the top of a rapid descent. Reform placed 
 itself boldly in the seat; seized the reins with one hand, and 
 with the other smacked its whip, and the car started. What was 
 12 
 
266 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 then required to prevent a fall to the bottom of the mountain, a 
 terrible catastrophe ? There was required, gentlemen (excuse a 
 common word), a drag ; which was Lutheranism. By this means 
 its course would be swift but sure ; and if the misfortune which 
 was feared has happened, it is because Lutheranism and Reform, 
 both the one and the other, lost, during the last century, their 
 essential and intrinsic character ; it is because the drag has been 
 taken away, and the driver precipitated from his seat. 
 
 Here then is a new difference between Reform and Lutheranism ; 
 and it was not without reason that Bossuet said, before all the 
 court of Louis XIV., " Tlie Calvinists are bolder than the Lutherans." 
 
 Reform, from its very commencement, was essentially democra- 
 tic. Switzerland, where Reform developed itself, is an assemblage 
 of little nations in which the people is sovereign. It was from the 
 people that the Reformation emanated ; and when the councils op- 
 posed it (as in Bale, for example), it was the people who made it 
 triumphant. Political rights and liberties trampled under foot by 
 the papacy, lightly abandoned by Lutheranism, are zealously re- 
 claimed by Reform. The reformation of the free German cities, 
 noAv Lutheran, was the most brilliant act of their autonomy ; but 
 in making this lofty effort, they lost their energy and their liberty, 
 and fell from that time under the influence or the power of for- 
 midable neighbors. 
 
 But, on the contrary, wherever Reform comes it preserves the 
 ancient liberties, and adds others that are new. If the lot of Ge- 
 neva, a free imperial city, be so different at the present hour from 
 that of Augsburg, Nuremburg, and many other cities, formerly free 
 and imperial as well as she, whence does it come, I pray ? . His 
 tory shall supply our answer. Calvin, in 1559, at the time wheia 
 Geneva expected to be besieged, put his own hand to the work to 
 raise a new bastion. If Geneva was capable of maintaining its 
 independence for three centuries against formidable enemies, it is 
 due to that same spirit that animated Calvin. Everywhere this 
 opposition between Lutheranism and Reform is to be met with. 
 And in our own days, for example, when in 1830, at the time of 
 the fall of Charles X., the Christians of France and other countries 
 rejoiced, and the Christians of Germany were astonished and of- 
 fended, it perhaps arose altogether from the one being Reformed, 
 and the other Lutheran. 
 
 This opposition has for a long time, gentlemen, furnished Ro- 
 man Catholics with a common field for invective against Reform. 
 They are welcome to it. Let us just call to memory the constant 
 agitations of the popish states, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Bel- 
 gium, Ireland, France, and three days ago the combat of Trient* 
 (Valais). Let us recall to memory the inquietude, the restlessness, 
 the sighs of the Lutheran states of Germany. Let us remember 
 the powerful and fruitful liberties enjoyed at the present hour by 
 the Reformed states, Scotland, Holland, England, America, and 
 some cantons of Switzerland. And if in America the peaceful city 
 
 * Referring to the late revolution in the Valais. — Tr. 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 267 
 
 of William Penn, the city which was formerly that of brotherly 
 love, be now stained with bloody excesses, whence does it arise ? 
 I do not say that the Protestants there are without blame. On the 
 contrary, I grant that the salt lias there, without doubt, lost its v. - 
 vor. But, nevertheless, it is impossible not to perceive that the 
 disasters of Philadelphia are the act by which the papacy of Ire- 
 land heralds its invasion. 
 
 As respects political liberty the papacy is in a state of revolu- 
 tion ; Luiheranism is in a state of fermentation ; Reform is in a 
 state of possession. 
 
 Let it not be said that if there are democratic sympathies in Re- 
 form, it is therefore unfavorable to monarchies. That were to 
 make a strange anachronism, and to reason in the style of Louis 
 XIV. Are not the greatest minds at present of opinion that de- 
 mocracy, under one form or another, is the futurity towards which 
 the nations are tending. Now, Reform being possessed of light 
 and strength litted to guide and moderate democracy, as M. de 
 Tocqueville himself alleges, is it not therefore, henceforth, requi- 
 site for the prosperity of states .' To reject it now, would be the 
 same as ^vhen a vessel is setting sail, and about to launch out into 
 the great waters, to turn ofTits seamen, to dismiss its pilot, throw 
 down its compass, and break its helm. "Let us moderate demo- 
 cracy by means of religion," says M. de Tocqueville. Reform is 
 the golden bridle, powerful, yet easily managed, which the di- 
 vive hand has prepared for the mouth of liberty. The real pacific 
 democracy is Reform. You will lind it noAvhere else. 
 
 But if the reformed church gives liberty to the state, it arises 
 from being itself possessed of it. The legislation and government 
 of the church with it do not proceed from certain personages pla- 
 ced by ofhce originally above the rest, but from the whole of the 
 church, from the suffrages of the faithful, so that if any are raised 
 above the others, it is only as organs and delegates of the church. 
 Every necessary precaution is taken to prevent domination from 
 creeping in. " Let the moderator have the presidency, but no- 
 thing more (say the ordinances of Schaffhausen), lest from a. demo- 
 cracy it should become ^monarchy." 
 
 Reform does not establish a church of ihe clergy, it establishes 
 (but let us comprehend well the meaning of the words), it estab- 
 lishes a church of the people ; not of the peonle of the world, but 
 of the people of God ; that is to say, a church composed essen- 
 tially, though not exclusively, of all the grave and holy men, 
 whose thoughts have been led captive to the will of Christ. 
 
 Finally, gentlemen, as to the independence of the Church, I do 
 not assert the complete separation from the State ; that is a ques- 
 tion upon which I shall give no opinion in this address ; as to the 
 independence of the church, that is not less essential to our Re- 
 form. Zwingle who had never encountered the slightest hinder- 
 ance from the state, who had, on the contrary, received from it 
 every species of support, regarded the church, we must acknow- 
 ledge, as a society inclosed within the state, protected, tended, and 
 to a certain extent governed by the state. But if Zwingle had liv- 
 
268 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 ed in a time when the state made war on Christian trnth in favor 
 of papacy and socinianism, do you think he would have made the 
 church submissive to it? No, gentlemen, he would have sepa- 
 rated the church from it. 
 
 In fact, already before the time of Calvin, the synod of Berne of 
 1532 established that the state ought not to interfere in religious 
 matters, except as to what regards external order. " But as to 
 what concerns tlie work of grace, that is not within the power of 
 man, and is not held of any magistrate. Tire state ought not to 
 meddle with consciences ; Jesus Christ our Lord is the only mas- 
 ter of them. If the magistrate mix himself up with the gospel, he 
 will just make hypocrites." 
 
 But it was Calvin especially, the chief of onr Reform, who 
 claimed for the church autonomy, autocracy, and independence. 
 He was not, like Zwingle, born a citizen of a Republic, but the 
 subject of a mouarchy, and as such he felt himself, less than he, an 
 integral part of the state. The organization of a monarchy besides 
 did not permit, so much as that of a republic, that confusion of 
 church and state realized by Zwingle. 
 
 Luther Avas a German, Zwingle a Swiss; but nationality only 
 occupied a secondary place in the great soul of Calvin ; Christ 
 and the church were all for him. He was neither a Frenchman, 
 a Swiss, nor a Genevese ; he was of the city of God. In quitting 
 France, he sacrificed whatever he had that was most precious : 
 and he never returned to the abode of his former idols to raise 
 them anew. Undoubtedly he loved Geneva, the country of his 
 adoption, but the great nationality reigned supreme over all less- 
 er ones. Nothing was more insupportable to him than national 
 egotism. Turning away from those narrow compartments in 
 which each one wishes to encase himself, his eagle eye fixed itself 
 unceasingly on the grand whole of the church. His colleagues of 
 the cantons strove to form a national Swiss church, but even 
 that attempt appeared too mean to his capacious mind ; and pass- 
 ing beyond rivers and mountains, he aspired unceasingly after the 
 church universal. He kne^v no nation but the nation of holiness, 
 and no people bixt the people of God. 
 
 His principle even, which bound him to Bible and apostolical 
 antiquity, carried him back to the first three centuries of the 
 church, and caused him to regard the independence of the chtirch 
 as its normal condition. How, besides, when Calvin saw the state 
 in France united to the Roman hierarchy and roaring like a fero- 
 cious beast against the htmible Galilean confessors, \vould he not 
 feel constrained to put the church beyond the reach of its assaults'.' 
 Moreover, he did not only cast aside the oppression of Francis I. 
 or Henry II., but also the protection of reformed magistrates, which 
 filled him with lively apprehension. He perceived in the con- 
 nection Avhich existed between the church and the state at Zurich 
 and at Berne, something servile which hindered ^the movements 
 of the church and threatened its holy liberty. " I do not intend 
 that we shall be so servilely bottnd," writes he in 1557 to Bullin- 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 269 
 
 ger, who insisted on the authority of the magistrate. Non puto 
 tarn serviliter nos constrictos icneri. 
 
 Calvin then threw far from him the idea of causing the Church 
 to be governed by the state, even by the state evangehzed. He 
 wished it to form a community mi generis, in which each member 
 would have a certain share in the government. He made each 
 church a little democracy, and fioni the reunion of all these 
 churches a confederation. 
 
 Calvin's spirit, as to the independence of the church, was, per- 
 haps, nowhere so powerfully manifested as in the canton Vaud 
 {Pays cle Vaud). The church, in that beautiful country, found 
 itself between Berne and Geneva as it were between two mutu- 
 ally counteracting forces. The spirit of liberty and independence 
 was blown towards it from the walls of Geneva by the powerful 
 mouth of Calvin, whilst the military republic of Berne, wishing to 
 maintain that strength in the state which for several ages consti- 
 tuted its greatness, applied itself with nervous arm to tighten 
 firmly the bands and the forms in which the state intended to hold 
 the church. Berne could not admit any part whatever of the pub- 
 lic ' power to be withdrawn from the powerful hands of the 
 state, not even in things religious. Thus, the Vaudean Church 
 claiming the exercise of ecclesiastical discipline, the state was 
 afraid if it granted that power, it would, in some sort, recognize 
 the church's independence. The state was quite agreeable to 
 have discipline, but intended to exercise it itself, and that by its 
 own officers.* 
 
 However, Viret, Theodore Beza, and a great number of other 
 ministers, maintained the principles of independence in the Pays 
 de Vaud. The ties with Berne became more relaxed every day, 
 and all looks Avere turned towards Geneva. The two great systems, 
 brought into the presence of each other, rendered a crisis immi- 
 nent. " A rupture was inevitable," says the wise Hnndeshagen, 
 now professor at Berne, in his history of the conflicts of that 
 church. Thus, gentleinen, in the sixteenth century, two hundred 
 and fifty years before its emancipation, the independence of the 
 church was on the point of conferring on the people political in- 
 dependence. But the heart was strongest. He descended roaring 
 from his mountains ; and Viret, Theodore Beza, Marlorat, Merlin, 
 and about forty of their brethren, all friends of the liberty of the 
 church, were compelled to flee from the country in which they 
 had Avith so much joy announced the gospel of Christ, and go to 
 enrich Geneva and the Reformed Churches of France with their 
 piety and their light. The Free Church of Scotland has been able 
 to remain even on the field of combat, but the Free Church of Vaud, 
 crushed in its most noble members by the mailed hand of the 
 powerful republic, was compelled to quit its smiling towns, its 
 valleys, and its mountains — and the bond Church remained there 
 alone. All classes of the pastors were shut up for two days under 
 
 * Reformation Ordinance of the Seigneurs of Berne (Voir Ruchat, 1837, 
 vol. iv., p. ■'522, Pieces Justificativcs.) 
 t The arms of Berne.— Tr. 
 
270 LUTHER AND CALVIN. 
 
 the bars and bolts of the castle of Lausanne, and no one could 
 clear the gates of that prison, except by engagmg to compear at 
 the first citation. And at the same time the state deprived all 
 classes of the right, in future, of convoking either class or confer- 
 ence. Vaud thus witnessed the complete triumph of the state 
 over the church. Order reigned at Warsaw. That order, which 
 succeeded one of the most memorable contests of Christianity, 
 has continued for nearly three centuries ; and the influence of the 
 Bernese principles has during this lapse of time been so infiltrated 
 into that beautiful country, that if here or there the eloquent voice 
 of the Virets or the Bezas makes itself heard from the midst of the 
 ruins, in order to claim the rights of the church of Jesus Christ, 
 it is looked upon as a strange thing ! These accents, three centu- 
 ries old, are regarded as modern words, and as theories of the day. 
 
 Undoubtedly, gentlemen, there was still in Calvin's system some 
 connection between the state and the church, but so little was it 
 essential, that two years ago, since our revolution, some voices 
 only required to recall to people's remembrance the principles of 
 Reform, to bring it to the verge of being severed. Let us then un- 
 derstand perfectly, if there be at present in some minds a revert- 
 ing to petty nationality, if there be some honorable Christians who 
 preach blind submission, who oppose even what some citizens, 
 some of the faithful, respectfully ask by petitions, the liberty which 
 has been sworn to them, and Avhich even the constitution of the 
 country guarantees them ; such a way of acting is an invasion of 
 Lutheranism, even a false Lutheranism, and a considerable devi- 
 ation from the Reformed principles. 
 
 Gentlemen, liberty in the affairs of the church and in those of 
 the state ; such is our antiquity ; our custom ; our tradition ; — we 
 are the conservators of them. To deprive Reform of this noble 
 love of liberty would be to revolutionize it. 
 
 It is time to conclude. 
 
 " The catholic church,'' says Lange, " is the church of the 
 priests ; the Lutheran that of the theologians ; the Reformed that 
 of the faithful." We accept of this definition, remarking, however, 
 what is certainly the idea of Lange, that even the catholicity of 
 the Reformed church causes it to assign, whether to doctors or 
 pastors, the place which belongs to them. 
 
 If it be required to find a motto for Reform, what, gentlemen, 
 would you inscribe upon its banner ? This is what I would choose : 
 
 Above : — 
 
 Grace. 
 
 Below : — 
 
 CATHOLiciTy, Liberty. 
 
 As regards the doctrine of Grace. 
 
 Grace in all its fulness, from everlasting to everlasting, from the 
 first movement of the regenerated till the full accomplishment of 
 his salvation. 
 
 Then, as regards the church, catholicity and liberty. 
 
 Catholicity. Unquestionably the Reformed church is possessed 
 
LUTHER AND CALVIN. 271 
 
 of that. A church which has never ceased to make the grand 
 Christian union one of its most vehement desires, one of its most 
 cherished aims. It possesses cathoUcity in a higher degree than 
 the church styling itself Catholic, which has never ceased to cut 
 off from its communion whoever was imbued with some truth 
 and life, even a Jansenius and almost a Fenelon. 
 
 But if grace be the sun of Reform, and catholicity one of its 
 poles, liberty is the other. Catholicity as regards the whole, 
 liberty as regards the individual. Individuality and catholicity 
 are equally essential to it, and to raise the one in opposition to the 
 other is to cease to be Reformed. 
 
 Thus, gentlemen, in the day when the Lord shall assemble his 
 army in holy pomp , in the day when the body of Christ shall re- 
 unite its scattered members, the Reformed church will come 
 bringing as a gift to the New church these three things which 
 shall endure ; Grace, Catholicity, Liberty, What other church will 
 be able to present so fair an offering .' 
 
 Let us be then, gentlemen (this is my last sentence, the conclu- 
 sion of this Address), let us be then intelligent, faithful, and 
 unshaken sons of Reform ; I do not say only in this school, only 
 in Geneva, but in Lausanne, but in Neuchatel, but in the whole of 
 Switzerland, France, Holland, Scotland, England, Germany, 
 America. The destinies of the church depend upon it. 
 
 Shall we forget our fathers, their principles, their struggles, 
 their faithfulness, their blood .' Whilst they took so much care to 
 preserve Reform intact, in presence not only of the papacy, but 
 also of all secondary shades of opinion, shall we lightly abandon 
 the precious characters of their faith ! Shall we walk up and 
 down upon their graves, trampling their bones under foot and 
 scattering tlieir ashes .' 
 
 Undoubtedly, Lutheranism has its task as we have ours. Un- 
 doubtedly, Lutheranism and Reform should march on hand in 
 hand under the standard of Christ to the conquest of the world. 
 But that we may render to our ally the service he has <he right 
 to expect from us, it is necessary we should be ourselves. And 
 are we so .' 
 
 Ah ! gentlemen, he who addresses the awakening letters to 
 the seven churches of Asia, makes us hear his voice. When he 
 sees how many there are " whose hands are Aveakened and whose 
 knees are out of joint," he cries to Reform; Hold fast that which 
 thou hast, that none may take away thy crown. Guard that good thing 
 which has been confided to thee by the Holy Spirit dwelling in thee ! 
 
 Reform, gentlemen, is the church of the present time, die Con- 
 fession der Gegcnwart,* as Lange calls it. To Reform the Lord has 
 specially committed the multitude of nations. Let it advance, 
 then, freely, courageously in the world ; let it there accomplish 
 the holy work committed to it by the Eternal ; and as the sixteenth 
 century was signalized by a great separation, let the nineteenth 
 be signalized through the prayers and the labors of Reform by a 
 great union. I will make thee a pillar in the temple of my God. 
 
 * The Confesjiin?' of the present time. — Tr. 
 
PTJSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
IPUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 GENEVA AND OXFORD 
 
 "Two systems of doctrine are now, and probably for the last time, in conflict — the Ca- 
 tholic and Genevan." 
 
 Dr. Piisey'g Letter io the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I am in the practice, at the opening of the course of lectures 
 
 in our School, to call your attention to some subject peculiarly 
 
 appropriate to the wants and the circvimstances of the times. 
 
 Several such subjects now present themselves to our consideration. 
 
 And first of all, there is one which is appropriate to every year 
 and to every day, it is that which concerns the very nature of 
 this school. It has none of those temporal sources of prosperity, 
 of endowment, and of power, whicli nourish other institutions ; 
 it can exist only as a plant of God ; it can be nothing excepting 
 just as the Spirit of God — like the sap — diffuses itself, without 
 cessation, through the principal branches, and through even the 
 least of its twigs ; adorning the whole tree with leaves, with flow- 
 ers, and with fruits. Gentlemen, Professors, and Students, we are 
 those twigs and branches. Oh ! that we may not be barren and 
 withered branches ! 
 
 There is another subject which begins greatly to occupy the 
 most distinguished minds ; it is the question whether the Church 
 ought to depend upon the civil government, or ought to have a 
 government of its own, having no dependence, in the last resort, 
 but upon Christ and his Word. Without entering here into this 
 important subject, I would indicate two opposite movements, 
 which are at this moment simultaneously taking place under our 
 eyes in the world ; the one in theory, the other in practice. On 
 the one hand, an admirable work, the production of one of the 
 most profound thinkers of our age, Mr. Vinet,* leads some reflect- 
 ing minds to acknowledge the independence of the Church ; and, 
 on the other, many people are uniting themselves with new zeal 
 around the institutions of the government ; so that there are all 
 around us convictions and movements which seem to carry away 
 the people of our day by contrary currents. It is thus that a stu- 
 dent of Geneva has just written to us, that the refusal to grant to 
 him the exemption from military duty which the law stipulates in 
 favor of students in Tlieology, will oblige him to quit our school. 
 
 * Esgai sur la Manifestation de« Convictions Religieuses— Paris, 1842. 
 
276 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 We will always respect authority, but we cannot refrain from re- 
 marking that if, as all parties maintain, there has been a radical 
 revolution in Geneva this year, that revolution has not, assuredly, 
 tended to establish among us that equality and that religious liberty, 
 without Avhich all other liberty is but a useless and dangerous 
 plaything. However, it is in France above all that this movement 
 is takingplace. A French student writes to us, with regrets which 
 have touched us, that he has united himself again to the Estab- 
 lished Church. When young men, after having pursued in our 
 Preparatory School those first studies which present so many 
 difficulties, desire to secure to themselves, by certain measures, 
 a future more easy ; or even to abandon our Institution for the 
 purpose of placing themselves in one sustained by government, 
 from which Unitarian and Rationalist docrrines have been banish- 
 ed, we shall be happy to think that we have been able to prepare 
 them in part, with the aid of God our Saviour, for the work of 
 the ministry, and we shall follow them in their career with the 
 same affection, and we hope, with the same prayers. But we 
 ourselves. Gentlemen, will make no advances to the political gov- 
 ernments ; we believe that our sole resource is with the Govern- 
 ment from above, and knowing the faithfulness of Christ towards 
 those who seek only His glory, assured that there is a place for 
 whomsoever He calls to preach His Gospel, we will ask of Him the 
 confidence that we, teachers and pupils, ought to have in His love, 
 and to make us all continue to walk by faith and not by sight. 
 } The "circumstances even of the Church in our country might 
 also occupy our attention. Alas ! we have played this year the 
 part of Cassandra. La vain have we presented, as well as we 
 could, the correct principles of Ecclesiastical Government ; in 
 vain, in particular, have we shown that the elders of the Church 
 ought to be chosen by the people of the parishes assembled in 
 their places of worship, with their pastors, after having invoked 
 the name of God, and not by municipal councils, over which ma- 
 gistrates preside ; our words for a moment heard, have in the end 
 been in vain. We have seen among us, a very strange spectacle ; 
 we have seen ecclesiastics, men in other respects truly enlighten- 
 ed, and possessing undoubted talent, appear to fear their parishes, 
 and employ their powerful influence to cause the rulers of the 
 Church to be elected, not by the Church, but by the magistrates 
 charged to watch over the maintenance of the roads and public 
 edifices. And now that this election has been made, what do peo- 
 ple say .' surprising thing ! Exclamations of astonishment and 
 grief are heard, that Ihe political bodies to which some have 
 wished at all price to entrust the ecclesiastical elections, have 
 made those elections political ; the fall of the Church is predicted, 
 men are now occupied with those who are destined infallibly to 
 share the spoils,* and nothing can equal the zeal which has been 
 employed to obtain this change, unless it be the gi-ief which has 
 been manifested when, as we predicted, its inevitable results have 
 been discovered. Behold, Gentlemen, whither ignorance of the 
 
 * See the Courier of Geneva of the 24th Sept., 1842. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 277 
 
 first principles of ecclesiastical govemment, on the part of those 
 who administer the Church, whatever may be, in other respects, 
 their illumination, their morality, their patriotism, inevhably con- 
 ducts. 
 
 If we look beyond this School, beyond this city, into the reli- 
 gious world iii general, there are, Gentlemen, other siibjects Avhich 
 present themselves. It is thus that we see pious men, seduced, 
 without doubt, by many truths mixed up with strange errors, re- 
 ceive a system come from a city in England,* according to which 
 there is no more Church, although Jesus has promised (Matt, xvi.) 
 that " the gates of hell shall not prevail against it ;" and that 
 there ought to be no more pastors and teachers, although revela- 
 tion declares to us that Christ himself has established " pastors and 
 teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the minis- 
 try, for the edifying of the body of Christ." (Ephes. iv. 11, 12.) 
 
 But, Gentlemen, there is another error ; it is that which is found 
 in the other extremity of the theological line, that I intend now to 
 indicate to you. In the bosom of a University in England, that of 
 Oxford, has grown up an ecclesiastical system which interests 
 and justly grieves all Christendom. It is now some time since 
 some laymen, whom I love and respect, came to me to ask me to 
 write against that dangerous error. I answered that I had neither 
 the time nor the capacity, nor the documents necessary for the 
 task. But if I am incapable of compo.sing a dissertation, I can at 
 least show in few words how I regard it. It is with me even a 
 duty, since respectable Christians ask it of me; and it is that 
 which has determined me to choose this subject for the present 
 occasion. 
 
 Let us comprehend well. Gentlemen, the position which Evan- 
 gehcal Christian Theology occupies. 
 
 At the epoch of the Reformation, if I may so speak, three dis- 
 tinct eras had occurred in the history of the Church. 
 
 1. That of ►Evangelical Christianity, which, having its focus in 
 the times of the Apostles, extended its rays throughout the first 
 and second centuries of the Church. 
 
 2. That of Ecclesiastical Catholicism, which, commencing its 
 existence in the third century, reigned till the seventh. 
 
 3. That of the Papacy, which reigned from the seventh to the 
 fifteenth century. 
 
 Such were the three grand eras in the then past history of the 
 Church ; let us see what characterized each one of them. 
 
 In the first period, the supreme authority was attributed to the 
 revealed Word of God. 
 
 In the second, it was, according to some, ascribed to the Church 
 as represented by its bishops. 
 
 In the third, to the Pope. 
 
 We acknowledge cheerfully that the second of these systems is 
 much superior to the third ; but it is inferior to the first ! 
 
 * Plymouth. (Dr. Merle here refers to those who are called " Plymouth 
 Brethren-") 
 
278 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 I 111 fact, in the first of these systems it is God who rules. 
 
 Ill the second, it is Man. 
 
 In the third, it is, to speak after the Apostle, " that working 
 OF Satan, with all power, and signs and lying wonders" (2 
 Thess. ii. 9). 
 
 The Reformation, in abandoning the Papacy, might have re- 
 turned to the second of these systems, that is, to Ecclesiastical 
 Catholicism ; or to the first, that is, to Evangelical Christianity. 
 
 In returnmg to the second, it would have made half the way. 
 Ecclesiastical Catholicism is, in effect, a middle system — a via 
 media, as one of the Oxford Doctors has termed it, in a sermon 
 which he has just published. On the one hand, it approaches 
 much to Papacy, for it contains, in the germ, all the principles 
 which are there found. On the other, however, it diverges from 
 it, for it rejects the Papacy itself. 
 
 The Reformation \vas not a system of pretended juste milieu. 
 It went the whole way ; and rebounding with that force which 
 God gives, it fell, as at one single leap, into the Evangelical 
 Christianity of the Apostles. 
 
 ih But there is now, Gentlemen, a numerous and powerful party 
 in England, supported even by some Bishops (whose Charges 
 have filled us with astonishment and grief), which would, ac- 
 cording to its adversaries, quit the ground of Evangelical Chris- 
 tianity to plant itself upon that of Ecclesiastical Catholicism, 
 with a marked tendency towards the Papacy; or which, accord- 
 ing to what it pretends, would faithfully maintain itself on that 
 hierarchical and semi-Romish ground, which is, according to it, 
 the true, native and legitimate foundation of the Church of Eng- 
 land. It is this movement which is, from the name of one of its 
 principal chiefs, called Puseyism. 
 
 " The task of the true children of the Catholic Church," says 
 the British Critic (one of the Journals which are the organs of the 
 Oxford party), " is to unprotestantize the Church." " It is neces- 
 sary," says one of these doctors,* " to reject entirely and to ana- 
 thematize the principle of Protestantism, as being that of a here- 
 sy, with all its form, its sects and its denominations." " It is 
 necessary," says another in his posthumous writings,t " to hate 
 more and more the Reformation and the Reformers." 
 
 In separating the Church from the Reformation, this party pre- 
 tends to wish not to bring back the Papacy, but to retain the 
 church in the juste milieu of Ecclesiastical Catholicism. How- 
 ever, the fact is not to be disguised, that if it were forced to 
 choose between what it considers two evils, it would greatly 
 prefer Rome to the Reformation. 
 
 JVIen highly respectable for their knowledge, their talents, and 
 their moral character, are found among these theologians. And, 
 let us acknowledge it, the fundamental want which seems to 
 have decided this movement is a legitimate one. 
 
 There has been felt in England, in the midst of all the waves 
 
 * Mr. Palmer. t Mr. Froude. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 279 
 
 which now heave and agitate the Church, a want of antiquity ; 
 and men have sought a rock, firm and immovable, on which to 
 plant their footsteps. 
 
 This want is founded in human nature ; it is also justified by 
 the social and religious state of the present time. I myself thirst 
 for antiquity. 
 
 But the doctors of Oxford, do they satisfy, for themselves and 
 others, these wants of the age .' 
 
 I am convinced of the contrary. What a juvenile antiquity is 
 that before which these ^inent men ];)rostrate themselves ! It is 
 the young and inexperienced Christianity of the first ages which 
 they call ancient ; it is to the child that they ascribe the authority 
 of the old man. If it be a question respecting the antiquity of 
 humanity, certainly we are more ancient than the Fathers, for we 
 are fifteen or eighteen centuries older than they ; it is we who have 
 the light of experience and the maturity of grey hairs. 
 
 But no ; it is not respecting such an antiquity that there can be 
 any question in divine things. The only antiquity to which we 
 hold is that of the " Ancient of days" (Dan. vii. 13), " of Him who 
 before the mountains were brought forth, or ever He had formed 
 the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting is 
 God." It is " He who is our refuge from age to age" (Ps. xc. 1, 2). 
 The truly ancient document to which we appeal is that " Word 
 which is settled for ever in heaven" (Ps. cxix, 89), and " which 
 shall stand for ever" (Isaiah, x. 8). Behold, Gentlemen, our 
 antiquity. 
 
 Alas, that which most afflicts us in the learned doctors of Ox- 
 ford, is that whilst the people who surround them hunger and 
 thirst after antiquity, they themselves, instead of leading them to 
 the ancient testimony of the " Ancient of days," only conduct them 
 to puerile novelties. What novelties in reality, and what faded 
 novelties ! — that pw?'g-a^or)/, those human pardons, those wnages, those 
 ?-e/2cs, that invocation of the saints wliich these doctors would restore 
 to the Church.* What immense and monstrous innovation that 
 Rome to which they would have us return ! 
 
 Who are the irmovators, 1 demand ? those who say as we do, 
 with the eternal Word : " God hath begotten us of His own will, 
 with the word of truth" (Jas. i. 18), or those who say as do the 
 " Tracts for the Times :" " Rome is our mother, it is by her that 
 we have been bom to Christ." Those who say as we do, with 
 the eternal Word : " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of 
 you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God" 
 (Heb. iii. 12); or those who say as do these doctors: "In losing 
 visible imion with the Church of Rome, we have lost great privi- 
 leges,"! certainly the doctors of Oxford are the innovators. 
 
 The partisans of Rome, that grand innovation in Christendom, 
 do not here deceive themselves ; they hail in these new doctors 
 advocates of Romish novelties. The famous Romish Doctor Wise- 
 man writes to Lord Shrewsbury : 
 
 * Tracts for the Times, No. 90, Art, 6. 
 t British Critic. 
 
280 PUSEYISM EXAMINED 
 
 ",We can count certainly on a prompt, zealous, and able co-ope- 
 ration to bring the Church of England to obedience to the See of 
 Rome. When I read in their chronological order the writings of 
 the theologians of Oxford, I see in the clearest manner these doc- 
 tors approximating from day to day our holy Church, both as to 
 doctrine and good-will. Our Saints, our Popes, become more and 
 more dear to them ; our rites, our ceremonies, and even the fes- 
 tivals of our saints, and our days of fasting, are precious in their 
 eyes, more precious, alas, than in the eyes of many of our own 
 people." 
 
 And the doctors of Oxford, notwithstanding their protestations, 
 do they not concur in this view of the matter, when they say : 
 " the tendency to Romanism is at bottom only a fruit of the pro- 
 found desire which the Church, greatly moved, experiences to 
 become again that which the Saviour left her, — One."* 
 
 Such, Gentlemen, is the movement which is taking place in that 
 Church of England, which so many pious men, so many Christian 
 works have rendered illustrious. Dr. Pusey has had reason to say 
 in his letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury : " upon the issue of 
 the present struggle deiaend the destinies of our Church." And it 
 is worth while for us to pause here for a few moments to exam- 
 ine what party we ought to prefer, as members of the ancient 
 Church of the continent, and what we have to do in this grave and 
 solemn crisis. 
 
 Gentlemen, we ought to profess frankly that we will have nei- 
 ther the Papacy nor the via media of Ecclesiastical Catholicism, but 
 remain firm upon the foundation of Evangelical Christianity. In 
 what consists this Christianity when it is opposed to the two 
 other systems which we reject .' 
 
 There are in it things essential and things unessential ; it is of 
 that only which forms its essence ; of that which is its principle, 
 that I would here speak. 
 
 There are three principles which form its essence ; the first is 
 that which we may call its formal principle, because it is the 
 means by which this system is formed or constituted ; the second 
 is that which may be called the material principle, because it is 
 the very doctrine which constitutes the religious system ; the third 
 I call the personal or moral principle, because it concerns the appli- 
 cation of Christianity to the soul of each individual. 
 
 The formal principle of Christianity is expressed in few words : 
 
 The word of god, only. 
 
 That is to say, the Christian receives the knowledge of the truth 
 only by the Word of God, and admits of no other soiirce of reli- 
 gious knowledge. 
 
 The material principle of Christianity is expressed with equal 
 brevity : 
 
 THE GRACE OF CHRIST, ONLY. 
 
 That is to say, the Christian receives salvation^ only by the 
 * Letter of Dr. Pusey to the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
PDSEYISM EXAMINED. 281 
 
 grace of Christ, and recognizes no other meritorious cause of eter- 
 nal hfe. 
 
 The personal principle of Christianity may be expressed in the 
 most simple terms : 
 
 THE WORK or THE SPIRIT, ONLY. 
 
 That is to say, there must be in each soul that is saved a moral 
 and individual work of regeneration, wrought by the Spirit of 
 God, and not by the simple concurrence of the Church,* and the 
 magic influence of certain ceremonies. 
 
 Gentlemen, recall constantly to your minds these three simple 
 truths : 
 
 The Word of God, only ; 
 The Grace of Christ, only ; 
 The Work of the Spirit, only ; 
 
 and they will truly be " a lamp to your feet and a light to your 
 paths." 
 
 These are the three great beacons which the Holy Spirit has 
 erected in the Church. Their effulgence should spread from one 
 end of the world to the other. So long as they shine, the Church 
 walks in the light; as soon as they shall become extinct or even 
 obscured, darkness like that of Egypt will settle upon Christen- 
 dom. 
 
 But, gentlemen, it is precisely these three fundamental princi- 
 ples of Evangelical Christianity which are attacked and over- 
 thrown' by the new system of Ecclesiastical Caiholicisin. It is 
 not to some minor point, to some doctrine of secondary impor- 
 tance that they direct their attention at Oxford ; it is to that which 
 constitutes the essence even of Christianity and of the Reforma- 
 tion, to those truths so important that, as Luther said, " with them 
 the Church stands, and without them the Church falls." Let us 
 consider them. 
 
 I. 
 
 The formal principle of Evangehcal Christianity is this : 
 
 THE WORD OF GOD, ONLY. 
 
 He who would know and possess the Truth, in order to be 
 saved, ought to address himself to thatrevelation of God which is 
 contained in the sacred Scrii^tures, and to reject everything which 
 is human addition, everything which, like the work of man, is 
 justly suspected of being stamped with the impress of a deplora- 
 ble mixture of error. There is one sole source at which [the 
 Christian quenches his thirst ; it is that stream, clear, limpid, per- 
 fectly pure, which flows from the throne of God. He turns his 
 lips away from every other fomitain which flows parallel with it, 
 
 * The words which are used in the French are adjunction de VEgHse, and 
 are employed to express that additional or concurrent influence which the 
 Church is believed, by the Puseyites, to exert in regeneration by her min- 
 istrations. — Note by the IV. , 
 
282 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 or which would pretend to mix itself with it ; for he knows that 
 because of the source whence these streams issue, they all con- 
 tain troubled, unwholesome, perhaps deadly waters. 
 
 The sole, ancient, eternal stream, is God ; the new, ephemeral, 
 failing- stream, is man ; and we will quench our thirst bui in God 
 alone. God is for us, so full of a sovereign majesty, that we 
 would regard as an outrage, and even as impiety, the attempt to 
 put anything by the side of His Word. 
 
 But this is what the authors of the novelties of Oxford are 
 doing. " The Scriptures," say they, in the Tracts for the Times, 
 " it is evident are not, according to the principles of the Church 
 of England, the Rule of Faith. The doctrine or message of the 
 Gospel is but indirectly presented in the Scriptures, and in an 
 obsure and concealed manner."* " Catholic tradition," says one 
 of the two principal chiefs of this school, f " is a divine informer 
 in religious things ; it is the unwritten word. These two things 
 (the Bible and the Catholic traditions) form together a united 
 rule of Faith. Catholic tradition is a divine source of knowledge 
 in all things relating to Faith. The Scriptures are only the docu- 
 ment of ultimate appeal ; Catholic tradition is the authoritative 
 teacher." 
 
 " Tradition is infallible," says another doctor ;t " the unwritten 
 word of God, of necessity, demands of us the same respect which 
 his written word does, and precisely for the same reason — because 
 it is His word." " We demand that the whole of the Catholic 
 traditions should be taught," says a third. § 
 
 Behold, gentlemen, one of the most pestiferous errors which 
 can be disseminated in the Church." 
 
 Whence has Rome and Oxford derived it .' Certainly the res- 
 pect wiiich we entertain for the incontestable science of these 
 doctors shall not prevent us from saying it : This error can come 
 from no other source than the natural aversion of the heart of 
 fallen man for everything that the Scriptures teach. It can be 
 nothing else than a depraved will which leads man to put the 
 Sacred Scriptures aside. Men first abandon the fountain of living 
 waters, and then he\v for themselves, here and there, cisterns 
 which will hold no water. Here' is a truth which the history of 
 every Church teaches in its successive falls and errors, as well 
 as that of every soul in particular. The theologians of Oxford 
 only follow in the way of all flesh. 
 
 Behold, then, gentlemen, two established authorities by the side 
 of each other— the Bible and Tradition. We do not hesitate as 
 to what we have to do : 
 
 To THE L.4W AND TO THE TESTIMONY ! We cry with the pro- 
 phet : " If they speak not according to His word, it is because 
 there is no light in them : and behold trouble and darkness, dim- 
 ness of anguish ; and they shall be driven to darkness." (Isa. 
 viii. 20, 22.) 
 
 * Tract 85. t Newman, Lecture on Romanism, 
 
 t Keble's Sermons. § Palmer's Aids to Reflection. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 283 
 
 We reject this Tradition as being a species of Rationalism 
 which introduces, for a rule in Christian doctrine, not the human 
 reason of the present time, but the human reason of the times 
 past. We declare, with the Churches of the Reformation in their 
 symbolical writings (Confessions of Faith), that " the Sacred 
 Scriptures are the only judge, the only rule of Faith ;" that it is 
 to them, as to a touchstone, that all dogmas ought to be brought ; 
 that it is by them that the question should be decided, whether 
 they are pious or impious, true or false ?* 
 
 Without doubt there was originally an oral tradition which was 
 pure ; it was the instructions given by the Apostles themselves, 
 before the sacred writings of the New Testament existed. How- 
 ever, even then, the apostle and the evangelist, Peter and Barna- 
 bas (Gal. ii. 13), could not walk uprightly, and consequently 
 stumbled in their words. The divinely inspired Scriptures alone 
 are infallible: the word of the Lord endureth for ever. 
 
 But, however pure was oral instruction, from the time that the 
 apostles quitted the earth, that tradition was necessarily exposed 
 in this world of sin, to be little by little defaced, polluted, cor- 
 rupted. It is for this cause that the Evangelical Church honors 
 and adores, with gratitude and humility, that gracious good plea- 
 sure of the Saviour, in virtue of which that pure, primitive type, 
 that first. Apostolic tradition, in all its purity, has been rendered 
 permanent, by being written, by the Spirit of God himself, in our 
 sacred books, for all coming time. And now she finds in those 
 writings, as we have just heard, the divine touchstone, which she 
 employs for the purpose of trying all the traditions of men. 
 
 Nor does she establish concurrently, as do the doctors of Ox- 
 ford and the Council of Trent, the tradition which is written and 
 the tradition which is oral ; but she decidedly renders the latter 
 subordinate to the former, because one cannot be sure that this 
 oral tradition is only and truly Apostolical tradition, such as it 
 was in its primitive purity. 
 
 The knowledge of true Christianity, says the Protestant Church, 
 flows only from one source, namely, from the Holy Scriptures, or, 
 if you will, from the Apostolic tradition, such as we find it con- 
 tained in the writings of the New Testament. 
 
 The Apostles of Jesus Christ — Peter, Paul, John, Matthew, 
 James — perform their functions in the Church to-day ; no one has 
 need, no one has the power to take their place. They perform 
 their functions at Jerusalem, at Geneva, at Corinth, at Berlin, at 
 Paris ; they bear testimony in Oxford and in Rome itself. They 
 preach, even to the ends of the world, the remission of sins and 
 conversion of the soul in the name of the Saviour; they an- 
 nounce the resiuTection of the Crucified to every creature ; they 
 loose and they retain sins ; they lay the foundation of the house 
 of God and they build it ; they teach the missionaries and the 
 ministers of the Gospel; they regulate the order of the Church, 
 and preside in Synods which would be Christian. They do all 
 
 * Formula of Agreement. 
 
284 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 this by the ivritten Word which they have left ns. Or rather, 
 Christ, Christ himself, does it by that Word, since it is the Word 
 of Christ, rather than the word of Paul, of Peter, or of James. 
 "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations; lo I I am with yon 
 alway, even to the end of the world." (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.) 
 
 Withont doubt, as to the number of their words, the Apostles 
 spoke more than they wrote ; but as to the substance, they said 
 nothing more than what they have left us in their divine books. 
 And if they had taught by the mouth, as to the substance, differ- 
 ently or more explicitly than they did by their wTitings, no one 
 could at this day be in a state to rejiort to ns with as.surance, even 
 one syllable of these instructions. If God did not wish to preserve 
 them in His Bible, no one can come to His aid, and do what God 
 himself has not wished to do, and what He has not done. If, in 
 the writings more or less doubtful, of the companions of the Apos- 
 tles, or of those Fathers who are called Apostolical, one should 
 find any doctrines of the Apostles, it would be necessary first of all, 
 to put it to the trial in comparing it with the certain instructions 
 of the Apostles, that is with the Canon of the Scriptures. 
 
 So much for the tradition of the Apostles. Let us pass from the 
 times when they lived to those which succeeded. Let us come to 
 the tradition of the doctors of the first centuries. That tradition is, 
 without doubt, of great value to us ; but by the very fact of its 
 being presbyterian, episcopal, or synodical, it is no more Apostol- 
 ical. And let us suppose (what is not true) that it does not con- 
 tradict itself; and let us suppose, that one Father does not over- 
 throw what another Father has established (as is often the case, 
 and Abelard has i^roved it in his famous work entitled Sic et Non, 
 Avhose recent publication we owe to the care of a French philoso- 
 pher) ;* — let ^us suppose for a moment, that one might reduce this 
 tradition of the Fathers of the Church to a harmony similar to that 
 which the Apostolical tradition presents, the canon which might 
 be obtained thus could in no manner be placed on an equality with 
 the canon of the Apostles. f 
 
 Without doubt, — and we acknowledge it, — the declarations 'of 
 Christian doctors merit our attention, if it is the Holy Spirit which 
 speaks in them, that Spirit ever living and ever acting in the Church. 
 But we will not, we absolutely will not allow ourselves to be 
 bound by that which, in this tradition and in these doctors, is only 
 the work of man. And how .shall we distinguish that which is of 
 God from that which is of men, but by the Holy Scriptures .' " It 
 remains," says St. Augustine, "that I judge myself according to this 
 only Master, from whose judgment I desire not to escape,"^ The 
 declarations of the doctors in the Church are only the testimonies 
 of the faith which these eminent men had in the doctrines of the 
 Scriptures. They see how these doctors received these doctrines ; 
 
 * Ouvragesinedites d'Melard, published by Mr. Victor Cousin. Paris, 1836. 
 Jhe Introduction of this work upon the history of Scholastic Philosophy 
 in France, is a chef-d^ceuvre. 
 
 t Nitzsch, Protestantische Theses. 
 
 j Retract, in Prol. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 285 
 
 they may, without doubt, be instructive and edifying for us; but 
 there is no authority in them which binds us. AH the doctors, 
 Greek, Latin, French, Swiss, German, English, American, placed 
 in the presence of the Word of God, are altogether, only disciples 
 who are receiving instruction. Men of the first times, men of the 
 last, we are all alike upon the benches of that divine school ; and 
 in the chair of instruction, around which we are humbly assem- 
 bled, nothing appears, nothing elevates itself, but the infallible 
 Word of God. 1 perceive, in that vast auditory, Calvin, Luther, 
 Cranmer, Augustine, Chrysostom, Athanasins, Cyprian, by the side 
 of our contemporaries. We are not " disciples of Cyprian and Ig- 
 natius," as the doctors of Oxford* call themselves ; but of Jesus 
 Christ. " We do not despise the writings of the Fathers," we say 
 with Calvin, " but in making use of them we remember always 
 that ' all things are ours' (1 Cor. iii. 22) : that they ought to serve, 
 not govern us ; and that ' we are Christ's,' (1 Cor. iii. 23), whom in 
 all things, and Mathout exception, it behooves us to obey."t 
 
 This the doctors of the first centuries are themselves the first to 
 say. They claim for themselves no authority, and only wish that 
 the Word which has taught them may teach us also. " Now that 
 I am old," says Augustine, in his Retractions, " I do not expect not 
 to stumble in word, or to be perfect in word: how much less 
 when, being young, 1 commenced writing ?"t " Beware," says 
 he again, " of subjecting yourselves to my writings, as if they 
 were Canonical Scriptures. "§ " Do not esteem as Canonical 
 Scriptures the works of Catholic and justly honored men," says he 
 elsewhere. " It is allowed us, without impeaching that honor 
 which is due to them, to reject those things in their writings, 
 should we find such in them, which are contrary to the truth. I 
 am, in regard to the writings of others, what I would have others 
 be in regard to mine."|| " All that has been said since the times 
 of the Apostles ought to be retrenched," says Jerome, " and have 
 no authority. However holy, however learned, a man maybe, 
 who comes after the Apostles, let him have no authority. "IT 
 
 •' Neither antiquity nor custom," says the Confession ot the Re- 
 formed Church of France, " ought to be arrayed in opposition to 
 the Holy Scriptures ; on the contrary, all things ought to be exam- 
 ined, regulated and reformed according to them." 
 
 And the Confession of the English Church even says, the doc- 
 tors of Oxford to the contrary notwithstanding: " The Holy Scrip- 
 tures contain all that is necessary to salvation, so that all that is 
 not found in them, all that cannot be proved by them, cannot be 
 required of any one as an article of faith or as necessary to salva- 
 tion." 
 
 Thus the Evangelical doctors of our times give the hand to the 
 
 * Newman on Romanism. t Calv. Inst. Relig. Christ. 
 
 t Retractions. ^ In Prol. do Trinitate. 
 
 II Ad Fortunatianum. IJ In Psalm. Ixxxvi. 
 
286 
 
 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 Reformers, the Reformers to the Fathers, the Fathers to the Apos- 
 tles ; and thus forming, as it were, a chain of gold, the whole 
 Church of all ages and of all people, shouts forth as w^ith one 
 voice to the God of Truth, that hymn of one of our greatest 
 poets :* 
 
 Parle seul a mon cosur, et qu'aucune prucience, 
 Qu'aucun autre Docteur ne m'explique tes lois ; 
 Que toute creature en ta sainte presence, 
 S'impose le silence, 
 Et laisse agir ta voix If 
 
 What then is tradition ? It is the testimony of History. 
 
 There is a historical testimony for the facts of a Christian histo- 
 ry, as well as for those of any other history. We admit that tes- 
 timony ; only we would discuss it, and examine it, as we would 
 all other testimony The heresy of Rome and of Oxford, — and it 
 is that which distinguishes them from us, — consists in the fact that 
 they attribute infallibility to this testimony as to Scripture itself. 
 
 Although we receive the testimony of history in that which is 
 true, as, for example, in that which relates to the collection of the 
 writings of the Apostles ; it by no means results from this that we 
 should receive this testimony in that which is false, as, for in- 
 stance, in the adoration of Mary, or the celibacy of the priests. 
 
 The Bible is the Faith, holy, authoritative, and truly ancient, of 
 the child of God ; human tradition springs from the love of novel- 
 ties, and is the faith of ignorance, of superstition, and of a credu- 
 lous puerility. 
 
 How deplorable but instructive, to see doctors of a Church call- 
 ed to the glorious liberty of the children of God, and which reposes 
 only on God and his Word, place themselves under the bondage ot 
 human ordinances ! And how loudly does that example^cry to us : 
 " Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, 
 and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal. v. 1.) 
 
 All those errors which we are combating come from truths 
 which have not been rightly understood. We also believe in the 
 attributes of the Church of which they speak so much ; but we 
 believe in them according to the meaning which God attaches to 
 it, and our opponents believe in them according to that which 
 men attach to it. 
 
 Yes, there is one holy Catholic Church, but it is, as the Apostle 
 says, " The general assembly and Church of the first-born, whose 
 names are written in heaven" (Heb. xii, 23). Unity as well as 
 holiness ap^^ertains to the invisible Church. It behooves us, without 
 doubt, to pray that the visible Church should advance daily in the 
 possession of these heavenly attributes; but neither rigorous imity 
 nor universal holiness is a perfection essential to its existence, or 
 a sine qua non. To say that the visible Church must absolutely be 
 composed of saints only, is the error of the Donatists and fanatics 
 
 * Corneille. 
 
 t Speak thou alone to my heart, and let no other wisdom, no other Doc- 
 tor explain to me Thy laws ; let every creature be silent in Thy holy pre- 
 sence, and let Thy voice speak ! 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 2$7 
 
 of all ages. So also, to say that the visible Church must of ne- 
 cessity be externally one, is the corresponding error of Borne, of 
 Oxford, and of formalists of all times. Let us guard against pre- 
 ferring the exterior hierarchy, which consists in certain human 
 forms, to that interior hierarchy which is the kingdom of God 
 itself Let us not permit that the form, which passes away, should 
 determine the essence of the Churcli ; but let us, on the contrary, 
 make the essence of the Church, to wit, the Christian life — which 
 emanates from the Word and Spirit of God — change and renew 
 the form. The form has killed the substance, — here is the whole 
 history of the Papacy and of false Catholicism. The substance 
 vivifies the form, — here is the whole history of Evangelical Chris- 
 tianity, and of the true Catholic Church of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Yes, I admit it — The Church is the judge of controversies— Judex 
 controversiarum. But what is the Church ? It is not the Clergy, it 
 is not the Councils, still less is it the Pope. It is the Christian 
 people, it is the faithful. " Prove all things, hold fast that which 
 is good" (1 Thess. v. 21), is said to the children of God, and not 
 to some assembly, or to a certain bishop ; and it is they who are 
 constituted, on the part of God, judge'i of controversies. If animals 
 have the instinct which leads them not to eat that which is inju- 
 rious to them, we cannot do less than allow to the Christian this 
 instinct, or rather this intelligence, which emanates from the virtue 
 of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian (the Word declares it) is 
 called upon to reject " every spirit that confesses not that Jesus 
 Christ is come in the flesh" (1 John iv. 1 — 5). And this is what 
 is essentially meant, when it is said that the Church is the judge 
 of controversies ! 
 
 Yes, I believe and confess it, — there is an authority in the Church, 
 and without authority the Church cannot stand. But where is it 
 to be found ? It is with him, whoever he may be, that has the 
 external consecration, whether he possesses or not theological 
 gifts, whether he has received or not grace and justification.' Rome 
 herself does not yet pretend that orders save and sanctify. Must 
 then the children of God go, in many cases, to ask a decision in 
 things relating to faith, of the children of this world .' What ! a 
 bishop, from the moment he is seated in his chair, although he 
 may be perhaps destitute of science, destitute of the Sinrit of God, 
 and although he may perhaps have the Avorld and hell in his heart, 
 as had Borgia and so many other bishops, shall he have authority 
 in the a.ssembly of the saints, and do his lips possess always the 
 wisdom and the truth necessary for the Church .'..., No, Gentle- 
 men, the idea of a knowledge of God, true, but at the same time 
 destitute of holine.ss, is a gross .supernaturalism. " Sanctify them 
 through the Truth" says Jesus (John xvii., 17). There is an 
 authority in the Church, but that aiuhority is wholly in the Word 
 of God. It is not a man, not a minister, not a bishop, descended 
 from Gregory, from Chrysostom, from Augustine, or from Irenirus, 
 who has authority over the soul. It is not with a power so con- 
 temptible as that which comes from those men, that we, the minis- 
 ters of God, go forth into the world. It is elsewhere than in that 
 
288 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 episcopal succession, that we seek that which gives authority to 
 our ministry, and validity to our sacraments. 
 
 Rejecting these deplorable innovations, we appeal from them to 
 the ancient, sovereign and divine authority of the Word of the 
 Lord. The question which we ask of him who would inform 
 himself concerning eternal things is that which we receive from 
 Jesus himself: " What is written in the Law, and how readest 
 thou ?" (Luke x. 26.) That which we say to rebellious spirits is 
 what Abraham said from heaven to the rich man; '-You have 
 Moses and the prophets, hear them." (Luke xvi. 29.) 
 
 That which we ask of all, is to imitate the Bereans who 
 " searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so." 
 (Acts xvii. 11.) 
 
 " We ought to obey God rather than men," even the most ex- 
 cellent of men. (Acts v. 29.) 
 
 Behold, the true authority, the true hierarchy, the true polity. 
 The churches which men make possess human authority — this is 
 natural. But the Church of God possesses the authority of God, 
 and she will not receive it from, others. 
 
 IL 
 
 Such is the/ormfl/ principle of Christianity; let us come now 
 to its material principle, that is to say, to that which is the body, 
 the substance even, of religion. We have announced it in these, 
 terms : 
 
 THE GRACE OF CHRIST, ONLY. 
 
 " Ye are saved by grace, through faith," says the Scripture, 
 " and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; not of works, 
 lest any man .should boast." (Eph. ii. 8.) 
 
 Evangelical Christianity not only seeks for complete salvation 
 in Christ, but seeks it in Christ only, thus excluding, as a cause of 
 salvation, all works of his own, all merit, all co-operation of man 
 or of the Church. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, upon 
 which we can build the hope of our salvation, but the free and 
 unmerited grace of God, which is given to us in Christ, and com- 
 municated by faith. 
 
 Now, this second great foundation of Evangelical Christianity 
 is equally overthrown by the modern Ecclesiastical Catholicism. 
 
 The famous Tract, No. 90, which I hold in my hand at this 
 moment, seeks to explain in a papistical sense the Confession of 
 Faith of the Church of England. ' 
 
 The nth Article of this Confession says : " That we are justified 
 by Faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine." 
 
 Behold the commentary of the new School of Oxford : " In ad- 
 hering to the doctrine that faith alone justifies, we do not at all 
 exclude the doctrine that works also justify. If it were said that 
 works justify in the same sense in which it is'said that faith alone 
 justifies, there would be a contradiction in terms. But faith alone 
 in one sense justifies us, and in another, good works justify us : 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED, 289 
 
 this is all that is here maintained ! . . . . Christ alone, in one sense, 
 justifies, faith also justifies in its proper sense ; and so works, 
 whether moral or ceremonial, may justify us in their respective 
 sense." 
 
 " There are," says the British Critic, " some Catholic truths 
 which are imprinted on the surface of the Scripture rather than 
 enveloped in its profound meaning ; such is the doctrine of justifi- 
 cation by works." " The preaching of justification by Faith," 
 says another doctor of this School, " ought to be addressed to 
 Pagans by the propagators of Christian knowledge ; its promoters 
 ought to preach to baptized persons justification by works." — 
 Works, yes : but justification by them, never ! 
 
 Justification is not, according to these doctors, that judicial act 
 by which God, for the sake of the expiatory death of Christ, de- 
 clares that He treats us as righteous ; it is confounded by them, 
 as well as by Rome, with the work of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 " Justification," says again the chief of these doctors, " is a 
 progressive work ; it must be the work of the Holy Spirit and not 
 of Christ. The distinction between deliverance from the guilt of 
 sin and deliverance from sin itself, is not scriptural."* The British 
 Critic calls the system of Justification by grace through faith, 
 "radically and fundamentally monstrous, immoral, heretical and 
 anti-Christian." " The custom which has prevailed," say again 
 these doctors, "of advancing, on all occasions, the doctrine of 
 Justification explicitly and mainly, is evidently and entirely 
 opposed to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures."t And they con- 
 demn those who make " Justification to consist in the act by 
 which the soul rests upon the merits of Christ only."t 
 
 I know that the doctors of Oxford pretend to have found here a 
 middle term between the Evangelical doctrine and the Romish 
 doctrine. " It is not," say they, " Sanctification which justifies us, 
 but the presence of God in us, from which this Sanctification 
 flows. Our Justification is the possession of this presence." But 
 the doctrine of Oxford is at bottom the same with that of Rome. 
 The Bible speaks to us of two great works of Christ : christ for 
 us, AND CHRIST IN US. VVhicli of tliesc two works is that which 
 justifies us ? The Church of Christ answers : The first. Rome and 
 Oxford answer : The second. When this is said, all is said. 
 
 And these doctors do not conceal it. They inform us that it is 
 the system against which they stand up. They declare to us that 
 it is against the idea, that, when the sinner " has by faith laid hold 
 of the saving merits of Christ, his sins are blotted out, covered, 
 and cannot re-appear ; his guilt has been abolished, so that he 
 has only to render thanks to Christ, who has delivered him from 
 his transgressions." — " My Lord," says Dr. Pusey to the Bishop of 
 
 Oxford, " it is against this system that I have spoken" Stop ! 
 
 Do not tear to pieces this Good News, which alone has been, and 
 will be in all ages, the consolation of the sinner ! 
 
 Gentlemen, if the first principle of this new School had for effect 
 
 • Newman on Justification, t Tract, 80. 
 X Newman on Justification. 
 14 
 
290 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 to deprive the Church of all light, this second principle would 
 have for its end to deprive her of all salvation. " If righteous- 
 ness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. foolish Gala- 
 tians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth : 
 receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of 
 faith!" (Gal. ii. 21, iii. 2, 3.) 
 
 Men the most eminent for piety, have felt that it is the source 
 even of the Christian life, the foundation of the Church, which is 
 here attacked : " there is reason," says the excellent Bishop of 
 Winchester, who, as well as several other Bishops, and particu- 
 larly those of Chester and Calcutta, has denounced these errors, in 
 a Charge addressed to bis clergy, " there is reason to fear that the 
 distinctive principles of our Church would be endangered, if men 
 should envelope in a cloud the great doctrine which sets forth the 
 way in which we are accounted righteous before God ; if men 
 doubt that the Protestant doctrine of Justification by faith is funda- 
 mental ; if, instead of the sacrifice of Christ, the pure and only 
 cause for which we are graciously received, men establish a cer- 
 tain inherent disposition of sanctification, and thus confound the 
 work of the Spirit "vvithin with the work of Christ without." 
 
 The School of Oxford pretends, Avith Rome and the Council of 
 Trent, "that justification is the indweUing in us, of God the Father 
 and of the incarnate Word, by the Holy Spirit, and that the two 
 acts distingiTished from each other by the Bible and our theolo- 
 gians form only one."* — What then ? 
 
 God, 1. remits to the sinner the penalty of sin ; he absolves him; 
 he pardons him; 2. he delivers him from sin itself; he renews 
 him ; he sanctifies him. 
 Are there not here two things ? 
 
 The pardon of sin on the part of God, would it not be just 
 nothing at all ? Would it not be simply but an image of sanctifi- 
 cation ? Or should one say that the pardon which is granted to 
 faith, and which produces in the heart the sentiment of reconcilia- 
 tion, of adoption, and of peace, is something too external to be 
 taken into the account ? 
 
 " The Lutheran system," says the British Critic, " is immoral, 
 because it distinguishes these two works." Without doubt, it does 
 distinguish them, but it does not separate them. " See wherefore 
 we are justified," says Melancthon, in the Apology for the Con- 
 fession of Augsburg ; " it is in order that being righteous we should 
 do good, and begin to obey the law. of God ; see here why it is 
 that we are regenerated and receive the Holy Spirit ; it is that the 
 new life may have new works, and new dispositions." How 
 many times has not the Reformation declared that justifying faith 
 is not an historical, dead, vain knowledge, but a living action, a 
 willing and a receiving, a work of the Holy Spirit, the true wor- 
 ship of God, obedience towards God in the most important of all 
 moments. Yes, it is a living, efficacious faith which justifies ; 
 and these words efficacious faith — which are found in all otir Con- 
 fessions of Faith — are there for the purpose of declarmg that faith 
 
 * Letter of Dr. Pusey to the Bishop of Oxford. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 291 
 
 alone, without doubt, serves as a cause iu the work of justification, 
 that alone, without doubt, it justifies, but that precisely because 
 •of this it does not rest alone, that is to say, witliout its appropriate 
 operations and its fruits. 
 
 Behold, the grand difference between us and the Oxford Schooh 
 We believe in sanctification through justification, and the Oxford 
 School believes in justification through sanctification. With us, 
 justification is the cause and sanctification is the effect. With 
 these doctors, on the contrary, sanctification is tl^ cause, and 
 justification the effect. And here are not things iiTOifferent, and 
 vain distinctions ; it is the */c and the non, the yes and the no. 
 Whilst our creed establishes in all their rights these two works, 
 the creed of Oxford compi"omises and annihilates both. Justifica- 
 tion exists no more, if it depend on man's sanctification, and not 
 on the grace of God; for " the heavens," says the Scripture, " are 
 not clean in his sight" (Job xv.- 15), " and his eyes are too pure 
 to behold iniquity" (Hab. i. 13); but on the other hand sanctifi- 
 cation itself cannot be accomplished ; for how could you expect 
 the effect to be j^roduced when you begin by taking away the 
 cause .' " Herein is love," says St. John, " not that we loved God, 
 but that He loved us ; we love Him because he first loved us." 
 (1 John iv. 10, 19.) If I might use a vulgar expression, I should 
 say that Oxford puts the cart before the horse, in placing sanctifica- 
 tion before justification. In this way neither the cart nor the 
 horse will advance. In order that the work should go on, it is 
 necessary that that which draws should be placed before that 
 ■which is drawn. There is not a system more contrary to true 
 sanctification than that; and, to employ the language of the 
 British Critic, there is not, consequently, a system more monstrous 
 and immoral. What! your justification, shall it not depend ujion 
 the work which Christ accomplished on the cross, but upon that 
 which is accomplished in your hearts ! It is not to Christ, to his 
 grace, that you ought to look in order to be justified, but to your- 
 selves, to the righteousness which is in you, to your spiritual 
 gifts !.... 
 
 From this result two great evils. 
 
 Either you will deceive yourselves, in believing that there is a 
 work in you sufficiently good to justify you before God ; and then 
 you will be inflated with pride, that pride which the Scripttires 
 say, " goeth before a fall." Or yon will not deceive yourselves; 
 you will see, as the Saviour says, that you are poor, and wretch- 
 ed, and blind, and naked ;*and then you will fall into despair. 
 The heights of pride and the depths of despair, these are 
 the alternatives which the doctrine of Oxford and of Rome be- 
 queathes us. 
 
 The Christian doctrine, on the contrary, places man in perfect 
 humility, for it is Another who justifies him; and yet it gives 
 him abundant peace, for his justification, — a fruit of the right- 
 eousness of God" (2 Cor. v. 21) — is complete, assured, eternal. 
 
292 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 III. 
 
 Finally, we indicate the personal or moral principle of Christianity. 
 We have announced it in these words : — 
 
 THE "WORK OF THE SPIRIT ONLY. 
 
 Christianity is an individual work ; the grace of God converts 
 soul after soul. Each soul is a world, in which a creation pecu- 
 liar to itself Must be accomplished. The Church is but the as- 
 semblage of all the souls in whom this work is wrought, and 
 who are now united because they have but " one Spirit, one 
 Lord, one Father." 
 
 And what is the nature of this work .' It is essentially moral. 
 Christianity operates upon the ■will of man and changes it. Con- 
 version comes from the action of the Spirit of God, and not from 
 the magic action of certain ceremonies, which, rendering faith on 
 the part of man vain and useless, would regenerate him by their 
 own inherent virtue. " In Christ Jesus neither circumcision 
 availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but [to be] a new crea- 
 ture" (Gal. vi. 15). "If through the Spirit ye do mortify the 
 deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom. viii. 13). 
 
 Now the doctors of Oxford, although there is a great difference 
 among them on this point, as well as on some others — some 
 going by no means as far as others — put immense obstacles in the 
 way of this individual regeneration. 
 
 Nothing inspires them with greater repugnance than Christian 
 individualism. They proceed by synthesis, not by analysis. 
 They do not set out with the principle laid down by the Saviour, 
 " except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ;" 
 but they set out with this opposite principle : " all those who 
 have participated in the ordinances of the Church are born again." 
 And whilst the Saviour in all his discourses excites the ejforts of 
 each individual, saying : " Seek, ask, knock, strive to enter in at 
 the strait gate ; it is only the violent who take it by force ;" the 
 Oxford doctors say, on the contrary : " The idea of obtaining reli- 
 gious truth ourselves, and by our private inquiry, whether by read- 
 ing, or by thinking, or by studying the Scriptures or other books, 
 ._. . . is nowhere commanded in the Scriptures. The great ques- 
 tion which ought to be placed before every mind is this : What 
 voice should be heard like that of the holy Catholic and Apostolic 
 Church r* 
 
 And this individual regeneration by the Holy Spirit, how shall it 
 be accomplished, since the first task of Puseyism is to say to all, 
 that it is already accomplished ; that all who have been baptized 
 have thereby been rendered partakers of the divine nature ; and 
 that to preach conversion again to them is contrary to the truth.' 
 •' It is baptism and not faith," says one of these doctors, " that is 
 the primary mstrument of justification ;"t and we know that with 
 
 * British Critic. t Newman on Justification. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 293 
 
 them justification and conversion are one and the same work. 
 To prevent the wretched from escaping from the miserable state 
 in Avhich they are, would not be the best means to persuade a 
 poor mail that he possesses a large fortune, or an ignorant man 
 that he has great science, or a sick man that he is in perfect 
 health. The Evil One could not invent a stratagem more fit to 
 prevent conversion, than this idea that all men who have been 
 baptized by water are regenerated. 
 
 Still more, these doctors extend to the holy Supper this same 
 magic virtue. " It is now almost universally believed," say they, 
 in speaking of their Church, " that God communicates grace only 
 through faith, prayer, spiritual contemplation, communion with 
 God ; whilst it is the Church and her sacraments which are the 
 ordained, direct, visible means for conveying to the soul that 
 which is invisible and supernatural It is said, for example, 
 that to administer the Supper to infants, to dying persons ap- 
 parently deprived of tlieir senses, however pious they may have 
 been, is a superstition ; and yet these practices are sanctioned by 
 antiquity. The essence of the sectarian doctrine is to consider 
 faith, and not the sacra7nents, as the means of justification and other 
 evangelical gifts."* 
 
 What then, a child which does not possess reason and which 
 does not know even how to speak, a sick man whom the approach 
 of death has deprived of perception and intelligence, shall they 
 receive grace purely by the external application of the sacraments ? 
 The will, the afi'ections of the heart, have they no need to be 
 touched in order that man may be sanctified.' What a degrada- 
 tion of man and of the religion of Jesus Christ ! Is there a great 
 difference between such ceremonies and the mummeries and 
 charms of the debased Hindoos or of the African savages ! 
 
 If the first error of Oxford deprives the Church of light, if the 
 second deprives her of salvation, the third deprives her of all real 
 sanctification. Without doubt, we believe the sacraments are 
 means of grace ; biu they are only so when faith accompanies 
 their use. To put faith and the sacraments in opposition, as the 
 Oxford doctors do, is to annihilate the efficacy of the sacraments 
 themselves. 
 
 The Church will rise up against such fatal errors. There is a 
 work of renovation which must be wrought in man, a personal or 
 individual work ; and it is God who performs it. " A new heart," 
 saith the Lord, will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within 
 you." (Ez. xxxvi. 26.) 
 
 By what right would they thus put the Church in the place of 
 God, and establish her clergy as the dispensers of divine life .' 
 
 Then it would be of little consequence that a man had led a 
 dissipated life, and that the heart remains attached to sin and the 
 world; would not a participation iu the sacraments of religion 
 suffice to put him in possession of grace .' We are assured that 
 already sad consequences are manifested in the life of many of the 
 adherents of Oxford. 
 
 ♦ Tracts for the Times. Advertisement in Vol. ii. 
 
294 PUSEYISM EXAMINED- 
 
 The system of Puseyism tends to lull the conscience to sleep, 
 by the participation of external rites : the Evangelical system 
 tends to awaken it without cessation. The work of the Spirit, 
 which is one of the grand principles of Evangelical Christianity, 
 does not consist only in regeneration ; it consists also in a sancti- 
 fication, fundamental and universal. If, instead of permitting 
 ourselves to be enfeebled by trusting to human ordinances, we 
 have truly the Spirit of Christ within us, we shall not suffer the 
 least contradiction to exist between the divine law on the one 
 hand, and our dispositions and actions on the other. We shall 
 not content ovirselves with abstaining from the grosser manifesta- 
 tions of sin, but we shall desire that the very germ of evil be 
 eradicated from our hearts. We shall love the Truth, and we 
 shall reject with horror that sad hypocrisy which sometimes de- 
 files the sanctuary. We shall not have in the communication of 
 our religious convictions that reserve which Puseyism prescribes: 
 " that which shall have been told to us in the ear, we shall pro- 
 claim on the housetops." (Matth. x. 27.) We shall not remain 
 in a Church whose most sacred truths we trainple under our feet, 
 eating the bread which she gives us and lifting up the arm to 
 strike her. From the moment that we shall have discovered 
 that a doctrine is opposed to the word of God, neither dangers nor 
 sacrifices shall prevent us from casting it far from us. The work 
 of the Spirit "will carry light into the most secret recesses of our 
 hearts. " The King's daughter is all glorious within." (Ps. xlv. 
 13.) The King whom we follow has said to us : " I am the light 
 of the world : he that folio weth me shall not walk in darkness, 
 but shall have the light of life." (John viii. 12.) 
 
 I repeat again in closing. Gentlemen, the three great principles 
 of Christianity are these : 
 
 The Word of God, only. 
 The Grace of God, only. 
 The Work of the Spirit, only. 
 
 I come now to ask you to apply to yourselves henceforth more 
 and more these principles, and let them reign supremely over 
 your hearts and lives. 
 
 And why, Gentlemen .' Because everything that places our 
 souls in immediate communication with God is salutary ; and 
 everything that interposes between God and our souls is injurious 
 and ruinous. If a thick cloud should pass between you and the 
 sun you would no longer feel its genial warmth, and might per- 
 haps be seized with a chill. So if you place between yourselves 
 and the Word of God the tradition and authority of the Church, 
 you will no longer have to do with the Word of God ; that is 
 to say, with a divine, and consequently a powerful and perfect 
 instrument ; but with the word of man ; that is to say, with a 
 human, and consequently a weak and defective instrument, it 
 will have lost that power which translates from darkness into 
 light. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 295 
 
 Or, if you place between the grace of God and yourselves the 
 ordhiances of the Church, the ej)iscopal priesthood, the disposi- 
 tions of the heart, works, grace will then be no more grace, as St. 
 Paul says. The instrument of God will have been broken, and 
 we shall no longer be able to say, that " charity proceeds from 
 faith unfeigned" (1 Tim. i.); that "faith worketh by love," 
 (Gal V.) ; " that our souls are jjurified in obeying the triuh" (1 
 Cor. i.) ; " that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith" (Eph. iii). 
 
 Man always seeks to return, in some way, to a human salva- 
 tion ; this is the source of the innovations of Rome and of Oxford. 
 The substitution of the Church for Jesus Christ is that which es- 
 sentially characterizes these opinions. It is no longer Christ who 
 enlightens, Christ who saves, Christ who forgives, Christ who 
 commands, Christ who judges; it is the Church and always the 
 Church, that is to say, an assembly of sinful men, as weak and 
 prone to err as ourselves. " They have taken away the Lord, 
 and "vve know not where they have laid him" (^John xx. 2). 
 
 The errors which we have indicated are, therefore, practical 
 errors, destructive of true piety in the soul, a deprivation of God's 
 influence, and an exaltation of the flesh, although in a form that 
 " has the show of wisdom in Avill-worship and humility" (Col. ii. 
 23). If they should ever obtain the ascendency in the Church, 
 Christianity would cease to be a wew, a holy, a spiritual, a heav- 
 enly life. It would become an external affair of ordinances, rites 
 and ceremonies. This has been clearly seen by the servant of 
 God, Avhom we have already quoted : " Finally," says Sumner, 
 Bishop of Winchester, " I cannot but fear the consequences that a 
 system of teaching, which confines itself to the external and ritual 
 parts of divine worship, while it loses sight of their internal signi- 
 fication and the spiritual life, may have upon the character, the 
 efficacy and the truth of our Church ; a system, which robs the 
 Church of its brightest glory, and, forgetting the continual presence 
 of the Lord, seems to depose him from his just pre-eminence ; a 
 system, Avhich tends to put the observance of days, months, times 
 and seasons, in the place of a true and spiritual worship ; which 
 substitutes a spirit of hesitation, fear and doubt, for the cordial 
 obedience of filial love ; a slavish spirit for the liberty of the Gos- 
 pel ; and which, indeed, calls upon us to work out our sauctifica- 
 tiou with fear and trembling ; but without any foretaste of the rest 
 that remainetii for the people of God, Avithout giving us joy in 
 believing."* 
 
 The luiiversal Church of Christ rejoices to hear such words. 
 She beholds, with gratitude towards her divhie Head, the firmness 
 with which some bishops, ministers, and laymen of England meet 
 this growing evil. But is this enough .' Is it enough to retain, on 
 the edge of a precipice, a Church and a people, hitherto so dear 
 to the friends of the Gospel .' 
 
 Oxford conducts to Rome ; Mr. Sibthorp and others have proved 
 it. The march of Puscyism regularly inclining, from Tract to 
 
 * Charge delivered by Ch. R. Sumner, D.D., Lord Bishop of Winchester, 
 184L 
 
296 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 Tract, towards the pure system of the Papacy, demonstrates 
 clearly enough the end to which it tends. And even if it should 
 not effect a total conversion to Popery — what signifies it, since it 
 is nothing else than the Popish system (in its essential features) 
 transferred to England ? It is not necessary that the Thames 
 should go to Rome to bear the tribute of its waters : the Tiber flows 
 in Oxford. 
 
 England owes everything to the Reformation. What was she 
 before the renovation of the Church ? Blindly submissive to the 
 Tudors, her forms of government, both political and ecclesiastical, 
 were superannuated, without life and spirit; so that in England, 
 as in almost all Europe, Ave might say, with a Christian states- 
 man, that, " despotism seemed the only preservative against dis- 
 solution."* The Reformation developed, in an admirable manner, 
 that Christian spirit, that love of liberty, that fear of God, that 
 loyal affection for the sovereign, that patriotism, those generous 
 sacrifices, that genius, that strength, that activity, which constitute 
 the prosperity and glory of England. In the age of the Reformation, 
 Catholic Spain, gorged with the blood of the children of God, fell, 
 overthrown by the Almighty Arm, and reformed England ascended, 
 in hei: stead, the throne of the seas, which has been justly termed 
 the throne of the world. The winds which engulphed the Armada 
 called up this new power from the depths. 
 
 The country of Philip II., Avounded to the heart because she had 
 attacked the people of God, dropped from her hand the sceptre of 
 the ocean ; and the country of Ehzabeth, fortified by the Word of 
 God, found it floating on the seas, seized it, and Avielded it to 
 bring into subjection to the King of Heaven the nations of the 
 earth. It is the Gospel that has given to England our antipodes. f 
 It is the God of the Gospel who has bestowed upon her all that 
 she possesses. If in those distinguished islands the Gospel were 
 to fall under the united attacks of Popery and Puseyism, we might 
 write upon their hitherto triumphant banner : " Ichabod, the gloiy 
 of the Lord has departed." 
 
 God has given the dominion of the seas to the nations who bear, 
 everywhere, with them the Gospel of Jesus Ghrist. But if, in- 
 stead of the Good News of Salvation, England carries to the hea- 
 then a mere human and priestly religion, God will deprive her of 
 her power. The evil is already great. In India the Pnseyite mis- 
 sionaries are satisfied with teaching the natives rites and cere- 
 monies, without troubling themselves about the conversion of the 
 heart; thus treading closely in the steps of the Roman Catholic 
 Church. They endeavor to counteracfthe efforts of evangelical 
 missionaries, and disturb the weak minds of the natives, by telling 
 them that all those who have not received Episcopal ordination 
 are not ministers. 
 
 If England prove unfaithful to the Gospel, God will humble her 
 
 * Archives of the House of Orange-Nassau, pubhshed at the Hague, by 
 Mr. Green Van Prinsterer, Counsellor of State. 
 t New Zealand. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 297 
 
 in ihose powerful islands where she has established her throne, 
 and in those distant countries subjected to her sway. Do Ave not 
 already hear a faint rumor, which justifies these gloomy presenti- 
 ments ? The mother country sees her difficulties increase ; un- 
 heard of disasters have spread fear and terror on the banks of the 
 Indus. From the chariot of this people is heard a cracking noise, 
 because impious hands have changed the pole-bolt. Should Eng- 
 land forsake the faith of the Bible, the crown would fall from her 
 head. Ah! We also, Christians of the continent and of the world, 
 would mourn over her faU ! We love her for Christ's sake; for 
 His sake we pray for her. But if the apostasy, now begun, should, 
 be accomplished, we shall have ^nothing left for her but cries, 
 groans and tears. 
 
 What are the Bishops doing? What is the Church doing? 
 This is the general question. 
 
 If the Church of England were well administered, she wovdcl 
 only admit to her pulpits teachers who submit to the Word of God, 
 agreeably to the Thirty-nine Articles, and banish from them all 
 those who violate her laws, and poison the miuds of the youth, 
 trouble souls, and seek to overthrow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 A few Episcopal mandates will not accomplish this. We un- 
 doubtedly believe that no power can take from the Christian the 
 right to " examine the Scriptures, and to try the spirits whether 
 they are of God." But we do not believe in the supreme power 
 of the Clergy : We do not believe that the servants of a church 
 may announce to it doctrines which tend to overthrow it. Did it 
 not please the Apostles, the ciders, and the whole church, to im- 
 pose silence upon those at Antioch, who wished to substitute, as 
 they do now at Oxford, human ordinances for the grace of Christ ? 
 (Acts XV. 22.) Since when, does a well constituted Church speak 
 only through isolated voices ? Shall the Annual Convocations of 
 the Cluu'ch of England remain ah^^ays a vain ceremony and an 
 empty form ? If their nature cannot be changed, shall not power- 
 ful remedies be applied to counteract great evils ? Will not the 
 Church be moved in England, as formerly at Jerusalem? Shall 
 not the " elders and the whole Church" (Acts xv. 22) form a 
 Coimcil which shall, as tradition tells us they did at Nice, place 
 the Word of God vipon an elevated throne, in token of its supreme 
 authority, and, condemning and cutting off all dangerous errors, 
 render to Jesus Christ and his Word that sovereign authority, 
 which usurping hands are on the point of wresting from Him ? 
 
 But if the Church still holds her peace, if she allows her sacred 
 foundations to be sapped in her Universities, then (we say it with 
 profound grief) a voice like that of the prophet will be heard ex- 
 claiming : Woe to the Church ! v/oe to the people! woe to Eng- 
 land ! 
 
 Gentlemen, there are two ways of destroying Christianity; one 
 is to deny it, the other to displace it. To put the Church above 
 Christianity, the hierarchy above the Word of God ; to ask a man, 
 not whether he has received the Holy Ghost, but whether he lias 
 received baptism from the hands of those who are termed succes- 
 
598 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 sors of the Apostles, and their delegates, — all this may doubtless 
 flatter the pride of the natural man, but is fundamentally opposed 
 to the Bible, and aims a fatal blow at the religion of Jesus Christ. 
 If God had intended that Christianity should, like the Mosaic sys- 
 tem, be chiefly an ecclesiastical, sacerdotal and hierarchical sys- 
 tem, he would have ordered it and established it in the New Tes- 
 tament, as he did in the Old. But there is nothing like this in the 
 New Testament. All the declarations of our Lord and his Apos- 
 tles tend to prove, that the new religion given to the world is 
 •' life and Spirit," and not a new system of priesthood [and ordi- 
 nances. " The kingdom of God," saith Jesus, " cometh not with 
 observation : neither shall they say, lo here ! or lo there ! for be- 
 hold the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke zvii. 20, 21). 
 •' The kmgdom of God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness 
 and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. xiv. 17). 
 
 Let us then attribute a divine institution and a divine authority 
 to the essence of the Church ; but by no means to its /or?re. God 
 has midoubtedly established the mmistry of the Word and sacra- 
 ments, that is to say, general forms, which are adapted to the 
 universal Church ; but it is a narrow and dangerous bigotry, which 
 would attribute more importance to the particular forms of each 
 sect, than to the spirit of Christianity. This evil has long pre- 
 vailed in the Eastern Church [Greek], and has rendered it barren. 
 It is the essence of the Church of Rome, and it is destroying it. 
 It is endeavoring to insinuate itself into every Church ; it appears 
 in England in the Established Church ; in Germany in the Lutheran, 
 and even ua the Reformed and Presbyterian Church. It is that 
 mystery of iniquity, which already began to work in the time of 
 the Apostles. (2 Thess. ii. 7.) Let us reject and oppose this deadly 
 principle wherever it is found. We are men before we are Swiss, 
 French, English, or German ; let us also remember that we are 
 Christians before we are Episcopalians, Lutherans, Reformed, or 
 Dissenters. These different forms of the Church are like the dif- 
 ferent costumes, different features, and fdifferent characters of 
 nations ; that wlaich constitutes the man is not found in these 
 accessories. We must seek for it in the heart which beats under 
 this exterior, in the conscience which is seated there, in the intel- 
 ligence which there shines, in the will which there acts. If we 
 assign more importance to the Church than to Christianity, to the 
 form than to the life, we shall infallibly reap that which we have 
 sown ; we shall soon have a Church composed of skeletons, 
 clothed it may be in brilliant garments, and ranged, I admit, in a 
 most imposing order to the eye ; but as cold, stiff, and immovea- 
 ble as a pale legion of the dead. If Puseyism (and, unfortunately, 
 some of the doctrines which it promulgates are not, in England, 
 confined to that school), if Puseyism should make progress m the 
 Established Church, it will, in a few years, dry up all its springs 
 of life. The feverish excitement which disease at first produces, 
 will soon give way to languor, the blood will be congealed, the 
 muscles stiffened, and that Church will be only a dead body, 
 around which the eagles will gather together. 
 
PUSEYISM EXAmNED. 299 
 
 All forms, whether papal, patriarchal, episcopal, consistorial, or 
 presbyterian, possess only a human value and authority. Let us 
 not esteem the bark above the sap, the body above the soul, the 
 form above the life, the visible Church above the invisible, the 
 priest above the Holy Spirit. Let us hate all sectarian, ecclesias- 
 tical, national or dissenting spirit ; but let vis love Jesus Christ in 
 all sects, whether ecclesiastical, national or dissenting. The true 
 catholicity which we have lost, and which we must seek to reco- 
 ver, is that of " holding the Truth, in love." A renovation of the 
 Church is necessary ; I know it, I feel it, I pray for it from the 
 bottom of my soul. Only let us seek for it in the right way. 
 Forms, ecclesiastical constitutions, the organization of Churches, 
 are important, — very important. " But let us seek first the king- 
 dom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be 
 added unto us." (Matt. vi. 33.) 
 
 Let us then. Gentlemen, be firm and decided in the Truth; and 
 while we love the erring, let us boldly attack the error. Let us stand 
 upon the rock of ages, — the AVord of God ; and let the vain opi- 
 nions, and stale innovations, which are constantly springing up 
 and dying in the world, break powerless at our feet. " Two 
 systems of doctrine," says Dr. Pusey, " have now", and, probably, 
 for the last time, met in conflict; the system of Geneva and the 
 Catholic system." We accept this definition. One of the men 
 Avho have most powerfully resisted these errors, the Rev. W, 
 Goode, seems to think that by the Genevan system, Dr. Pusey in- 
 tends to designate the Unitarian, Pelagian, latitudinarian system, 
 which has laid waste the Church, not only in Geneva, but throagh- 
 out Christendom. " According to Romish tactics," says Mr. Goode, 
 *' the adversaries of the Oxford School are classed together under 
 the name that will render them most odious ; they belong, it^is 
 said, to the Genevan School* 
 
 Certainly, Gentlemen, if the Unitarian School of England fand 
 Geneva were called upon to struggle with the semi-Papal School 
 of Oxford, \ve should much fear the issue. But these divines 
 will meet with other opponents in England, Scotland and Ireland, 
 on the continent, and if need be, even in our little and humble 
 Geneva. 
 
 Yes, we agree to it; it is the system of Geneva, Avhich is now 
 struggling with the Catholic system ; but it is the system of the 
 ancient Geneva; it is the system of Calvin and Beza, the system 
 of the Gospel and the Reformation. The opprobrium they would 
 cast upon us we receive as an honor ; three centuries ago Geneva 
 rose against Rome ; let Geneva now rise against Oxford. 
 
 " I should like," ^says one of the Oxford doctors,! " to see the 
 
 * The Case as it is, 
 
 tW. Palmer's Aids to Reflection, 1841. This work contains some 
 curious, and, without aoubt, authentic conversations, which Mr. Palmer 
 had at Geneva, in 1836, with different pastors and professors of the Aca- 
 demy and the Company, "/u^y 26. The public professor of Dogmatic 
 Theology told me, when 1 asked him what was the precise doctrine of the 
 
300 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 
 
 Patriarch of Constantinople and onr Archbishop of Canterbury go 
 barefoot to Rome, throw their arms round the Pope, kiss him, 
 and not let him go, till they had persuaded him to be more rea- 
 sonable ;" that is to say, doubtless, until he had extended his 
 hand to them, and ceased to proclaim them heretics and 
 schismatics. 
 
 Evangelical Christians of Geneva, England, and all other coun- 
 tries ! It is not to Rome that you must drag yourselves, " to 
 those seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth, having a 
 golden cup in her hand, full of abominations" (Rev. xvii.) ; the 
 pilgrimage that you must make is to that excellent and perfect 
 tabernacle, " not made with hands" (Heb. ix.) ; that "throne of 
 grace, Avhere we find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. iv.) 
 
 It is not upon the neck of the " Man of Sin," that you must cast 
 yourselves, covering him with your kisses and your tears ; but 
 upon the neck of Him with whom " Jacob wrestled, until the 
 breaking of the day" (Gen. xxxii.) ; of Him " who is seated at 
 the right hand of God in the heavenly places, far above all prin- 
 cipality, and power, and every name that is named, not only in 
 thi% world ; but also in that which is to come." (Eph. v.) 
 
 Yes, let the children of God in the East and in the West arise, 
 let them, understanding the signs of the times, and seeing that the 
 destinies of the Church depend upon the issue of the present con- 
 flicts, conflicts so numerous, so different, and so powerful, for a 
 sacred brotherhood, and with one heart, and one soul, exclaim, 
 as Moses did v/hen the ark set forward, " Rise up. Lord, and let 
 thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee be- 
 fore Thee." (Num. x. 35.) 
 
 Company of Pastors at that time, on the subject of the Trinity, " Perhaps 
 no two had exactly the same shade of opinion, that the great majority 
 would deny the doctrine in the scholastic sense." — August A. A pasior of 
 the Company told me, " that of thirty-four members, he thinks there 
 are only four who would admit the doctrine of the Trinity." The author 
 was almost as much dissatisfied with the Evangelical as with the Unitari- 
 an ministers. He relates that one of the former said to him, on the 12th 
 of August ; " You are lost in the study of outward forms, mere worldly 
 vanities : You are a baby, a mere baby, he said in English." 
 
 THS ENP. 
 
BY REV. EDWIN HALL. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY BAKER & SCniBNER, 145 NASSAU STREET, 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS- 
 
 From the New York Observer. 
 The Puritans and their Principles. By Edwin 
 
 Hall. New York: Baker & Scribner. 1846. 
 
 Mr. Hall is the able pastor of the Congregational 
 Church, in Norwalk, Ct. He writes with vigor, and in 
 the midst of all his disquisitions, does not fail to sustain 
 the interest of the reader. The work before us is the 
 fruit of much research and thought, and will stand, in 
 our opinion, as a noble defence of the character and prin- 
 ciples of men whose monument is civil and religious 
 liberty in the earth. 
 
 This volume is richly worthy of a place in the library 
 of every college, and of every man who wishes to under- 
 stand the true greatness of the Puritans. We presume 
 that it will be very generally sought after and extensively 
 read. .^ 
 
 From the N. Y. Evening Express. 
 They set forth the causes which brought the Pilgrims 
 to these shores, their principles, and vindicate them from 
 the aspersions which have been cast upon them. The 
 subject is one of the greatest interest to any person who 
 has any desire to know the history of his own country, 
 and to be acquainted with the principles and suti'erings 
 of the most remarkable men that ever reached this con- 
 tinent. 
 
 From the N. Y. IVibmie. 
 This is an interesting work for all who in our day ad- 
 here to the principles of the Puritans, or rejoice in a 
 descent from the noble stock who were the champions 
 of Freedom two centuries ago. 
 
2 PURITANS AND THEIR PRINCIPLES. 
 
 From the New Haven Courier. 
 
 The design of the work is to set forth the Causes 
 which brought the Pilgrims to these shores ; to exhibit 
 iheu principles ; to show what these principles are worth, 
 and what it cost to maintain them-, to vindicate the 
 character of the Purrtans from the aspersions which 
 have been cast upon them, and to show the Puritanic 
 SYSTEM OF Church Polity,— as distinguished from the 
 Prelatic, — broadly and solidly based on the word of God ; 
 inseparable from religious Purity and Religious Free- 
 dom ; and of immense permanent importance to the best 
 interests of mankind. 
 
 The publication is intended to bring together such his- 
 torical information concerning the Puritans, as is now 
 scattered through many volumes, and cannot be obtained 
 but with much labor and research, and an outlay beyond 
 the means of ordinary readers. 
 
 From the N. Y. Commercial Advcrttscr. 
 The author enters with considerable minuteness into 
 English ecclesiastical history prior to the persecutions of 
 the Puritans, reviews the events which more immediately 
 led to their emigration to this country, traces the effects 
 of that step on the institutions and religious character of 
 the people of both continents, and then enters into an ana- 
 lysis of both prelatical and Puritanical church polity, and 
 ■warmly and eloquently defends the latter. The style of the 
 •work is vigorous and clothes a subject on which much 
 has been already written with new attractions, combining 
 succinctness of historical detail with elegance of diction. 
 
 From the N. Y. Courier fy Enqivirer. 
 Puritans and their Principles is the title of a very hand- 
 some octavo volume, by Edwin Hall, which has just 
 been published by IVIessrs. Baker & Scribner, at 14.') 
 Nassau street. Its purpose is to enable the public to 
 judge concerning the character and history of the Puri- 
 tans, which, as he contends, are now so perse veiingly and 
 so violently assailed ; and he has discharged the labori- 
 ous task with great zeal and ability. He says the ut- 
 most pains have been taken to caricature the principles, 
 and to blacken the history of the Puritans; and as an 
 evidence of this he cites the fact that very many persons 
 at the present day believe that the famous code entitled 
 the " Blue Laivs of Connecticut," once actually had a 
 
PURITANS AND THEIR PRINCIPLES. 3 
 
 place among the statutes of that colony ;— whereas, in 
 point of fact, they were the work of a Tory clergyman, 
 and written expressly to blacken the character of the 
 rebel colonists. 
 
 The volume exhibits proof of the industry and zeal of 
 the author, no less than of his ability and devotion to the 
 principles in defence of which he writes. As to the cor- 
 rectness of these principles, of course, we are not called 
 upon to pronounce any judgment ; but all who are inter- 
 ested in the subject, as indeed nearly all intelligent per- 
 sons must of necessity be, may rely upon finding in this 
 volume much matter, of fact and of argument, that will 
 essentially guide their investigations. 
 
 The work is printed in very handsome style, and re- 
 flects great credit upon the newly established house by 
 which it is published. 
 
 From the New Emgland Puritan. 
 This is a neatly printed octavo, of between 400 and 
 600 pages, from the pen of one who has proved himself a 
 master of his subject. It gives the history of the Puri- 
 tans, embracing the most of its material and interesting 
 facts ; and also makes these facts subserve a defence of 
 the character and principles of our ancestors. The work 
 is ably and thoroughly executed, and it ought to furnish 
 a part of the library of every descendant of the Puritans. 
 
 From the N. Y. Christian Intelligencer. 
 
 This is a beautiful octavo, of over 400 pp., handsomely 
 printed. As it has but just reached us, we have given it, 
 as yet, only a cursoiy examination. We regard it as a 
 very valuable book. It contains a large amount of im- 
 portant historical matter, in a condensed form ; precious 
 under all circumstances, but especially useful in our 
 times, when both Scripture and history are studiously 
 distorted to prove the inventions of men superior in ex- 
 cellence to the institutions of God. 
 
 The book shows the causes which brought the Pil- 
 grims to our shores; exhibits their principles; vindicates 
 their character from unjust aspersions; and states their 
 system of church polity, as distinguished from Prelacy. 
 It enters into the history of the Puritans and their times ; 
 traces their progress from the discovery of one important 
 principle to another; e.xhibits them in their sufferings, 
 wanderings, and landing on the margin of this wilder- 
 
4 PURITANS AND THEIR PRINCIPLES. 
 
 ness. The claims of Prelacy the author subjects to the 
 severe test of the Bible, reason and history. It treats 
 historically of England, before the tinaes of Wickliffe ; of 
 Wickliffe and his times ; of the reign of Henry VIII.; of 
 Edward, Mary and Elizabeth : of the conflict of princi- 
 ple; of Puritan sufferings; of the judicious Hooker ; of 
 James I., and the going to Holland ; of the voyage to 
 America ; of the Pilgrims at Plymouth ; of the storm 
 gathering in England; Charles I.; Archbishop Laud; 
 founding of the Puritan churches ; rise of the civil war ; 
 the Rule and Judge of Failh ; on the alleged right to im- 
 pose liturgies and ceremonies ; on schism ; the Church, 
 its officers, discipline; Episcopacy; Apostolic succes- 
 sion, &c., 
 
 irom the Presbyterian. 
 The author presents, in his advertisement, a summary 
 of his designs in this publicatiofl, which are " to set forth 
 the causes which brought the Pilgrims to these shores ; 
 to exhibit their principles ; to show what these princi- 
 ples are worth, and what it cost to maintain them ; to 
 vindicate the character of the Puritans from the asper- 
 sions which have been cast upon them, and to show the 
 Puritanic system of church polity, as distinguished from 
 the Prelatic." All this is accomplished with both zeal 
 and knowledge, and the whole narrative, extending back 
 to the early times of the Puritans, and embracing a most 
 important period of ecclesiastical history, is full ot ab- 
 sorbing interest, not merely to the descendants of the 
 Pilgrims, but to every American Christian. We have 
 met with no work, which, to our mind, presents so satis- 
 factory, and yet succinct a history of the times and eveHts 
 to which it refers. 
 
 From the N. Y. Baptist Recorder. 
 The work of Mr. Hall was undertaken con amore, — his 
 love of the Puritans is deep and unbounded. He has col- 
 lected his facts from an extended course of reading, and 
 expressed his thoughts in a style which, if not brilliant, 
 is lucid and earnest. We hail with much pleasure all 
 such contributions to our Historical Literature. We 
 hope those who have read Dr. Coit will read Mr. Hall. 
 Their conclusion w'ill be that though the Puritans were 
 mortal, and are justly chargeable with many inconsis- 
 tencies and errors, they were still a noble race, the trace 
 of whose influence is found in the best institutions of the 
 world. 
 
PURITANS AiND THElU PRINCIPLES. 5 
 
 From the N. Y. Evening Post. 
 
 The object of the work, as he states in the preface, is 
 to'set forth the causes which led the Pilgrims to estab- 
 lish themselves on this continent, to exhibit the nature 
 and value of their principles, and show the sacrifices at 
 which they were maintained, to defend tlieir character 
 against the attacks levelled against it, and to vindicate 
 the puritanic system of Church Polity. 
 
 The work is not historical merely, but in a good 
 measure controversial, and the author wields the wea- 
 pons of controversy with no little dexterity and vigor. 
 The Puritans were a class of peculiarly strong and decid- 
 ed character — a character which impressed itself upon 
 the age in which they arose, and the influence of which 
 yet survives. The author is a warm admirer of this 
 class, and defends their memory with zeal. He takes oc- 
 casion to discuss the claims of prelacy at much length, 
 not only in its historical but in its other aspects. We 
 have no doubt that the work w'ill be favorably received by 
 the large religious denomination to which the author 
 belongs. 
 
 From the Albany American Citizen. 
 We cannot forbear to express our conviction that it is . ..^ 
 a work of great merit, and has no common claims, espe- t 
 
 cially upon the regard of those who have the blood of the 
 Puritans flowing in their veins. Its historical details 
 evince the most diligent research, and its vigorous and 
 masterly discussion of important principles, shows a ju- 
 dicious, discriminating, and thoroughly trained mind. As 
 the subjects of which it treats, have, to a great extent, a 
 controversial bearing, it cannot be expected, that all will 
 judge in the same manner of the merits of the book, but 
 we think all who possess ordinary candor must agree 
 that it is written with no common ability, and contains a 
 gi'eat amount of useful information. 
 
 From the Hartford Christian Secretary. 
 After an Introduction, containing a glance at the con- 
 dition of England before the days of Wicklitfe, we are 
 presented with a history of Wicklifle and his times, the 
 reign of Henry VIII., and the rise of the Puritans, from 
 whence we trace them in their conflicts, visit them in 
 their prisons, follow them in their wanderings, and come 
 with them to their first rude dwellings in the Ameri- 
 can wilderness. We behold the foundation here rising 
 
6 PURITANS AND THEIR PRINCIPLES. 
 
 under their hands, until the wilderness became transform- 
 ed into a fair and fruitful field. The principles of these 
 noble men are exhibited and explained. The matter of 
 Church Polity is discussed, and the claims of Prelacy are 
 brought to the test of reason, of history, and of the word 
 of God. 
 
 From the Christian Intelligencer. 
 We venerate the character and the principles of the 
 Puritans of New England. Their history we have long 
 since regarded as one of the most important triumphs of 
 conscience and truth our world has seen. Our country 
 will never cease to feel the blessed influence of their 
 faith and principles; and we rejoice in the conviction, 
 which is more and more confirmed by every year's obser- 
 vation, that the Puritan theology will spread itself 
 widely over our land, and especially on the Sacramental 
 question, will be the prevailing view of American 
 Christians. We read with interest, accordingly, the ac- 
 counts of the Pilgrim Celebrations, year after year, and 
 wonder not that such enthusiasm should be manifested 
 by those who claim lineal descent from the Pilgrim 
 Fathers. That some things occur in connection with 
 these occasions, which look very unlike the Puritans, it 
 is mortifying to see. There have recently been some sad 
 incongruities enacted. What, for instance, has fiddling 
 and dancing and carousal, and all the paraphernalia of 
 the ball-room, to do with Puritanism? If one of the 
 good old Puritans should rise from his rest, and come to 
 the door of a Pilgrims' ball — would he not more readily 
 fancy that the sons of the Cavaliers were exulting in the 
 riddance of them, than that the sons of the Pilgrims were 
 celebrating the holy triumphs of a self-denying piety ? 
 There is, to our mmds, very much that is wrong here. 
 And then, how comes it that Unitarianism is so ardent in 
 the Pilgrim Celebration ? What fellowship has the 
 Puritan system with Unitarianism 1 We were inclined 
 to ask, where, on the last Pilgrim Anniversary, were the 
 Orthodox ministers — the men who occupy the Puritan 
 posts — of Boston? Have they given all into other 
 hands — or do they seek other modes of showing their 
 regard for the principles of their fathers, which they 
 deem preferable to the formality of uncovering their 
 heads as they pass the spot of hallowed memory 1 If 
 there is any anniversary which should be kept with truly 
 religious service, it is this; and every proper means 
 
PURITANS AND THEIR PRINCIPLES. 7 
 
 should be employed, that the descendants of the Puritans 
 should know in detail their fathers' history, and the prin- 
 ciples for which they suffered. 
 
 In tV is view, Mr. Hall of Norwalk has done good ser- 
 vice — but his work, in its benefits, goes very far beyond 
 this. We noticed his book briefly, a few weeks ago, and 
 now, after a careful reading, are prepared to speak more 
 decidedly concerning it. We know of no work, which, 
 in the same compass, gives so clear and satisfactory a 
 view of the origin and progress of the principles of Pu- 
 ritanism. There are evidences of careful and patient re- 
 search, and a comparison of the best authorities, in every 
 chapter. The picture of the Laudcan policy is one that 
 has its counterpart only under the bloody Mary, or on the 
 opposite side of the channel. We hope to be able to give 
 the whole of this, that our readers may know more of 
 the man, whose High Church views Puseyism sympa- 
 thizes in, and whose execution it celebrates as martyr- 
 dom. The history of the successive colonies to New 
 England is given with peculiar distinctness — and from 
 the reading of it, we have derived a clearer knowledge of 
 the several localities occupied. The style of Mr. Hall is 
 vigorous, and his whole treatment of his subject manly. 
 Our country congregations cannot fail of being well in- 
 formed, with such courses of lectures as these. 
 
 As this work has grown out of the late outbreak of 
 Prelatic exclusiveness — and especially in Connecticut — 
 the author goes into the examination of the peculiar no- 
 tions of Episcopacy. The controversy has called out 
 several able works, and though this appears last, it loses 
 nothing in interest, and is anticipated by nothing which 
 has been published. In the chapters embraced in this 
 part of the volume, there is a series of original and con- 
 clusive reasoning. A certain Mr. Chapin, as well as 
 Bishop Brownell, comes in for his share of the showing 
 up. In the concluding chapter, a curtain is drawn, and 
 ■we are furnished with a view of some things worth see- 
 ing — note, for instance, the topics — " Episcopacy and Re- 
 publicanism" — " Episcopacy in the American Revolu- 
 tion" — " Reproaches against the Puritans" — " The Table 
 Turned." On the subject presented in this last topic. 
 Dr. Phillips was led to say something in his late dedica- 
 tion sermon ; the detail here given is amazing. 
 
 Mr. Hall closes his volume with a review of Dr. Coit 
 on Puritanism, and exposes him fully. Every man of 
 New England origin, who ^jossesses any of the Puritan 
 
8 PURITANS AND THEIR PRINCIPLES-. 
 
 spirit, we should think, would make himself acquainted 
 "with this book. We commend it to every reader. 
 
 After these remarks concerning the book in general, 
 there is one circumstance to which we v/ould call special 
 attention. "Who has not heard of " the Blue Laws of 
 Connecticut" — who has not felt aggrieved that good men 
 should be concerned in their enactment ? Behold, they 
 are an absolute fiction — a mere Munchausen affair — ac- 
 cording to Mr. Hall, the work of a Rev. Mr. Peters, an 
 Episcopal clergyman, a Tory, who abandoned our coun- 
 try at the o-pening of the Revolution, and iied to Eng- 
 land. Mr. Hall very justly expresses his amazement, 
 that this man's fabrications should be brought out in s 
 recent impression, with special commendation. 
 
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