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 rCETON, N. J. 
 
 adelphia, Pa. 
 
 _ . 
 
 Presented 
 
 luel Agne\N of Phi 
 
 
 Division^Vl^ II 
 
 Sec/ion ' T cD O 
 Number M , \ 
 
 BR 157 .F74 1845 
 
 Free Church of Scotland. 
 
 Lectures on foreign churche^ 
 
LECTURES 
 
 FOREIGN CHURCHES, 
 
LECTURES 
 
 ON 
 
 FOREIGN CHURCHES. 
 
 DELIVERED IN 
 
 EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW, MAY 1845, 
 
 IN CONNECTION WITH THE OBJECTS OF THE 
 
 COMMITTEE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 
 
 ON THE STATE OF 
 
 CHRISTIAN CHURCHES ON THE CONTINENT 
 AND IN THE EAST. 
 
 FIRST SERIES. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 W. P. KENNEDY, ST ANDREW STREET, 
 
 GLASGOW : D. BRYCE. BELFAST : W. m'COMB. 
 LONDON : HAMILTON, ADAMS & CO., AND JAMES NISBET & CO. 
 
 MDCCCXLV. 
 
EDINBURGH : 
 PRINTED BY JOHN GREIG, LAWNMAKKBT. 
 

 Hi 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 .^^^ 
 
 I. iNTRODUCTORr— " Tlie Relations in which the Churches of 
 Christ ought to stand to each other — Principles of Union, 
 and Mutual Duties." By Robert S. Candlish, D.D., 
 Minister of Free St George's, Edinburgh, . . 3 
 
 II. The Independent Eastern Churches. By John . 
 Wilson, D. D., F. R. S., of the Free Church of Scotland's 
 Mission at Bombay, . . . . .41 
 
 III. The Ancient History of the Waldensian Church. 
 
 By Rev. Thomas M'Crie, Professor of Theology to the 
 Synod of Original Seceders, .... 165 
 
 IV. On the Present Condition and Future Prospects 
 
 of the Waldensian Church. By the Rev. Robert 
 
 W. Stewart, A.M., late of Erskine, . . .205 
 
 V. Religious History of Holland and Belgium since 
 the Reformation. By William K. Tweedie, Mi- 
 nister of Free Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh, . . 269 
 
 VI. Past and Present State of Evangelical Religion 
 in Switzerland, especially Geneva. By Pa- 
 trick M'Farlan, D.D., Minister of the Free West 
 Church, Greenock, ..... 325 
 
 VII. The Past and Present State of Evangelical Re- 
 LiGloN in France. By J. G. Lorimer, Minister of 
 Free St David's, Glasgow, .... 383 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 Introductory—" The Relations in which the Churches 
 OF Christ ought to stand to each other — Principles 
 OF Union, and Mutual Duties." 
 
 BY ROBERT S. CANDLISH, D.D. 
 
 SnNISTEB OF FEEE ST GEOKGE'S, EDINBUBGH. 
 
 The subject more immediately brought before us, in 
 connection with the proposed Course of Lectures, is not 
 so much the general question of union among Christians, 
 as one particular portion or department of that question, 
 bearing upon the relations which ought to subsist among 
 the different branches of the cliurch of Christ, in differ- 
 ent parts of the world. The geographical divisions of 
 the Church, according to continents and countries, form 
 a totally distinct field of contemplation, from its polemi- 
 cal distractions, according to names and parties ; and 
 the inquiry into the nature of the correspondence which 
 the Christians of various lands ought to have with one 
 another, is not to be confounded with that which relates 
 to the healing of breaches among Christians dwelling 
 together in the same territory, — though, alas ! not 
 dwelling together in unity. It is true, indeed, that in 
 the present state of Christendom, these two subjects of 
 inquiry run very much into one another, and cannot be 
 
4 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 kept altogether separate ; since the causes of diversity 
 which affect Christian society in one place, operate, more 
 or less, over the whole world ; and the mutual duties 
 and terms of reciprocal fellowship among churches sepa- 
 rated by seas and mountains, can scarcely be adjusted 
 without facing the difficulties, and in part at least, and 
 practically, settling not a few of the points of controversy, 
 involved in any attempt to harmonise those, whom, with- 
 out such physical barriers, minute articles of creed, and 
 too often mere punctilios of form, rend even more widely 
 asunder. Still, it is desirable to distinguish between 
 the two topics ; and for this, among other reasons," that 
 while the one, namely, that which would deal with the 
 church as geographically subdivided, may be considered 
 with far greater calmness and clearness than the other, 
 since it does not so violently raise the din and dust of per- 
 sonal and party strife, — the principles of good sense and 
 Christian love naturally and necessarily unfolded in the 
 discussion and right disposal of it, may, by an indirect 
 but most happy influence, tell with good effect on what 
 will be found to be very much mixed up with it, and what 
 constitutes the great and urgent Christian problem of the 
 day ; the determination, that is, of the sense and man- 
 ner in which, split as she is into sections and fragments, 
 by innumerable peculiarities of thought and feehng, 
 brought out in the exercise of that right of private judg- 
 ment and free scriptural inquiry which is her just privi- 
 lege and boast (let no man take her crown), — the Pro- 
 testant Evangelical Church of the living God, is yet, in 
 every land and over all the earth, to recognise herself, 
 and be recognised by the world, as one. 
 
 Let us look, then, at Christianity in its first introduc- 
 tion to mankind, by its Divine Founder and his inspired 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. O 
 
 followers. It is to possess and occupy the world. It is 
 to penetrate into all nations, and come into contact with 
 every creature ; and its doctrines and ordinances are to 
 be everywhere preached and administered. How is it 
 to be fitted for this end ? 
 
 In the first place, it is to be altogether divested of the 
 local and territorial character which belonged to the pre- 
 ceding dispensation, as well as of the cumbrous mass of 
 ritual and ceremonial observances to which the Jewish 
 church was bound. There is to be no holy city or 
 venerable temple on earth, to which the tribes of the 
 Lord must go up ; there is to be no priestly order or 
 transmitted virtue of priestly consecration ; nor is any 
 set of minute and rigid regulations, as to the worship 
 and service of God, to be enforced by statute, or pre- 
 scribed as the condition of acceptance. Under the Old 
 Testament economy, " the people were to dwell alone ;" 
 and accessions from other nations could be made by 
 proselytism, only on the terms of exact conformity to a 
 strict, specified, and unalterable routine ; implying a con- 
 nection of locality with one favoured spot, and a concur- 
 rence in one precise and peremptory directory. The 
 gospel threw matters much more open as to all that 
 concerns the place, the agents, and the manner of wor- 
 ship ; religion ceased to be local, personal, and ceremo- 
 nial ; the truth to be received was most exactly and 
 carefully defined ; but, evidently of set purpose, no rules 
 were given for settling in detail the questions of, where ? 
 and how? or the localities and methods of divine service ; 
 pains were taken to have men's minds duly informed, 
 and men's hearts made right with God ; but, as to the 
 rest, latitude was allowed for carrying out, in practice, the 
 general principles of evangelical faith and love. 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 But farther, secondly, as to rule or government, one 
 thing, at least, is plain, that under the new economy, no 
 universal empire or monarchy was established ; certainly 
 not in the beginning of the Christian dispensation, was any 
 such universal subjection to one authority contemplated, 
 or any provision made for it. On the contrary, the temple 
 service, and the whole priestly hierarchy connected with 
 it, being for ever set aside, the model or platform of the 
 Christian discipline and administration, was undeniably 
 the usage of the synagogues ; and beyond all question, 
 that system savoured far more of the principle of repub- 
 lican self-regulation ; each society with its own officers, 
 exercisino- a laroe discretion in the reo-ulation of its own 
 services and the manao-ement of its own affairs ; than 
 of any general and uniform submission to one order or to 
 one head. It would appear, indeed, that in cities and 
 populous neighbourhoods, there was more of a community 
 of the pastors and elders of different congregations, as well 
 as of the concrresations themselves, than the ancient cus- 
 tom of the synagogue, or, perhaps, the modern rule of in- 
 dependency based upon it, exemplifies and reahses ; and 
 there are reasons for believinoj that local ties contributed 
 to consolidate the believing inhabitants of a town, a pro- 
 vince, and a country, into one compact body, and that 
 this formed a part of the original apostolic plan. Still, 
 whether on a smaller or a larger scale, the principle 
 which developed itself in the early church, and which is, 
 at least by implication and in embryo, contained in the 
 New Testament, is substantially that of self-government ; 
 fitted to give the church the aspect of a number of free 
 and separate commonwealths, rather than that of one 
 single, vast, and gigantic empire. 
 
 It must be added, however, in the third place, to com- 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. / 
 
 plete this view of Christianity, as it started on its earthly 
 career, that it evidently pointed not only to a close and 
 frequent interchange of good offices among these spiri- 
 tual commonwealths or republics, but to the exercise of 
 much mutual deference, in the way of constantly con- 
 sulting one another, referring difficult points of doc- 
 trine and duty for grave deliberation and advice, and 
 renderino- cheerful and unconstrained respect to the 
 voice of counsel or admonition that might issue from 
 meetings, or convocations, of venerable fathers and el- 
 ders, possessing the general confidence of God's people, 
 and giving evidence of being directed by his good Spirit. 
 The apostolic journeys, so manifold, and often so perilous, 
 — the messages sent by trustworthy ambassadors from 
 church to church, conveying substantial proofs of brotherly 
 losre, — and the case or cases of conscience, sent up from 
 the provinces, and submitted to the apostles and bre- 
 thren at Jerusalem, the most influential general council to 
 which appeal could then be made ; all these precedents, 
 without pressing them too far, or regarding them as 
 binding in the letter, make out, at least, the general 
 principle of a sort of federal union of kindness and con- 
 sultation, among the independent Christian communities 
 of diff"erent cities and countries throughout the world. 
 
 Now, let primitive Christianity, wdth a constitution 
 thus elastic, yet cohering, be viewed as making way among 
 the nations. Congregations spring up in the larger towns ; 
 and as these multiply, and spread their branches into 
 the surrounding neighbourhoods, they form themselves 
 into societies, under their pastors and elders, consulting 
 and acting together, in consistories, or colleges, or pres- 
 byteries, or synods. Gradually and insensibly, territorial 
 boundaries, or the arrangements of civil governments, 
 
8 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 mould into shape and form the larger sections into which 
 these smaller bodies combine ; union, not isolation, being 
 the law and tendency of the gospel ; and Christian com- 
 mmiities are found to become provincial and national. 
 Considerable diversities, it is not improbable, may be 
 allowed to prevail, even within these united brotherhoods; 
 and between one of them and another, still greater dis- 
 similarity may exist. The general rule of decency and 
 order, and the precept of mutual forbearance and ten- 
 derness towards weaker brethren, being observed in all, 
 and rites and ceremonies of human appointment, with 
 whatsoever, in the discipline and worship of the church, 
 has not warrant of the word of God, being repudiated 
 and disowned, there will still be room for shades of pecu- 
 liarity, occasioned by climate, customs, or circumstances. 
 Instead of the dead flat level of insipid and enforced 
 uniformity, not a little variety of undulating surface and 
 tints of diverse colours may gratify the liberty -loving 
 eye. But no inconvenience need arise from this, nor 
 any breach of real unity. The discarding of all forms, 
 ceremonies and observances, and indeed, all works of 
 every kind, from having any place at all, or any thing 
 whatever to do, in the sinner's justification before God, 
 and the unanimous consent to receive that great boon, 
 as the free gift of God, dispensed through the righteous- 
 ness and blood of his own Son, and appropriated by that 
 faith which his own Spirit works in the heart, — the loyalty 
 and allegiance exclusively rendered to the divine word, 
 apart from all authority and tradition of man, — the di- 
 rect access to God assured to every behever in Jesus, 
 without the intervention of any priesthood, — the liberty 
 of adoption which the sacraments only outwardly, but the 
 Holy Ghost inwardly seals, — and the glowing love, not 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. U 
 
 of a doubtful and contingent, but of a present and full 
 reconciliation, — all these elements of harmony may pre- 
 serve unbroken, amid many differences of detail, the 
 peace of congregations and communities ; and when to 
 all this, we add the influence of these lesser or larger 
 bodies on one another, through a reciprocity of cordial 
 and kindly attention, and the weight of well-timed and 
 well-considered decisions, given forth, on critical ques- 
 tions, from quarters universally deemed, at least in a 
 moral sense, authoritative, — as from arbiters or umpires 
 or assemblies, generally called and trusted, — we may form 
 to ourselves the conception of the universal Christian 
 church, minutely subdivided, as is the surface of this ter- 
 raqueous globe, and in its minutest subdivisions, free and 
 self-regulating ; yet presenting, as a whole, the aspect of 
 one great republic of letters and religion, with common 
 counsels and a common spirit, and capable of many a 
 combined effort, for mutual comfort, improvement and 
 defence, as well as for reclaiming the waste places of the 
 earth and invading the territories still unsubdued. 
 
 This, however, it may be said, is a fair theory : but 
 alas ! it is nothing more. True. But what then ? Is 
 it wonderful that the apostolic model should fail to be 
 realised, when it was to be carried into practice by men 
 full of prejudices and passions at the best, and in too many 
 cases, by Christians but half- enhghtened, if not, even in 
 the earliest age, by hypocrites and formalists ? Or is 
 it the less on that account to be held up now, in these 
 latter days, as the mould and measure of Christian effort 
 and aspiration, if by any means the Spirit may yet be 
 given, for having it executed on some considerable scale 
 and exhibited to a wondering world, ere the end come ? 
 
 And, that it is, in itself, no impracticable scheme, or 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 Utopian dream, may be gathered, not only from the brief 
 sunshine of that Pentecostal time, when the multitude of 
 them that believed were of one mind and of one heart, 
 and great grace was upon them all ; but from the very 
 device of the adversary himself. He, at least, is no 
 visionary ; he deals with no speculative and theoretical 
 schemes ; but he shrewdly avails himself of hints that 
 may be acted on, and turns them to practical account. 
 And, it might almost seem, as if the plan and machinery 
 of this noble enterprise having fallen into his hands, 
 Antichrist had set himself to work it out. Taking ad- 
 vantage of the tendency in all the portions of the church 
 to associate and run together, and adroitly substituting 
 a poHtical and priestly, for a doctrinal bond and basis of 
 union, (for it is easier to make men one, in the spirit of 
 party or the panic of superstition, than in the harmony 
 of free thought and warm affection,) he was able to turn 
 the Christian ministry, throughout all nations, into a 
 trained and disciplined police, and to give, on his own 
 terms, to his minion, the Roman Pontiff, that throne of 
 the world, which the Lord himself had refused. The 
 boasted unity of Popery, with its wide-spread ramifica- 
 tions and organization, throughout all lands, is the mimic 
 rival and distorted caricature, of that all-pervading sym- 
 pathy, breathing submission to one another, and the 
 submission of all to Christ, which overflowing the inter- 
 sected field of Christianity, should have presented to the 
 eyes of men, the one unbroken tide of divine and brother- 
 ly love, filling up all inequalities, and covering all land- 
 marks, and making the whole, as it were, one broad and 
 placid ocean, reflecting in its bosom the wondrous unity 
 of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the one living and 
 everlasting God. 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 11 
 
 Still farther, that we may judge of the truth and reahty 
 of the representation which we have given, let us look at 
 the era of the R-eformation. Then, light simultaneously 
 broke in on thechurches of all various lands ; and without 
 any common plan or preconcerted scheme, without dic- 
 tating to one another or owning any common master, 
 guided by the word, and the Spirit sought in prayer ac- 
 cordincr to the word, cono-reo-ations and communities, with 
 their bishops, pastors and elders, reformed themselves 
 from popery. In different countries they acted, to a 
 great extent, independently of one another, and their 
 different circumstances, as well as the peculiarities of 
 national and individual character, very considerably mo- 
 dified their plans and proceedings ; so that shades of di- 
 versity marked their several creeds and constitutions. 
 Yet, after all, and on the whole, how marvellously near 
 did they come to one another. The harmony of the 
 Protestant confessions, in all essential particulars, has 
 defied the skill and learning of Rome's ablest advocates, 
 to effect any serious breach. How close, also, and how 
 intimate was the intercourse and correspondence of the 
 reformers of difterent lands, both personally and by 
 letters ; how frankly did the churches mutually afford 
 to one another asylums of refuge for their persecuted 
 sons ; and how unhesitatingly were ministers, on visits 
 or in exile, invited to officiate, as they were ever willing 
 to do, in communities constituted, in many things, very 
 differently from their own. Thus, John Knox served a 
 cure in the Episcopal Church of England, preaching, 
 whether in surplice or gown, is not recorded ; and not a 
 few of the victims of the Marian persecution, confessors 
 of the true faith, and fugitives from the fires of Smith- 
 field, were hailed and welcomed as honoured servants of 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 Christ, and officiated as pastors of congregations in 
 Switzerland and Holland, till the accession of Elizabeth 
 restored them, with some taint, perhaps, of presbytery 
 and puritanism, to their own country, and their church, 
 which they would gladly have seen brought nearer to 
 the foreign pattern than prince or prelate would allow. 
 England was not then quite so jealous of Geneva as she 
 is now ; nor were her sleeves of lawn so fearful of con- 
 tact with the homely presbyterian cloak. We might 
 refer to the Zurich letters, recently pubhshed by the 
 Parker Society, as full of illustrations of the community 
 of mind and heart that prevailed among the reformers 
 of all the different sections of Christendom ; the very 
 table of contents, is in this view, instructive,* and when 
 we come to read the letters themselves, we find them 
 breathing a spirit of intense affection on both sides, and 
 especially, a spirit of deference, and anxiety to be coun- 
 selled, on the side of the Anglican bishops and divines, 
 certainly very unlike the tone and manner in which now- 
 a-days some of them are apt to speak of those Christian 
 churches and Christian ministers, who unhappily want 
 the mysterious virtue resident in Episcopal government, 
 apostolic succession, and baptismal regeneration. 
 
 * Thus, Bishop Jewel writes to Peter Martyr, Henry Bullinger, 
 Rodolph Gualter, Josiah Simler, and others ; Bishop Cox, also. 
 Bishops Sandys, Parkhurst, Horn and Grindal, are correspondents 
 of the same parties ; and of the spirit in which all this epistolary 
 intercourse is carried on, let the honest-hearted burst of affectionate 
 enthusiasm to which Jewel gives vent, be taken as a specimen: — 
 " O Zurich, Zurich," he exclaims to Peter Martyr, " how much 
 oftener do I now think of thee, than ever I thought of England 
 when I was at Zurich !" O for such times again, and such cordial 
 brotherhood between the dignitiiries of Episcopacy and the prea- 
 byters of those more simple communions, with which, once at least, 
 Episcopacy did not refuse to fraternise. 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 13 
 
 Several subordinate causes contributed to form such 
 habits of intercourse and familiar intimacy among the re- 
 formers and the reformed churches, in all various coun- 
 tries. Besides the fierce persecutions, which, breaking 
 out in these countries successively, forced the protestants 
 to flee from city to city, and from land to land, we might 
 refer to the custom of close correspondence among learned 
 men on the revival of letters, and perhaps, also, to the uni- 
 versal knowledge and use of the Latin tongue. The press 
 did not, indeed, then, as now, teem with its innumerable 
 progeny of ephemeral journals, which flying all abroad, 
 as on the wings of the wind, waft the idlest gossip and 
 the faintest rumour of the hour to the remotest chmes 
 and most secluded retreats ; nor was the giant power of 
 steam evoked to bring distant isles and continents together. 
 Still, at that remarkable era, " men did run to and fro, 
 and knowledge was increased ;" a commonwealth of li- 
 terature, with an acknowledged free-masonry of learned 
 dialog-ue and somewhat stately epistolary eloquence 
 among the initiated scholars of the day, filled all Europe; 
 the colleges exchanged professors and students ; educated 
 men understood one another, sought to see one another 
 face to face, visited one another, and wrote to one another. 
 It was an age of stir and bustle, at any rate ; and when, 
 after the invention of printing and the awakening of the 
 slumbering intellect and spirit of the times, the religious 
 excitement came, kindled and controlled by the master 
 minds of that age of master minds, the train was pre- 
 viously laid, and all was ready for the freest circulation 
 of the flame, fed, as it was, with earth's purest and 
 brightest fuel, and fanned by the breath of heaven. 
 
 Is the cycle again run out ? Has that old era come up 
 again ? Does our own day witness a fulfilment of Daniel's 
 
14 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 prophecy, even more striking, both physically and intel- 
 lectually, than that of the Reformation period ? " Many 
 shall run to and fro, and knowledo-e shall be increased." 
 Trade, commerce, gambling speculation, exhaustless and 
 endless production of wealth, dizzy calculation of mer- 
 cantile chances, incessant hurry of locomotion, a pres- 
 sure, at the higrhest, on all men's energies — what fever of 
 the over- wrought brain and pulse may these not occasion 
 and account for ? Then, we have the opening up of new 
 worlds, in far Australia, and in the Chinese seas, and our 
 jBery vessels ploughing the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, 
 and all Europe and America chequered with those iron 
 ways, along which men rush with the speed of wind. We 
 have the waking up, also, of the general mind, from a 
 cold ague fit, to alertness and life ; and all things betoken 
 on earnest time, and earnest doings. Nor are there 
 wanting indications of a process going on fitted to make 
 men of high thought and deep feeling recognise, over all 
 the earth, their brotherhood again. Events and circum- 
 stances are brino-inr>- such men more and more tog-ether. 
 They who have toiled, and testified, and suffered for 
 Christ in difi'erent lands, are seeing one another in the 
 flesh, and learning to know one another. Visits are in- 
 terchanged; and foreign accents are not so strange as 
 they were in social circles, and even in ecclesiastical as- 
 semblies, and the customary house of prayer. 
 
 Is the analogy we have indicated altogether fanciful ? 
 Nay, does not that Reformation era, with its disniptions 
 and reconstructions — its rending asunder of many ties — 
 its stormy outbreak of truth in the very heart of Popery — 
 its healino; ag-ain of the wound inflicted on the beast, — its 
 confrontincr of the combatants to one another, with that 
 strange breaking of their ranks, ere the combat was well 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 15 
 
 bejvun — almost seem as the shadow of what is now to be 
 exhibited — the rehearsal of what is now to be enacted, 
 on this time-trodden stage, ere the curtain drop which is 
 to close all ? If so — if in any measure this may be re- 
 garded as a true interpretation of past and present ap- 
 pearances — may we not seek, if it please God, under hap- 
 pier auspices, to realise the state of things, as regards the 
 fellowship of the churches, which partially existed among 
 our reforming fathers ; and the rather, as they have left 
 some beacons for our warning. 
 
 Into the causes which arrested and disturbed the free 
 circulation of the pure and vital blood through all the 
 veins of the body ecclesiastical, animated surely, for a 
 time at least, by one soul, through the indwelling of the 
 Spirit of Christ, it would be impossible to enter at large ; 
 they will be found to be to a great extent identical with 
 the causes of the check given to the advancing progress 
 of the Reformation — a fact, or phenomenon in history, at 
 least as remarkable as its rise. The marvellous growth 
 of that living form of Christianity soon came to a stand ; 
 the reforming church ceased to expand herself; the quick- 
 ening Spirit seemed to be straitened or withdrawn ; and 
 the firm strength and fresh beauty of her nervous frame, 
 gave place to the pallor of exhaustion in the countenance, 
 and in the limbs, the palsy of premature decrepitude and 
 decay. Angry passions tearing her own bosom, and the 
 wretched wars, and still more wretched politics, of the 
 princes of this world, who would be by turns her tyrants or 
 her patrons, contributed to this sad result ; and for long 
 years, the Protestant church in Christendom, as a whole, 
 may be said to have dragged on a protracted existence, 
 with fitful impulses of partial and occasional revivals ; 
 but, alas ! without that uniform and general " growing 
 
16 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 up into Him who is the head, in all things," whereby 
 " the body maketh increase of itself, unto the edifying of 
 itself in love." The religious wars, also, on the Continent, 
 the revolutionary struggles in England, the persecutions 
 of the Vaudois in Piedmont, and the Covenanters in 
 Scotland, together with the internal factions which dis- 
 •tracted and weakened the various national churches, and 
 the tendency of the reaction from that eager tension 
 of spirit, which had been keeping men's minds on the 
 stretch, to degenerate into the languor of barren and 
 antinomian orthodoxy, or to seek relief in novelties and 
 errors — all these influences must be taken into our cal- 
 culation, if we would trace the origin and stealthy ad- 
 vances of that sleep of death, which fell, as a withering 
 bhght, on the whole Protestant church; and in which 
 even Popery partly shared. Then came the days of 
 isolation, when churches severed by a ridge of hills, or 
 an arm of the sea, knew little of one another, and cared 
 to know still less. Nor was this surprising. For, could 
 it be expected that they would be very anxious to in- 
 quire of one another, how it fared with Christ's cause 
 and men's souls, when they never seriously made such 
 inquiries within themselves ? And when, at last, a bet- 
 ter day began to dawn, as the eighteenth century drew 
 towards its close, and the present was darkly ushered in, 
 amid the storm of war, yet with gleams of better hope, — 
 the faithful men in each community found enough to do 
 at home ; and some time, besides, must naturally elapse, 
 before the long habit of selfish indifference could be 
 broken, and the beating of the warm Catholic heart of 
 Cliristianity be felt once more. 
 
 But, now, the hour is fully come, and the longing is 
 generally felt, for the current of evangeUcal sympathy 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 17 
 
 to circulate again, and the grace and strength of evan- 
 gehcal union, — not artificial, forced, and fettered, — but 
 free, elastic, and unconfined, — to be manifested at last 
 for the conviction of an unbelieving world. How all- 
 important, in such a crisis, that all the several sections 
 of the Protestant commonwealth, instead of churlishly 
 questioning, or with faint hesitation, barely admitting, 
 one another's Christianity, should have arms and hearts 
 open to embrace as brethren ! How sad, if any church, 
 however apostolic, shall isolate herself, in these days, 
 from the great Protestant brotherhood, and under what- 
 ever pretence of a via media, between Romanism and 
 Dissent, shall insult the spiritual descendants of Luther 
 and Calvin, by coolly classing them in the same cate- 
 gory, under some nicely- turned antithesis, with the fol- 
 lowers of the Man of Sin.* What pity if the Church 
 of Cranmer and Jewel, enamoured of a soul-destroying 
 error, making baptism the new birth, and besotted with 
 
 * For instance, an article in the "English Review," on the " Eng- 
 lish Church on the Continent," making all hope of good depend, as 
 usual, on Anglican Episcopacy, thus skilfully balances its censures 
 and concessions : — " Both the Romanist and the Protestant com- 
 munions are in these countries in a state of ferment, the former 
 unable to resist the progress of more enlightened views of Chris- 
 tianity, even within its own pale ; the latter equally unable to 
 avert the licentious rationalism that has been bred in its bosom." 
 Of course, Anglican example is to put all right, both parties being, 
 as it would seem, about equally wrong. Or, if some charity is to 
 be extended to them, it is with the same impartiality, giving no 
 preference to either. " The Christian communions of the Con- 
 tinent, however much they may be defiled by Romish errors, or 
 however imperfectly constituted, in the absence of an apostolically 
 derived ministry," — their faults about equal, and their chances 
 equal too, — " are not to be held by us as beyond the pale of the 
 Christian world." Most gracious admission ! And this is not a 
 Tractarian journal, but one rather of a moderate tone. 
 
 B 
 
18 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 the fond notion of a transmitted priesthood, going far 
 to make void the sole priesthood of Christ, — shall seem to 
 frown on the entire mass and body of reformed Christen- 
 dom, which, from the beginning, with the single excep- 
 tion of herself and her American daughter, has chosen, 
 as scriptural, a simpler ritual and less ambiguous faith, 
 and the privilege of being taught and governed by pres- 
 byters alone. What avails the shallow pretence of the 
 rationalism of these churches, already fast disappearing 
 before the reviving enthusiasm of a reviving age ? Has 
 she forgot the cold fit of latitudinarianism and infidelity, 
 which the passing knell of death in her high places may 
 even now remind her, is scarcely yet over ? And is she 
 really to stand aloof, as, amid the multitude of those who 
 worship Jesus, the sole authentic depository of the grace 
 of Heaven, prepared to swallow up all her once-owned 
 and much-loved sister churches, but to give the hand of 
 fellowship to none ? If so, shall not the voice go forth, 
 for this and other signs of sympathy with Antichrist, 
 Come out of her my people ; or at least raise a more 
 energetic protest within, — aye, though England's St 
 Bartholomew be enacted once more, and a stern mother 
 cast forth her thousands from her bosom, to find a home 
 in every Christian heart, and be free to recognise a 
 brother in the kindling eye of every Christian face ? 
 
 All honour, however, we must add, be to the men, 
 such as Hartley, Bickersteth, Gillies, and the many 
 other friends of the Continent, among the clergy and 
 people of the English Church, who were the first to 
 awaken among Christians at home, an interest in reli- 
 gion abroad, and who have proved themselves the uni- 
 form and liberal supporters of all the missionary plans of 
 our brethren in foreign lands. Would that they were 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 19 
 
 able to stem the tide of Anglican intolerance, which 
 threatens to sweep all reason and charity away ! Would 
 that they, and many besides, held themselves more free 
 and ready, for combined cordial and decided action, with 
 the calumniated Protestants over all the world, against 
 the fast mustering ranks of Oxford and of Rome ! 
 
 But, passing from this painful theme, let us ask, — 
 What practical measures may be taken for manifesting 
 and maturing the union, which is so desirable, and 
 turning it to good account ? And, here, the first expe- 
 dient which naturally suggests itself, is that of conference 
 and consultation among the churches. On this point, 
 the general principles laid down at the outset may partly 
 guide us ; and we may profit also, by the experience of 
 the reformers. Two things, especially, seem clear, first, 
 that we are not ripe for the calhng of anything like a 
 general legislative or authoritative council ; and secondly, 
 that, for any scheme of co-operation, to insist on minute 
 agreement on all the articles of any creed, would be an 
 insuperable ban ier, at the very outset, to all hearty cor- 
 respondence or communion. 
 
 In regard to the first point, we may observe, that even 
 in particular countries, few would anticipate good, at pre- 
 sent, from national conventions of the Christians at large, 
 to settle the affairs of the nation's Christianity ; nor, how- 
 ever precious the result of their deliberations, would a re- 
 petition of either the Synod of Dort or the Westminster 
 Assembly precisely meet the present exigency. And 
 on a larger scale, any such attempt would be disastrous. 
 But nothing could be more practicable, nothing more 
 safe or becoming, than the meeting together, from time 
 to time, of brethren, representing the various Protestant 
 churches, at convenient seasons and places, for prayer 
 
20 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 and conference on all that relates to their common 
 Christianity. Let such convocations, stated or occa- 
 sional, be arranged to be held, now in one great city and 
 now in another, and let the facilities of travel be regarded 
 as taking away all excuse from any society neglecting to 
 send its members ; and when these convocations are 
 constituted, let them have no power or authority over 
 particular churches, nor any right to interfere, beyond 
 giving advice when asked ; but let the time be spent in 
 Christian fellowship, and devout exercises of soul before 
 God ; let missionary intelligence, and information re- 
 garding the Lord's work, be interchanged ; let the pro- 
 gress of error be watched and marked ; and let plans be 
 canvassed, and suggestions made, for promoting the in- 
 creased efficiency of the means of grace, and obtaining an 
 increased effusion of the Spirit of God. Controversies 
 need not be agitated, since there would be no competent 
 tribunal to settle them ; questions of discipline and go- 
 vernment need not come up, since there would be no 
 court of final appeal to dispose of them : all may be 
 occupied in brotherly conversation on the spiritual reali- 
 ties of the divine word, and the spiritual interests of the 
 divine kingdom. 
 
 The second matter referred to is more difficult; the 
 adjustment of such a test or criterion of genuine Chris- 
 tianity, as may exclude the avowed holders of error, and 
 yet be comprehensive enough to embrace all who love 
 the truth. For this end, it is allowed on all hands, that 
 whatever may be the general harmony of the Protestant 
 confessions, no one of them could in fairness be adopted, 
 as it stands, for all. Two methods are suggested for 
 (retting over this difficulty. The first would seek, by a 
 selection out of existing confessions or the compilation 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 21 
 
 of some new form of agreement, to frame a few short 
 and simple articles in which all may concur, embodying 
 the essentials of the gospel, and nothing more. Now, 
 we acknowledge that we look with considerable dread to 
 this plan being carried out, both because it is so difficult 
 as to involve endless delays and deliberations, — meeting 
 the views of this body, and obviating the scruples of 
 that, and bandying to and fro indefinite proposals ; and 
 still more, because it seems to be fraught with danger to 
 the soundness and good faith of the churches, in their 
 adherence to their present formularies. It is a hazardous 
 thino- to set about drawinoj the line between essentials 
 and non-essentials in religion, and selecting out of a creed, 
 which is compact and consistent as a whole, what por- 
 tions are to be deemed indispensable, and as such, de- 
 tached from the rest, on which a slur may be thus ima- 
 gined to be cast. We fully admit, indeed, the propriety 
 of Christians substantially drawing this distinction, for 
 the recognition of one another's Christianity, and the 
 regulation of their mutual intercourse. But the risk is 
 when they begin also to do this, in forming their own 
 opinions, and determining their own conduct ; for a door 
 is thus opened to much subtle casuistry and refinement, 
 and a sophistical tampering with conscience, as to the 
 harmlessness of ignorance and error, upon minor points. 
 Now, in this view, it is not safe for any man to count 
 any point a minor one, on which Scripture may be found 
 to give any deliverance at all, if he use such an idea as 
 an apology for either not inquiring, or not making up his 
 mind, in regard to it. For, not to speak of the relaxed 
 conscientiousness and impaired moral tone that may be 
 thus engendered, we really know too little of the mutual 
 relations and influences of the truths of God, as they 
 
22 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 stand in his word, all harmonizing and meeting together, 
 or of their mutual bearings, as they balance one another 
 in the believing mind, to be able to assure ourselves, 
 that an error, even in non-fundamentals, may not, to us 
 at least, be pernicious and fatal ; and it were to be re- 
 gretted, if the adoption of a vaguer and more general 
 profession, in the adjustment of the fellowship of the 
 churches, should seem at all to warrant a loose and 
 latitudinarian interpretation, even of the details, of their 
 particular creeds. But, besides, we have another fear. 
 All experience sliews, that the omission, or disparage- 
 ment, or doubtful interpretation, of a single clause in 
 a well-weighed doctrinal statement, may be held to 
 cover far greater laxity than was ever contemplated. 
 It is by no means the same thing for a Christian man, 
 or a Christian church, to abandon a doctrine previ- 
 ously held, as it is never to have known it ; the abandon- 
 ment of it necessarily involving more than the mere ab- 
 sence of it would have done. Hence, as has been often 
 remarked, degenerate Calvinism, is not so spiritual and 
 evangelical as reviving Arminian Methodism. We are 
 apprehensive, therefore, that such a general form as may 
 be devised, would come to be practically construed even 
 more liberally than might be intended, and would fail to 
 exclude parties, whose presence might damp all zeal and 
 mar all concord.* 
 
 * We have seen an attempt of this kind made by an American 
 divine, evidently in the most excellent spirit, which, however, as 
 we humbly think, only serves to shew the difficulty of the experi- 
 ment, without holding out much apparent prospect of success. It is 
 contained in a little work, with the title of Fraternal Appeal, by 
 Dr Schmucker, Theological Professor in the Lutheran Church, 
 published in 1839. The specimen of a united Protestant confession, 
 in twelve articles, is given, each article being framed in words 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. liJ 
 
 For such reasons as these, we prefer a mode of adjust- 
 ment, which, leavino- the confessions of all the several 
 churches untouched, would provide rather a negative 
 than a positive criterion ; uniting all who protest against 
 certain errors, and whose very protest shews their willing- 
 ness to combine in advocating the opposite truths. And 
 if it be objected that this mere denial is too cold a cement 
 of union, and that something more positive is needed, let 
 it be considered, in the first place, that the end proposed 
 being not authoritative decision, but friendly consulta- 
 tion, it is enough if we have the warrant of opposition 
 to common foes for securing that we are really friends ; 
 and, secondly^ that the range of antagonist eri'ors is such, 
 as to afford sufficient security that the condemnation of 
 them, as in a circle, all around, must proceed upon an 
 admission of the enclosed and central truth. 
 
 It is with extreme diffidence that we pi'esume to ex- 
 press this opinion, which may seem to be at variance 
 with that of a very high authority on this subject. We 
 refer to the distinguished historian of the Reformation, 
 who, in a recent address, thus eloquently pleads the cause 
 of Christian brotherhood, and, not only so, but suggests 
 practical measures for promoting it : — 
 
 " The principle of union — of catholicity, was one of the 
 essential features of Scripture and of the Reformed 
 Church. Whatever others say, to this let us adhere. 
 
 " Further, this unity of the Church in heaven must one 
 
 selected out of the Reformed formularies, half a sentence often 
 from one, and the other half from another, ingeniously put to- 
 gether, and on the whole sound ; yet bald and meagre, if not am- 
 biguous, presenting a sort of tessellated work, or artificial joining 
 together of " disjecta membra" which would scarcely convey a 
 fair impression of the real creed of any of the combined bodies. 
 
24 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 day be manifested on earth. ' There shall be one fold 
 and one shepherd.' Precious promise ! Yes, all these 
 barriers shall fall, all these party colours shall be effaced, 
 and Christ alone be King of his people. But how shall 
 that glorious time arrive ? Some would hasten it by 
 cabinet orders duly sealed and registered in the bureaux 
 of the civil administration. Others would bring it on by 
 introducing- into the Reformed Church the hierarchical 
 abuses and magical operations which she has rejected. 
 Others, in fine, aim at it by latitudinarianism. Let us 
 reject all these human expedients, and await this union 
 from God and not from man. 
 
 " Nevertheless we have also something to do. On the 
 one hand, in waiting for the Lord, we must be truly 
 what we are. Were a man to be created by the union 
 of a soul and a body, would not the first thing necessary 
 be, that the soul were truly a soul and the body truly a 
 body ? Could we think it a good preparation for the 
 union, to deform at once both the soul and the body ? 
 But on the other hand, let us above all cleave to the grand 
 doctrines which we hold in common. 
 
 " You know the proposal which was made with that 
 view at Saint Gall, in the General Assembly of Swiss 
 Pastors.* It was made only some weeks ago, and yet 
 
 * " The proceedings at St Gall were as follows : — 
 " The general conference of the pastors of the Reformed Church 
 of Switzerland took place at St Gall, on the 13th and 14th of 
 August. One hundred and sixty professors and pastors assembled 
 in the grand council-chamber of the ancient palace of Prince- Abbe. 
 The first day was devoted to the important question of the Con- 
 fessions of Faith, designated by the last conference; and Mr Scherer, 
 a pastor of the canton of St Gall, began by reading a paper which 
 he had been charged to draAv up. M. Merle D'Aubigne, the only 
 representative of French Switzerland present at the conference. 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 25 
 
 letters on the subject have ah-eady reached me from 
 various quarters. In particular, I have received from 
 
 developed and explained his motive in bringing forward the follow- 
 ing resolutions (in Genevan), which he then laid on the table : — 
 
 "The Swiss Pastoral Society, assembled at St Grail, one of the 
 principal seats of apostolic or missionary labours in the west, ac- 
 knowledges and resolves, — 
 
 " ' First, That it is highly desirable for all evangelical Chris- 
 tians, Reformed and Lutheran, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, 
 and generally, all who believe in the fundamental truths of the 
 gospel, to unite for the purpose of making an open confession of 
 their common faith, in opposition to the unity, purely material, of 
 the Romish Church, and thus proclaim their own true and spiritual 
 unity. 
 
 " ' Secondly, It resolves to put itself in communication with some 
 of the pastoral conferences recently formed in Germany, particu- 
 larly with that of Berlin, which has very lately occupied itself on 
 the same question, and this may eventually lead to a similar union 
 with the pastoral conferences of other coixntries, namely, France, 
 Great Britain, Holland, and America, and to the re-establishment 
 of an oecumenical Confession of the Christian faith. 
 
 " ' Thirdly, It appoints a commission, authorised to fix the basis 
 of an Evangelical Confession of the nineteenth century, and which 
 shall contain the truths embodied in all existing Protestant Con- 
 fessions, and arranged in a form adapted to the wants of the pre- 
 sent age. This commission should likewise be authorised to take 
 the necessary steps to obtain the end pointed out in the preceding 
 articles.' 
 
 " The author of this proposal, whilst making it, reminded his 
 hearers, that at the period of the Refoi'mation, Calvin and his friends 
 in Geneva opposed themselves energetically to the tendency the 
 Swiss evinced of looking only to their local churches, and strove 
 to direct their attention to the church at large. He further added, 
 that one of the wants of the present times was, the unity of a true 
 Catholicity, and that, however remote Ave were from this desirable 
 end, it was now quite time to take the first steps towards it. 
 
 " These resolutions having been seconded by Professor Kir- 
 choffer of Schaffhouse, and approved of by Mr Schiess senior, one 
 of the pastors of the canton of St Gall, and likewise by the licen- 
 tiate in theology, Mr Scheuker, was carried by a considerable ma- 
 jority, and sent, recommended, to the Committee of Conference." 
 
26 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 Scotland this interestino; communication : — ' Our Pro- 
 vincial Synod having met on the very day when this 
 good news arrived, unanimously resolved to overture the 
 General Assembly to countenance the proposal of Saint 
 Gall.' Surely we are moving towards a grand union. 
 Let us then cast flir from us our disputes, our injuries, 
 our nicknames, our false accusations, and our grievous 
 personalities. Let us not give way to a passionate, blind, 
 sour, and bitter spirit, which would kindle again among 
 us the polemics of the sixteenth century. Let us rather 
 with one heart exclaim, — ' Come quickly. Lord Jesus.' " 
 — The Last Days, hy J. H. Merle B'Aubigne, D.J). 
 
 Not in antagonism to this proposal, but in furtherance 
 of it, we venture to call attention to the method indicated 
 in our own church, in a plan submitted to the Commis- 
 sion of Assembly, towards the end of the year 1842. 
 On that occasion, a report was given in relative to the 
 contemplated commemoration of the Westminster As- 
 sembly ; embracing, however, a scheme for a more ex- 
 tended union among the friends of evangelical truth 
 throughout the world. In introducing the report, the 
 Convener, among other things, remarked : — " A desire 
 after more unity was rapidly extending in the Christian 
 church. Communications on the subject, of a very de- 
 lightful kind, had recently appeared from ministers and 
 members of several evano-ehcal denominations, includinor 
 a very admirable one from that eminent and godly Inde- 
 pendent minister, Mr James of Birmingham. The unity 
 desired was founded neither on popish uniformity, nor 
 on latitudinarian compromise, but on an agreement on 
 essential points. It had struck the committee that, on 
 this occasion, somethinor mioht be done to follow out these 
 breathings after unity at home and abroad ; and in pur- 
 
MUTUAL iti^i^ATIOXS OF CHURCHES. 27 
 
 suance of this view, the committee begged to lay on 
 the table the following interim report." The report it- 
 self went very generally into the subject, and was far 
 from doing justice to it ; but as to the matter now on 
 hand, we still think that some of its hints might be use- 
 ful. In particular, we crave attention to the basis of 
 union, and the kind of fellowship among the churches 
 and evangelical societies in Christendom, which it indi- 
 cated. We give below some extracts from it ;* sim- 
 ply observing, for the present, that the outline might 
 easily be filled up and rendered more precise and de- 
 
 * " Besides the commemoration of this event (the Westmin- 
 ster Assembly) by the several churches which hold the Westmin- 
 ster standards, separately and by communion with one another, the 
 committee are of opinion that advantage should be taken of this 
 opportunity for attempting a joint or united meeting of Christians 
 of different denominations, on a still larger scale, and in a wider 
 and more catholic spirit. That in Presbyterian communities, as 
 in Scotland, Ireland, and America, and among the Presbyterians 
 in England, there should be solemn meetings, at which communi- 
 cations by deputations, or otherwise, may mutually be interchanged, 
 is highly desirable and important. But, in addition, there is every 
 reason to believe, especially from recent movements, that a propo- 
 sal for a more general convocation of evangelical churches would 
 be hailed with great satisfaction, and would be productive of much 
 good ; while it might be so arranged and conducted, on the princi- 
 ple of a united testimony against prevailing heresies and corrup- 
 tions, of various kinds, as to have an appropriate harmony with 
 the Westminster Assembly itself, which, while it aimed at unity 
 and uniformity, had for one of its leading objects the fencing of the 
 true Protestant Church, on every side, against anti-Christian errors. 
 
 " Following out this idea, it is suggested that a plan for the 
 constitution of such a meeting might be framed, which would be 
 suflBciently precise to exclude heresy and disorder, and yet suffi- 
 ciently wide and catholic to admit of all who hold the Head, which 
 is Christ, joining in the consultations, as well as in any measures 
 which might be adopted for the advancement of the principles of 
 the Reformation and the extension of the kingdom of Christ, 
 Three points require, in this view, to be considered : — the parties 
 
28 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 finite ; the errors condemned might be more accurately 
 specified ; and the whole might be so adjusted, as to 
 
 who are to meet — the terms of the meeting — and the objects to be 
 sought. 
 
 " I. The parties who are to convene. 
 
 " 1. These should, as far as possible, be individuals duly named 
 and commissioned by the respective bodies in whose name they 
 are to sit. 
 
 " 2. The bodies so naming commissioners might be either the 
 supreme assemblies of those churches which have such assemblies ; 
 or, in the case of churches not having supreme assemblies, any asso- 
 ciation, society, congregational union, or general conference, which 
 is understood virtually to be the bond of union and the centre of 
 action among any number of evangelical Christians. 
 
 " 3. By correspondence among the churches, and by the appoint- 
 ment of committees, this preliminary point, as to the bodies which 
 are to send commissioners, and as to the number to be sent by 
 each, might be arranged and settled. 
 
 " II. The terms of meeting. 
 
 " 1. Great difficulty might be felt in framing anything like a 
 general creed or confession of faith, in which all the commission- 
 ers should concur. There are obvious objections to the statement 
 of essential truth in terms more wide and comprehensive than the 
 several churches have adopted in their respective standards ; and 
 there is manifest danger of schism or of latitudinarianism in such 
 an attempt. 
 
 " 2. But in entire accordance with the spirit of Protestantism, 
 as well as with the exigency of the times, it is conceived that such 
 a body of commissioners from various evangelical denominations, 
 might harmoniously and effectively meet and concur in a statement 
 of errors renounced and opposed, rather than of truths held. And 
 the errors which would require to be specified are of such a nature, 
 that the mere denial of them would be a sufficient guarantee for 
 substantial soundness of faith. 
 
 " 3. These errors are chiefly of three kinds ; and the terms might 
 be stated in the form of a protest against Socinianism or Ra- 
 tionalism, Popery, and what is called Tractarianism. The protest 
 would thus embody a denial and renunciation, 
 
 " (I.) Of socinian and rationalist principles, as these aifect — 
 1. The inspiration and interpretation of Holy Scripture ; 2. The 
 doctrine of the Trinity ; 3. The person of Christ ; 4. The doctrine 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 
 
 29 
 
 make it plain, that while all Evangelical Christians, — 
 Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Independent, Baptist and 
 Psedo- Baptist, Calvinist, Lutheran, Methodist, — might 
 concur in the terms and test of unity, and meet for con- 
 ference of the frankest kind, none else could honestly 
 intrude themselves, to disturb the general harmony. 
 
 On the whole, we cannot but think, that, at least for 
 a commencement, this mode of procedure is safer and 
 
 of the atonement ; 5. The personality and work of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 " (2.) Of popish principles, as these affect— 1. The supreme and 
 exclusive authority of Scripture ; 2. The doctrines of the mass, 
 transubstantiation, purgatory, &c. ; 3. The power of the priest- 
 hood, auricular confession, supremacy over civil rulers, &c, 
 
 " (3.) Of tractarian or semi-popish principles, as these affect — 1. 
 The doctrine of justification by works ; 2. The doctrine of regene- 
 ration in baptism ; 3. The doctrine of the sacraments, ex opere 
 operato ; 4. The apostolical succession and the catholicity of the 
 Church, &c. 
 
 " III, The objects to be sought by such a meeting. 
 
 "1. The exchange of mutual and brotherly aflFection among vari- 
 ous bodies of Protestants might be expected to strengthen and en- 
 courage the several churches in the good work of the Lord. 
 
 " 2. AVhile the meeting would, of course, be strictly precluded 
 from all authoritative interference in the affairs of any of the bo- 
 dies represented in it, and while controversial discussion on mat- 
 ters on which' they differ must necessarily be avoided, a free inter- 
 change of advice and consultation might be encouraged : and by 
 prayer and the searching of the Word of God together, light might 
 be expected to be cast on the principles of our common faith, and 
 the duty and prospects of the church at large in the present criti- 
 cal state of the world. 
 
 "3. The various missionary operations of the several bodies or 
 churches would furnish an interesting theme. 
 
 " 4. The spectacle might be exhibited of Protestant unity, as 
 distinguished from Popish uniformity and latitudinarian com- 
 promise. 
 
 " 5. Out of such a meeting, besides its being a pleasing oppor- 
 tunity of brotherly fellowship in the Lord, more mature plans for 
 future fellowship and co-operation might arise." 
 
30 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 more speedily practicable, as well as less apt to raise con- 
 scientious scruples and difficulties, than that wliicli im- 
 plies the framing, at the outset, of a general Protestant 
 creed. Let this ulterior object by all means be kept in 
 view, and let the consultations of the brethren have a 
 reference to its ultimate accomplishment. But, mean- 
 while, as it is far easier, and will take less time, to specify 
 errors which we agree in condemning, than to compile 
 any compendious, and yet correct, summary of our com- 
 mon faith, — what should hinder arrano-ements being in- 
 stantly made for holding a succession of yearly or half- 
 yearly meetings, in London, Paris, Geneva, Berhn, and 
 other places, to be attended by brethren of different 
 lands and denominations, concurring in a protest against 
 Popish and Socinian errors, and to be conducted on such 
 general principles, and with such objects in view, as might 
 tend to bring about, under God, at no distant date, some- 
 thing like that harmony of faith, and unity of action, of 
 which some hope seemed to be held out, at the first 
 promulgation of the Gospel, and again, at the blessed 
 awakening of the Reformation era ? 
 
 But we must draw this lecture to a close, and in doing 
 so, we would urge another practical duty, connected with 
 the keeping up of a good understanding among the 
 churches ; and that duty consists in a right observation 
 of the signs of the times and the nature of the present 
 crisis, and a disposition to extend sympathy and aid, 
 wherever the enemy seems to be most pressing, and the 
 line of defence most feeble and most apt to break. We 
 might take a review, here, of the Continent of Europe, 
 with those adjoining regions in Africa and Asia, which 
 along with it, make up the platform of the apocalyptic 
 earth, destined, it would seem, to be the scene of the 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 31 
 
 last outbreak of the antichristian power, and of its signal 
 and final fall. The revival of Popery, and in particular, 
 of Popery's surest and subtlest agency, the secret, stanch 
 and deadly order of the Jesuits, is the most wonderful 
 event, — the greatest fact — of our day. Why, it seems 
 but as yesterday, when Popish as well as Protestant 
 governments united to put down that pernicious system ; 
 and, suppressed by a stern Papal bull, the remnant of the 
 scattered followers of Loyola scarcely found a precarious 
 refuge in the retreats of Poland, and under the wing of 
 the Russian Czar. The struggles in which the Galhcan 
 church proved and abused her liberties, under the reign 
 of Louis XV, seemed to manifest the effete and worn out 
 im potency of the once formidable power of Home ; and 
 when, but a few years after, the infidel hurricane swept 
 away the whole clergy of France, and Napoleon stript 
 the Pope of his tiara, and held him, a poor prisoner, at 
 his mercy, — the tide of feeling turned, and sympathy 
 was enlisted on the side of what was now the weaker and 
 persecuted party ; till, pity being akin to love, the de- 
 vout refugees driven from their altars, and the poor old 
 man insulted at Avignon, became the objects of a compla- 
 cency and admiration, which easily extended itself to 
 the whole system that was identified with such illustrious 
 sufferers. But the era of Rome's deepest humiliation was 
 the beginning of her triumph ; and as if Satan here 
 too mimicked the ordinance of God, he made her weak- 
 ness to be her strength. A brief space saw Jesuitism 
 revived ; unprecedented treasures cast into the coffers of 
 the Vatican ; fresh zeal imparted to the propaganda ; 
 old lethargic priests replaced by the sons of young Rome ; 
 abuses checked ; discipline restored ; and everywhere 
 signs and symptoms of new life and heat. All this went 
 
32 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 on quietly ; Protestants being unobservant and oflp their 
 guard ; insomuch that Protestant statesmen were begin- 
 ning to beheve that the once gigantic and implacable 
 tyranny of Rome had become mild as a little child, — its 
 roar as gentle as any sucking dove's, and its fair form one 
 that might be fondled and caressed as a tame and petted 
 lamb, — and even Christian divines were apt to give chari- 
 table credit to the profession of a meek and tolerant spi- 
 rit, which adversity seemed to have taught, and, against 
 the more sagacious views of the older interpreters, were 
 inclined to read the prophetic record as announcing not a 
 Popish, but an infidel, Antichrist, to be chiefly dreaded at 
 the laht. All the while, securely, silently, stealthily, that 
 Church, with her Jesuit staff, was winding and working 
 her serpent way, till, almost within these few last days, 
 she ominously starts forth to view, with a footing already 
 won in the very heart of infidel France, — a wily hand 
 insinuated into the foreign relations and domestic policy 
 of Britain, — a plot laid for convulsing Switzerland to its 
 centre, — and from Eastern China to remote Western 
 America, throughout the South Sea Isles, and along the 
 Mediterranean coasts, a secret, but firm, grasp laid on 
 all educational, political, and social influences, by which 
 general opinion is to be moulded, and the mass of men 
 to be ruled. And, now, backed as she is with enormous 
 resources, courted by too many of the Potentates of 
 Christendom, and skilfully adapting herself to the pro- 
 gress, as well as to the exigencies, of this overwrought age, 
 she seems about to wield an empire over the human 
 mind, as effectual as she ever did in the darkest gloom 
 of ignorance ; — an empire, too, which, as it is now allied 
 to enlightenment and civihzation of the highest pitch, 
 may be regarded as, on that very account, so much the 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 33 
 
 more proud, and it might seem also, so much the more 
 secure. 
 
 But " when the enemy cometh in hke a flood, the Spirit 
 of the Lord hfteth up a standard against him." Never, 
 perhaps, was this text more signally fulfilled than now ; 
 whether we regard the revival on the side of truth as 
 chiefly preceding that on the side of error, or following 
 in its wake, or partly both ; at all events, the simultane- 
 ous infusion of spiritual life, from above and from be- 
 neath, into the antagonist ranks, in this great contest, 
 must be obvious to all competent observers. It is like 
 the resuming of hostilities after a doubtful and precarious 
 truce. The armies have been encamped in their trenches, 
 upon a kind of tacit understanding that the war was 
 suspended : their armour has been allowed to rust, and 
 sloth has enfeebled the combatants : mutual civilities, 
 also, have been interchanged, and it has become a point 
 of honour to be chivalrously complaisant to a brave foe : 
 private friendships have been formed ; and not only the 
 fierceness of personal animosity, but even the sense of 
 weighty public causes of difference, has given way to 
 the influence of reciprocal familiarity and acquaintance- 
 ship. But, suddenly, the trumpet sounds ; the armistice 
 is at an end ; the crisis is come. Both armies awake as 
 from a slumber ; new animation pervades their ranks ; 
 the tents of idleness and dissipation are broken up ; and 
 the lines of battle are promptly formed. Meanwhile, the 
 effect of the respite is felt on bt)th sides ; some, in either 
 host, have imbibed leanings towards the other, and are 
 really in heart devoted to the interests they are called 
 formally to oppose ; and not a few have begun to think 
 that the quarrel might have been avoided from the be- 
 ginning, and are asking if, at least, it may not be conipro- 
 
34 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 mised now ? But, alas ! it soon proves to be an irrecon- 
 cilable feud ; and, with some wrong assortment of in- 
 dividuals, which must be left over for extrication till the 
 day of reckoning, the troops are found eager and alert to 
 take up their respective stations ; and that, not as on 
 parade or in review, but in earnest and warlike array. 
 
 Thus as Popery has been reviving in spirit, and mus- 
 tering her forces, so also Protestantism may now be seen, 
 especially on the Continent of Europe, awaking as a giant 
 refreshed, shaking herself from the dust, freeing herself 
 Irom the " canker of a calm world and a long peace," 
 and nerving, as well as purging, herself for the impending 
 strife. French frivolity, German mysticism, English 
 materialism, and Scottish ideahsm, — all these and other 
 forms of infidelity are passing away, as unsuited to the 
 gathering storm ; in which nothing of holiday and cour- 
 tier make, or of idle academic subtlety, will live ; no- 
 thing, in short, but what is strong and stern ; scriptural 
 or antiscriptural ; whether it be desperate atheism, or 
 bigoted and intolerant Popery, or warm and spiritual 
 Christianity. Hence, the Protestant church, weary of 
 i-ationalism, under every form, is becoming instinct with 
 energy. Even on the principles of common policy, some- 
 thing may be expected to come out of this awakening : 
 and if we recognise in it, as every devout student of the 
 Bible nmst, ihe immediate interposition of the Spirit of 
 God, opposing Satan, the spirit of Antichrist, — what 
 enthusiasm of courage may not this thought inspire into 
 our ranks, and what bright hopes of victory, after a deadly 
 and desperate struggle, may it not entwine, around the 
 banner which our God has given us ? 
 
 On many accounts, therefore; in the view, — 1. of the 
 original plan and purpose of Christiav^ity ; 2. of the mar- 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 35 
 
 ring of that plan through the antichristian perversion 
 of it ; 3. of the ghmpse given at the E/eformation of a 
 better state of things ; 4. of the present singularly fa- 
 vourable aspect of affairs, when compared, in this respect, 
 with the past ; as well as, 5. of their critical character, 
 when scanned in reference to the future ;* — we urge the 
 
 * The substance of the following note has been communicated 
 by an intelligent student, who has just returned from the Conti- 
 nent, and whose fresh impressions, the result of observation and 
 conversation in different countries and among different classes of 
 men, may be regarded as giving a vivid picture of what is going on, 
 and of what is looked for, on both sides, in this gathering conflict. 
 
 Popish Movements. 
 
 1. It is matter of general remark in Germany, that Popery has 
 revived its energies during the last ten years. The Rationalist 
 party even, who may be said to have their head-quarters in Leip- 
 sic and Dresden, have been awakened thereby into a sense of the 
 danger that threatens them, and are now quite zealous in defend- 
 ing the Reformation, on high religious and theological grounds. 
 The place where popery may be best studied in Germany is Co- 
 logne. And here it has become quite notorious that the churches are 
 much better attended, that the clergy are far more laborious, and 
 that, as the expression of this newly-infused life, societies of all 
 various kinds, charitable, educational, religious, among all classes 
 of the citizens, are instituted; generally, it is believed, under 
 the secret influence of the Jesviit party. Two circumstances may 
 partially account for this revived energy, — 1. The imprisonment 
 of the Archbishop by the late king, for not sanctioning mixed mar- 
 riages — a " blunder," similar to that of Napoleon, in his treatment 
 of the Pope, and occasioning a similar reaction in favour of the 
 seemingly ill-used and oppressed ; — and 2. The steps taken to com- 
 plete the Cathedral, which is countenanced by Protestants as well 
 as Catholics, but which has been made the centre and nucleus of 
 Catholic societies all over Germany. In the Rhine provinces, it 
 is said, the popish feeling is such, as to indicate a leaning to France, 
 in the event of any rupture, which might be attended with serious 
 results. 
 
 "Z. In Bavaria the present King has now openly given his coun- 
 
36 INTBODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 duty of correspondence and common effort among the 
 
 tenance to the encouragement of Jesuitism, and great fears are en- 
 tertained that much of the education of the country may fall into 
 their hands. The book of Muhler, late professor in Munich, on 
 the Protestant and Roman Catholic Theology, has been the oc- 
 casion of great controversy, in which the leading theologians of 
 Germany have taken part. (It has been translated into English.) 
 Among a large section of the Roman Catholic Bavarian clergy, 
 there exists a strong feeling of opposition to these attempts on the 
 part of the King, but, so far as I know, no positive steps have as 
 yet been taken. One circumstance which, though it has practi- 
 cally tended much to keep alive Protestant feeling in Bavaria, in- 
 dicates the power and spirit of Popery, is the law, that all Protes- 
 tant soldiers be compelled to kneel on the streets at the passing of 
 the Host. This law, notwithstanding every remonstrance, is still 
 continued. The Queen of Bavaria is a very decided Protestant ; 
 as is also the Crown-Princess. 
 
 2. In Switzerland the proceedings of the Jesuits have been 
 more public and appreciable. All along they have had an immense 
 educational establishment at Freihurg, with some hundred teach- 
 ers, and attended by the sons of noble fiimilies from all parts of the 
 Continent, as well as by great crowds of young men intending to 
 enter their order. Of late years this establishment has been re-in- 
 forced, and has secretly been exerting its influence among all the 
 Cantons. In several of them this question respecting the Jesuits, 
 is the great element of political difference. In Liiccrn, by a deci- 
 sion of the Council, afterwards ratified by the Canton, the whole 
 education of the Canton seems about to be committed to them ; 
 seven additional Jesuit masters being already introduced into that 
 Canton. In other Cantons the question has been mooted"; and at 
 present, the one great question in Switzerland is — the duty of the 
 Confederacy in connection with these movements. 
 
 4. In Italy, the order has had new privileges conferred on it by 
 the present Pope. Jesuitical institutions and seminaries are ris- 
 ing up on all hands. No class of priests is held in greater honour? 
 and great care is taken, that all those who are admitted be men of 
 approved ability and zeal. The order is immensely rich, and is 
 daily obtaining new grants of lands or money, or the like. On the 
 great feast-days, it very frequently is the case that members of this 
 order alone preach in the chief churches. They are the most po- 
 
MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 3t 
 
 churches; pressing for an immediate discharge of the duty, 
 
 pular and favourite confessors also, and are most resorted to by the 
 devout. Thus these two great engines, Preaching, on high days, and 
 the Confessional, are chiefly wielded by them. In Rome their 
 churches are the most frequented of all. The general theological 
 and even literary education in the University and Colleges, has 
 almost entirely fallen into their hands. It is the universal opinion 
 of Protestants in Rome, that thei/ are the means employed to carry 
 out the different schemes of the Church. 
 
 Protestant Movements. 
 
 1. During the last ten or fifteen years, great advances have been 
 making towards orthodoxy among the theologians. A better prac- 
 tical spirit in the Church may be dated from the discussions called 
 forth by the Reformation Jubilee, (the third centenary). 
 
 2. This is especially remarkable in the Missionarii Spirit, whicli 
 is daily becoming more prominent. The society of Basle has now 
 branches in the various large towns. Many professors give separate 
 courses on the history of missions. Great activity is also shewn in 
 connection with the Bible Society, circulation of tracts in Catho- 
 lic countries, and the like. 
 
 3. For some time back the great body of the evangelical clergy 
 have, by means of PASTORAL CONFERENCES, been striving to 
 create and direct a spirit of Christian organized activity and prac- 
 tical efficiency in the Church. Great steps have been taken in 
 connection with the improvement of their ecclesiastical constitu- 
 tion — with the duty of union among all bodies of true Christians 
 — with the establishment and final settlement of a purer creed, by 
 stricter adherence to their symbolical books. Meetings in churches 
 for prayer, and in connection with missions, are frequent. The 
 churches of the Rationalists are comparatively deserted, and espe- 
 cially in Berlin, Westphalia, Wittemberg, &c. there is a vast 
 accession to the body of faithful preachers. A great spirit of in- 
 quiry is abroad as to the state of foreign Evangelical churches, 
 and a general desire is expressed for closer Christian fellowship with 
 them. The greatest result and proof of this tendency to organi- 
 sation and activity in the church, is in the case of the Gustavus- 
 Adolphus Society for the assistance of poop congregations in Catho- 
 lic countries, especially Bavaria and Austria. It too has its branches 
 all over Protestant Germany. The King of Prussia is patron. 
 
 4. Rongl's Movement. — His letters have been translated into 
 
38 INTRODUCTORY LECTUHE. 
 
 seeing that the time is short ; and as to the mode and 
 manner of discharging it, saying, in all sincerity, 
 
 " si quid novisti rectius istis 
 
 Candidus imperii ; si non, his utere mecum." 
 
 several languages, and are read with equal avidity by Protestants 
 and Catholics alike. Independent congregations have now been 
 formed in Breslau, Dresden, Leipsic, Berlin, Magdeburg, &c. The 
 Bishop of Mayence has published a pastoral letter, strongly op- 
 posed to what has taken place ; and, it is stated, that Ronge has 
 been already denounced in Rome. Some suspense of judgment, in 
 regard to this work, may be necessary, until we know how far it 
 is deeply evangelical, or is simply an honest recoil from the fla- 
 gi'ant impostures of Rome, and the holy coat of Treves. Mean- 
 while, the critical position of the man entitles him to our prayers ; 
 and we cannot but admire his lion-like and Luther-like port, his 
 fearless defiance of wrong, and that trumpet sound which has star- 
 tled Popish Germany to its centre. 
 
 I iind that I have omitted to state ; that in Hungary much 
 greater religious freedom exists than at any former period ; and 
 that the position of Austria seems a medium one between two 
 extremes. In Hanover, great excitement has been created by one 
 of the bishops reviving an old Jesuit catechism. 
 
 In regard to France, we may refer, for an exposition of the pro- 
 gress of Popery and Jesuitism, to a remarkable article, in the pre- 
 sent number of the North British Review, written, evidently, by 
 no religious alarmist, but by a calm observer ; while, as to the re- 
 viving influence of Evangelical Protestantism, every day brings us 
 new testimonies from godly ministers, and missionary societies, 
 that the fields are white unto the harvest. 
 
LECTURE 11. 
 'HE INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 BY JOHN WILSON, D.D., F.R.S. 
 
 OF THE FREE CHDBCH OF SCOTLAND'S MISSION AT BOMBAY. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 THE INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 Associations connected with the History and Prospects 
 OF the East— Prevailing Ignorance of the State of 
 Christianity in the East— The Greek Church— The 
 Armenian Church— The Syrian Church— The Nestor- 
 lAN Church— The Coptic Church— The Abyssinian 
 Church — The General Claims of the Eastern 
 Churches — How Help may be immediately extended 
 to them by Scotland. 
 
 The East is associated with all that is interesting in 
 the past history, and glorious in the future prospects, of 
 the world. It was in a twofold sense the cradle of the 
 human race, for there our first parents were created, 
 and their descendants lived in the times which preceded 
 the flood ; and there the ark rested^ and the preserved 
 family of man again grew and multiplied, and spread 
 abroad over the face of the earth. It was there, that, 
 in utter forgetfulness of God's judgments and impious 
 neglect of God's revelations, those forms of idolatry, su- 
 perstition, and delusion, were generated and matured, 
 which have changed the glory of God into a lie, and which 
 have injured, and are now injuring, unnumbered millions 
 of immortal souls to their eternal destruction. It was 
 there, that, amid the general apostasy of our race, the 
 
 D 
 
42 INDEPEIS^DENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 people sprung from faithful Abraham sojourned, as the 
 chosen recipients of the divine favour, and the deposita- 
 ries of divine truth, to whom pertained the adoption, 
 and the glory and the covenants, and the giving of the 
 law, and the service of God, and the promises ; and with 
 whom, insignificant though they might be in the eyes of 
 the world, were connected the destinies of the mightiest 
 nations of antiquity in their most important relations. 
 There, the Son of God from heaven was made flesh, and 
 revealed as the only- begotten of the Father full of grace 
 and truth, and taught, and suffered, and died, to accom- 
 plish the redemption of his people. There, he appeared 
 after his resurrection ; and gave the commandment that 
 repentance and remission of sins should be preached in 
 his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. The 
 East witnessed the first and most conspicuous triumphs 
 of Christianity, when its divine Author, seated on the 
 horse of spotless purity, with warlike bow, and imperial 
 crown, went forth conquering and to conquer.* The 
 light of the Gospel, under the neglect of those who were 
 highly favoured by its cheering rays, first began to wax 
 dim on its golden candlesticks, which, in the righteous 
 judgment of God, were removed from many of its dis- 
 tricts. Within its borders, the " mystery of iniquity" 
 first began to work ; and it has participated largely in 
 the great apostasy. It forms the half of that great 
 E-oman empire, in which Antichrist, the wicked one, has 
 been revealed. It was among its fair, and beautiful, 
 and fertile regions, that the hosts of Islam, the locust 
 armies from the smoke of the bottomless pit, under its 
 ano-el Apollyon, with their scorpion tails, and lion teeth, 
 
 * Rev. vi. 2. 
 
INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 43 
 
 and dreadful panoply, received their power to hurt men 
 five months,* or one hundred and fifty years, — a com- 
 mission which they actually executed from the year that 
 Muhammad commenced his imposture till the Khalifs, 
 consolidating their power at Baghdad, ceased to extend 
 their conquests. It was over the same localities, that, 
 in later times, the four angels which were bound in the 
 great river Euphrates — the four Turkman Sultanats — 
 were loosed and prepared for an hour, and a day, and a 
 month, and a year — about three hundred and ninety-one 
 years, — to slay the third part of men, and out of whose 
 mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone, for the 
 accomplishment of this destruction, f which they effected 
 from the time that they began to assail Christendom, 
 till the day when they were compelled to restrain their 
 movements in the east of Europe. Over its regions of 
 Assyria, and Egypt, and Pathros, and Cush, and Elara, 
 and Shinar.t are scattered in laro;e numbers the Jews, 
 who shall yet " remember" the Lord " in far countries," 
 and " live with their children and turn again," before 
 they are brought into the land of Gilead and Lebanon. |1 
 It contains Jerusalem, " the city of the great King," 
 trodden down of the Gentiles till the times of the Gen- 
 tiles shall be fulfilled. Though the rest of the men, or 
 professed Christians, which have not been killed by the 
 plagues with which it has already been visited, have not 
 yet repented of the works of their hands, and though it 
 may experience the raging of those storms in heaven 
 above, and those convulsions in the earth below, which 
 are to issue in the calm and quiet of the millennial day, 
 it will participate even in greater and richer grace than 
 
 * Rev. ix. 1-11. t Rev. ix. 13-20. 
 
 i Isaiah xi. 12. !| Zech. x. 9-10. 
 
44 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 it has yet experienced. That Lord who of old, for the 
 destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem, so revealed his 
 presence, and displayed his power and his glory, that 
 the prophetical announcement was fulfilled, " Behold 
 the Lord cometh out of his place, and will come down, 
 and tread upon the high places of the earth ; and the 
 mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys 
 shall be cleft before the fire, and as the waters that are 
 poured down a steep place,"* shall, in the latter days, 
 for the salvation of Israel and of Judah, go forth in his 
 majesty and might, and fight against the nations that 
 oppose them, as when he fought in the day of battle, with 
 his presence and power again so manifested, that his " feet 
 shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is 
 before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Ohves 
 shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east, and 
 toward the west."f Though upon the heights of Israel, 
 the confederate armies of the Lord's adversaries shall 
 "ascend and come like a storm," the fury of the Lord 
 God shall come up in his face, and he will magnify and 
 sanctify himself, and will be known in the eyes of many 
 nations, and will make his holy name known in the 
 midst of his people Israel, and will not let them pollute 
 his holy name any more, neither will he hide his face 
 from them any more, for he will pour out his Spirit upon 
 the house of Israel.J The Lord will remember his 
 land, and have mercy upon his people ; and they shall 
 divide it among them, accommodating all their tribes, and 
 share it as an inheritance with the strangers sojourning 
 with them. || The blessing resting upon them shall be 
 extended to the neighbouring nations ; and " Israel shall 
 
 * Micah i. 3-4. t Zech. xiv. 4. 
 
 X Ezek. xxvii. xxviii. y Ezek. xlvii. 21, 22. 
 
INDEPEJ^DENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 45 
 
 be the third with Egypt and Assyria, even a blessing in 
 the midst of the land.""*^ Though the Mosaic economy 
 and law shall not be restored, — for " in those days, saith 
 the Lord, they shall say no more. The ark of the cove- 
 nant of the Lord ; neither shall it come to mind, neither 
 shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither 
 shall that be done any more, — at that time they shall 
 call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord ; and all the na- 
 tions shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord 
 to Jerusalem." t God's providential care of his land and 
 his ancient people will be gratefully acknowledged ; and 
 in the salvation wrought in their behalf, the converted 
 Gentile nations, to whom the conversion of the Jews 
 will be as life from the dead, will greatly rejoice. Their 
 kings shall be the nursing fathers, and their queens the 
 nursing mothers, of Zion. And while spiritual privi- 
 leges are dispensed alike throughout the world, — for, 
 " from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of 
 the same, God's name shall be great among the Gen- 
 tiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto his 
 name and a pure offering," J — the birthplace of Chris- 
 tianity will be its great metropolis, the central spot, or 
 focus, where the rays of light from all God's providen- 
 tial dispensations toward the nations of the earth, and 
 especially the seed of Abraham his friend, will converge 
 together, to the most effulgent display of his sovereignty, 
 and truth, and faithfulness, and grace. 
 
 It will scarcely be contended, that the regard which 
 we the people of the Lord, in these western parts of the 
 world, and especially in the highly-favoured land of 
 Scotland, have paid to these regions of the East, has 
 
 * Isaiah xix. 21. f Jer. iii. 16-17. 
 
 + Mai. i. 11. 
 
46 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 comported with these their high claims to our attention. 
 With those within their herders who have borne the 
 Christian name, we have scarcely formed the least ac- 
 quaintance. We have been contented to remain igno- 
 rant of their principles and practice ; of their doctrines, 
 and rites and ceremonies ; of their temptations, and 
 trials, and contendings ; of their errors, and corruptions 
 and retrogressions. We have extended to them neither 
 our sympathy, nor our prayers, nor our exertions. We 
 have neither marked their alienation from the truth, nor 
 recalled their attention to its solemn testimony. We 
 have conveyed to them neither instruction, nor warning, 
 nor entreaty, nor expostulation. We have mourned 
 more over the desolations of the natural, than over those 
 of the spiritual, Zion. Our past neglect has been com- 
 plete, and, I will add, criminal ; and our consciousness 
 and confession of it should strongly urge us to present 
 consideration and immediate amendment. I trust that 
 it is in some degree an acknowledgment of this duty 
 which has brought us together on this occasion ; and I 
 pray that God may vouchsafe to us his blessing, while 
 we refer to the circumstances of the oriental churches. 
 The survey which we can take of them from this place, 
 must be very limited ; but if it in any degree arouse 
 attention, or satisfy inquiry, or lead to further investiga- 
 tion, it will not be without its use. I devote the pre- 
 sent lecture to the Independent Eastern Churches — 
 the Greek, Armenian, Syrian, Nestorian, Coptic, and 
 Abyssinian. On another occasion, — should it occur in 
 providence before I leave this country, — I shall advert 
 to the Papal Eastern Chiuxhes — the Maronite, Greek- 
 Catholic, Armenian- Catholic, Syrian- Catholic or Chal- 
 dean, Coptic- CathoHc, and Indian-Catholic Churches. 
 
INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 47 
 
 I. THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 This Church is to be associated, not so much with the 
 nation of Greece properly so called, as with the language 
 of Greece, — so extensively diffused in Asia, and even in 
 part of Africa, by the conquests of Alexander the Great, 
 that it was the most widely-spoken in the days of our 
 Lord, and selected by the Spirit as the most suitable 
 for the inspired writings of the new covenant, — and, 
 especially, with those countries which were comprehended 
 in the Byzantine dominions, or Eastern Roman Empire. 
 It denominates itself t] 7iadoXr/crj xal a'lroGro'ktTiYi sxxXscita 
 Tj dmroXizri, the Catholic and Apostolic Oriental 
 Church. In Turkey in Asia it has four ancient Pa- 
 triarchates, those of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, 
 and Alexandria. In the north of Syria, and particu- 
 larly about Aleppo and Antioch, it includes a majority 
 of those who bear the Christian name. In the Pashalik 
 of Damascus it claims, of 78,262 — the total Christian 
 population — 42,160 souls. In the district of Lebanon, 
 its followers are outnumbered by the Maronites ; but to 
 the south it again asserts its predominance. It forms 
 the largest Christian sect in the whole of Syria and the 
 Holy Land, numbering there a population of 345,000 
 souls, while the other Christian bodies embrace only 
 about 260,000 souls. In Egypt it has two or three 
 thousand members. It is in possession of all the con- 
 vents in Arabia Petrfea, including that of Mount Sinai. 
 In all the districts of Asia Minor, except in that part 
 of it which is sometimes known by the name of the 
 Lesser Armenia, it has more followers than any other 
 church. It is the established relioion of the kingdom of 
 
48 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 Greece, where its affairs are managed by an independent 
 Synod ; and it is predominant there, as well as among 
 that portion of the population of the Greek islands which 
 acknowledges the faith of Jesus. At Constantinople, it 
 has as many followers as those of the Armenian and 
 Roman Churches united together. It is almost the ex- 
 clusive Christian Church in the different provinces of 
 Turkey in Europe, such as Romania, Macedonia, Al- 
 bania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Bosnia. North of the 
 Danube, it occupies Wallachia and Moldavia. In Hun- 
 gary even, it has a population of 2,283,505 souls. It is 
 the established religion of Russia, which, like Greece, has 
 an independent Synod for the ordering of its own affairs ; 
 and, except in the provinces lately conquered from Tar- 
 tary and Persia, and in part of Poland, it extends its 
 discipline and instruction to the whole population of that 
 great empire, to the exclusion of a very small portion of 
 it almost secretly practising dissent. A few villages in 
 Mesopotamia, speaking the Syriac language, also belong 
 to the Greek communion. 
 
 With the relations in which the ancient Eastern 
 Church, of which the Greek Church professes to be the 
 genuine representative, stood to the Western, or Latin, 
 Church, ecclesiastical history makes us acquainted. The 
 first great dispute which occurred between them, ori- 
 ginated in the second century, about the observance of a 
 sacred season consecrated by human authority, that of 
 Easter. Those v/hich followed had principally a re- 
 ference to the comparative dignity of the Bishops of the 
 old Rome and the new Rome, or Byzantium, to which 
 Constantino removed the seat of Empire. In the second 
 general council, the Bishop of Constantinople was al- 
 lowed to sit next to the alleged successor of St Peter ; 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 49 
 
 and by the twenty-eighth canon of the Synod of 
 Chalcedon, he was permitted to enjoy an equal rank. 
 These concessions were sufficiently humiliating to the 
 aspiring Pope ; but the Emperors of the East, jealous 
 for the honours of their own capital, prevented their with- 
 drawment. The flame of resentment, which appeared 
 stifled for a time, broke out with increased fury in the 
 eighth century. The Emperor Flavins Leo, the Isaurian, 
 convinced by the arguments of Besor the Syrian, that 
 the use of images in the Christian churches was unlawful 
 and idolatrous, violently opposed the views of the Roman 
 Pontiff on the subject, as did his two immediate suc- 
 cessors. Gregory the Second retaliated by the persecu- 
 tion of those who remonstrated against image worship, — ' 
 the Iconoclasts as they were called, — by stirring up po- 
 litical rebellion in Italy and the neighbouring territories, 
 and l)y seeking to appropriate important portions of them 
 to himself. The Emperor, in punishment of his arro- 
 gance, removed Calabria, Sicily, Illyricum, and Greece, 
 from his spiritual jurisdiction, and placed them under that 
 of the Bishop of Constantinople. The disturbances 
 which thus originated continued to rage for years both in 
 the state and in the church ; and though the Emperor 
 Flavins Leo Constantinus VI.* and his mother Irene 
 restored the use of images, the division between the 
 eastern and western churches, almost insensibly begun, 
 became distinct and confirmed. Photius, and Michael 
 Cerularius, accused the Romish See of various irregula- 
 rities ; and the attempts made by Michael Paleologus, 
 in the thirteenth century, to promote a reunion, even 
 though seconded by the council of Florence, were in vain. 
 
 * Born in 771, and died in 797. 
 E 
 
50 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 The Eastern and Western Churches have remained 
 divided. Rome aims at satisfying her ambition by the 
 subversion, or conversion, of the Eastern Church, which 
 she denounces as schismatic, and not by union and incor- 
 poration. 
 
 Of the actual tenets of the Greek Church, we have 
 now a favourable opportunity of forming a correct opinion, 
 by consulting its own Symbolic Books, which for the first 
 time were collated and pubhshed in the original Greek, and 
 with a Latin translation, about two years ago * They con- 
 sist of several documents. The first of them is the confes- 
 sion of Gennadius, both in the form of a dialogue and a 
 distinct creed, presented by request to the Sultan Mu- 
 hammad in the fifteenth century, by Gennadius the pa- 
 triarch of Constantinople. Between this and the second 
 document, is interposed the condemned evangelical con- 
 fession of Cyrillus Lucaris, a native of Crete, educated at 
 Venice, who ultimately became patriarch of Constanti- 
 nople, which he published in 1629, and for which, and his 
 embracement and support of the general views of the 
 churches of the Beformation, through a conspiracy of the 
 Pope's emissaries, the clergy of the Greek church, and 
 the Turkish authorities, he was cruelly murdered, by 
 drowning or strangulation, on the 26th of June 1638. 
 The second document is the catechetical " Confession of 
 the Orthodox Faith of the CathoHc and Apostolic Church 
 of Christ, composed by Peter Mogilas, metropolitan of 
 Kioff," and bearing the confirmation and authority, dated 
 11th March 1643, of the four oriental patriarchs, and 
 the other ecclesiastical dignitaries and office-bearers of 
 the Greek church. The third contains " The Shield of 
 
 * Libri Symbolici EcclesijE Orientalis, nunc priraum in unuin 
 corpus collegit, Emestus Julius Kiramel. Jense, 1843. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 51 
 
 Orthodoxy, composed by the local Synod met at Jerusa- 
 lem under the patriarch Dositheus, composed against 
 the heretical Calvinists," &c. This document, which ob- 
 tained the subscription of three of the patriarchs, twenty- 
 one bishops, and twenty-three other ecclesiastics, includ- 
 ing the Russian legates, after reviewing and condemning 
 tlie writings of Cyrillus, and anathematizing him on 
 their account, sets forth the eighteen special decrees of 
 the Synod, dated March 1672, with the resolution of 
 certain questions to which some of them incidentally gave 
 rise. A perusal of all these authorities warrants the 
 assertion, that the errors of the Greek Church are nearly 
 as great and detrimental as those of the Church of Kome, 
 and compel us, making all charitable allowance for those 
 within its pale who practically disavow them, to view it 
 as within the dominions of Antichrist. Of this you will 
 be all sorrowfully convinced by an analysis of the pro- 
 ceedings of the Synod now mentioned. 
 
 Its first decree embraces the articles of the Nicene 
 Creed, with this difference, on which the Greek Church 
 and all the Oriental Churches lay great stress, — that the 
 Holy Spirit, while consubstantial with the Father and 
 the Son, proceeds only from the Father. In the 
 second, we find it asserted that sacred scripture is to be 
 received "according to the tradition and interpretation of 
 the CathoHc Church," which is declared to have " an 
 authority not less than that of sacred scripture," being 
 guided by the unerring wisdom of the Holy Ghost. The 
 third ascribes the election of men to the divine foresight 
 of their good works, and represents the supporters of a 
 
 * For an able refutation of the views of the Greek Church, see 
 the Acta et Scripta Theologorum Wirtembergensium, referred to 
 in a subsequent note. 
 
52 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 sovereign election, as blasphemously disparaging good 
 works, and not even viewing them as the consequence of 
 election, or a necessary part of salvation. The fourth, 
 as if insinuatino; that Calvinists charo;e God with heinor 
 the active origin of sin, properly ascribes it to men and 
 devils acting in disobedience to the divine will. The 
 fifth maintains the holiness and justice of God in all his 
 dispensations, which though overruling evil for good, 
 never extend to it moral approbation. The sixth no- 
 tices the fall, and the depravity which originated with it, 
 declaring, however, that *' many of the patriarchs and 
 prophets, and innumerable others, both under the shadow 
 [of the law] and the verity [of grace], as the divine fore- 
 runner, and especially the eternal Virgin Mary, the 
 Mother of the divine Word," were not naturally tempted 
 to impiety, blasphemy, and other sins specified. The 
 seventh sets forth the conception and birth of Christ with- 
 out injury to the virginity of Mary, and his ascension and 
 future judgment of the quick and dead. The eighth, 
 while it admits that " Jesus Christ is the only Mediator 
 and ransom of all," expressly declares that, " for present- 
 ing our requests and petitions to him, we reckon the 
 saints to be intercessors, and above all the immaculate 
 Mother of the divine Word, and likewise the holy angels, 
 whom we know to be our guardians, and the apostles, pro- 
 phets, martyrs, and whomsoever of his faithful servants 
 he hath glorified, amongst whom we number the bishops 
 and priests, as if surrounding God's altar, and the other 
 just men remarkable for their virtues." The ninth sets 
 forth that no one is saved without faith, but that faith 
 justifies, because " it works by love, that is by the obser- 
 vance of the divine commandments." The tenth, while 
 professedly acknowledging Christ to be the Head of the 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 53 
 
 church, declares that he governs it by " the ministry of 
 the holy fathers," and condemns the tenet of the Cal- 
 vinists, that priests can be ordained by priests, holding 
 that a bishop superior to a priest, " the successor of the 
 apostles, communicates, by the imposition of hands and 
 the invocation of the Spirit, the power which he has re- 
 ceived, by uninterrupted succession, of binding and loos- 
 ing, and is the living image of God upon earth, and by 
 the fullest participation of the energy of the perfect Spirit, 
 the fountain of all the sacraments of the church, by which 
 we arrive at salvation." The eleventh sets forth that 
 the catholic church is instructed by the Holy Spirit, 
 ** not directly," but '' by the holy fathers and overseers 
 of the catholic church." The twelfth reckons those only 
 to be members of the catholic church who receive the 
 faith of Christ both as declared by himself and the 
 apostles and by " the holy oecumenical synods,"* and de- 
 port themselves in a becoming manner. The thirteenth 
 intimates, that " that faith, which, as a hand, lays hold 
 of the righteousness of Christ," is not that by which man 
 is justified, but that which, by the good works to which 
 it leads, becomes itself efficacious for our salvation, f The 
 
 * The seven first general Councils. 
 
 t A very lucid view of the evangelical doctrine of justification 
 by faith, had been given to Jeremiah the patriarch of Constantino- 
 ple by the "NYirtemberg divines in the year 1577, in the course of 
 the correspondence which they maintained with him on the sub- 
 ject of the Augsburg confession. '• When we say," say they, " that 
 we are justified before God only by faith in Christ, we wish thus 
 to express ourselves, that by faith only we so apprehend Christ our 
 Saviour, that on account of liis most perfect merit, we obtain the 
 remission of our sins and eternal life, and that we reckon faith in 
 Christ the hand by which we receive those things ivhich Christ our 
 Redeemer has imrchased for us.'" They then show clearly how 
 good works are the fruit of faith and part of salvation. — Acta et 
 
54 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 fourteenth maintains the undepraved freedom of the will, 
 and the natural ability of man to choose good or evil. 
 The fifteenth enumerates and describes the seven sacra- 
 ments of the church, namely, Baptism, Confirmation or 
 Chrism, Ordination, the bloodless Sacrifice of the real 
 body and blood of Christ, Matrimony, Confession Peni- 
 tence and Remission, and Extreme Unction, intimating 
 that they are not naked signs of the promises, but ne- 
 cessarily convey grace to those who partake of them. The 
 sixteenth declares that baptism is absolutely necessary 
 to salvation, even in the case of infants ; that it destroys 
 original sin ; and is infallibly accompanied by regenera- 
 tion, and even ultimate salvation.* The seventeenth 
 maintains that in the Eucharist, to be administered only 
 by a duly consecrated priest, the bread and wine, though 
 their accidents remain, are transubstantiated into the 
 real body and blood of Christ, and are to be worshipped 
 and adored with supreme honour, and viewed as a pro- 
 pitiation and sacrifice both for the living and the dead. 
 The eighteenth maintains that the souls of the departed 
 are either in a state of rest or suff'ering ; that those (be- 
 longing to the church) who have been removed from the 
 
 Scripta Theologorum "Wirtembergensium, et Patriarcha; Constan- 
 tinopolitani D. Hieremia;. Witebergaj, 1684, p. 165. This is a 
 work which should be in the possession of all missionaries having 
 to do with the Greek Church. It sets forth its tenets, as propounded 
 by the church authorities at Constantinople, and refutes its errors 
 in a very calm and dignified, but earnest, manner, the whole dis- 
 cussion being in Greek, with a Latin translation, by the celebrated 
 Crusius. Many parts of it might be advantageously reprinted, and 
 circulated in the form of tracts. 
 
 * These and similar views of baptism, too, are expressed in the 
 form of the administration of the rite used in the Greek Church. 
 Vide Codic. Liturg, Eccles. Univers. Josephi Aloysii Asseman i 
 lib. ii. Romse, 1749. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 55 
 
 world with their penitence incomplete, or with a lack of 
 its fruits, or the prayers, watchings, and charities deno- 
 minated " satisfactions" by the church, are in a state of 
 exclusion from perfect bliss, from which, however, they 
 may be relieved by the prayers and alms of the priests 
 presented in behalf of their relatives, and by the perform- 
 ance of masses. Here almost all the fatal errors as- 
 sociated with Antichiist are most distinctly propounded 
 and defended. 
 
 The questions appended to the decrees, in a similar 
 manner certify the apostasy of the Greek Church. That 
 in which it is asked, should Holy Scripture be commonly 
 or indiscriminately read by all Christians, is answered 
 in the negative. In reply to another, the perspicuity of 
 the scriptures is disparaged. In the response given to 
 that which refers to the Canon of Scripture, it is stated, 
 that not only the books which were received by the council 
 of Laodicea, are to be acknowledged as inspired, but also 
 the Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Judith, of Tobit, 
 the History of the Dragon, the History of Susanna, the 
 Maccabees, and the Wisdom of Sirach. When the honours 
 to be given to saints and their images are made the 
 subjects of inquiry, it is declared that the Virgin Mary 
 is to be worshipped by hyperdulia ; and the saints and 
 angels by direct didia, referring both to their relation to 
 God and their own sanctity ; and the pictures, and relics 
 of the saints, and holy places and articles, such as crosses, 
 and sacramental vases, by indirect dulia ; while latria 
 is to be exclusively reserved for the Divine Spirit. This 
 doctrine is set forth by the invention of distinctions not re- 
 cognised in the Holy Scriptures, and not to be seen in 
 the nature of things ; and it is reduced to practice in 
 direct violation of the express commandments of God, 
 
56 indepi;ndent eastern churches. 
 
 and by extending the presence, knowledge, power, and 
 offices, and sacredness of God's creatures far beyond 
 their endowments. 
 
 The other symboHcal books of the Greek church are 
 quite in accordance with that which we have now briefly 
 analysed. The catechetical confession of Mogilas, which 
 contains the fullest exposition of its doctrines, sets forth, 
 along with a mixture of truth, most of the fatal errors to 
 which w^e have alluded, even more in detail than the 
 decrees of the Synod of Jerusalem. We may extract 
 from it some additional information respecting tenets and 
 observances. It places the traditions of the church on a 
 level with the written word of God, and requires it to be 
 interpreted through the medium of these traditions. It 
 speaks of angels, not merely as spirits ministering accord- 
 ing to the direct will of God, but as the guardians of 
 cities, kingdoms, countries, monasteries, and churches, 
 and as both presenting our prayers to God, and interced- 
 ing in our behalf.* It speaks of the Virgin Mary as the 
 " mother of God.""]" It represents the devil as put to 
 flight, and the perniciousness of poison as averted by the 
 sign of the cross ; and enjoins us to make this sign when 
 we eat and drink, when we sit down or stand up, when 
 we speak or walk, and on all occasions by night and by 
 day, and gives minute directions as to the way in which 
 it is to be made.^ When alluding to the ascension of 
 Christ, it sets forth that his humanity is present in the 
 Eucharist, and to be venerated and adored as the 
 Saviour himself. § While it denies that the dead can be 
 delivered from their deprivations, by purgatorial fires or 
 punishments after death, it represents them as receiving 
 
 * Quest. 19. t Quest. 40, 43. 
 
 X Quest. 50, 51, i Quest 5.6. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 57 
 
 in the less glorious mansions of the heavenly regions, 
 — for the Greek Church recognises noplace intermediate 
 between heaven and hell, — the benefits which they need, 
 from the prayers and masses of the church* It repre- 
 sents the presidents of the church, as vicariously its heads 
 for Christ, and requires subjection to them as such as- 
 sembled in general council.! It enumerates nine pre- 
 cepts of the church, which are to be observed. The 
 first enjoins attendance on matins, liturgies (the sa- 
 crament of the mass so denominated), vespers, on the 
 Lord's Day, and the appointed festivals. The second 
 appoints four annual fasts, two of forty days each, preced- 
 ing Christmas and Easter, one from the week after Pente- 
 cost to the festivals of Peter and Paul, and another from 
 the first to the fifteenth of August, the day of the As- 
 sumption of the Virgin, and two weekly fasts on Wednes- 
 days and Fridays ; and forbids fasting on the Lord's 
 Day, except on the "great sabbath," during which he 
 remained in the sepulchre, and some other special days. 
 The third precept enjoins respect to ecclesiastical per- 
 sonages, who receive our confessions and minister to us in 
 holy things. The fourth recommends a quarterly, and 
 in the case of the more devout, a monthly confession, 
 and enjoins at least an annual confession, of sins to the 
 priests, urging the sick especially to wash away their 
 stains by confession and a participation of the sacred 
 supper. The fifth interdicts the reading heretical books 
 and association with the ungodly. The sixth enjoins 
 prayer for ecclesiastical, civil, and military authorities, 
 for the living and dead members of the church, and for 
 the conversion of heretics and schismatics. The eighth 
 
 * Quest. 65, 66, 67, 68, f Quest. 85, 86. 
 
58 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 forbids sacrilege. And the ninth forbids the celebration 
 of marriage in forbidden vestments, and attendance on 
 forbidden amusements * The confession expounds at 
 length the doctrine of the " seven sacraments." It de- 
 clares that they are nol only signs and seals of the doc- 
 trine of Christ, but present remedies for overcoming the 
 infirmities of sin. Baptism, which destroys original sin, 
 and effects regeneration, is to be practised by a threefold 
 immersion in water, and always by priests, except in cases 
 of urgent necessity. Chrism or confirmation — by oil, 
 balsam, and other unguents, consecrated by the highest 
 ecclesiastic, and symbolic and communicative of the unc- 
 tion and gifts of the Holy Spirit, — 'to be applied to the 
 different members of the body, is immediately to follow 
 baptism. The sacrament of the Eucharist is said to 
 be more excellent than any other of the sacraments, nay 
 than all of them united together, and to conduce more 
 tlian they do to the attainment of salvation. A duly con- 
 secrated priest is necessary to its dispensation. The bread 
 used must be fermented, and a little water must be added 
 to the wine, to represent that which flowed from the 
 Saviour's side. These materials must be viewed as 
 changed into the real body and blood of Christ by the 
 words of consecration; and the sacrament must be con- 
 sidered a commemoration, a propitiation, and a protection 
 and defence against the assaults of the devil. In ordina- 
 tion, by which the succession of power to the priestly office 
 in the church is continued, regard must be had to the 
 probity, and knowledge of candidates, and the soundness 
 and completeness of the members of their body. The 
 minor orders of reader, singer, candle-lighter, and sub- 
 
 * Quest. 87-95. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. §9 
 
 deacon are recognised, and reference is made to the 
 Directories, in which their duties, and those of other 
 ecclesiastical office-bearers, are described."^ The neces- 
 sity and efficacy of auricular confession and clerical 
 absolution are emphatically declared ; and meritorious 
 prayers, alms, fastings, pilgrimages to holy places, and 
 religious genuflexions, are sometimes to be added to them, 
 that they may restore the effects of baptism and afford 
 grounds for confidence and peace. Marriage, except as 
 being denominated a sacrament, is rightly treated of in the 
 confession. The Euchelaion, corresponding with extreme 
 unction, is to be given to the sick as well as to the 
 dying, is sometimes attended with the healing of the 
 body as well as the soul, and fails not to be accom- 
 panied with the remission of sins in the case of those who 
 are penitent. All these explanations and statements are 
 given in the confession under the head of Faith. Under 
 that of Hope, there is given a tolerably good, though 
 not an entirely approveable, exposition of the Lord's 
 Prayer and of the beatitudes contained in the sermon 
 on the Mount. Under that of Charity, the last of the 
 treatise, in which our duty both to God and man is con- 
 sidered, both truth and error are sadly intermingled. 
 Almsgiving is there set forth as an expiation, and the 
 antiscriptural distinction of mortal and venial sins is re- 
 cognised. Under the first commandment, the worship of 
 saints and angels is vindicated by the identical arguments 
 
 * In tte works in which the ministry is more particularly- 
 treated of, it is stated, that the secular clergy are allowed to marry 
 once ; but that those who do so are debarred from the episcopacy, 
 an oflBce which is reserved for individuals of the regular or monastic 
 clergy, who, on account of their vows and self-restraints, are sup- 
 posed to be holier than those who have retained and used their 
 Christian liberty. 
 
60 IXDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 current in the Church of Home. Under the second 
 commandment, which is separated from the first as by 
 Protestants and the Jews, the worship of images (pic- 
 tures of the saints only are used in the Greek Church) 
 and of holy objects is vindicated in a similar manner, 
 and particularly by the authority of the seventh general 
 • council. In connexion with the fourth commandment, 
 the sacred days appointed by the church are brought to 
 notice. 
 
 It will be seen from these brief, but distinct references, 
 that the Greek Church has departed far indeed from the 
 simplicity and truth which are in Christ Jesus. It 
 agrees with the Church of Rome in most matters of the 
 greatest moment. It has the essential characteristic of 
 Antichrist, inasmuch as it places the priests on earth, 
 and the saints and angels in heaven, intermediate be- 
 tween the soul and the Saviour, and allows the merits of 
 the Son of God to be dispensed by the minister, and 
 purchased by the prayers, and penances, and services of the 
 worshipper. Though it administers the initiatory rite of 
 Christianity, without many of the impious and absurd 
 concomitant ceremonies which have been added to it by 
 • the Romish Church, it forms the same judgment of its 
 spiritual efficacy. Though it administers the Eucharist in 
 both kinds to the laity, it holds forth the doctrine of 
 absolute transubstantiation, and renewed propitiation. 
 Within its pale it cherishes, in its worship of saints, 
 angels, and their representations, and sacred things, that 
 very implied polytheism and idolatry for which Romanism 
 is so very abhorrent to the Christian mind. Though it 
 disclaims works of supererogation, and does not profess to 
 dispense indulgences, it makes the services of the living 
 available for the dead. Its superiority to Rome in any 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 61 
 
 respect principally arises from its inability or unwilling- 
 ness to follow out its principles to their legitimate length. 
 Practically, however, it is not so consolidated and fear- 
 ful in its power as that tyrannical institution. It does 
 not pretend to have an infallible earthly head. Though 
 it makes the general councils the interpreters of Christian 
 doctrine, and disparages the Scriptures, both by adding to 
 their contents and questioning their intelligibility, it does 
 not always systematically oppose their circulation and 
 perusal. Its symbolical books, though they have had a 
 general, have not yet had a universal, ratification ; and, 
 in Russia in particular, other compendiums of Christian 
 doctrine, written generally in an evangelical strain, have 
 been composed and published with high recommenda- 
 tions. Of these the most remarkable is the Summary of 
 Christian Divinity by Platon, late Metropolitan of Mos- 
 cow, wdiich has been translated from the Slavonian into 
 English by Dr Pinkerton,* and the doctrines of which, 
 according to the testimony of that zealous agent of the 
 Bible Society, in his valuable work on " Ptussia," pub- 
 lished a few years ago,t and the no less interesting 
 " Biblical Researches" in the same country,J of his 
 former associate Dr Henderson, are received by a large 
 portion of the Russian clergy of all orders, including the 
 instructors of candidates for the holy ministry. 
 
 Compared with the doctrines and sacraments of the 
 Greek church, to which our notices have hitherto prin- 
 
 * The Present State of the Greek Church in Russia, or a Sum- 
 mary of Christian Doctrine by Platon, late Metropolitan of Mos- 
 cow. Translated from the Slavonian. With a preliminary Memoir 
 on the Ecclesiastical Establishment in Russia ; and an Appendix , 
 containing an account of the origin and different sects of Russian 
 Dissenters. 
 
 t London, 1833. X London, 1826. 
 
62 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 cipally referred, its usual forms of worship are only of 
 secondary importance, but not altogether to be overlooked. 
 Its voluminous liturgical works, I have only partially 
 examined. The following account of them from the pen 
 of a gentleman long resident at Constantinople, I believe 
 to be correct. 
 
 " Dr King judiciously remarks, that by liturgy, the 
 office of the Eucharist only was described, nor has it at 
 present a different meaning in the Greek church, the 
 four liturgies of which are those of St James, St Basil, 
 St Chrysostom, and those of the pre-sanctified mys- 
 teries. 
 
 " The first of these is asserted to be spurious by 
 Smith, and therefore obsolete. The liturgies of St 
 Basil and St Chrysostom are essentially the same ; but 
 the former being the longer, is used only on certain days, 
 while the latter is considered as the ordinary communion 
 service. That of the pre-sanctified is appropriated for 
 Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, or the great fast. 
 
 " The service of the Greek church, like that of Kome 
 at present, and that of all other churches before the 
 Reformation, is principally choral. Their canons and 
 antiphonies are hymns, or portions of Scripture, set to 
 music, first recited by the minister, and then chanted by 
 the choir, but without musical instruments, which are not 
 admitted in accompaniment. The ectinea corresponds 
 with our litany, but is never so called by the Greeks. 
 They have several in every service. In consequence of 
 a great variety of these and other forms, their books of 
 offices are numerous and bulky. 
 
 *• The Menseon contains the hymns and services for 
 every festival, as it occurs in the calendar, and is divided 
 into twelve volumes folio, each volume comprising the 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 63 
 
 service of a month. The Octoechos, is so called from 
 eight tones or voices, v^^hich are fixed to particular hymns, 
 and which serve as a rule for singing the rest. It is 
 divided into two volumes folio. 
 
 " The Synnaxar, or biographical history of the saints, 
 comprehends four volumes folio, of which an appropriate 
 portion is read on every saint's day. To these must be 
 added the psalter and hours, the common service, the 
 four gospels, the two triodes, the book of prayer, the 
 ritual, and (which is very necessary in such a complex 
 mass of liturgical forms) the regulation, wherein are con- 
 tained directions how they are to be used. 
 
 " Of the Menologion it is sufficient to remark, that it 
 nearly resembles idolatry ; they admit pictures into their 
 churches, not merely as ornamental, but as indispensable 
 ill the ceremonial of their religion. They are usually 
 attached to the screen which secretes the chancel, and 
 from thence receives the name of iconostas. In the ar- 
 guments advanced by Greek theologists in defence of 
 this preference of painting to sculpture, there appears to 
 be little solidity. They consider themselves as secure 
 under the authority of St John Damascenus. In the 
 emblematical and mystical properties, attributed to cleri- 
 cal vestments, the Greek church rivals the barbarism of 
 the monkish ages.* 
 
 During my journey from India to this country in the 
 year 1843, particularly in the Turkish empire, I had ^ 
 many opportunities of observing the actual state of the 
 Greek church, on whose tenets and ritual I need not 
 farther enlarge. Of the observations which I then 
 made of it, I shall now give such a brief summary as is 
 
 * Dallaway'a Constantinople, p. 375. 
 
64 IXDEPEXDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 expected of me. It is my heartfelt desire to speak with 
 the utmost kindness towards the individuals and classes 
 of men to whom I may refer, but at the same time with 
 a due reo-ard to the interests of truth and righteousness 
 and the purity of the Church of Christ. 
 
 Amono- the few adherents of the Greek church whom I 
 met in Egypt, I found one family of which the head appear- 
 ed to entertain views of divine truth essentially evangelical, 
 to cultivate personal godliness, and to take a warm in- 
 terest in the advancement of the kingdom of the Redeemer 
 upon earth. He lives on the shores of the Red Sea, from 
 which he has never been absent. His vernacular tongue 
 is Arabic ; but he has a tolerable acquaintance with Eng- 
 lish, which he has turned to some account in the perusal 
 of one or two of our best books on practical rehgion. 
 Attention to the tenets and observances of different de- 
 nominations of Christians, and the history of the church, 
 he said, has taught him charity. He possessed a copy 
 of the Scriptures in Arabic, with the contents of which 
 he appeared tolerably familiar ; and he gratefully re- 
 ceived from me a few of the Arabic publications of the 
 Church Missionary press at Malta, and recommended his 
 friends to make application for a supply, which they 
 readily did. He took a great interest in the Arabic 
 translation of the abridgement of Dr Keith's admirable 
 work on Prophecy, and of the General Assembly's Letter 
 to the Jews. He intimated his readiness to send one of 
 his ^'oung relatives to Bombay for education in our mis- 
 sionary seminary on my return to India. He gave me 
 and my fellow-travellers such introductory letters as he 
 thouoht would facilitate our movements and inquiries. 
 It would have been joy to my heart to have met with 
 manv such persons in the course of my peregrinations. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 65 
 
 From the inmates of St Catherine's Monastery at Mount 
 Sinai, who, including both the regular clergy and their 
 lay-assistants, are twenty-three in number, my fellow- 
 travellers and myself received much kindness. Like all 
 the other recluses of the Greek church, the monks be- 
 long to the order of St Basil, the rules of which they 
 rigidly observe. Their seclusion they do not seem to have 
 improved for the cultivation of deep and rational devo- 
 tion, for pursuits of study, or for evangelistic effort, in 
 which, — if their perpetual vows through which they de- 
 prive themselves of their Christian liberty could be over- 
 looked, — some apology might be found for their situation. 
 Some of them confessed to me that, in the multiplicity of 
 their public authorised services, they could dispense alto- 
 gether with private prayer, and the perusal of the Scrip- 
 tures. It was painful indeed to witness the manner in 
 which they conduct divine worship in the church of the 
 convent, dedicated to the " Metamorphosis," or Transfi- 
 guration. The lengthy Greek service, they read and 
 chanted with the greatest irreverence and altogether un- 
 intelligible rapidity. Their ceremonious genuflexions and 
 prostrations, and invocations, before the pictures of the 
 saints, the large cross on the screen which separates the 
 altar from the nave, and at the feet of their own superior, 
 bore but too certain evidence of their practice of idolatry 
 under the very shadow of that mountain, from which 
 God himself spake the words, " Thou shalt not make 
 unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing 
 that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, 
 or that is in the waters under the earth." When they 
 shewed us their library, in which we found a considerable 
 number of works in the Arabic and Syriac, as well as 
 Greek, languages, both printed and in manuscript, they 
 
66 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 could give us no general account of its contents, and ac- 
 knowledged that, excepting its ecclesiastical service-books, 
 it was to them merely useless lumber. The copies of the 
 Scriptures too, which had been presented to them by Dr 
 Joseph Wolff, during his first visit to the convent, for their 
 individual use, had been added to the common stock, and 
 were quite neglected. Only one or two of them appeared 
 to be able to converse in Arabic with the surrounding- 
 children of the desert, the religious instruction of whom, 
 they confessed, they entirely neglected. No greater 
 proof of the want of pastoral care of themselves, or rather 
 of their predecessors, can be found than the fact, that 
 they have allowed the body of the Jeheliyah, or moun- 
 taineers, who are entirely dependent upon them as their 
 menial servants, and who are the descendants of Christian 
 slaves said to have been sent to the convent by the Em- 
 peror Justinian, to become Musalmans. I did not hear 
 of a single Arab to whom they have access having been 
 instructed by any of them in the faith of Christ. Except 
 in as far as they practise hospitality to travellers who 
 visit the grand and terrific scenery and hallowed locali- 
 ties among which they dwell, they seem never to aim at 
 usefulness among their fellow-creatures. Their merits 
 in the matter to which I allude, all are most ready to ad- 
 mit who have participated in their kindness. It is in 
 acknowledgment, however, of something else than this 
 service, that their convent has for ages met with favour 
 from the members of the Greek church. Their whole 
 establishment, and especially their church, are viewed 
 as so sacred throughout its bounds, that offerings to them 
 are considered as especially meritorious, and have been 
 accumulated within them by all classes of the people, 
 and particularly by the Greek and Russian Emperors. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 67 
 
 The Greek monks of the Holy Land with whom we 
 came into contact at Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Mar Saba, 
 Nazareth, and other places, we found to correspond very- 
 much in character, attainments, and occupation with those 
 of Mount Sinai. The great Christian pilgrimage con- 
 ducted under their direction at the time of Easter, which 
 we witnessed as far as our feelings could permit us, ap- 
 pears to be calculated to produce anything but hallowed 
 associations and holy impressions on the multitudes, from 
 all parts of the Levant, who seek its blessings. A simi- 
 lar remark may be extended to the pilgrimage of the 
 Latins, and other denominations of Christians. The 
 Greeks, it must be remembered, however, are peculiarly 
 culpable in the confusion and revelry which they gene- 
 rate, and imposture which they practise. It is under 
 their auspices, that the miracle of the holy fire from 
 heaven, as it is alleged, is annually exhibited to the 
 people. We were so shocked by what we witnessed of 
 the preparations for this lying wonder at the church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre, that after having handed in our 
 letters of introduction to the metropolitan, we found 
 ourselves compelled to withdraw from the scene. The 
 whole transaction, I was informed by those who had 
 witnessed it, surpasses even the usual description of its 
 presumption and impiety given by travellers and ob- 
 servers. Of these let the following, which is the latest 
 which I have seen, be taken as a specimen. 
 
 " The miraculous Greek fire," says Mr Caiman,* 
 " which takes place on the Saturday of the Greek Easter 
 week, serves in the hands of the Greek and Armenian 
 priests, the same purpose that the keys of Peter do in 
 
 * A highly respectable Jewish convert residing at Jeursalera, 
 and well known to many in this country. 
 
68 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 the hands of his skilful successors, the Popes ; it unlocks 
 every coffer and purse of the pilgrims, and renders them 
 at the disposal of the inventors and perpetrators of this 
 lying wonder. 
 
 " To notice all that was passing within the church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre during the space of more than 
 twenty-four hours, would be next to impossible ; because 
 it was one continuation of shameless madness and riot- 
 ing, which would have been a disgrace to Greenwich and 
 Smithfield fairs. Only suppose for a moment, the mighty 
 edifice crowded to excess with fanatic pilgrims of all the 
 Eastern churches, who, instead of lifting pure hands to 
 God, without wrath and quarrelling, are led by the petty 
 jealousies about the precedency which they should main- 
 tain in the order of their processions, into tumults and 
 fighting, which can only be quelled by the scourge and 
 whip of the followers of the false prophet. Suppose 
 further, these thousands of devotees running from one 
 extreme to the other, from the extreme of savage irrita- 
 tion to that of savage enjoyment, of mutual revellings 
 and feastings ; like Israel of old, who, when they made 
 the golden calf, were eating, and drinking, and rising up 
 to play. Suppose troops of men, stripped half naked to 
 facilitate their actions, running, trotting, jumping, gallop- 
 ing to and fro, the breadth and length of the church ; 
 walking on their hands with their feet aloft in the air ; 
 mounting on one another's shoulders, some in a riding 
 and some in a standing position, and by the slightest push 
 are all sent down to the ground in one confused heap, 
 which made one fear for their safety. Suppose further, 
 many of the pilgrims dressed in fur-caps, Hke the Pohsh 
 Jews, whom they feigned to represent, and whom the 
 mob met with all manner of contempt and insult, hurry- 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. by 
 
 ina them through the church as criminals who had been 
 just condemned, amid loud execrations and shouts of 
 lauo-hter, which indicated that Israel is still a derision 
 amongst these heathens, by whom they are still counted 
 as sheep for the slaughter. All these, and similar pro- 
 ceedings, marked the introduction of this holy miraculous 
 fire ; and when questioned about the propriety of such 
 conduct within a Christian place of worship, and with 
 the name of religion, the priests will tell you, that they 
 once tried to get quit of these absurdities, and the holy 
 fire was withdrawn in consequence of it ! 
 
 " About two o'clock on Saturday afternoon, the pre- 
 parations for the appearance of the miraculous fire com- 
 menced. The multitude who had been heretofore in a 
 state of frenzy and madness, became a little more quiet; but 
 it proved a quiet that precedes a thunderstorm. Bishops 
 and priests in their full canonicals, then issued forth from 
 their respective quarters, with flags and banners, cruci- 
 fixes and crosses, lighted candles and smoking censors, 
 to join or rather to lead a procession, which moved 
 thrice round the church, invoking every picture, altar, 
 and relic, in their way, to aid them in obtaining the mi- 
 raculous fire. The procession then returned to the place 
 from whence it started, and two grey-headed bishops, the 
 one of the Greek, the other of the Armenian church, 
 were hurled by the soldiers through the crowd, into the 
 apartment which communicates with that of the Holy 
 Sepulchre, where they locked themselves in ; there the 
 marvellous fire was to make its first appearance, and from 
 thence issue through the small circular windows and the 
 door, for the use of the multitude. The eyes of all men, 
 women, and children, were now directed towards the 
 Holy Sepulchre with an anxious suspense, awaiting the 
 issue of their expectation. 
 
70 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 " The mixed multitude, each in his or her own lan- 
 ^age, were pouring forth their clamorous prayers to the 
 Vircrin and the saints, to intercede for them on behalf 
 of the object for which they were assembled; and the 
 same were tenfold increased by the fanatic gestures and 
 the waving of the garments by the priests of the re- 
 spective communions who were interested in the holy 
 fire, and who were watching by the above mentioned 
 door and circular windows, with torches in their hands, 
 ready to receive the virgin flame of the heavenly fire, 
 and convey it to their flocks. In about twenty minutes 
 from the time the bishops locked themselves in the apart- 
 ment of the Holy Sepulchre, the miraculous fire made 
 its appearance through the door and the two small win- 
 dows, as expected. The priests were the first who 
 lighted their torches, and they set out on a gallop in th& 
 direction of their lay brethren ; but some of these errand- 
 less and profitless messengers had the misfortune to be 
 knocked down by the crowd, and had their firebrands 
 wrested out of their hands ; but some were more fortunate, 
 and safely reached their destination, around whom the 
 people flocked like be«s, to have their candles lighted. 
 Others however were not satisfied at having the holy fire 
 second hand, but rushed furiously towards the Holy 
 Sepulchre, regardless of their own safety, and that of 
 those who obstructed their way ; though it has frequently 
 happened that persons have been trampled to death on 
 such occasions. Those who were in the galleries let 
 down their candles by cords, and drew them up when 
 they had succeeded in their purpose. In a few minutes 
 thousands of flames were ascending, the smoke and the 
 heat of which rendered the church like the bottomless 
 pit. To satisfy themselves, as well as to convince the 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 71 
 
 Latins, (who grudge so profitable as well as so effectual 
 a piece of machinery being in the hands of the schis- 
 matical Greeks and Armenians, and one which augments 
 the power of the priests and the revenue of the convents, 
 and who therefore exclaim against the miraculous fire), 
 the pilgrims, women as well as men, shamefully expose 
 their bare bosoms to the action of the flame of their 
 lighted candles, to make their adversaries believe the 
 miraculous fire differs from an ordinary one, in being 
 perfectly harmless. The two bishops, who a little while 
 before locked themselves in the apartment of the Holy 
 Sepulchre, now sallied forth out of it. When the whole 
 multitude had their candles lighted, the bishops were 
 caught by the crowd, lifted upon their shoulder, and 
 carried to their chapels amidst loud and triumphant ac- 
 clamations. They soon, however, reappeared, at the 
 head of a similar procession as the one before, as a pre- 
 tended thank-offering to the Almighty for the miracu- 
 lous fire vouchsafed, thus daring to make God a partaker 
 in their lie. An express messenger was immediately 
 sent off to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, to inform 
 the brethren there, and to invite them also to offer up 
 their tribute of thanks for the transcendant glory of the 
 day. Thus closed the lying wonders of the holy week of 
 Easter."* 
 
 This whole fraud, and these riotous Saturnaha, — I 
 should rather say downright Satanalia, — approved as 
 they are by the body^of the Greek ecclesiastics at Jeru- 
 salem, are such as ought entirely to exclude those who 
 have the control and management of them from Protest- 
 ant approbation and ecclesiastical intercommunion. That 
 
 * Herschell's Visit to my Fatherland in 1843, pp. 173-180. 
 
72 IXDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 the very highest of the Greek clergy at Jerusalem are 
 answerable for the fraud is evident, not only from their 
 tolerance of it, but from the direct statements which they 
 give when interrogated on the subject. The Greek 
 metropolitan even was not ashamed to lurite to Joseph 
 Wolff as follows : — " The holy fire was known in the 
 time of the Greek emperors ; it was then seen in the 
 holy sepulchre, and also in the time that the Crusaders 
 were in possession of the place. Many of the Latin 
 historians mention it. From the time of the invasion of 
 the Turks till now, the holy fire is seen both by behevers 
 and unbelievers."* The long continuance of an evil 
 practice does not hallow it in the sight of God. 
 
 In connexion with the Greek pilgrimage to Jerusa- 
 lem, I may mention that the ecclesiastics at the Holy 
 City are in the habit of furnishing the pilgrims with 
 most impious and delusive certificates of the pardon and 
 absolution of their sins, on account of the alleged merit 
 of the journey which they undertake. 
 
 I was glad to learn, during my journey through Syria, 
 that the services of the Greek church are there generally 
 conducted through the medium of a language vernacular 
 to the people of the country, — the Arabic. f The secu- 
 lar priests, though they read with notable rapidity, were 
 not so faulty in this respect as the monks. They sel- 
 dom, except on extraordinary occasions, preach to the 
 people, and hence the great ignorance of multitudes bear- 
 ing the Christian name. The disuse of preaching is not 
 confined to Syria. It is general throughout the whole 
 
 * Wolff's Journal. 
 
 f In Greece, on the coasts of Asia Minor, and in Turkey in 
 Europe, the service is performed in ancient Greek. In Russia, 
 the medium adapted for it is the Sclavonic. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 73 
 
 bounds of the Greek church. Respecting Greece itself, 
 this statement is made in the Report of the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions for 1841 : — 
 " What the country needs above all things is, an edu- 
 cated, pious priesthood, which shall preach the gospel in 
 the churches from Sabbath to Sabbath. This necessity 
 is beginning to be felt especially at Athens, where the 
 demoralizing influences are greater than elsewhere. It 
 is true two or three preachers were appointed two or 
 three years ago for the kingdom, and these have occa- 
 sionally preached a sermon in different parts ; but ex- 
 cepting these, and the reg-ular preaching of Dr King at 
 Athens, probably not a sermon was preached in the 
 Greek language during that period until the last spring. 
 Then four young men, who had gone through the regu- 
 lar course of classical and theological study, were di- 
 rected to preach m the churches in Athens." In this 
 neglect of religious instruction through the most impres- 
 sive mode of its communication, the distribution of copies 
 of the Scriptures, and Christian publications, among the 
 members of the Greek church in the East who are able 
 to peruse them, becomes a duty of even more than ordi- 
 nary importance. With a sense of this duty, the Ame- 
 rican missionaries, the principal protestant ministers ex- 
 pressly appointed to seek the revival of evangelical reli- 
 gion in the regions to which I now refer, are deeply im- 
 pressed. It is a happy circumstance that some of the 
 Greek ecclesiastics themselves are not indisposed to 
 encourage the circulation of the word of eternal life. 
 Procopius, the second in authority amongst them at 
 Jerusalem, proved for a considerable time a warm friend 
 and useful agent of the Bible Society. Isa Petrus, too, 
 at that place, is well known to the readers of missionary 
 
74i INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 journals as a friend of the same institution. Wherever 
 I went in Syria, I found the laity of the Greek church 
 anxious to obtain copies of the Bible, and not unwilling 
 to receive publications pregnant with the statements of 
 evangelical truth. Having taken with me a large sup- 
 ply, I was able to make a pretty extensive distribution 
 throughout the country, except at the places at which 
 the missionaries usually labour. At the town of Has- 
 beiya, near the farthest source of the Jordan, I was en- 
 craojed for some hours in meetino- the demands which 
 were made upon my stores. Among the Arabic books 
 which I distributed were several copies of a Life of Lu- 
 ther, and other Protestant publications. When the 
 Greek priests saw them in the hands of the people, they 
 became quite infuriated, and sent an agent to beg me 
 to order their restoration. I told the people that, 
 as a friend of rehgious liberty, peaceable discussion, and 
 prayerful inquiry, I left the matter entirely in their 
 own hands. They declared that they would keep what 
 they had received at all hazards ; and they heard the 
 threats of the agents of the priests without being moved. 
 Mr Smith, my fellow-traveller from Bombay, who took 
 a deep interest in the 'affair, and who strenuously de- 
 fended the rights of the people, remarked to me that 
 more would afterwards be heard of this matter, — an an* 
 ticipation which has been most remarkably fulfilled. 
 Before we left Hasbeiya, a Druse of considerable intel- 
 ligence told us, when we were quietly seated with him 
 on the roof of his house, that a considerable number of 
 persons in the town had for some time been anxious to 
 declare themselves Protestants ; and that, if we could 
 promise them protection from England, a hundred fami- 
 lies, he was sure, would immediately join our commu- 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 75 
 
 nion. The effects of the ministrations of the excellent 
 missionaries at Beirut, who had occasionally visited the 
 town, and at one time maintained a school for the in- 
 struction of its youth, had thus begun to appear. Some 
 months after our visit, a considerable number of persons 
 actually declared themselves Protestants, and one hun- 
 dred and twenty of them were formed into a religious 
 community by the Rev. Eli Smith, who hastened to 
 visit them from Beirut. Connected with this transac- 
 tion, I solicit your attention to the following extract of 
 a letter from my excellent friend and for some time fel- 
 low-traveller, the Bev. William Graham, missionary of 
 the Irish Presbyterian Church at Damascus. On the 
 17th of May last, he says, " one hundred and fifty of 
 the Greek church have become Protestants. They 
 wrote a petition to the British Consul in Damascus, pray- 
 ing to be taken under the protection of England, and 
 vowing before God and man that, rather than return to 
 the superstitions of their ancestors, they would suffer to 
 be chopped like tobacco. This protection the Consul 
 could not give, as the Protestant religion is not recog- 
 nised nor tolerated legally in the Turkish empire. The 
 Greek Patriarch [of Antioch], who has his residence in 
 Damascus, was furious, and threatened to force them to 
 return to the Church. The Turkish authorities also took 
 the alarm. They held their secret councils, and dis- 
 cussed what was to be done. Some did not think much 
 of the matter ; others were clear for compelling the 
 people to return, and several saw in it the design of Eng- 
 land to gain a party in the country, that she might have 
 some plea for taking forcible possession of it. In this 
 state of matters, the affair was by common agreement 
 referred to Constantinople." The English, Prussian, 
 
76 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 and, I believe, French authorities, much to their credit, 
 recommended that these Christians should not be perse- 
 cuted for their opinions ; and the government of the Sul- 
 tan granted them permission to return to Hasbeiya, with 
 the promise of protection, on condition that they should 
 pay the usual taxes, and conduct themselves in a peace- 
 able manner. The Greek priests were greatly incensed 
 at this result ; and, under the instigation of Russia, it 
 is alleged, they induced the adherents of the Greek 
 church to make a show of leaving Hasbeiya on the re- 
 turn of the Protestant party, that the Turkish govern- 
 ment might have the case again thrown upon its consi- 
 deration, as Hasbeiya could not contain the members of 
 both churches ! The last tidings which I have received 
 of this affair are contained in a letter of Mr Graham, 
 dated January 1845 : " You may be interested," he 
 says, " to hear more about the Protestants of Hasbeiya. 
 They have been excommunicated by the Greek patri- 
 arch, or his priests, in the strictest form, and all inter- 
 course with them interdicted. Their teacher has been 
 stoned, and fifteen families driven from their houses. 
 They are thrown for support on the American mission- 
 aries. Notwithstanding these evils, and even greater, 
 which may yet arise, I think it probable that the prin- 
 ciple of the toleration and recognition of Protestantism 
 will be established. It is interesting to know, that the 
 children of these poor people are committing to memory 
 the Shorter Catechism." This movement, I have no 
 hesitation in saying, is the most important which in our 
 day has taken place in the Holy Land. Fervent should 
 be our prayers that it may be overruled for the esta- 
 bUshment of the liberties of Protestantism in that most 
 important locality, on the same footing that those of the 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 77 
 
 Greek, Latin, and other churches have been secured. 
 Our country has a perfect right to interfere in the case, 
 both on the grounds of humanity and rehgious affi- 
 nity, and the implied engagements connected with 
 the ejection, in behalf of the Sultan, by the European 
 powers, of Muhammed Ah.^ 
 
 * " England having, in conjunction with other Christian powers, 
 succeeded in restoring Syria to the Sultan, she is entitled to ex- 
 pect that the Sultan, in return for such assistance, should secure 
 his Christian subjects from oppression." — Lord Falmerston to 
 Chekib Effendi, June 15, 1841. " On the 4th instant, I had an in- 
 terview at Pera with the Internuncio and Monsieur de Titow, to 
 concert the measures to be adopted with regard to Syria. Mr 
 Wood and Monsieur Laurin were present. It was agreed to ad- 
 vise the Porte. . . . 3. To issue positive orders to all Otto- 
 man functionaries in Syria, to abstain from offering any impedi- 
 ment whatever to the free exercise by Christians of the rites of 
 their religion." — British Ambassador at Constantinople to Lord 
 Palmerston, June 8, 1841. It would be strange indeed if England 
 were to seek protection for all classes of Christians in Syria except 
 Protestants. The interests of Protestantism in the Turkish em- 
 pire, when connected with the first principles of toleration, will 
 not, I am certain, be compromised by Sir Stratford Canning, Her 
 Majesty's present able representative at Constantinople. The de- 
 cided stand which he lately made for the prevention of the execu- 
 tion of penitent Christian apostates returning from the profession 
 of Muhammadism, — in which he was happily supported by the re- 
 presentatives of Prussia andFrance, — experienced complete success ; 
 and called forth the official declaration from the Sultan, the most 
 remarkable ever heard from his lips, that " neither should Chris- 
 tianity be insulted in his dominions, nor should Christians be in 
 any way persecuted for their religion." To secure complete tolera- 
 tion in Turkey, this declaration should be held as embracing Pro- 
 testants, and extended to converts from Muhammadism, as well as 
 to those who may have been born within the pale of the Christian 
 church. Connected with this latter matter, the Free Church of 
 Scotland lately addressed Her Majesty's Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs. Lord Aberdeen has admitted its importance. His Prus- 
 sian Majesty, who is deeply alive to the interests of Christianity 
 in the East, it is understood, will keep it steadily in view. 
 
78 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 At Beirut, I had the pleasure of seeing a few members 
 of the Greek church, united with others, in attendance 
 upon the ministrations of the American missionaries, to 
 whose able, zealous, and efficient labours, I have pleasure 
 in bearing my humble testimony. 
 
 At Smyrna, where the Greeks are a numerous, spirited, 
 and influential people, I had the pleasure of findino- the 
 cause of general education prospering in their schools and 
 seminaries, which, in company with a gentleman of con- 
 siderable literary attainments, I had an opportunity of 
 visiting and examining. The attempt is there made, 
 with encouraging success, to revive a knowledge of the an- 
 cient Greek literature, and to associate it with the study 
 of modern philosophy. One of the professors of the 
 Lyceum, I found with a translation of Dugald Stewart's 
 Philosophy of the Human Mind before him when he was 
 instructing his class. When I asked if he had any can- 
 didates for the sacred ministry students of the Scotch 
 metaphysics, he said, smiling. This study is not for the 
 priests of Smyrna. It was with extreme sorrow, that 
 I found the scriptures, except in the form of most meagre 
 extracts, banished from the Greek institutions there. 
 Giving vent to this feeling, it was said to me by one of 
 the teachers, " Why, we are afraid that as the style of 
 the New Testament is not classical, it may defeat our 
 attempts to revive the pure Hellenic Greek!" On 
 my mentioning this circumstance to Mr Temple, the 
 veteran American missionary, he said, " The Greeks 
 now, as of old, seek after wisdom, but it is not that wis- 
 dom which is from above." The Greeks at Smyrna 
 have a press of their own, at which both a newspaper 
 and magazine are printed ; but in a set of its publications 
 which I ordered and i-eceived, I do not find many bear- 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 79 
 
 ing directly on the subject of religion. Some excellent 
 works, however, have issued from the press of the Ame- 
 rican Mission. In modern Greek, Armenian, and Ar- 
 meno-Turkish, works to the extent of 50,000,000 pages 
 have been there printed. 
 
 The Greeks at Constantinople, as far as I could learn, 
 though advancing in general and social improvement, are 
 not yet becoming alive to the supreme importance of 
 regulating their faith by a personal acquaintance with 
 the word of truth. Religion with them, as with the 
 Smyrniotes, occupies but a small share in their system of 
 educationx The Bible, in modern Greek, however, has 
 been circulated among them to some extent, through the 
 agency of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the 
 American Mission. The translation used was made by 
 Ilarion, the ex-bishop of Bulgaria, who is described as 
 the " most learned and most indefatagible of the Greek 
 hierarchy,"* and, I believe, that, as a literary work, it 
 has received the highest recommendations. Little if 
 any thing is being done toward the enlightenment of the 
 members of the Greek church in the different provinces 
 of Turkey in Europe ; but I heard from our American 
 friends, that they have some intention of directing their 
 attention to Bulgaria, where education and instruction 
 are much needed by its simple and neglected population. 
 On both sides of the Danube, there are other large and 
 interesting districts which have powerful claims on evan- 
 gelical benevolence. 
 
 As the result of all my observation and inquiry re- 
 specting the Greek church, I would say, that at present 
 it seems a very difficult matter to impregnate it with 
 evangelical truth and influence ; and that its circum- 
 * Macfarlane's Constantinople, p. 400. 
 
80 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 stances are less encouraging than those of the other 
 Oriental churches. So Httle has been done, and is now 
 doing for it, however, compared with its magnitude, that 
 we have little reason to restrict ourselves in our exertions 
 in its behalf, either by its apathy or its opposition. The 
 Protestant church should not overlook that access to it 
 which at present it has in the Turkish empire, for it 
 is very questionable whether, if political power were in 
 the hands of the Greek church itself, it would tolerate 
 decided efforts for reviving throughout its bounds the 
 purity and power of Primitive Christianity. Its con- 
 duct in the affair of the Protestants of Hasbeiya, whose 
 case we have been called to notice, is characterized both 
 by intolerance and persecution. 
 
 II. THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The Armenian Church is next in importance to the 
 Greek charch in the East. It derives its name from the 
 country of Armenia, of which Mount Ararat may be 
 reckoned the centre. The greater Armenia comprehends 
 the country lying west of the Caspian Sea, south of tlie 
 Caucasian range, north of a line drawn from the north- 
 east corner of the Mediterranean to the north-west corner 
 of the Caspian, and east of Asia Minor. The lesser 
 Armenia comprehends the eastern part of Asia Minor. 
 The members of the Armenian church, intermingled 
 throughout with the followers of the false prophet, inhabit 
 the whole extent of this country, except the portions of 
 Georgia in which the members of the Greek church 
 abound, and the hilly districts around Uramiah, inhabited 
 by the Nestorians and Kurds. They are scattered, 
 however, also, over the whole of Asia Minor ; and are 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 81 
 
 numerous at Constantinople. In Syria they number 
 several thousands, and in Egypt a few hundred souls. 
 In Persia a good many of the descendants of 80,000 fa- 
 milies, carried captive by Shah Abbas, still reside. Some 
 of them are to be found in the countries east of Persia as 
 far as Kabul, and in India, particularly at Bombay and 
 Calcutta. A few of them as merchants have proceeded 
 eastward as far as Batavia. Individual families are esta- 
 bhshed at Venice, Trieste, Vienna, and other towns of 
 Europe. I have seen various estimates of their num- 
 bers, from ten to two millions. Mr Lucas Balthazar, the 
 intelligent editor of an Armenian newspaper, entitled 
 '' The Dawn of iVrarat," published at Smyrna, stated 
 to me that he calculates them at five millions, of whom 
 he supposes two millions are to be found in the Russian 
 provinces of Erivan, Karabagh, and Tiflis, recently con- 
 quered from Persia ; two millions in the Turkish domi- 
 nions ; and one million in Persia, and India, and other 
 remote countries. I find by reference to the statistics 
 of Russia, that he has over-estivnated the Armenian sub- 
 jects of that empire by one-half. Turkey may have a 
 million mid a lidlf of Armenians under its sway, and 
 Persia and other distant lands half a miUion. Altogether, 
 then, we may have about two millions and a half of Ar- 
 menians in the different countries of their dispersion. 
 In the valuable Researches of Smith and Dwight in 
 Armenia, they are estimated at two millions. 
 
 Armenia is connected with the ancient history of 
 Assyria, Media, and Persia, and particularly with the 
 dynasties of Arsaces and Sasan. The notices which can 
 be collected of the early conveyance of the Gospel to its 
 different regions and the surrounding territories are 
 remarkably interesting, as they make us acquainted with 
 
 G 
 
82 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 the first triumphs of Christianity over the rehgion of 
 Zoroaster, who is said to have been born within its 
 borders — as they certify to us that Armenia was the 
 first country converted as such to our holy faith — and 
 as they make us acquainted with the stedfastness of 
 the early professors of the tmth, tried by seasons of 
 fierce and long-continued persecution. The greatest 
 instrument of its early evangelization was Gregory the 
 Enlightener, the son of Anax, a Parthian prince. He 
 was instructed in the doctrines of Christianity at Cesarea; 
 in Cappadocia, and ordained a bishop by Leontius of 
 that city, who signed the decrees of the Council of Nice. 
 He was one of the most distinguished men of the eastern 
 world. Tiridates the Great, and a large portion of the 
 Armenian people, received baptism at his hands so early 
 as the year 302 of our era. He was devoted, heart and 
 soul, to his work — which he advanced by most enlightened 
 educational measures, as well as by the public proclama- 
 tion of the Gospel.* 
 
 It is supposed that the monophysite doctrines were 
 propagated in Armenia by Samuel, the disciple of 
 Barsumas, who, about A.D. 460, introduced the doc- 
 trines of Eutyches into Syria. A synod of ten bishops, 
 assembled at Thevin in the year 536 by Nerses the 
 patriarch of Ardaghar, condemned the decision of the 
 Council of Chalcedon, recognising the two natures of 
 Christ ; and from this time may be dated the separation 
 
 * See History of Vartan, and the battle of the Armenians by 
 Elisajus, translated by Professor Neumann of Munich, and Avdall's 
 History of Armenia; The notices of the early propagation and 
 persecutions of Christianity in Armenia and the adjoining terri- 
 rories, I have endeavoured to collect in a sermon, entitled the Doc- 
 trine of Jehovah addressed to the Parsis. 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. U6 
 
 of the Armenian from the Greek Church * In the pro- 
 ceedmgs of the Jerusalem Synod of the Greek Church, 
 of which we have ah^eady given the substance, the 
 Armenians, as well as the other independent eastern 
 churches, are represented as agreeing with the Greek 
 Church, except in so far as their own " special heresy" 
 is concerned. The statement made respecting this 
 matter is substantially correct. 
 
 The heads of the Armenian Church, recognised from 
 ancient times, are the patriarchs of Echmiadzin and 
 Ardaghar in the Greater, and of Sis in Cilicia, in the 
 Lesser, Armenia. Each of these dignitaries, and parti- 
 cularly the chief of thei See first mentioned, receives the 
 additional title of Catholicos. To them are to be added 
 the titular patriarch of Constantinople, recognised by 
 the Turkish Government as the head of its Armenian 
 subjects, and the titular patriarch of Jerusalem. Below 
 them are the bishops of towns and districts — who like 
 themselves must be selected from the monkish orders, — 
 who, as in the E/omish and Greek Churches, are deno- 
 minated the regular clergy, and supposed to be possessed 
 of peculiar sanctity ; the secular or parish clergy ; and 
 the four minor orders of porters, readers, exorcists, and 
 candle-holders. The monkish clergy are denominated 
 Vartabads or Doctors, and it is their peculiar office to 
 teach and preach-^duties, however, seldom discharged 
 by them, even when they are elevated to the grade of 
 bishop. No lay-monks are recognised. The parochial 
 clergy, who. are the most numerous, must all be married, 
 and have at least one child before they are appointed to 
 
 * Conciliationis Ecclesise Armense cum Romana ex-ipsis Arme- 
 norum Patrum et Doctorum Testimoniis, auctore Clemente Gralano. 
 Roma;, 16S0. Vol. i. p. 86 et seq. Fabricii Lux Evangelii, p. 644. 
 
84 IXDEPEXDEXT EASTEJlN CHURCHES. 
 
 office ; and, what is well worthy of notice, they are chosen 
 for ordination by the members of the respective congre- 
 gations. The most objectionable arrangements connected 
 \\^ith the Armenian ministry, consist in their maintenance 
 of confession, both formal and extemporaneous, and 
 subsequent absolution.^ They do not pretend to dis- 
 pense indulgences, but they foster the principles of self- 
 righteousness, by prescribing meritorious *' satisfactions," 
 by fastings, prayers, almsgivings, pilgrimages, and masses. 
 Of the views of the Armenians respecting the nature 
 and person of Christ, which formed the occasion of their 
 separation from the Greek Church, the following ex- 
 tracts from one of the letters of the Rev. Eli Smith, 
 present us with a statement quite in accordance with 
 the result of my own inquiries. " One of the Vartabads 
 here [TJchkeliseh], introduced of his own accord the 
 monophysitrsm of his church, by declaring that it re- 
 ceives only the first three, of the general councils. 
 Nestorius, he said, held to a perfect separation qf the 
 divinity and humanity of Christ, and Eutyches taught 
 that his humanity is absorbed in his divinity. The 
 Armenians, agreeing wnth neither, believe that the two 
 natures are united in one, and anathematize all who 
 hold to a different, creed. In this he spoke advisedly, 
 for it is well known that Eutyches is acknowledged by 
 neither of the three monophysite sects — the' Armenian, 
 the Jacobite Syrian, and the Coptic, including the 
 
 * It would appear that the form of absolution in the Armenian • 
 .Church has been changed from " God remits thy sins," to *'I ab- 
 solve thee from thy sins." Galanus thus writes, " Vera forma" 
 Sacramenti Poenitentia^ seu ExomologensiSj non est absolutio ilia 
 (ab Armeilis olim Presbyteris usurpata,et a Yartanopropugnata): 
 Deus remittit pcccata tna :■ sed hac alia (qiia nunc communiter ipsi 
 utuntur) ; Ego absolvo te a peccatis." Vol. iii. p. 617. ■ 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 85 
 
 Abyssinian, to which his controversy gave birth — and 
 that his alleored doo-ma of a confusion in the natures of 
 Christ is the reason of his rejection, though, perhaps, a 
 candid investigation will hardly find him chargeable 
 with such an opinion.* Another inteUigent ecclesiastic 
 had told us, that not only does his nation hold to one 
 nature, but also to one will, in Christ — thus making the 
 Armenians partake in the monothelite as well as the 
 monophysite heresy. f The same priest, after declar- 
 ing that Christ is perfect God and perfect man, and being 
 asked, also, if the Divine nature was so united to the 
 human as to suffer with it on the cross, replied that 
 it is impossible for the Divinity to suffer ; but in ex- 
 pressing this opinion, he seemed to contradict the for- 
 mularies of his church in which the prayer occurs, 
 * Holy God, and holy strong, and holy immortal, who 
 was crucijled for us, have mercy upon us ;' and with 
 its belief that the Divinity of Christ cleaved to his body 
 even in the grave, so as to render it incorruptible." 
 Like the Greeks, the Armenians hold that the Spirit 
 proceeds from the Father only. Practically, however, 
 they dwell so little on their peculiar opinions respecting 
 the Trinity, that Mr Smith finds himself warranted to 
 say, that " missionaries may convert the whole nation to 
 the truth as it is in Jesus, without feeling themselves 
 once called upon to agitate the questions which, in the 
 times of the first councils, rent the Church asunder." + 
 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 2, intro. dissert. Mosheim Eccles. 
 Hist. vol. i. 
 
 I Compare Assem. Bibl. Orient, vol. iii. p. 607. 
 
 + Smith and Dwight's Researches in Armenia, pp. 419-421. — 
 Connected with the matters here adverted to, the following accu- 
 rate statement by Cotovicus, (Kootwyk) is worthy of notice. It is 
 
86 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 The following extract of replies given by an Armenian 
 bishop at Basrah to Dr Wolff, throws light on their 
 ecclesiastical position and tenets. " What relation have 
 the Armenians to the Coptic and Syrian Churches? 
 Ans. The Armenians have the same faith and tenets as 
 they have. Q. What persons are by them considered 
 as heretics ? Ans. Macedonius, Nestorius, Arius, and 
 Pope Leo. Q. On what authority does the Armenian 
 belief rest ? Ans. The Bible and the three first Coun- 
 cils — 1. Nicea ; 2. Constantinople ; 3. Ephesus. Every 
 other Council is anathematized by the Armenian 
 Church.'* 
 
 The views entertained by the Armenian church of the 
 sacraments are much akin to those of the Greek church. 
 It holds that they are seven in number, namely, baptism, 
 confirmation, extreme unction, the communion, marriage, 
 ordination, and penance. The four first of these are 
 administered together, generally when the child is only 
 eight days old. 
 
 Baptism, according to the rules of the Armenian 
 church, should be administered by a threefold effusion 
 of water by the hand of the priest, followed by a three- 
 well that it is in Latin. " In Christo in primis (uti ot Jacobitse) 
 unam tantum naturam, unam voluntatem, unamque operationem 
 constituunt ; aiuntque Ilumanitatem abysso Divinitatis esse infu- 
 s;un, atque ita ex Divinitate et came unum quid factum. Asse- 
 runt etiam corpus Christi subtile, et agile fuisse, non corruptibile,, 
 neque accidentibus subjectum. Credunt quidem Virginem Mariam 
 Deum peperisse; negant tanaen earn camera ex ea sumpsisse; sed 
 coeleste corpus et spirituale e coelis secum attulisse, atque subtilL- 
 tate sua et agilitate Virginis viscera penetrasse, eorpusque ejus 
 tanquam per canalem pertransisse, atque ita demum statuto a na- 
 tura tempore editum fuisse : Hinc vero incorruptam eam tam ante 
 quam post partum mansisso volent." Itin. Hierosol. p. 207. Aut- 
 v^rpicB, 1619. 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 87 
 
 fold immersion, emblematic of* the Saviour's three days 
 abode in the grave. The present mode of its administra- 
 tion corresponds with the direction of the ritual. " We 
 were assured by more than one intelligent ecclesiastic," 
 says Mr Smith, " that it is by pouring upon the head of 
 the child sitting in the font, a handful of water in the 
 name of the Father, another in the name of the Son, and 
 a third in the name of the Holy Ghost, and then plung- 
 ing the body three times, to signify that Christ was in 
 the grave three days. That entire immersion, and the 
 triple repetition, are not considered essential, however, 
 is proved by the fact, tliat the baptism of even heretical 
 sects, who only sprinkle once, is considered valid, and 
 persons thus baptized are not required, as among the 
 Greeks, to submit to the ordinance again, on entering 
 the Armenian church."* A small colony of Armenians 
 at Kabul applied to the chaplains attached to the British 
 troops for the administration of the ordinance to their 
 children. Three drops of the holy oil are put into the 
 water of baptism before its use, as obsei-ved by an Ar- 
 menian bishop to Dr WolfF.f Baptism, the Armenians 
 view as destructive of original sin, and productive both 
 of regeneration and adoption, and communicative of for- 
 giveness. They pray for the literal descent of the Holy 
 Spirit into the holy oil, which they mix with the water 
 and into the water itself, so that it may receive what 
 they, in common with the Greek church, call " the bene- 
 diction of the Jordan." In the act of baptism, they 
 commemorate " the mother of God and eternal Virgin 
 Mary, St John the Baptist, and all the saints, along with 
 the Lord." Thei» baptismal service, which is given at 
 
 * Smith and Dwight's Researches, p. 305. 
 t WolflTs Journal, vol. iL p. 347. 
 
OO INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 length by Joseph Aloysius Assemanus, bears painful 
 testimony to the degeneracy of their faith."^ As I 
 have myself witnessed, in the chapel of the nativity at 
 Bethlehem, they administer mass, or the communion, 
 in a very ceremonious and pompous manner, with the 
 priests arrayed in gorgeous robes, the waving of incense- 
 pots, washing of hands, bowings, prostrations, and saluta- 
 tions. They believe in the doctrine of absolute tran- 
 substantiation ; and they worship the consecrated ele- 
 ments as the real body and blood of Christ. The effi- 
 cacy which they attach to the mass may be learned from 
 the following extract from one of their prayers : — " May 
 this be for justification, propitiation and remission of sins, 
 to all who draw near. Through it grant love, stability, 
 and desired peace to the whole world ; to the holy church, 
 and all orthodox bishops, priests, and deacons ; to kings, 
 the world, princes, and people ; to travellers and seamen ; 
 to those who are bound, in danger and in trouble, and 
 to those who are fisfhtinor with barbarians. Throuo-h it 
 also grant to the air mildness, to the fields fertility, and 
 to them who are afflicted with diverse diseases, speedy 
 relief. Through it give rest to all who are already asleep 
 in Christ, first parents, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, 
 martyrs, bishops, elders, deacons, and all the members 
 of the holy church. With them also visit us, we pray thee, 
 thou beneficent God."f The Armenians commu- 
 nicate by having a piece of the bread dipped in the 
 wine. 
 
 Confirmation is always administered by the Armenians 
 at the time of baptism. It is generally denominated by 
 
 * Codex Liturg. Eccles. Univers. Lib. sec. p. 194, et seq. 
 t Armenian missal, called Khorhiirtadedr. Smith and Dwight*s 
 Researches, p. 288. 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 89 
 
 them 3Ieirun, from the sacred oil whidi is used on the 
 occasion of its administration.* This oil is applied to 
 the forehead, and the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, 
 heart, back, and feet, by the parish priest and not by 
 the bishop. t Extreme unction, as we have already 
 hinted, is also administered at the time of baptism. The 
 uncertainty of life is urged as the reason of this early 
 administration. By some it is supposed that the rule 
 has fallen pretty generally into disuse in the Arme- 
 nian church. 
 
 Marriage may take place among the Armenians, ac- 
 cording to their ecclesiastical rules, when the girl is ten 
 and the boy fourteen years of age. Betrothments are 
 frequently effected when the parties are of a much more 
 tender age. The seclusion of females is to a great ex- 
 tent practised among them in their fatherland ; but in 
 foreign countries they catch the spirit of an advanced 
 civilization, and restore woman to that position in society 
 which she is fitted and designed to occupy by Him who 
 gave her as a help meet to man. 
 
 The ordination of priests among the Armenians is 
 conducted by the bishops, and of the bishops by the 
 catholicos. They speak, however, of only two distinctive 
 orders of the clergy properly so called, those of the priest 
 and deacon. J Their principal prerequisites to ordination 
 are the simple ability to read, and assent to the orthodox 
 
 * " Meirun is the holy oil which is used at confirmation, ordina- 
 tion, and A^arious other ceremonies, and is one of the principal su- 
 perstitions of the Armenians. Its sanctity is commonly believed 
 to be miraculously attested by its being made to boil by the mere 
 ceremony of consecration." Smith and Dwight's Researches, p. 299. 
 
 t Smith and D wight, p. 305. 
 
 X Smith and D wight, pp. 234, 330. 
 
90 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 creed.* Should there be a revival of literature among 
 them, we may receive from them very interesting de- 
 tails connected with the history of the Christian church 
 in the eastern parts of the world. In the convent at 
 Echmiadzin, they have a very large library, principally 
 of manuscripts of very great antiquity. 
 
 * The following are the replies of an Armenian bishop to the 
 queries of Dr Wolff on the subject of the ordination of priests. 
 
 " If an Armenian desires to become priest, what ceremonies, or 
 forms, must he pass through ? 
 
 " Bishop. — They examine him, whether he is a legitimate child ; 
 then whether he is clever and honest, and whether he can read ; 
 then they consult with the congregation, and then the young man 
 is required to confess whether he has always been a moral man or 
 not. 
 
 " How is he made priest ? 
 
 "Bishop. — He is dressed in church cloth, thenhe kneels down near 
 the church gate. The bishop prays over him, and gives him the 
 key to open the door, saying. Thou must be ready to open the 
 church. Then the candidate goes upon his knees in the church, and 
 then he gives him a thing to sweep the church, saying, Thou must 
 keep clean the church. Then the bishop prays over him, and then 
 he goes some steps farther into the church, and a prayer-book is 
 given to him, and the bishop prays again over him. Then the gos- 
 pel is given to the candidate, then he advances a step farther in the 
 church, and then a bottle of wine is given into his hands, and then 
 he is Dpir, that is sub-deacon. Then they put on him a cloth over 
 the shoulder, and give him a vessel with perfumery, then he makes 
 one step farther, and a Testament is given him, and he becomes 
 head-deacon, i. e. Sarkawak ; when he becomes Sarkawak,he is no 
 longer allowed to marry. After he is Sarkawak he kneels down and 
 ascends three steps of the altar ; the bishop prays and gives him the 
 Testament and the priest's dress, and a cup ; and after this the bishop 
 anoints his forehead and both his hands ; he then stands withboth his 
 hands folded together, whilst another priest performs mass, and then 
 the bishop bows over him ; when the service is over he reads four 
 chapters of the Testament, and must remain forty days in a room 
 near the church, and is neither allowed to see his wife nor family. 
 At the end of this time he celebrates mass, and thus he is Kahanah, 
 f riest." Wolff's Journal, ii. p. 356. 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHUKCH. 91 
 
 The Armenian ritual appoints nine distinct seasons 
 for daily worship, and contains the services for them, 
 viz. " midnight, the hour of Christ's resurrection ; the 
 dawn of day, when he appeared to the two Marys at 
 the sepulchre ; sunrise, when he appeared to his dis- 
 ciples ; tliree o'clock (reckoning from sunrise), when he 
 was nailed to the cross; six o'clock, when the darkness 
 over all the earth commenced ; nine o'clock, when he 
 gave up the ghost; evening, when he was taken from 
 the cross and buried ; after the latter, when he de- 
 scended to hades to deliver the spirits in prison ; and on 
 going to bed. But never, except perhaps in the case of 
 some ascetics, are religious services performed so often. 
 All but the ninth are usually said at twice, viz. at ma- 
 tins and vespers, which are performed daily in every 
 place that has a priest ; the former commencing at the 
 dawn of day, and embracing the first six services, and 
 the latter commencing about an hour before sunset, and 
 embracing the seventh and eighth. On the Sabbath, 
 and on some of the principal holidays, instead of one, 
 there are frequently two assemblies in the morning. '"*''' 
 Mass is as distinct from these services as the communion 
 service in the Church of England is distinct from morn- 
 ing prayer. It is generally performed daily. The 
 Psalms of David, hymns, and anthems, occupy half of 
 the services ; but, being in prose, they are not sung but 
 chanted. Most of the lessons are taken from the Bible ; 
 but a considerable number belong to the Apocrypha, 
 and books of extravagant legends. The prayers are 
 offered up in behalf of the dead, as well as of the living 
 and they are presented" with the invocation of the Virgin 
 Mary, John the Baptist, Sai^ Stephen, and Sarp Gre- 
 * Smith and Dwight's Researches, p. 105. 
 
92 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 gorius Lusavoricli (St Gregory the Eiiliglitener), and 
 other saints, as well as of Him who is the only mediator 
 between God and man. The mode of conducting divine 
 worship among them is often very unlike what is to be 
 expected, when that God, who is a Spirit, is to be wor- 
 shipped in spirit and in truth. The prayers and read- 
 ings are in the ancient Armenian language, which is 
 little, if at all, understood by the common people ; and 
 they are generally read both rapidly and indistinctly, 
 " In the enclosure before the altar," says one who has 
 more frequently witnessed their devotions than myself, 
 " will be two or three priests, surrounded by a crowd of 
 boys from eight to twelve years old, performing prayers ; 
 some swinging a smoking censor, others, taper in hand, 
 reading first from one book and then from another, and 
 all changing places and positions according to rule. The 
 monotonous, inarticulate sing-song of the youthful offi- 
 ciators, with voices often discordant, and stretched to 
 
 their highest pitch, will grate upon your ear You 
 
 will be surrounded by a barefooted congregation, [this is 
 no matter of reproach, for the shoes are taken off for the 
 same reason that our own hats are,] uttering re- 
 sponses without order, and frequently prostrating them- 
 selves and kissing the o-round, with a siojn of the cross at 
 
 every fall and rise Why so large a portion of the 
 
 service has been suffered to pass into the hands of boys 
 is exceedingly strange. They fill the four ecclesiastical 
 grades below the sub-deacon, to which are attached the 
 duties of clerks, or more commonly are substitutes for 
 their occupants, having themselves no rank at all in the 
 church. Of the first 158 pages of the Jamakirk, con- 
 taining the whole of the midnight service, with all its 
 variations for feasts and other special occasions, more 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 93 
 
 than 130, consisting of psalms, hymns, &c. are read or 
 chanted by them under the direction of the priests. . . . 
 Of the remaining pages, some half a dozen belong to the 
 deacons, if there are any, and the remainder, consisting 
 simply of prayers and lessons from the gospels, are read 
 by the priests. All the service, with few other excep- 
 tions than the lessons, and that the priest in the middle 
 of every prayer of any length turns round to wave a cross 
 before the people, and say, ' Peace be to all, let us wor- 
 ship God,' is performed with the back to the congrega- 
 tion If a boy makes a mistake he is reproved, or 
 
 even chastised, on the spot, though a prayer be inter- 
 rupted for the purpose. The people, too, are constantly 
 coming and going, or moving about, and often engaged 
 in conversation."* This gross irreverence, it is but jus- 
 tice to say, is matter of regret with many of the intelli- 
 gent Armenians with whom I have come in contact. 
 The Sabbath, the Armenians regard with greater strict- 
 ness, as far as rest is concerned, than most of the other 
 bodies of eastern Christians ; and few of the people alto- 
 gether neglect attendance at church. This bespeaks on 
 their part some becoming reverence for the divine insti- 
 tution. It would doubtless tend to its better sanctifica- 
 tion, were they to curtail the numerous feast and fast 
 days which they have devised of their own hearts. It 
 is to be lamented that they too often substitute their at- 
 tendance at church for family and private prayer. 
 
 To the worship of saints and angels by the Armenians 
 
 I have already alluded. The material cross on which 
 
 the Saviour died, tliey view as a real, though silent, inter- 
 
 . cesser. In imitation of it, they make artificial crosses 
 
 * Smith and Dwight, pp. 139-141. 
 
94 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 for consecration by water, wine, and the holy oil ; and 
 to these crosses they direct their adorations, believing 
 that Christ becomes inseparably united to them. They 
 worship the pictures of Christ, setting forth that the Re- 
 deemer himself is inherent in them ; and give inferior ho- 
 nour and reverence to the images of the saints and angels. 
 The Armenian bishop of Cairo, when shewing us his 
 church, seemed to be ashamed of their practice in these 
 respects. '' We have here," he said, " only a very few 
 pictures, and these only for purposes of commemoration. 
 But the fewer the better." 
 
 I have alluded to the standard of literary attainment 
 among the Armenian clergy. The state of education 
 among the people of Armenia proper, is in general ex- 
 ceedingly low, the schools being extremely few in num- 
 ber, and limited in the instruction which they communi- 
 cate. Among some of the exterior parts in which Ar- 
 menians are to be found, as we may afterwards have 
 occasion to notice, education is advancing in a very en- 
 couraging manner. There are Armenian presses at 
 Echmiadzin, Constantinople, Smyrna, Moscow, Astra- 
 khan, and Tiflis; and they may be made the means of 
 extensively diffusing useful and divine knowledge within 
 their community. Many important works in the Ar- 
 menian lan^uao-e, which obtain an extensive circulation, 
 are published at the Catholic convent of St Lazarus near 
 Venice ; but it becomes the Armenians to be on their 
 o-uard ao-ainst their beino- ensnared by them to the em- 
 bracement of the tenets and practices of Rome. 
 
 Without enlarging these details, it will be seen that 
 the Armenian church has departed far indeed, in many 
 respects, from the doctrine and discipline of Christ. It 
 delights my heart, however, to say, that its ministers 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 95 
 
 and people are not so hopelessly involved In error as at 
 first sight appears. They are not overborne by human 
 authority, either that of their present ecclesiastics, or of 
 the ancient fathers and councils of the church ; and 
 much as they defer to tradition, they allow that, in mat- 
 ters of faith and practice, the ultimate appeal must be 
 made to the Holy Scriptures. Their ecclesiastical ser- 
 vices are tolerated by some of them more from ignorance 
 than approval of their contents. There is a pretty ge- 
 neral persuasion amongst the more intelligent members 
 of their community, that the primitive days of Chris- 
 tianity were distinguished for gi-eater simplicity in the 
 forms of worship and church-government than the pre- 
 sent. They are not unmindful altogether of the sted- 
 fastness of their forefathers under the direful persecu- 
 tion of the Zoroastrians ; and they are not ignorant of 
 the fact, that love to the Saviour was the grand instru- 
 ment of their support under the tribulation which they 
 were called to endure. They cordially hate Popery, 
 from the insidious inroads which it has striven to make 
 in their own body ; and they are better pleased with 
 their disagreement than with their accordance with 
 Rome.'^ Scattered though they be over a surface of 
 
 * Galanus, the Roman missionary, gives the following summary 
 of the " errors of the Armenians" in the time of Bartholoma3us, also 
 an emissary of Rome, who died in the year 1333. " 1. They assert 
 that there is only one nature in Christ, according to the heresy of 
 Dioscorus. 2. That the Holy Spirit proceeds not from the Son, ac- 
 cording to the error of the Greets. 3. That the souls of the saints 
 do not enter the kingdom of heaven, and of sinners into hell, before 
 the final judgment; but that they all waitthatjudgment inthemiddle 
 of the firmament. 4. That there is no place of purgatory, or of 
 hell. 5. That the Romish Church has not obtained the primacy 
 
96 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 country immensely large, when compared with their 
 numbers, they cherish no small share of commendable 
 fraternal and patriotic feeling. They are, compared 
 with others in the East, to a great extent free from 
 bigotry. If they have not yet received the doctrines of 
 the Reformation, it can scarcely be said that they have 
 rejected them, like the Koman and Greek churches, for 
 it is only lately that the attempt has been made to press 
 them on their acceptance. Some of the prayers which 
 are most popular in their body, are well nigh evangehcal 
 
 over other churches. 6. They detest Pope Leo, and the Council 
 of Chalcedon. 7. They do not observe the Dominical festivals, 
 according to the order observed by the Romish Church, especially 
 the nativity of our Lord. 8. They do not observe the fasts accord- 
 ing to the ecclesiastical canons. 9. They have not all the seven 
 sacraments of the church, omitting confirmation and extreme unc- 
 tion, and being ignorant of the essence of the other sacraments. 
 10. They do not pour water into the cup, when they celebrate the 
 divine sacrifice of the mass. 11." They assert that the Eucharist 
 is not to be dispensed to the people, unless under both kinds ; and 
 therefore they distribute the body of Christ first tinged with his 
 sacred blood in the cup. 12. They celebrate it in cups made of 
 wood or clay. 13. Any priest may absolve the penitent from any 
 sin, without any reservation, even without any case of necessity. 
 14. They are subject to two patriarchs, each of whom claims the 
 patriarchy of the whole of Armenia to himself. 15. The parochials 
 and bishops are constituted by hereditary right, through the vio- 
 l^ice of their kindred. 16. They buy and sell the sacraments 
 of the Church for a price. 17. They make a divorce without a 
 cause between man and wife for the sake of money, contrary to the 
 command of the gospels and the sacred canons. 18. They do not con- 
 coct (conficiunt) the oil of chrism, and of the sick. 19. They give 
 the holy communion to children before the use of reason." Con- 
 di. Eccles. Armen. cum Rom. vol. i.p. 515. Some of these charges 
 against, the Armenians are without foundation ; and for some 
 of the grounds of their differing from Rome they have a scriptural 
 warrant. 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 9? 
 
 throuo-hout.* Many of them, in the different countries 
 of their dispersion, exercise a great influence over the 
 
 * The following occurs in a prayer-book, in the modern Arme- 
 nian, composed by Petrus, Wartabed of Tiflis. The translation is 
 by Dr Wolff. " Jesus Christ, my Lord, thou hast suffered for us 
 sinners, who have been worthy of condemnation on account of 
 our sins ; and thou hast freely saved us without our merits ; thanks 
 be to thee. O Jesus, thou art sweet indeed, and the light of ray 
 eyes. Thy sufferings have been very bitter and grievous indeed 
 which thou sufferedst with thy great condescension, and this for our 
 sake. O how deeply do I feel that we have so heavily sinned that 
 thou hadst to suffer for it. For we are nothing, we soon, very soon 
 pass away ; and thou hast voluntarily suflFered for thy own good plea- 
 sure. I feel in myself nothing but sickness and sins ; and for our 
 sakes thou wert nailed on the cross ; therefore, O Jesus Christ my 
 Lord, as thou didst suffer all these great sufferings, I humbly be- 
 seech thee, that thou mayest inspire in me faith and an experimen- 
 tal knowledge of thy sufferings. This will be sufficient, and I de- 
 sire nothing else in this world, only that I may acquire faith in 
 thee, and love toward thee ; and by which faith and love, thou 
 mayest burn within my heart and in my soul. And grant to ena- 
 ble me always to think in my mind of those things which thou, O 
 Lord, sufferedst ; for if I have acquired such a faith in thee and love 
 toward thee, then the wicked one will never be able to hurt me, 
 nor consume me. Nor shall I ever be afraid of him, relying on, 
 and supported by thy cross, so mighty and so powerful to destroy 
 him. Thou art our Wartabed, our master in truth ; and thou art 
 the light of our heart. Thou art he that healeth our wounds, and 
 thou takest away all our sores, and thou drivest away all our fears, 
 and thou art the giver of tears, tears unto repentance ; and thou 
 enrichest us with thy loving-kindness. Lord, I am undone without 
 thee. I am a dry tree, which giveth no fruit. O Jesus, good Jesus, 
 I humbly beseech thee to hear me for the sake of thy sufferings." 
 AVolff's Journal, vol. ii. p. 357. 
 
 A prayer of Nerses Clajensis of the twelfth century is a great 
 favourite with the Armenians. An edition of it was some time 
 ago printed at the monastery of St Lazarus in no fewer than 
 twenty-four languages, embracing even the Chinese. It is divided 
 into twenty-four sections, corresponding with the hours of the day. 
 It contains many supplications, strictly evangelical, addressed to the 
 
 H 
 
b'u INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 Muhammadans, and Jews, and heathen, among whom 
 they dwell, and exercise their calling as merchants, 
 
 Fathei* and Son, and jn-esented in the name of the Saviour, -^rhose 
 sole mediator ship ^ however, it does not recognise, as it contains a 
 direct reference in the conclusion to " the intercession of the holy 
 mother of God, and John the Baptist, and the first martyr St Ste- 
 phen, and St Gregory our ilhmiinator, and the holy Apostles, 
 Doctors, Martyrs, Patriarchs, Hermits, Virgins, and all thy saints 
 in heaven and earth." 
 
 Should this lecture ever come into the hands of any Armenian, 
 an admirer of this prayei', I would direct his attention to the fol- 
 owing substance of a simple convei'sation which a friend and myself 
 on one occasion had with a priest who approved of that invocation 
 of the saints and angels which it exemplifies, 
 
 " Protestants. — You seem, friend, to l>e very unwell. What is 
 the matter with you ? 
 
 " Priest. — I fear that I am suffering from a consumption. I have 
 tried a change of climate without effect, and now death seems to 
 stare me in the face. 
 
 '• Prot. — Your circumstances are very solemn. "What do yon do 
 in the prospect of death and judgments 
 
 '' Priest. — I ask the saints and angels to recommend me to the 
 Saviour's mercy, 
 
 •' Prot. — Where are the saints ? 
 " Priest. — They are in heaven. 
 
 " Prot. — But suppose them to he a great deal nearer to you than 
 heaven. Suppose them to be on the other side of this plain of Bal- 
 bek, seated on the summits of Momit Lebanon. Do you think that 
 they could hear you, if you were to cry to them from this place ? 
 Do you think that they could lend an ear to hundreds and thou- 
 sands of Christians calling upon them at Damascus, Jerusalem, 
 Constantinople, and ten thousand other places throughout the 
 world, at the same time ? Do you think that they could separately 
 represent the interests of all appealing to them to the Saviour ? 
 
 " Priest. — I do not see how they could ; but you have destroyed 
 my peace, and taken away my hope. 
 
 " Prot. — Only that they may rest upon a sure foundation. Christ 
 the Saviour is everywhere present, and he knows the thoughts of 
 all, and, as God, can receive the prayers of all. He is the " only 
 uiediator between God and man." 
 
THE ARMENIAN" CHURCH. 99 
 
 bankers, shopkeepers, and agents ; and the revival of 
 evangehcal rehgion among them would have a powerful 
 influence in the conversion of the eastern nations to the 
 faith of Jesus. This opinion is quite in accordance with 
 that of the great Fabricius,^ and of every friend of the 
 propagation of our holy faith who has particularly con - 
 sidered their circumstances. " Next to the Jews," says 
 Dr Claudius Buchanan, " the Armenians will form the 
 most generally useful body of Christian missionaries. 
 They are to be found in every principal city of Asia ; 
 
 " Priest. — But will it not be the height of presumption for me a 
 miserable sinner, to call upon his name ? 
 
 " Prot. — You have a divine warrant expressly to pray in his 
 name. ' "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will 
 give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name : ask, and 
 ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.' how little do men 
 knoAv of the grace of Christ, when they refuse to trust him, or to 
 come into his presence without the favour of their fellow-creatures. 
 Be content with him : ' We have an advocate with the Father, 
 even Jesus Christ the righteous.' " 
 
 *"Armenii longe lateque per Asiam commerciorum causa corn- 
 meant, qui possent Religionis Christiante propagationem promovere 
 egregie, si illius successus a^que quam ex mercatura lucrum cordi 
 illis esset." Lux Evangelii, p, 651. (1731.) Before this time we 
 find the traveller Cotovicus (Kootwyk) thus writing of the Arme- 
 nians: — " Armenii peromnem fere orientem latissime sparsi, Syria?, 
 iitriusque Armenise, Mesopotamia, Persidis, Caramenia', necnon 
 Egypti urbes passim inhabitant. Homines sunt acerrimo ingenio 
 pra3diti, mercaturts in primis dediti, atque omnium artium mecha- 
 nicarum peritissimi, ca;terisque in rebus vel maxim e industrii, erga 
 exteros supra modum humani, et benigni; sed et Mahommeteis 
 omnibus grati, acceptiores saltern cieteris Orientis Christicolis ; 
 quamobrem plurimis apud barbaros gaudent immunitatibus, et pri- 
 vilegiis. Grjecis vero in primis inlensi, maxirao jam dudum inter 
 ntranique gentem vigente odio, Latinis auteni studiosiores, quod 
 hos pariter a Graicis odio haberi noverint." Itiner. Hieros. p. 206 
 Antwerp. 1691. 
 
100 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 they are the general merchants of the East, and are in 
 a state of constant motion from Canton to Constantinople. 
 Their general character is that of wealthy, industrious, 
 and enterprising people."* The Rev. Henry Martyn, 
 Dr "Wolff, and other missionary travellers, have spoken 
 strongly of the great hopefulness of their circumstan- 
 ces, compared with those of some of the other eastern 
 churches. 
 
 Though little has hitherto been done for the revival of 
 evangelical religion among the Armenians, they have 
 not altogether been neglected. Nor has their own 
 agency been quite overlooked in the great work of the 
 enlightenment of the eastern world. The friends of the 
 Bible and Missionary Societies in this country are fami- 
 liar with the name of Mr Johannes Lassar, a member 
 of their community, and a native of China, under whose 
 guidance Dr Marshman in the first instance engaged 
 in the study of the Chinese, and with whose assistance he 
 rendered the Scriptures into that most difficult lan- 
 guage. Mr Arratun, a man of piety and devotedness, 
 is at present, as he has been for years, a most useful 
 agent of the Baptist Missionary Society at Calcutta. 
 Mr Johannes Avdall, an Armenian of the same place, 
 is distinguished for his learning, and most zealous for 
 the diffusion of knowledge throughout his nation. He 
 is well acquainted with many eastern languages, and the 
 whole range of Armenian authorship. He is the author 
 of a translation into English of Father Chamich's His- 
 tory of Armenia, and of several minor pieces. Mesrop 
 of Julfah, when in India, translated Bishop Heber's 
 Palestine, into his native tongue. The late Mr Aganur 
 found a place among the literati of Bombay, and his two 
 * Christian Researches, p. 242. 
 
THE ARME^^IA^^ CHUIICH. 101 
 
 sons occupy a most respectable position in that city. 
 Their friendship is highly valued by the members of our 
 own mission there. To one of them, Mr Aviett, who 
 has taken a great interest in my discussions with the 
 Parsis, I have been indebted for a translation of that 
 part of the work of Esnik, an Armenian writer of the 
 tifth century, which refers to the tenets of the ancient 
 Zoroastrians.^ During my own residence in Bombay, 
 five Armenians, who had been attending for some time 
 the ministrations of our mission there, were brought 
 under serious impressions ; and, deeply alive to the 
 errors of the Armenian church which we have already 
 noticed, and afraid, lest continuing with it they should 
 participate in its sins, they voluntarily asked from us, and 
 received, admission into the communion of the Presby- 
 terian church, being desirous, as they said, to avail 
 themselves of its services, at least till an effectual reform 
 should appear among their countrymen. Several Ar- 
 menian youths have been educated in our institution ; 
 and one of them, a young man of promising piety re- 
 turned to Julfah, near Isfahan, his native place, on my 
 leavincT India. 
 
 o 
 
 The first Protestant Mission which seriously directed 
 its attention to the spiritual amelioration of the Ar- 
 menians, was that of the Basle Evangelical Society, 
 established in the Russian province of Georgia in the 
 year 1824. That mission, though, in the first instance, 
 it had particularly in view the conversion of the Muham- 
 madans, did much, and with encouraging success, for 
 the Armenians. Of its proceedings among them, the 
 following is an interesting, and affecting, and instructive 
 
 * Appendix to " The Parsi Religion, as contained in the Zand- 
 avasta," &c. 
 
102 IXDEPENDEXT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 summary, extracted from a retrospect of the Mission 
 drawn up at my request by my excellent friend the 
 Eev. Mr Pfander, one of the missionaries, now in India. 
 Its great interest will form an excuse for its introduc- 
 tion to your notice. 
 
 " The population of these provinces consists of Muhammadans 
 and Armenians ; the Muhammadans, who speak a dialect of the 
 Turkish language, form about two-thirds, and the Armenians one- 
 third, of the whole population. To labour among the former, and 
 occasionally to go over to Persia to distribute the word of God and 
 to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the benighted and 
 deluded Persians, was the principal object of the mission. But as 
 soon as the missionaries got more acquainted with the moral state 
 of the Armenians, and found them, in the towns as well as in vil- 
 lages, suuIl deeply into such a state of ignorance, that they had 
 lost sight altogether of the grand and practical doctrines of the 
 Grospel, and believed Christianity to consist merely in a few exter- 
 nal rites, as fasting, making the cross, praying to the saints, and 
 giving homage to their pictures, «S£c., the missionaries could no 
 longer resist the impression, that it was their duty to attempt an 
 amelioration of their deplorable state, by providing them with the 
 means of getting better acquainted with the glorious and saving 
 doctrines of the Gospel, as well as with their practical bearings. 
 In this view, they were confirmed by the Armenians themselves* 
 manv of whom, including several of the clergy, entreated them 
 not to overlook them altogether, but as Christian brethren to 
 sympathise with their low religious state, and great lack of Chris- 
 tian knowledge, into which they had sunk by the oppression they 
 suffered for several centuries from the Muhammadans, their former 
 masters. They desired the missionaries to establish schools, not 
 only for the Musalmans, but particularly for the instruction of 
 their children. These circumstances induced the missionaries to 
 lay the subject before their friends at home, together with a state, 
 ineut of the necessity of erecting schools for the Armenians, as well 
 ns of providing them with the necessary school-books, and with a 
 number of scriptural tracts and religious books. This plan being 
 approved by the home society, some of them devoted their time and 
 strength to this work, and the others to labour amongst the Mu- 
 hammadans. 
 
 " It must be remarked that the Armenians, in the course of time, 
 liave so much deviated from the old language, into which their pious 
 and learned ancestors more than a thousand years ago translated 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 103 
 
 tlie whole Bible, in which all their numerous religious and literary 
 books have been written, and church serA^ice is still now performed, 
 that it is now only understood by those who learn and study it ; 
 and the common people, though they sometimes can read the gospel 
 in the old language and hear it read in their churches every day, 
 do not understand it. Before therefore the missionaries could do 
 any thing, it was necessary, that the vernacular language should be- 
 well studied, and its orthography and grammar fixed, that the New 
 Testament and useful tracts and school-books might be translated 
 into it. But here the missionaries had to struggle with greater dif- 
 ficulties than they anticipated. The priests and the learned they 
 found, with a few exceptions, greatly prejudiced against the idea 
 of translating the Holy Gospel into such an unholy language as 
 they believed their vernacular one to be, and viewed the attempt 
 as an injurious innovation ; and the language itself was divided 
 into so many dialects, that it was very diflicult to find out, which 
 was the more common and the most proper for being reduced to 
 writing, and introduced as the standard of good vernacular lan- 
 guage. But through the Lord's gracious help, and merciful assist- 
 ance, the missionaries were enabled to overcome all these difficul- 
 ties, and succeeded in the course of some years, in translating, with 
 the assistance of some able and pious Armenians, the New Testa- 
 ment, the Psalms, a number of evangelical tracts, and some religious 
 books into this language, and to prepare and print the necessary 
 school-books. The greatest part of these books have been printed 
 at their own press at Shustri. About a thousand copies of the 
 New Testament, which only latelj^ left the press, together with 
 about 40,000 tracts and school-books, have been distributed by them 
 in the vernacular language amongst the Armenians in Georgia, 
 and in the adjacent provinces of Persia and Turkey. Though the 
 prejudice was at first very great against books in the vulgar tongue, 
 yet it was soon overcome, and the people felt happily surprised to 
 find that they could understand what they read, or was read to 
 them, and began to value the great gain, and to anticipate the bless- 
 ings which this innovation would, in time, bestovv upon their 
 nation. The New Testament was eagerly sought for, and bought 
 in most instances, and the tracts Avere, where bigoted and ignorant 
 priests did not oppose, gladly received. Besides this, a number of 
 schools in several towns and villages were established, and some 
 young Armenians educated for schoolmasters. 
 
 " The intercourse they had with them, when travelling among the 
 Miihammadans preaching the gospel, has been in several instances 
 the means of bringing their Armenian brethren to Christ, A re- 
 markable instance of this kind was the conversion of a respectable 
 
104 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 Armenian merchant at Bakur. When two of the missionaries visited 
 this town in 1828, the first time, he no sooner heard of their arrival 
 and the object for which thev came, than he visited them, and ex- 
 pressed his joy and his readiness to introduce them to his Muham- 
 madan friends. As he was fond of religious conversation with 
 the Muhammadans, he desired the missionaries to teach him, how 
 to speak with them about Christ, and to instruct him how to an- 
 swer their objections. This they gladly did, but when they began 
 to speak with him also about the salvation of his own soul, he said, 
 he wanted now only to know how to convert the Musalmans ; about 
 his own soul they might leave him at peace. Yet as they were 
 much interested in him, they felt it the more their duty to shew 
 him the necessity, above all, of first seeking his own salvation and 
 the kingdom of heaven. In this state they left him ; but a few 
 weeks after, when they returned to the town, they were happily sur- 
 prised at finding them (juite altered, and so anxious about his own 
 salvation, that the whole desire of his heart was now to know how 
 to become a partaker of all the merits and righteousness of Christ» 
 and how to make sure his share in it. lie now sat down with them 
 for some hours every day to read the gospel and have it explained 
 to him, and to mark out all the passages regarding our redemption 
 through Christ. After two years, when they saw him again, they 
 found him truly converted to the Lord, full of grace and unction, 
 overflowing with love to his Saviour, and with a warm desire to 
 glorify Him, and to bring by a holy walk and conversation Arme- 
 nians and Muhammadans to the saving knowledge of Christ. They 
 could not help marvelling at the work of grace, which was visible 
 in him, and gave him gladly the right hand of brotherly fellowship 
 in Christ. And till now he continues to walk worthy of the gospel 
 of Christ, and to be a light and blessing to those around him. Like 
 hira in other places several Armenians have been brought to a 
 concern about their own souls, when they heard and saw the mis- 
 sionaries inviting the Muhammadans around them to come and 
 partake of the salvation of Christ ? Others, again, became in- 
 terested about the truth by reading the tracts and the New Testa- 
 ment printed and distributed by the missionaries, or by the in- 
 struction they had received in their schools. In short, the attention 
 of a great body of the Armenians of Georgia has been by these 
 means turned to the gospel ; a concern about religion and a spirit 
 of inquiry, quite unknown before, has been raised up, and religion 
 has become again a subject of common conversation, whereas in 
 former times religious conversation was believed to belong only to 
 the learned and priests. Many begin now to see, that their church, 
 as well as they themselves, in their life and practice, have gone far 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 105 
 
 astray from the gospel. In one town of Georgia, called Schamochy 
 or Shamachy, a body of from twenty to fifty Armenians, have for 
 several years met together on the Lord's day for reading the gospel 
 and prayer. They and others, though they did not separate from 
 their church, yet renounced her errors and testify openly against 
 them, standing by the evangelical principle, that in matters of re- 
 ligion only what can be proved and established by the gospel is to 
 be believed and regarded as binding, and nothing^more. Several 
 of these awakened Armenians, in the town mentioned and at other 
 places, are truly converted to the Lord, and dear and faithful 
 Christians ; some of them have already gloriously entered into the 
 joy of their Lord. 
 
 " It will be expected, that the great enemy of God would not re- 
 main an inactive looker on at this glorious work, which begun 
 among the Armenians with so promising an aspect ; and so it was. 
 Though many of the Armenian priests, and even some of the 
 higher clergy, expressed their satisfaction to the missionaries, and 
 encouraged them to go on in their endeavours for the good of their 
 nation, yet no sooner the fruit of their labours began to spring up, 
 than the priesthood, fearing the light which was spreading, would 
 at last rflake it no longer possible for them, to hide their ignorance 
 and to conceal their evil doings ; and that they would ultimately 
 lose their influence and gain, which is founded on the ignorance 
 of people and the errors of their church, became violent enemies 
 of the missionaries, and used all their influence to persuade the 
 people, not to read the books of the missionaries, nor send their 
 children to their schools. The Patriarch of the Armenians who 
 resides at Etschmiajin, went even so far, as to send about his emis- 
 saries against them, and to excommunicate those who kept a friendly 
 intercourse with them, or sent their children to their schools. Two 
 deacons who came to the missionaries to be instructed in theology, 
 and who were by their means truly converted to the Lord, and 
 greatly assisted them in their work, were taken away from them^ 
 by force, on the ground of being the inmates of an Armenian mo- 
 nastery, and because they refused to return when the superior or- 
 dered them back. One of them died in faith on the road, and the 
 other was, as there is every reason to believe, poisoned in the mo- 
 nastery, because they could not make him renounce his evangelical 
 principles. 
 
 " In the first instance, this opposition having made some impres- 
 sion, frightened many, and interrupted for a little while the schools 
 and labours of the missionaries ; but the people soon recovered from 
 their terror, and the missionaries could go on as before. But when 
 the Armenian clergy found so many of their nation in favour of 
 
106 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 missionaries and evangelical principles, and felt that their power 
 TiTould not be strong enough to prevent the progress of the gospel 
 and to stop the labour of the missionaries, they applied for aid to 
 the Russian Government. With a view to obtain it, they brought 
 many false accusations against the missionaries before government, 
 alleging that their real object was not the conversion of the Mu.ham- 
 madans, biit to destroy the peace of their church, and to entice the 
 Armenians over to the Lutheran confession, adding that they had 
 already turned a great number of their flocks to the Lutherans ; 
 and begged government to protect their church against such un- 
 lawful inroads. As it was never the object of the missionaries 
 to create dissensions and separations in the Armenian church, nor 
 to bring her members over to the Lutheran, but merely to bring, 
 through the blessing from on high, a new life into the dead body 
 of the Armenian church, and consequently they actualbf dissuaded 
 the converted Armenians from leaving their church, telling them, 
 that according to their opinion, they should remain in her, as long 
 as they were not expelled ; therefore it was not difficult for the 
 missionaries to prove the falsehood of those accusations, and to 
 point out the real sources of them. Yet the Patriarch, joined by 
 the members of the Synod, which is the highest ecclesiastical body 
 in the Armenian church, continued to use all possible means to set 
 the minds of those persons of influence against the missionaries, 
 and to create suspicions of the sincerity of their object, and the 
 usefulness of their labours. For some time their endeavours were 
 in vain, as the minister of the interior at Petorsburgh, under whose 
 protection and inspection the missionaries stood, felt convinced of 
 their sincerity, and was in favour of their labours ; but when the 
 Armenian clergy found the views of the present Governor General 
 of Georgia unfavourable to Protestant missionary labour, they 
 easily succeeded in inducing him to use all his influence, that their 
 labours might be stopped altogether. This he did, and though 
 several of those of high influence at the court at Petersburg!! used 
 their endeavours to overrule these evil machinations, yet at last 
 the Governor succeeded in bringing the greater part of His Ma- 
 jesty's privy counsellors over to his views. Consequently, an or- 
 der was passed, and brought before the Emperor, and signed by 
 him and sent to the missionaries, September 1835, which prohibited 
 them from every kind of missionary labour. It appeared from thi6 
 order, that it was not so much on account of the accusations of 
 the Patriarch of the Armenians, the falsehood of which must have 
 been well known to government, that their labours were prohibited, 
 but more because the Russian clergy declared, or were induced to 
 
THE ARMENIAX CHURCH. 107 
 
 declare, that they wished to send their own missionaries to Georgia, 
 and that therefore, there would be no need any longer for foreign 
 ones, and secondly, that the government suspected, that as foreign- 
 ers the missionaries might spread political principles opposed to 
 those held by themselves. The missionaries thought it their duty, 
 as a last attempt to preserve their labour, to send into the govern- 
 ment at Petersburgh once more, a full and free representation of 
 their labours, and of the principles on which they had acted, beg- 
 ging the minister of the Interior to lay it before His Majesty the 
 Emperor ; but as this was' not done, and they said that, at least for 
 the present, no alteration of the order could be expected, they aban- 
 doned their promising sphere of labour, adoring the mysterious 
 ways of an all-wise Providence, which allowed the enemy to triumph 
 over them, and apparently to destroy, what they have been build- 
 ing up during a ten years' period of labour. 
 
 " Though it may appear to the human, and unenlightened eye, 
 as if their labour has been in vain, yet they are sure that it was 
 not. That the Lord has blessed their endeavours, is clear from the 
 statements mentioned above, and there is no doubt that a lasting 
 blessing will flow from them. To give to a Christian nation the 
 word of God in a language which the people can understand, to pro- 
 vide it with a number of religious books, which lead the mind to 
 take a practical and right view of the doctrines of the gospel, and 
 instrumentally to kindle the fire of a new spiritual life in Christ 
 in a number of individuals of that nation, however small this num- 
 ber may be, and to excite in many others an interest to know and 
 understand the truth, is, there can be no doubt, to originate a better 
 and a new era for such a nation. Although the missionaries have 
 now left their friends and brethren among the Armenians of Geor- 
 gia to themselves, yet they feel assured that the Lord will carry 
 on the work he has begun amongst them, and will make true, what 
 one of their greatest enemies among the higher orders of the Arme- 
 nian clergy uttered, who, when he was in Schamochy, whither he 
 was gone to preach, and set the people against the missionaries, 
 but finding that nobody would hear him, said in the anger of his 
 perverted zeal : ' I see the Germans have kindled such a fire as 
 will never be extinguished again.' The leaven is cast into the 
 mass, and will in its time leaven it through. That the Lord is in 
 our days preparing the Armenian Church, which he, for wise pur- 
 poses, has kept for so many centuries in the midst of the Muham- 
 madan nations, for a better religious state, this observation cannot 
 escape any one, who is acquainted with the present state of the 
 Armenians." 
 
108 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 Before the breaking up of the German mission in 
 Georgia, that province, as well as the other provinces 
 under Russia and Turkey, in which the Armenians re- 
 side, was visited by the Rev. Messrs Smith and Dwiglit, 
 who prosecuted their exertions among them with great 
 judgment in behalf of the American Board of Commis- 
 sioners for Foreign Missions. Permanent missionary 
 stations have been formed, in consequence of their in- 
 quiries, by the body they represented, at Trebizond and 
 Erzerum, in the Turkish dominions, where the good work 
 of evangelical reformation is proceeding. The American 
 missions in Syria, Asia Minor, and Constantinople, as 
 they bear upon the Armenioins, I shall briefly notice in 
 connexion with my journey from India to this country. 
 
 When at Cairo, I visited the Armenian bishop, along 
 with Mr Walne the English Consul ; and was received 
 by him with great kindness. He informed me that the 
 Armenians in Egypt, now members of the Armenian 
 church, to the exclusion of those who have become Papists, 
 amount only to about 600 souls. He represented them 
 as generally educated men, holding the most respectable 
 situations, and dwelt much on the virtues of their head, 
 Boghos Yusep, the prime minister and faithful servant of 
 Muhammad Ali the Pasha, who was lately removed from 
 this sublunary scene, regretting much that, owing to his 
 absence in Alexandria, I should not have the pleasure of 
 making his acquaintance. The bishop appeared one of the 
 most intelligent orientals whom I have met, a most lively 
 and cheerful person, and a professed foe of bigotry. " The 
 differences among Christians," he remarked, " would be 
 much lessened, if the Bible were viewed as the supreme 
 authority. I myself am much of a Protestant." When 
 he was shewino^ us his church and directing^ attention to 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 109 
 
 its pictures and other pieces of furniture, and when I 
 remarked that we had neither images nor altars in Scot- 
 land ; and that we administered the Lord's Supper seated 
 in a social form around a table, he added, " So did Christ 
 and his apostles."* He lamented his ignorance of the 
 original languages of Scripture. I presented him with a 
 copy of the New Testament in the modern Armenian 
 language, and with a couple of tracts, all printed in Cal- 
 cutta. The language of the former, he commended for 
 its intelligibility. He shewed us his library, containing 
 a few scores of volumes, from the Armenian presses 
 at Echmiadzin, Venice, and Constantinople, and told us 
 that he regularly received the Armenian newspaper en- 
 titled " The Dawn of Ararat," published at Smyrna, of 
 which he had a few numbers beside him. In reply to my 
 inquiries about the history of the Armenians in Egypt, he 
 stated that, about 700 years ago, no fewer than 20,000 
 were introduced into the country as slaves, and that about 
 a century later they were joined by considerable numbers 
 of their countrymen. The descendants of these persons 
 were gradually amalgamated with the Copts and Moslims. 
 From the assumption of power by Muhammad Ali, the 
 
 * The Armenian church at Cairo is small, but a most respectable 
 erection, and fitted up in a tasteful manner. Like the other eccle- 
 siastical edifices of the people to whom it belongs, it is destitute of 
 forms or chairs, but carpets and cushions are spread on the floor for 
 the accommodation of the worshippers, when they may wish to seat 
 themselves according to the custom of the Orientals. Several ex- 
 cellent chandeliers are suspended from the roof. It is well lighted 
 from without, and is free from the gloom which characterizes most 
 buildings, public and private, at Cairo. A candle is always kept 
 burning near the altar, as a symbol of the illumination of the 
 Holy Spirit, a sign not appointed for use by the New Testament, 
 and which I have heard objected to by some Armenians them- 
 selves. 
 
iiU IXD£PENDE^'T EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 present Armenians date their immigration. A few of 
 them, in the first instance, came as travelUng merchants ; 
 and about twenty-five years ago they began to be joined 
 by members of their famihes. At one time they were 
 more numerous than they are at present, reckoning them- 
 selves about 2000. They have two churches in Cairo, 
 one at Marminah near Old Cairo, and one at Alexandria. 
 Besides themselves there is a small body of Koman Ca- 
 tholic Armenians in Egypt. The bishop introduced me 
 to some of his clerical friends when I was with him ; and 
 in return for my visit, he waited upon me at my lodg- 
 ings, bringing Vv^ith him a letter which he wished me to 
 carry to one of his young relatives at Constantinople, 
 whom he asked me to take to Scotland for his educa- 
 tion. Besides making the acquaintance of the bishop, I 
 had the pleasure of meeting with Hekykian Bey, the 
 most proficient of all the Egyptians sent by Muhammad 
 Ali to Europe for their education. His shrewd master 
 has marked his sense of his attainments by raising him 
 to the rank of a noble, which he well deserves. He is a 
 person of great ability ; but his views of religion have 
 been considerably affected by his residence in France. 
 
 The Armenians resident at Jerusalem, exclusive of 
 the ecclesiastics, I found to be few in number. Having 
 been recommended to the patriarch by the bishop of 
 Cairo, I visited that dignitary at the Armenian convent, 
 which is said to be the richest at Jerusalem, and which, 
 judging from its appearance and extent, I should cer- 
 tainly say is the greatest establishment of the kind in the 
 holy city, — a striking memorial of the devotion of the 
 Armenians to Jerusalem as a place of pilgrimage, their 
 liberality of contribution, and their influence, even though 
 destitute of political power, with the Muhammadan go- 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. Ill 
 
 vernment, in the acquisition of property and privileges. 
 The patriarch received me and my companions with great 
 kindness ; but though we remained with him for a con- 
 siderable time, our conversation with him was rather H- 
 mited, owing to the circuitous manner in which it was con- 
 ducted. Arabic not being understood by his interpreter, 
 we had to get our questions translated into Turkish, and 
 from Turkish into Armenian, and vice versa, before we 
 could get an answer to our inquiries. He appeared to 
 be treated with the highest honour by those M'ho ap= 
 proached him, and was addressed in terms similar to 
 those bestowed on majesty in the West. He declared 
 his friendliness to missionary efforts for the conversion 
 of the Jews. He invited us to take up our abode with him 
 durino- our residence in Jerusalem : but we were unable 
 to accept his invitation. His secretary shewed us all his 
 buildings ; and when he pointed out the hall in v/hich the 
 monks take their meals together, he directed our attention 
 to a large liturgical volume from which passages are usual- 
 ly read when they are engaged in eating. That intelligent 
 priest seemed to regard the ruins of the " city of the 
 Great King," which he shewed to us from the summits 
 of the convent, with an interest and enthusiasm, exceed- 
 ing any thing we had witnessed among either the Greek 
 or Latin monks. We were sorry to observe the Ar- 
 menian pilgrims in the gorgeous church of St James, and 
 especially the women, doing reverence, by kissing, to all 
 its distinct apartments and accessible objects, and pros- 
 trating themselves before its altars and pictures. JMany 
 of them had come from the most distant places that they 
 might enjoy these imaginary privileges, and engage in 
 these foolish and sinful ceremonies. The appearance of 
 the church is much calculated to impose upon their senses. 
 
112 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 Its walls are covered with cloth of rich embroidery ; and 
 the pnlpits, altars, and other fixtures are set with tortoise- 
 shell and mother-of-pearl. Ancient tradition is appealed 
 to, to add to its sacredness. It is alleged that it, or a small 
 adjoining convent, contains the stone with which the 
 sepulchre of our Lord was closed. Beside the large con- 
 vent and church now noticed, the Armenians have a small 
 nunnery in its neighbourhood called Ez-zeituni, and an- 
 other convent outside the city, but also on Mount Zion, 
 which they allege to be the house of Caiaphas, and where 
 with all gravity they point out the spot where Peter de- 
 nied his master, and the cock crew, and where was the 
 prison of our Lord ! They have a chapel, or oratory, 
 too, in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is sad in- 
 deed to think that they publicly participate with the 
 Greeks in the fraud of the holy fire. Their priests al- 
 lege that they view the fire as not really miraculous, but 
 merely emblematical of the descent of the Holy Spirit. 
 They do not, however, undeceive their people as to the 
 actual nature of the transaction. For a few years, indeed, 
 they stood aloof from the Greek imposition ; but, owing 
 •to the clamour of the people, they scrupled not again to 
 give it their direct countenance. The two excellent Ame- 
 rican missionaries at Jerusalem, Messrs Whiting and 
 Lanneau, embrace every opportunity presented to them 
 of aiding the circulation of the evangelical books and 
 tracts preparedin the Armenian language by their breth- 
 ren at Smyrna and Constantinople. The late Rev. Levi 
 Parsons, the first Protestant missionary who entered 
 Jerusalem,* with a view to permanent residence, was cor- 
 dially received by the Armenians to whom he addressed 
 
 * On the 17th January 1821. 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 113 
 
 himself ; and the missionaries to this day acknowledge the 
 comparative kindness of the sons of Haik to whom they 
 have access. 
 
 During my travels from Jerusalem to Beirut I was 
 accompanied by several Armenians from Diarbeker. Not 
 one of them was able to read. It appears that their 
 countrymen in the quarter from which they come are very 
 generally in a state of ignorance. At Damascus, I found 
 the number of resident Armenians to be 190. The 
 total number under the whole of that large pashalik, is 
 under 3000. 
 
 The American Mission at Beirut, which was first esta- 
 bhshed in the year 1823, had its first fruits, as far as 
 the assumption of an evangelical profession is concerned, 
 among the Armenians. An Armenian archbishop, and 
 a bishop, and a priest, appeared to profit much by the in- 
 structions of Mr Goodell, while prosecuting his study of 
 the Armeno-Turkish at Sidon. I am uncertain of the 
 degree of satisfaction which they continued to give to the 
 mission. Only few of their nation are within the in- 
 fluence of the mission at Beirut. 
 
 The Armenians at Smyrna have been frequently 
 brought to notice by European travellers, who have given 
 very contradictory accounts of the state of their com- 
 munity. Letters which I had brought with me from 
 India gave me ready access to them ; and I was much 
 pleased to find their circumstances highly encouraging 
 as far as the progress of education and social improve- 
 ment, if not of religious inquiry, are concerned. Their 
 numbers amount to about 4500 souls ; and ample provi- 
 sion seems to be made for their general instruction. In the 
 Mesrobian School, — in which the Armenian, ancient and 
 modern Greek, Turkish, Italian, French, and English 
 
114 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 languages, as well as Arithmetic, Geography, and Ma- 
 thematics, are taught, — there are 300 boys prosecuting 
 their studies. The Sarkisian female school, — in which 
 the Armenian and French lancruao;es and the different 
 kinds of female work are taught, — is attended by about 
 200 girls. An extensive hospital has been founded for 
 the sick of the community. An educational society has 
 been formed for the diffusion of a simple, moral, and 
 economical education, in the different villages of Asia 
 Minor in which Armenians reside. Two presses are 
 constantly employed. At one of these a weekly news- 
 paper, entitled " The Dawn of Ararat," is pubhshed. 
 This periodical, which is read in various countries of 
 the world, is edited by Mr Lucas Balthazar, a devoted 
 philanthropist, and a true friend of his kindred according 
 to the flesh. The American Mission, through its press, 
 too, is multiplying excellent Christian works to the fullest 
 extent of its means, for distribution in various parts of the 
 Turkish empire ; and the Rev. Mr Adger, and the Rev. 
 Mr Rio'ss, zealous and able aQjents, are devoted to the 
 work of the Lord among the Armenians. Mr Lewis, 
 the excellent English chaplain, embraces opportunities 
 also of doing them good. 
 
 The American Mission at Constantinople, which was 
 founded in 1831 by Mr Goodell, whom we have already 
 noticed in connexion with the mission in Syria, has from 
 its very commencement proved a great blessing to the 
 numerous and influential Armenians of that great city. 
 It has been the means, by the schools which it has in- 
 stituted, the books which it has prepared and distributed, 
 and the oral announcement of the Gospel in public and 
 private, of exciting much serious inquiry, and producing 
 salutary religious impressions among not a few Armenians. 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 115 
 
 Of the success which it has experienced, and of its pre- 
 sent wants, I think it my duty to take special notice, by 
 laying before you the substance of two important letters 
 which I have received from the missionaries since I had 
 the pleasure of making their personal acquaintance. 
 
 " You have been amongst us," says the Rev. H. G. 
 0. Dwight, "and have had some opportunity of judging 
 from personal observation, of the extent and importance 
 of the work of reform that is going on in the Armenian 
 cliurch. That this work is the effect of the special opera- 
 tions of the Holy Spirit, we have, what appears to us, 
 the most satisfactory evidence. One circumstance in re- 
 gard to it, is full of interest and promise, and that is, 
 that, not only at the metropolis, but throughout the in- 
 terior of the country also, wherever Armenians are 
 found, there is also found a preparation of mind to re- 
 nounce old errors, and to receive the truth in its sim- 
 plicity and power. This is evidenced by the fact, that 
 wherever missionaries have gone preaching the gospel, 
 they have found among the Armenians an open ear, and 
 in every place where continued efforts have been made, 
 souls have been converted unto God ; and even in many 
 places where no missionary's voice had been heard, by- 
 means of the printed word, souls have been awakened, 
 and some, we have every reason to believe, truly con- 
 verted. I could relate many instances, in which in- 
 dividuals far in the interior of the country have had their 
 minds opened through means of a tract or book from our 
 press, that fell into their hands ; and in some of these 
 cases the awakening has extended from one to another, 
 until a large number have been enlightened. In Nico- 
 media, for example, a tract (the Dairyman's Daughter) 
 and the New Testament v/ere left by a passing mission- 
 
116 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 ary in the hands of an Armenian. A priest got hold 
 of the books, and was led by the perusal of them to the 
 conclusion that he never had known what true religion 
 is. He began to open his mind to a brother priest in 
 the same church. And they soon became thoroughly 
 convinced of the truth of evangelical religion, and we 
 hope truly regenerated by the Spirit of God. As a 
 natural consequence, they laboured for the salvation of 
 the people of their charge, and now there are a number 
 of praying souls in Nicomedia, and they sometimes meet 
 for prayer, amidst scoffs and threats, to the number of 
 sixty or seventy souls. A similar work has been car- 
 ried on at Aderbazar by very similar means. Indeed, 
 wherever our books have gone we have reason to be- 
 lieve that some souls have been awakened. All this 
 shews to us that the set time of the Lord to favour the 
 Armenian people, has come. Similar labours have been 
 performed among the Greeks, for a much longer period 
 of time; but hitherto without any such result. We 
 seem to be called upon by the special providence of 
 God towards the Armenians, to arise and possess the 
 whole land ; and yet, with all these encouraging prospects, 
 we find ourselves greatly straitened for want of the re- 
 quisite means for prosecuting the work. We are par- 
 ticularly embarrassed in the printing department ; and 
 it is with the hope that you may be able to induce some 
 of the good people of Scotland to come forward and aid 
 us in this time of our pressing need, that I proceed to lay 
 before you a few statements in reference to this portion 
 of our labours here."* 
 
 * " We have already published between thirty and forty differ- 
 ent books and tracts in the Armenian and Armeno- Turkish lan- 
 guages; all of which, with the exception of three or four school 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 11? 
 
 " You will be glad," says the Rev. H. A. Homes, 
 *' of a word or two about the Armenians. The work is 
 makino' o-radual progress, and in a manner that we can 
 definitely see it. We hear of new cases of awakening 
 in different parts of the city, even if a long time passes 
 before we can see the individuals themselves. There 
 has been a new and interesting developement in the 
 interest taken by the female portion of this community, 
 from whom, owing to the Asiatic prejudices of society, 
 
 books, are decidedly religious and evangelical works. Among these 
 are the whole Old and New Testaments in Armeno-Turkish, and 
 the New Testament and book of Psalms in modern Armenian ; and 
 the whole Old Testament is now in the process of translation into 
 the Armenian language. Twelve of our books are now out of 
 print ; and we have no means of reprinting them, and at the present 
 rate of printing and distribution, our shelves must ere long be 
 emptied, and we know not how they can be replenished. Besides 
 the Old Testament already alluded to, the following works are in 
 a state of preparation for the press, or are actually prepared, and 
 yet we have no means of printing them. 1. An abridgement of 
 D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation. 2. A Book of Prayer. 
 3. A Reference Testament. 4. An original Essay on the Character 
 and Office of the Holy Spirit. 5. A Text of Scripture and Medita- 
 tion for every day in the year. 6. Wayland's Moral Science. 
 7. Two or three Sermons. 8. Gallaudet on Natural Theology. 
 9. Abbot's Young Christian. 10. A volume of short Narrative 
 Tracts. 11. On Reading the Sacred Scriptures. 12. Lives of the 
 Prophets. The first seven of these are in the modern Armenian 
 language, and the last five in the Armeno-Turkish. I may also 
 state, that we published for four years, a monthly magazine in 
 Armenian, which proved to be very useful, though we have been 
 compelled to suspend it from want of funds. * * * I would 
 state in closing this communication, that the number of Armenian 
 and Armeno-Turkish books distributed last year from Constanti- 
 nople alone, was nearly 12,000 copies ; and it must be remembered 
 that there are also four other missionary stations of our Board in 
 Turkey, from which our books are also distributed. Many of these 
 books are sold, and in fact the comparative amount of gratuitous 
 distribution is becoming less every year. 
 
118 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 we have been much separated.* In two or three casep, 
 numbers have come on purpose to hear the gospel 
 preached, and arrangements have been made at their 
 own request to have regular preaching to them in two 
 different places, and this in addition to the places already 
 established for preaching to men. Our schoolf is fill- 
 ing up with pious young men, who will, we hope, here- 
 after be a blessing to their nation. An evangelical 
 priest was lately cast into prison by the patriarch, on the 
 charge of having preached infidelity in the interior, and 
 was called upon to sign a paper retracting all his errors. 
 He declared that he aimed to preach nothing but the 
 truth as it is in Jesus, and that they might cut off his 
 head as the Musalmans had lately cut off the head of 
 an Armenian, but that it would be useless to ask him to 
 sign a paper, no more to preach what he believed to be 
 true. We praise God that he was enabled to witness a 
 good testimony, and as the reward thereof so soon to 
 receive his liberty. We know of a dozen towns in 
 Asia Minor where are to be found pious Armenians ; 
 and in many of these places they meet for the study of 
 
 * In the clixirches of the Armenians, as in the Jewish synagogues, 
 the females are uniformly k ept apart from the males, being generally 
 crowded into a small receding gallery, or orchestra, separated by 
 lattice-work from the body of the building. 
 
 •j- This is a boarding-school, principally for Armenian youth, at 
 Babek, a small village on the European side of the Bosphorus. 
 It is under the assiduous superintendence of one of the missionaries, 
 the Rev, Mr Hamlin, formerly assistant to the celebrated Dr Pay- 
 son. I had the pleasure of attending an examination of it during 
 my visit to Constantinople, and witnessing the progress of the pu- 
 pils both in sacred and secular knowledge. The relative of the 
 Armenian Bishop of Cairo, whom he wished me to take to this 
 country, is attending this school, where every attention is paid to 
 his improvement. 
 
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 119 
 
 the scriptures, which they take as their only rule of faith 
 and practice. This is the Lord's doing and it is mar- 
 vellous in our eyes." Those who seriously reflect on the 
 degraded state of the Armenian church, will be most 
 readily disposed to appreciate this great work of divine 
 grace, and to seek to forward it by their contributions and 
 their prayers. 
 
 When I was with the American missionaries at Con- 
 stantinople, I promised to endeavour to procure in this 
 country the means of printing a translation into the Ar- 
 menian language of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism 
 with the Scripture proofs, and of the excellent pamphlet 
 on the Culture of the Mind of the late eminent physi- 
 cian and universal philanthropist Dr Abercrombie, pro- 
 vided they would kindly effect a translation of these 
 small but important works. Both of them, I am happy 
 to say, have been lately published, the latter at the sole 
 expense of the author of the English original, who ap- 
 peared to take the greatest interest in the work of the 
 Christian enlightenment of the Armenians, when it was 
 brouorlit to his notice. I wish that we could ofive exten- 
 sive assistance to our American brethren in their opera- 
 tions connected with the press, and that they could tell 
 the Armenians that many Christians beside those of the 
 yeni-dunid, or new world, feel a deep and growing inte- 
 rest in their spiritual welfare. 
 
 Ill, THE SYRIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The great body of the members of this church is now 
 found in Mesopotamia, particularly in the neighbour- 
 hood of Mousul and Mardm, where their hio-hest eccle- 
 fiiastical functionary, the " patriarch of Antioch" as he 
 
120 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 is denominated, at present resides.* In this part of the 
 world, their population probably amounts to about 
 150,000 souls. In the pashalik of Aleppo, and chiefly 
 in that city and in Antioch, they number probably about 
 2000 souls. In Damascus they have only a few faniihes. 
 There are very few, if any, of them to be found in Leba- 
 non ; and in the southern parts of the Holy Land, in- 
 cluding Jerusalem, where they have a bishop and a mo- 
 nastic establishment, they probably do not exceed a hun- 
 dred or two. t In the provinces of ^Malabar and Tra- 
 vankur in India, their numbers, by the persecutions and 
 frauds of the Roman Catholics, have been considerably 
 reduced. Those who remain independent of Rome, in 
 a letter to their brethren of Mesopotamia, stated their 
 numbers a few years ago at 11,972 families, having 
 forty-five churches and a half. In the government cen- 
 sus of Travankur of 1836, they are given at 118,382 
 souls, the Romo- Syrians being, in addition to this num- 
 ber, 56,184 souls. 
 
 * The patriarchs profess to trace their ecclesiastical descent 
 from Peter the Apostle, " patriarch of Antioch." Besides their 
 own name, they now take that of Ignatius, from that of the " third 
 patriarch of Antioch." Dr Wolff gives a list of the patriarchs 
 from the Syrian archives in the second volume of his Journal. 
 This missionary met the Syrian patriarch at Damascus, at which 
 place he was on a visit, in 1834. One of the bishops, on that occa- 
 sion, said of the patriarch, " This is our Pope !" The patriarch 
 replied, " AVe must not say we are of Paul or Apollos." 
 
 ■f Robinson and Smith (Biblical Researches, vol. iii. p. 461) say, 
 " The number of the Jacobites (Syrians) in Syria is very small. A 
 few families in Damascus and in Nebk,the village of Sudud [Zedad 
 of Scripture], and a part of the village of Kuryetein, a small com- 
 munity in Hums, with a few scattered individuals in two or three 
 neighbouring villages, a similar community in Hamah, g-nd pro- 
 bably a smaller one in Aleppo, constitute nearly or quite the 
 amount of the sect." 
 
THE SYRIAN CHURCH. 121 
 
 The Syrian Christians call themselves Jacobites. 
 When interroo"ated as to the reason of their appropria- 
 tion of this denomination, they generally allege that 
 they are the descendants of Jacob or Israel ; that they 
 are the descendants of the earhest converts of the apostle 
 James, and that they are the adherents of the monk 
 Bardai,* Jacob Baradseus or Baradat, who died bishop 
 of Orfa (Edessa) in Mesopotamia in the year 558, and 
 who, during his active career, was so successful in reunit- 
 ing the monophysite sects throughout the whole of the 
 east. 
 
 The Syrian Christians use the Syriac language in their 
 church services, even though with most of them it has 
 become obsolete. They communicate very little instruc- 
 tion, and offer up almost no prayers, through the me- 
 dium of Arabic, or any other language that may be ver- 
 nacular to them in the parts of the world in which they 
 sojourn. 
 
 The church authorities to which they look may be 
 ascertained from the following passage which occurs in 
 their liturgy for the mass : — " Again, we remember 
 those of the saints who excelled in holiness, died, and 
 were comforted ; and who preserved, handed down, and 
 taught us an apostolical and spotless faith. We openly 
 acknowledge the three holy, pure, and Catholic Councils 
 of Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus, in which were 
 our fathers, holy, exalted, and God-fearing Malpans. 
 We remember holy James, the head of the Metrans,t 
 
 * This is the Arabic form of the name. In Syriac, it is Fasselita. 
 " Bardai appelhitus est quod ei araictus erat, e segminibus Alba- 
 radai sen dorsualium qiite jumentis insterni solent consutis." — 
 Eutych. torn, ii, p. 147, in Renaudot. Liturg. Orient. Collect, torn. 
 ii. p. 342. 
 
 f Metran literally means metropolitan. Among the eastern 
 churches, however, it is used as synonymous with bishop. 
 
122 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 and the first in Jerusalem, an apostle and martyr : Ig- 
 natius, Clemens, Dionysius * Athanasius, Julius, Basil, 
 Gregory, Dioscorus, Timothy, Philoxenus, Antonius, 
 Evanius, and particularly our father Cyril, who was a 
 lofty and true wall, and the professor who openly ac- 
 knowledged the manhood of the Son of God. We re- 
 member our Patriarch Severus,"f the crown of the Sy- 
 rians, a skilful orator, a pillar and doctor of all the holy 
 churches of God, and our holy father St James (Jacob 
 Baradseus), the precursor of the true faith : holy Eph- 
 raim our master, St James,J St Barsumas, the head of 
 the mourners, St Simeon the Stylite, the chosen St 
 Abeia, and those who, either before or after them, left, 
 handed down, or taught us a right and pure faith. May 
 their prayers be our wall. Lord have mercy upon us !"§ 
 This passage, which is pregnant with meaning to the 
 student of ecclesiastical history, puts an end to the 
 many conjectures which have been formed respecting 
 the creed of the Syrian church. It is to be observed 
 that it makes no mention of Eutyches himself, who is 
 alleged to have maintained that " the divine nature of 
 Christ had absorbed the human, and that consequently 
 in him there was but one nature, viz. the divine ;" while 
 
 * Dionysius the Great, bishop of Alexandria in the third cen- 
 tury. 
 
 t Of Antioch. 
 
 * Of Nisibin ? The Syrians have so many persons of this name, 
 that it is diflBcult to identify the person here referred to. 
 
 § MS. translation of the Syrian Mass-Book in the possession of 
 the Rev. .1. C. Thompson of Qiiilon. This document, translated, I 
 believe, directly from the Syriac, I find to be fuller than the Ordo 
 Cotmnunis Liturgioe secundum ritum Syrorum Jacobitarum, in the 
 Liturgiarum Orientalium Collectio of Renaudot. This author, 
 however, gives in a note (torn. ii. p. 103) a longer list of Syrian 
 doctors than that set forth in this commemoration. 
 
THE SYRIAN CHURCH. 123 
 
 it mentions with reverence some of the principal sup- 
 porters of the alhed sect of monophysites, who taught 
 that " the divine and human nature of Christ were so 
 united as to form only one nature ; yet without any 
 chano-e, confusion, or mixture of the two natures." The 
 name of Barsumas, the famous Nestorian, too, finds a 
 place. Before its impregnation with monophysitism, the 
 Syrian church was doubtless much under the influence 
 of the followers of the ill-used and much misrepresented 
 Nestorius, as well as extended by them, in the exercise 
 of their most commendable missionary zeal, to India 
 and other distant countries. The ministers of the Sy- 
 rian church whom I have met in the east have generally 
 expressed themselves in a manner not very inconsistent 
 with orthodoxy. The union of the natures of Christ is 
 so complete, they have said, that there is unity in these 
 natures. The Godhead and manhood of Christ, however, 
 being unchanged, there is still duality. To our expla- 
 nation, — the unity is that of oneness of person, while the 
 two nature sare still distinct, — they generally, in the end, 
 have not objected. Except perhaps in the case of Euty- 
 ches, with whom the Syrians indignantly disclaim all 
 connection, the Christian church was divided by little 
 more than a logomachy respecting the nature of Christ 
 in the fifth century. 
 
 The liturgical works of the Syrian church, as far as I 
 have been able to inspect them, appear to present a con- 
 siderable amount of evangelical doctrine and supplication 
 addressed directly to the Saviour. They are far, however, 
 from being free from the most dangerous errors. In 
 fact, we can see in them most of the falsities which we 
 have pointed out in connexion with the Armenian church, 
 such as the worship of the saints, particularly " Holy 
 
124 IXDEPENDENT EASTERX CHURCHES. 
 
 Mary, the Mother of God," and John the Baptist, the 
 constant intercessors with the Saviour in behalf of those 
 who call upon their names, and who make odoriferous 
 incense ascend to their delectification, and the first of 
 whom is addressed in the most blasphemous language ;* 
 the doctrine of baptismal regeneration ;t the transub- 
 stantiation of the elements of bread and wine used in the 
 Lord's Supper into the real body and blood of Christ, and 
 the presenting them as a real sacrifice to God, both for 
 
 * Let the following suffice as an example : — "0 beautiful virgin, 
 the mother of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who by his saving mani- 
 festation removed from us the darkness of sin and the error of de- 
 struction, what tongue is sufficient to speak thy exaltation ? We 
 know that thou art the spring of life, the fountain of salvation, the 
 blessed ground and ladder that leadeth to heaven. Therefore, 
 thou fleshly chariot, in which the Lord of angels dwelt, blessed art 
 thou : thou the burning bush in which the ark of the highest was 
 seen, blessed art thou : We marvel at thee : O thou who art full of 
 goodness, pray with us now to thy Son, who sprang from thee, 
 that in his grace and mercy, he may blot out our sins and trans- 
 gressions, and make us and our dead fit for the house in Jerusalem, 
 and for Abraham's bosom." Syrian Mass Liturgy. 
 
 t In the second book of the Codex LiturgicusEcclesia? Universae of 
 Joseph Aloysius Assemanus, there are given three forms of baptism 
 according to the ritual of the Syrians. In each of these the literal 
 descent of the Holy Spirit into the waters of baptism is invoked ; 
 and the Holy Spirit is represented as regenerating the soul by the 
 waters of baptism. According to these forms, the face of the child 
 is to be turned toward the East in the Bapistry, and a triple affu- 
 sion of water to be made with the left hand of the priest at the 
 pronunciation of the name of each of the persons of the Trinity. 
 The rubricks directing the celebration of the rite superadd, parti- 
 cularly in connection with the anointing of the body, a concomitant 
 of baptism in the Syrian Church, various other unscriptural cere- 
 monies to which the greatest importance is attached. Tom. ii. p'p. 
 211, et seq. The rite of confirmation follows that of Baptism and 
 Chrism, after the expiry of seven days. Tom. Hi. p. 191. 
 
THE SYRIAN CHURCH. 125 
 
 the dead and living who profess the true faith ;* prayers 
 for the dead, that they may be delivered from depriva- 
 tions and chastisements rendered necessary by their im- 
 perfections and sins ; and the exaltation of the priest to 
 the work of Christ himself in forgiving sins and dispens- 
 ing judgment. Connected with this latter subject, the 
 following strano;e exhortation occurs in the mass- book : — 
 " God has given to men two dominions ; one to the king, 
 the other to the priest. God has given the chief place 
 on earth to the king, and the sure dominion over the 
 living in the judgment to the priest. The Lord has not 
 given power to the king to take the censer ; the priest 
 has no power to use the sword against the king. The 
 king is the ruler to rule in civil affairs ; the priest is the 
 ruler to sanctify souls. The king has only power to kill 
 the body ; but the priest has power by his curses to de- 
 stroy both soul and body. The prayer of him who is 
 cursed is not received upon earth, and his supplications 
 y/ill not be accepted before God. He who is cursed has 
 no right to enter into the church to receive the body and 
 blood of the Son of God. He who is cursed is like a 
 vine branch which being smitten by hail, and stripped of 
 its beauty, is only fit to be consumed. He who is 
 cursed is like an ear of corn blasted by a hot wind, which 
 lies stript of its splendour amidst the standing corn. He 
 who is cursed is like the day which the Lord cursed, and 
 which cannot be reckoned amongst the number of the 
 days of the year. He who is cursed is hke a dried river 
 that is the sport of rivers and seas." This undue ex- 
 
 * The Syrians use leavened bread in dispensing the Lord's Sup- 
 per. The priest alone drinks of the cup ; but he dips the cake, 
 with the cross and sections corrresponding with the twelve apostles 
 imprinted upon it, in the wine, before handing it to the people. 
 
126 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 altation of God's minister seems to be common to Anti- 
 christ in all the forms which he assumes. The Syrians, 
 like the Armenians, have a superstitious belief in the 
 power of the material cross, and in the sign of the 
 cross. 
 
 The fasts of the Syrians are numerous and rigid. 
 One of the deacons at Kuselli said to Dr Wolff, " Our 
 fast-days are to many a Syrian too strict; for seven months 
 in the year we are neither allowed to eat meat, nor fish, 
 nor eggs ; we can eat nothing else but herbs. But the 
 Catholics allow to eat meat, to use oil, to eat fishes, and 
 with this many Syrians are pleased and turn Catholics." 
 On this Dr Wolff observes, " It is indeed sorrowful to 
 consider that on the one side the Syrians believe to con- 
 quer and gain heaven by eating nothing but herbs and 
 sour crout, and on the other hand, that the Catholics 
 are so cunning to get soldiers by giving to the Syrians 
 Italian macaroni and roast beef."* Rome knows well 
 how to bind and loose burdens upon the shoulders of the 
 ignorant, to suit her own purposes. The monastic institu- 
 tion is of high repute among the Syrians as among all 
 the orientals, who associate with it pre-eminent personal 
 sanctity. 
 
 The first branch of the Syrian Church which was 
 brought under the notice of our countrymen in later 
 times, is that which is found among the mountains of 
 Malayalim in India. It was visited by the devoted and 
 ardent-minded Dr Claudius Buchanan in the year 1806, 
 who published a striking, but in some particulars an 
 inaccurate, account of it in his interesting Christian Ke- 
 searches. His attractive narrative induced the Church 
 
 * Wolff's Journal, vol. iii. p. 2U. 
 
THE SYRIAN CHURCH. 127 
 
 of England Missionary Society to direct its attention to 
 the people of whom it treats, and to form amongst them 
 an extensive mission, occupying two or three stations, 
 which has now for many years enjoyed the services of 
 able and pious agents. The establishment of a college 
 at Kottayam, for the instruction of candidates for the 
 ministry in the Syrian church, and which, through the 
 kind offices of Major- General Monro, the Resident of 
 Travankur, now an influential elder of our own church, 
 received a large endowment in land from the Rani of that 
 country, formed a part of the plan of the missionaries. 
 At first it was thought practicable to conduct their opera- 
 tions, so as to preserve the integrity and authority of the 
 Syrian church ; but experience has shewn the necessity of 
 receiving parties disposed to leave its community for the 
 enjoyment of a purer docti"ine and discipline, into the 
 English Church. The excellent missionaries of the 
 London Missionary Society at Quilon have likewise to 
 some extent sought the good of the Syrians. 
 
 Dr Wolff, in the course of his journeys, distributed 
 many copies of the Scriptures among the Syrians of Me- 
 sopotamia. I am not aware that any regular provision 
 has yet been made for reviving amongst them the power 
 of evangelical religion by any of the British or American 
 churches, though I believe something has been in con- 
 templation in their behalf. Their own necessities, their 
 great poverty and depression, their position in the very 
 centre of the empire of Muhammadism, and the jeo- 
 pardy in which they stand from the agents of Rome, 
 should attract for them, without delay, our prayerful 
 and practical beneficence. 
 
128 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 IV. THE NESTORIAN CHURCH. 
 
 As far as^ original conversion to Christianity is con- 
 cerned, this church is closely allied to that which we 
 have now noticed. It is evidently a branch of the Sy- 
 rian church, as is proved by its traditions and ecclesias- 
 tical language, which is the ancient Syriac, and by the 
 language vernacular among its members, which is a dia- 
 lect formed from this ancient Syriac, but somewhat in- 
 termixed with Persian, Kurdish, and Turkish. Its lo- 
 cality is the mountains of Kurdistan and the valley of 
 Uramiah, intermediate between Persia and Turkey, and 
 between the 36'^ and 39" of north latitude, and 43*^ and 
 46'^ of east longitude. The number of its adherents has 
 been estimated by the American missionaries at about 
 140,000 souls, of whom fifty thousand are resident, in a 
 state of independence, in the mountainous district of 
 Tiari, sixty thousand in the other mountainous districts, 
 and from about thirty to forty thousand in the province 
 of Uramiah.* Dr Wolff estimates them at a quarter of 
 a million. 
 
 The designation Nestorian, as applied to a branch of 
 the Church of Christ, is derived from Nestorius, a Sy- 
 rian, bishop of Constantinople, who has been branded as 
 a heretic, but who was probably sounder in the faith 
 and more disting-uished for piety than his assailants and 
 persecutors. In refusing to give to the Virgin the epi- 
 thet of ©soroxoj, or " Mother of God," he did not act 
 
 * See a Residence of Eiglit Years in Persia among the Nestorian 
 Christians, with Notices of the Muhammadans. By the Rev. Justin 
 Perkins. Andover, 1813. This is a work well worthy of republi- 
 cation in this country. 
 
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH. 129 
 
 otherwise than we ourselves should do at the present 
 day. The charge that was brought against him at the 
 third general council of Ephesus, a. d. 431, by which 
 his tenets were condemned, that he taught that Christ 
 has two distinct persons as well as two natures, he him- 
 self denied to the very last, as is proved by his letters, 
 published by Joseph Simeon Assemanus.* The harsh 
 treatment which he received from Cyril and his other 
 opponents, who hurled their anathemas against him, and 
 succeeded in effecting his banishment, awakened much 
 sympathy in his behalf throughout the whole bounds of 
 the Syrian church, and his ardour and abilities procured 
 for him many followers. John, patriarch of Antioch, 
 befriended his cause ; but Barsumas was its greatest 
 champion, and contributed perhaps more than Nestorius 
 himself to give form to the doctrines which bore his 
 name, and which fell short of the scripture doctrine of 
 the union of the divine and human natures of Christ, 
 only as they represent it as merely a union of will and 
 affection. From the famous school of Nisibin, which 
 Barsumas founded on his being appointed bishop of that 
 See, there went forth the zealous missionaries who pro- 
 pagated Christianity in Persia, Arabia, Tartary, China, 
 India, and other distant countries. The doctrines ot 
 Barsumas were dominant in the east till the monophy- 
 site controversy arose, and divided the Syrian church. 
 While the Byzantine emperors persecuted the Nesto- 
 
 * Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vatican, torn. iii. p. 192. &c. 
 In one of his letters to Cyril, he says, " I approve that you preach 
 a distinction of natures, in respect to the divinity and humanity, 
 and a conjunction of them in one person." To another bishop, he 
 says, " Of the two natures, there is one authority, one virtue, one 
 power, and one person, according to one dignity." 
 
 K 
 
130 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 rians, they persuaded Firuz the Zoroastrian king of 
 Persia, to give them a refuge. They were so numerous 
 and influential at the close of the fifth century, that 
 they appointed one of their number to the archbishopric 
 of Seleucia, on its becoming vacant, who became the 
 acknowledged head of the Christians of Persia, and of 
 the Nestorians in the different countries of their Chris- 
 tian enterprize.* The Kurdistan Christians, of whom 
 we are now treating, are the remains of these Christians, 
 exclusive of those connected with Armenia, and those 
 who have from time to time been brought within the pale 
 of the Church of Rome. They themselves, it is to be 
 borne in mind, dislike being called Nestorians, as the 
 following extract from the journal of the Rev. Justin 
 Perkins sufficiently shews : — *' In conversation, Mar Jo- 
 hannan objected to my calling him and his people Nes- 
 torians. I asked him what I should call them, and he 
 answered Chaldeans. I inquired whether the Catholic 
 Nestorians are not called Chaldeans. He acknowledged 
 
 * Asseman (Biblioth. Orient, vol. iv.) gives very interesting de- 
 tails connected with the extension of the Nestorians. Of these 
 the Rev. Eli Smith gives the following precis. " Besides occupy- 
 ing, almost to the exclusion of all other Christians, the region 
 which forms the modem kingdom of Persia ; they were, on the one 
 side, numerous in Mesopotamia and Arabia, had their metropolitans 
 in Syria and Cyprus, and a bishop even in the island of Socotra, at 
 the mouth of the Red Sea ; and on the other, the Syrian Christians 
 of Malabar were Nestorians, and received their bishops from Seleu- 
 cia. [This was in the first instance. They afterwards received them 
 from the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch.] Nestorian churches 
 existed in Transoxiana as far as Kashgar ; in the distant regions 
 of Mongolia, the great Khan of the Tartars held the r?.nk of Pres- 
 byter in the Nestorian Church ; and, if we may credit a monument 
 subsequently discovered by papal priests, Nestorian missionaries 
 planted churches in the heart of Northern China." Smith and 
 Dwight's Researches, pp. 364, 365. 
 
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH. 131 
 
 that they are, but added, ' Shall a few CathoHc converts 
 from our people arrogate to themselves the name of the 
 whole nation ? And must we surrender up our name to 
 them ? Nestorius we do indeed respect, as one of our 
 bishops ; but our nation are under no particular obliga- 
 tion to be called by his name, and no reason exists why 
 we should cease to be called Chaldeans.' '"^ The people 
 usually call themselves Syriani (Syrians), and less often 
 Nazrani (Nazarenes). 
 
 A great deal of most valuable information is given 
 concerning the Nestorians in the second and third vo- 
 lumes of the Journal of Dr Joseph Wolff, who was the 
 first in late times to brino- them to the notice of British 
 
 o 
 
 and American Christians. He had several interviews 
 with some of their members, and he received interesting 
 notices of them from Major Monteith of the Madras 
 Army, whom he met at Tabriz, where he had been for 
 some time residing. " The great body of Nestorian 
 christians," says this officer, " quitted the Greek and 
 Koman empire under the reign of Justinian, and sought 
 protection from Nausherwan, king of Persia.f who as- 
 signed them a residence at Oromea, Maroga, Salmas, 
 and Bashgela. They formed four congregations, headed 
 by four bishops, of whom Mar Shimaun was the princi- 
 pal, whose family has ever since maintained the sove- 
 reignty over these tribes. They originally amounted to 
 fifty thousand families, and at one time exerted a very 
 great influence in the empire of Persia. t At different 
 
 * Residence, p. 105. 
 
 t At present the Nestorian patriarch resides at Diz, a village 
 in the Hakari district. 
 
 J I have represented them above, on the authority of Asse- 
 man, as first obtaining protection from Firuz, who preceded 
 
132 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 times they have experienced a very severe persecutioD, 
 and under the Muhammadan government have been 
 driven from their original residences into their present 
 impregnable abode in the mountains of Curdistan. 
 From what observations I was able to make, the worship 
 of the Nestorian Christians approaches the nearest to 
 the original purity of Christianity of any church in the 
 world. They are totally free from the idolatry of the 
 Popish churches ; neither images, saints, nor relics, are 
 admitted to their worship. They even regard the 
 apostles, though inspired, as not being objects of adora- 
 tion.""^ The Rev. Messrs Smith and Dwight, who 
 visited them in their exploratory tour, though they do 
 not go so far in praise of them as this gentleman, still 
 present a favourable view of them, as contrasted with 
 the other oriental Christians ; and so does Dr Grant, in 
 his work, which is so well known both in this country 
 and America. Mr Perkins, the father of the American 
 mission sent to their aid, and who has had better opportu- 
 nities of knowing their circumstances than any other 
 
 Nausherwan about a century. It was in the reign of Firuz that 
 they most needed protection, as the persecution of the Nesto- 
 rians was then most violent. It probably became a matter of po- 
 licy with him and his successors to grant them countenance, Re- 
 naudot thus writes of them, on the authority of Cedrenes : " Sunt 
 autem illi Syrorum veterum Christianorum reliquiae, qui post 
 damnatum in Ephesino Synodo Nestorium, pulsi legibns Romanis, 
 et quodammodo proscripti, in Mesopotamiam se receperunt, quse a 
 Persarum regibus sa^pius armis occupata, tutum exulibus asylum 
 prtebuit : pra>sertim cum Cosroes, quern vulgo Nuschiruanum vo- 
 cant, illis faveret impensius ; adeo ut ecclesiam Edessenam ipsis 
 attribuerit ex qua ab Heraclio dejecti sunt : reliquos etiam Chris- 
 tianos ad eorum hseresin amplectandam cogerent, quantum in illo 
 erat." — Dissertatio de Nestorian. Liturg. p 2. 
 * Wolff's Journal, vol. iii. pp. 193, 194, 
 
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH. 133 
 
 individual, gives a most encouraging view of their tenets 
 and observances. " The rehgious behef and practices of 
 the Nestorians," he says, " are much more simple and 
 scriptural than those of other oriental Christians. They 
 have the deepest abhorrence of all image-worship, auri- 
 cular confession, the doctrine of purgatory, and many 
 other corrupt dogmas and practices of the Papal, Greek, 
 and Armenian churches ; while they cherish the highest 
 reverence for the holy scriptures, and, in theory at least, 
 exalt them far above all human traditions. Their doc- 
 trinal tenets, so far as I have learned them, are in ge- 
 neral quite clearly expressed and correct. On the mo- 
 mentous subject of the Divinity of Christ, in relation to 
 which the charge of heresy is so violently thrown upon 
 them by the papal and other oriental sects, their belief 
 is orthodox and scriptural. The Nestorians are very 
 charitable towards other sects of nominal Christians, libe- 
 ral in their views and feehngs, and strongly desirous of 
 improvement. The patriarch has repeatedly written to 
 us expressing his joy and satisfaction at our being among 
 his people, his gratitude for our efforts for their benefit, 
 and his earnest prayers for our prosperity. And such 
 has been the language, and, apparently, the feelings of 
 all classes of his people. The four bishops of Uramiah 
 and several of the most intelligent priests, are in our em- 
 ploy as assistants in our missionary labours. They are 
 engaged in the instruction and superintendence of schools 
 and sabbath schools ; they preach the gospel, engage in 
 translation, and render other important assistance. And 
 the patriarch and his brothers have often pledged to us 
 the same co-operation, whenever we should be enabled 
 to extend our labours into the mountains. Indeed, the 
 Nestorians may, with great propriety, be denominated 
 
134 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 the Protestants of Asia.' ^'^ To this I must myself add, 
 however, that if the Nestorian hturgies, translated by 
 Renaudotjt be now in use among the Nestorians, they 
 view the Lord's Supper as more that a commemorative 
 and confirmative ordinance, as the presenting of a sacri- 
 ficial off'erina: to God, the bread and wine becoming; the 
 real body of Christ- 
 
 The Nestorians have nine ecclesiastical orders among 
 their clergy ; but two or three of them are at present 
 little more than nominal. They are those of sub-deacon, 
 reader, deacon, priest, archdeacon, bishop, metropolitan, 
 catholicos, and patriarch. All below bishop are permitted 
 at any time to marry, according to their pleasure. The 
 word Bishop does not occur in the Syriac Testament, 
 Kashisha, elder, being employed where it is used in the 
 English translation ; but Episcopa, transferred from the 
 Greek, is the ecclesiastical title in common use. The 
 wish of the people is generally understood and consulted 
 in the appointment of a bishop ; but his consecration de- 
 pends on the patriarch. A candidate for the office, 
 according to a strange custom, must abstain from the 
 use of animal food except fish, eggs, and the productions 
 of the dairy ; and his mother must observe the same ab- 
 stinence while she nurses him at the breast. The patri- 
 arch officially has only spiritual power, but, in point of 
 fact, he exercises a great deal of secular influence among 
 his people. 
 
 Mr Perkins, whose favourable account of the Nestor- 
 ians I have just quoted, says, " The Nestorians are still 
 
 * Perkins's Residence, pp. 20, 21. 
 
 t Liturg. Orient. Coll. p. 566, et seq. torn. ii. The liturgies of 
 the Nestorians are in the ancient Syriac, and understood only by 
 the priests. 
 
TKE NESTORIAN CHURCH. 135 
 
 to a painful extent under the influence of human, and 
 many childish traditions. They attach great importance 
 to their periodical /asi^, which are about as numerous as 
 in the other eastern churches, often to the neglect of in- 
 tegrity and purity of heart, and even of external mo- 
 rality. As a people, they are deeply degraded in morals. 
 The vice of lying is almost universal among both eccle- 
 siastics and people. Intemperance is very prevalent. 
 The Sabbath is, to a great extent, regarded as a holiday. 
 And profaneness and some other vices are very common. 
 Indeed, the mass of this people seem literally to have a 
 name to live while they are dead."* It is on account of 
 this degradation, and the want of that vigorous evange- 
 lical teaching and spiritual life in which it originates, that 
 they have need of our help, so that the things which re- 
 main may be strengthened. 
 
 It is much to the credit of the American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions, that it has founded 
 a mission among this interesting people, with a branch 
 i-n the district of Uramiah subject to Persia, and another 
 among the independent mountaineers. By the transla- 
 tion of the Scriptures into the vulgar tongue, the com- 
 position of tracts, the institution of schools, and the 
 preaching of the gospel, in all which endeavours it has 
 enjoyed the co-operation of the native clergy, it has done 
 much toward their spiritual improvement. The incur- 
 sions of the Kurds into the hill districts, attended by the 
 cruel massacre of some 4000 Nestorians, has done much 
 to impede the good work which has been going on. 
 Jesuit, and other Boman Catholic influence, and the 
 evil suggestions of Bussian agents, I am grieved to in- 
 timate, have procured an order from the Persian go- 
 * Residence among the Nestorians, pp. 21, 22. 
 
136 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 vernment requiring the missionaries to leave Uramiah . 
 They have gone to the court of the Shah to endeavour 
 to procure its reversal ; and that God may grant them 
 success must be our most fervent prayer. It will be 
 sad indeed if our hopes of the revival of evangelical re- 
 ligion, among the small remnant who for centuries have 
 been so signally preserved from the wiles of the Pope 
 and the sword of the false prophet, be disappointed, and 
 the glorious light which appeared to be about to gild the 
 mountains of Kurdistan, and to spread over the adjoin- 
 ing regions, be extinguished. May the Lord himself 
 disappoint our fears, and put a song of praise into our 
 hearts. 
 
 The churches which we have now noticed belong to 
 Asia. Those which remain for our consideration have 
 their seat in Africa. 
 
 V. THE COPTIC CHURCH. 
 
 The Coptic Church is the Church of Egypt, emphatically 
 so called, t It is supposed that the population attached 
 to it amounts to from between a hundred and fifty to 
 two hundred thousand souls. t About ten thousand of 
 
 * The Arabic word Kuht, or Kibt, or as it is most generally pro- 
 nounced in Egypt, Guht or Gibt, corresponding with our " Coptic," 
 is easily recognised as formed from Aiywros, the ancient Greek 
 name of Egypt, though some will have it, that it is derived from 
 Kupt (Coptos), a town in Upper Egypt, to which many of the 
 Christians retired during the persecution under several of the 
 Roman emperors. Renaudot (in his Dissert, de Ling. Copt.) states 
 satisfactory reasons for not deriving the name from the city of 
 Koptus. 
 
 f " The Patriarch informed me that he calculated the number 
 of Copts at about 150,000. This is too low an estimate." Dr Bow- 
 ring's Report on Egypt and Candia, p. 8. 
 
THE COPTIC CHURCH. 13? 
 
 these reside in Cairo. In Upper Egypt they form a 
 considerable portion of the village population ; and they 
 are numerous in the district called the Faium, the Pi- 
 thom of scripture. When I had an interview with their 
 visible head, — the patriarch of Alexandria as he is called, 
 though resident at Cairo, — he reckoned the number of 
 churches belonging to them at 500, but from other 
 sources, I was given to understand that they amount only 
 to about 150. Their regular convents are reduced to se- 
 ven ; two, those of St Anthony and St Paul, in the eastern 
 desert near the Red Sea ; four, including that of St Ma- 
 carius, in the Natron valley ; and one at Jebel Koskam 
 in Upper Egypt. Besides these they have a number of 
 secondary monasteries, into which, the priests being se- 
 culars, women are admitted as well as men.* From 
 among the monks residing at one or other of these con- 
 vents, the patriarch or Batrak, as he is denominated, is 
 taken to occupy what is called the " chair of St Mark," 
 the apostle of Egypt. The mode of his appointment is 
 somewhat singular. *' The bishops and principal priests 
 when a patriarch is to be elected," says Mr Lane, " ap- 
 ply to the superior of the convent above mentioned (St 
 Anthony), who names about eight or nine monks whom 
 he considers qualified for the high office of head of the 
 church : the names of these persons are written each 
 upon a separate slip of paper, which pieces of paper are 
 then rolled into the form of little balls, and put into a 
 
 * For an account of the Coptic convents, see Wilkinson's Mo- 
 dern Egypt and Thebes, vol. i. p. 386, &c. Their libraries were care- 
 fully examined, in 1842, by the Rev. Dr Tattam, who was permitted 
 to purchase and bring to this country the most valuable of their 
 MSS. Among them, it is hoped, will be found some curious and 
 interesting documents. 
 
138 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 drawer : a priest draws one without looking ; and the 
 person whose name is thus drawn is invested as pa- 
 triarch. Formerly, a young child was employed to draw 
 the lot, being supposed to be more under the direction 
 of Heaven."* I am not altogether certain of the absolute 
 accuracy of this account ; but a statement to the effect 
 of what follows, I received from the present Coptic pa- 
 triarch himself. It is not from the bishops, but the 
 monks, that the patriarch is selected. When the choice 
 or lot falls upon any particular individual, the magnates 
 of the church apply to the Pasha for a mihtary detach- 
 ment, in company with which a deputation repairs to the 
 monastery, to demand the person of him who is indicated. 
 In a spirit of becoming modesty he says, nolo episcopari. 
 The sight of the soldiers, however, speedily removes his 
 scruples, and he humbly agrees to accompany them to 
 the capital, where he is anointed to office, without 
 having been constituted a bishop. Below the Patriarch, 
 are the Bishops titular and real, the Presbyters, who 
 administer the mass to the people, but never preach, 
 the Archdeacons, Deacons, Sub-Deacons, Lectors, Can- 
 tors, and Exorcists, who are mere boyish assistants of 
 church ceremonies. The Copts do not seem to lay so 
 much stress as the Roman Catholics and their imitators on 
 apostolical succession, so far as the idea of the transfusion 
 of grace, and communicating the power of transfusing 
 grace, from man to man, is concerned. The sanctifying 
 virtue, they think, principally rests in the meirun, or holy 
 oil of unction, which they suppose preserves the properties 
 imparted to it by the blessing of the apostle Mark, as a 
 new stock is always added to the old before it is ex- 
 
 * Lane's Mod. Egypt, p. 341. 
 
THE COPTIC CHURCH. 139 
 
 hausted.*' In the Arabic history of the Coptic church, 
 written by Taki-ed-Din-el-Makrizi, which is beheved to 
 contain the approved annals of the Coptic church, and a 
 copy of which I lately procured, it is said, that there were 
 no bishops in Egypt till the time of the patriarch Deme- 
 trius, whose name occurs as the eleventh in the Coptic 
 list.f Jerome informs us that the presbyters of Alexan- 
 dria were accustomed to ordain their bishop. 
 
 With the early history of the church in Egypt, the 
 Roman and Byzantine fathers make us sufficiently ac- 
 quainted. The Egyptian Christians embraced the mono- 
 physite doctrines probably prior to those of Syria. It 
 was through the influence of Dioscorus, the patriarch of 
 Alexandria, that Eutyches escaped condemnation at the 
 council assembled at Ephesus a. d. 449, by the Emperor 
 Theodosius; and it was against Dioscorus, as well as 
 Eutyches, that the fourth General Council, that of Chalce- 
 don, called by Marcian in a. d. 457, declared when it 
 set forth^its belief, "that in Christ there are two distinct 
 natures united in one person, and that without any 
 change, mixture, or confusion." Though Dioscorus was 
 ordered into banishment, he met with much sympathy 
 and approbation in Egypt, where the partisans of his 
 views ultimately proved more numerous and powerful 
 than the Melchites, so called from their support of the 
 Greek emperor, the patron of the council. Upon the 
 
 * " The Copts pretend to have the head and body of St Mark, in 
 the monastery which bears his name at Alexandria ; but Leo Afri- 
 canus affirms that they were secretly carried away by the Venetians 
 to their city. Sir Gardiner Wilkinson (Modem Egypt and Thebes, 
 vol. i. p. 167.) waggishly remarks, that " from the known habits 
 and natural history of relics, this might not present any difficulty 
 to their being still there '." 
 
 f Makrizi, section 65. 
 
140 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 death of the Emperor Marcian, they murdered Proterius 
 whom he had appointed successor to Dioscorus, and sub- 
 stituted in his place Timotheus ^lurius, whose senti- 
 ments were congenial with those of the banished patriarch ; 
 and though occasionally they were obliged to submit to 
 a Melchite patriarch on the occurrence of a vacancy, and 
 were sadly distressed, they at length got matters settled 
 according to their own wishes. The majority of the 
 Christians of Egypt declared themselves "Jacobites," 
 nearly as soon as Jacob Baradseus gave form to his 
 sect. 
 
 Makrizi, the Arabic historian, whose name I have 
 already mentioned, thus writes respecting the conquest 
 of Egypt by the Musalmans. " Know that the whole 
 of Egypt at the entrance of the Muhammadans was 
 filled with Christians, who divided themselves into two 
 parties, respectively distinguished by race and faith. 
 One party consisted of the men who held the govern- 
 ment, and who were all of the soldiery of the lord of 
 Constantinople, the Greek emperor. Their rites and 
 doctrines were those of the Melchites. The Greeks 
 exceeded the number of 300,000. All the inhabitants 
 of Egypt, who were called Copts, formed the other part. 
 Their race was a mixed one, as amongst them Abyssini- 
 ans, Nubians, Israelites, and others, could easily be dis- 
 cerned, all adherent to the Jacobite doctrine. Some of 
 them were imperial scribes, merchants, and shopkeepers ; 
 some bishops, and others presbyters, and such as per- 
 tain to this order; and some husbandmen, labourers, 
 and servants. It was the effect of discord which pre- 
 vented them from forming marriages between them- 
 selves and the Melchites who held the government, and 
 that it happened that they murdered one another. 
 
THE COPTIC CHURCH. 141 
 
 Their number was about two millions."* In hatred to 
 the Greeks, as this writer proceeds to inform us, the 
 Copts willingly became subject to the Musalmans under 
 A'mru ben Elas, the invader of the country a. d. 638, 
 and even assisted him in overcoming the Greeks, which 
 he finally did by the capture of Alexandria in 640. 
 The tribute exacted of the Copts was two golden dinars 
 for every person above sixteen years of age, with the 
 exception of old men, women, and monks. At first 
 they seemed greatly to relish their exchange of masters, 
 even paying this price, rejoicing in the vengeance which 
 their hate led them to view as executed in their own be- 
 half. 
 
 Fearful has been the retribution with which the pro- 
 vidence of God ha s visited the Copts, since they placed 
 themselves under the power of the Musalmans. De- 
 gradation and persecution have been their lot during 
 the centuries which have intervened between that time 
 and the present. Hence the great reduction of their 
 numbers, in a country remarkable for its tendency to 
 an increase of population, and the depression under 
 which they have so long laboured. Their history, so far 
 as it is interesting, is little else than a narrative of 
 suffering — of suffering so great, and in general so httle 
 deserved, that Makrizi, himself a Musalman, cannot 
 record its details without writing as if his sympathy were 
 wholly on their side.f 
 
 * Numb. 314-3T7. 
 
 t Renaudot in his Ilistory of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, and 
 also in the first volume of his Collection of the Oriental Liturgies, 
 frequently refers to Makrizi. The original Arabic of Makrizi, 
 in so far as the Copts are concerned, was published at Sulzbach in 
 1828, with a Latin translation by Wetzer. 
 
142 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 When I put the question to the Coptic patriarch, 
 *' What are the principal ecclesiastical authorities of the 
 Coptic church after the Bible ?" he answered, *' The Say- 
 ings of the Fathers, the Liturgy of Basileus, the Liturgy 
 of Gregorius, the Liturgy of Cyrillus, and the Apostolic 
 Constitutions." The liturgies here mentioned as used 
 in the churches, are in the Coptic language, which is not 
 now spoken by a single native of Egypt. A translation 
 of them is given by Renaudot in his Collection. They 
 are merely communion offices, containing some prayers, 
 which may be suitably addressed to the throne of grace, 
 but bearing unequivocal evidence that the Copts, with 
 all the other oriental Christians, believe that the bread 
 and wine in the Lord's Supper are changed into the real 
 body and blood of Christ, and presented by the priest 
 as an oblation to God. A large fragment of the apos- 
 tolical constitutions in the Ethiopic translation by Mr 
 Pell Piatt, was pubHshed in 1834 by the Oriental 
 Translation Fund. A complete copy in Arabic, which I 
 procured, I have brought with mo to this country. Though 
 it contains a good portion of unobjectionable matter, it 
 contains also much that is erroneous and injurious. 
 The false assumption of the name of the twelve apostles, 
 and that of Paul the apostle of the Gentiles, stamps the 
 commencement of it at least with decided imposture. 
 
 The Copts, like the other sects whom we have men- 
 tioned, have seven sacraments, namely. Baptism, which 
 they generally administer to boys at the age of forty days, 
 and to girls at the age of eighty days — unless they should 
 previously be seized with dangerous illness, di'^ping the 
 body three times in water, to which the sacred oil has 
 been added, and over which the si^n of the cross has been 
 
THE COPTIC CHURCH. 143 
 
 made ;* the Eucharist, which we have just noticed ; 
 Conjlrmation, which is effected with meirun, or the 
 holy oil, immediately after baptism ; Confession^ which 
 is followed by absolution, and sometimes by the prescrip- 
 tion of penance ; Ordination, Matrimony, and Extreme 
 Unction, which is administered with prayer to the 
 healthy after the commission of great sins, as well as to 
 the sick and dying. Connected with these sacraments, 
 they hold the erroneous sentiments which we condemn in 
 the Roman and Greek churches. The Copts, I may 
 here mention, practise the rite of circumcision, but, as 
 the patriarch told me, more as a civil than a religious 
 custom. This they do privately, without any fixed age 
 for its performance. Their religious fasts are numerous 
 and severe. The patriarch exhibits himself as the 
 great exemplar of religious austerity. It is said that 
 he is awaked from his sleep every quarter of an hour 
 during the night, that he may call on the name of God. 
 During my visit to Cairo, I once attended public wor- 
 ship at the Coptic church. It commenced as soon as it 
 was light on the Lord's-day morning ; and it was well 
 attended both by young and old, who, on account of the 
 smallness of the church — the largest, however, belonging 
 to the Copts of the place — were much crowded together, 
 to their great discomfort, increased by the want of ven- 
 tilation, and the burning of numerous candles. The 
 construction of the church much resembled a Jewish 
 synagogue. It was divided into four compartments. The 
 heikel, or chancel, forms the chief compartment at the 
 eastern end ; and it is separated from the rest of the 
 church by wooden panel-work. Before it is suspended a 
 
 * The Coptic form of baptism is given by J. A. Asseraan, in his 
 Codex Liturgicus, lib. ii. p. 150, et seq. 
 
144 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 curtain with a large cross worked upon it, having a door 
 in the centre as an entrance. The compartment adjoin- 
 ing to this, separated by a fence of lattice-work from the 
 other parts of the church, was occupied by the officiating 
 priests and their assistants, by the patriarch who was 
 sitting on an antique seat called the chair of St Mark, and 
 by the more respectable portions of the congregation. 
 Into this compartment we were allowed to enter. The 
 inferior members of the congTegation occupied the next 
 apartment ; and the most remote was appropriated to 
 the women, who were nearly completely screened from 
 our view by another partition of lattice- work. I observed 
 no images ; but a few glaring pictures were here and 
 there suspended from the walls. The worshipper, on 
 entering the church, laid aside his shoes, but agreeably 
 to the universal custom of the eastern churches, kept on 
 his turban.* His first act of devotion was that of pros- 
 trating himself before the chancel immediately in front 
 of the suspended cross, kissing the hem of the curtain, 
 and then before the patriarch, who extended to him his 
 blessing on his rising, and lastly before some of the pic- 
 tures of the saints. The entrance of great numbers aftei- 
 the service had begun, who went through these ceremo- 
 nies, added much to the confusion, which was now and 
 
 * The text, " Every man praying or prophesying having his 
 head covered, dishonoureth his head," the Orientals, perhaps not 
 without reason, interpret as if to be rendered, " Everyman pray- 
 ing or prophesying having his head enit'rappecZ [like a woman's] dis- 
 honoureth his head." We have found that the converts in India 
 even strongly object to lay aside their turbans during public -wor- 
 ship, alleging that decency requires them to wear them. The Jews, 
 it is well known, preserve their head-dress in their synagogues. 
 " But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, 
 neither the churches of God." 
 
THE COPTIC CHURCH. 145 
 
 then increased by the tmkhng of bells and cymbals, and 
 some of the priests moving up and down and waving 
 censers with incense rising from them, and making de- 
 mands on the patriarch for a new supply of combustibles 
 when their stock was exhausted. Many of the older men 
 were leaning on crutches, about four or five feet high, 
 during most of the time of the service, evidently obtain- 
 inor some relief from the use of them, in the lack of all 
 pews, during the three or four lengthened hours of their 
 meeting. They were frequently talking to one another 
 and exchanging jokes. Some of the priests were hunting 
 after the boys, who were seeking their amusement, evi- 
 dently anxious to improve their behaviour in our presence. 
 Their prayers were almost all in the dead Coptic, and, 
 of course, were perfectly unintelligible by the people, 
 who seemed to take little interest in them, though, led 
 by others, they gave the responses. The reading of the 
 gospels and epistles was in Arabic ; but it was performed 
 in a most irreverent and unimpressive manner by mere 
 boys, who seemed to be highly amused with their occu- 
 pation. The bread and wine used in the Lord's Sup- 
 per were particularly inspected by the patriarch and 
 priests before their consecration. The bread was in the 
 form of small round cakes, with the figure of the cross, I 
 believe, stamped upon them ; and the wine was contained 
 in a small glass vessel. The bread was dipped in the 
 wine before it was given to the people, only a small portion 
 of whom partook of it ; and the priests alone drunk of the 
 cup. The patriarch concluded the service by reading 
 some exhortations in Arabic, and pronouncing benedic- 
 tions. Except in so far as his part of the business was con- 
 cerned, the whole seemed rather a mockery of sacred 
 things, than the worship of the omnipresent and omni- 
 
 L 
 
146 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 scient God. I trust that, in making this unvarnished 
 statement, I speak to your deep commiseration of those- 
 who, hke yourselves, bear the Christian name, but who 
 treat it with such palpable dishonour. 
 
 The state of the Coptic and other Eastern churches 
 in Egypt — we must be grateful in the view of their de- 
 gradation and destitution — has not been altogether over- 
 looked by evangelical protestants. The Rev. Joseph 
 Jowett, the representative of the Church Missionary 
 Society in the Mediterranean, the Rev. Pliny Fisk of 
 America, and Dr Joseph Wolff, during their visits to 
 the country within the last twenty-five years, noted 
 their peculiar circumstances, and commended them in 
 their published journals to the benevolence of those who 
 are able to extend to them relief.* Five Lutheran mi- 
 nisters, who had been all destined for Abyssinia at the 
 close of 1825, were brought into connection with Egypt; 
 a.nd two of them, Messrs Lieder and Kruse, were even- 
 tually settled at Cairo, which, since that time, they have 
 made the head- quarters of their mission, and where they 
 have faithfully and diligently laboured to diffuse Chris- 
 tian education among the Copts, to promote among them 
 the circulation of the Scriptures and religious books and 
 tracts, and, by conversation and exhortation, to revive 
 among them the spirit of true godliness. The acquaint- 
 ance of Mr Lieder I had the pleasure of making during 
 , my late visit to Egypt, Mr Kruse being then absent ; and 
 I was glad to be informed by him, as well as to learn 
 - from my own personal observation, that matters during 
 his residence in the country have begun much to im- 
 prove. By his kind and judicious conduct, as well as by 
 
 * Jowett's Researches in the Mediterranean. Wolft's Journal, 
 Memoir of Pliny Fisk. 
 
THE COPTIC CHURCH. 147 
 
 tlie visible benefits conferred on the Coptic community 
 through the educational efforts of the mission, he has 
 completely gained the regard and esteem of the Coptic 
 patriarch, and many of the clergy, and great numbers of 
 the people, and thus opened up a great, and what I 
 trust will prove an effectual, door of usefulness. He has 
 under his charge an elementary school, taught on the Lan- 
 casterian system, containing about a hundred boys, and a 
 seminary containing about twenty-five youths receiving a 
 higher education, and which, when 1 saw him, he was 
 about to re-organize, with reduced numbers, however, as a 
 theological school, from which the patriarch had promised 
 to select candidates for the Coptic church. Mrs Lieder, 
 whose literary attainments and application in the work 
 of oriental teaching are so well known, had a female 
 school under her charge, with an average attendance of 
 about 120 pupils, and taught by a Syrian lady, Oni 
 Suhman. A spirit of serious inquiry had begun to ap- 
 pear among a few of the Copts, but no decided move- 
 ment had occurred. The embracement of evangelical 
 views by any number of individuals would probably lead 
 either to their abandonment of the Coptic church, or to 
 their expulsion from its pale. Their consciences would 
 undoubtedly shrink from the practice of the worship of 
 saints, and their pictures, and the adoration of the mass, 
 and other idolatrous and antichristian usages ; and toler- 
 ation would scarcely be extended to them in their dis- 
 sent. This matter, however, is for the present hid with 
 God. Let his true followers publish the truths of his 
 salvation, and trust in that protection which he will ex- 
 tend to believers, and in his ultimately overruling that 
 opposition with which they may be assailed to his own 
 glory and their eternal good. The apprehension of in- 
 
148 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 conveniences, trials, and changes, has too long deterred 
 us from our duty. 
 
 A revival of evangelical religion among the Copts 
 would undoubtedly render them a blessing in the midst 
 of the land of Egypt. In the minds of the Musalman 
 population, however much they may be despised as 
 Christians, they are associated with claims to a higher 
 antiquity as a race inhabiting the country, than that of 
 those who are now their masters, whether Turks or Arabs. 
 Muhammad Ali, the present ruler of Egypt, clearly dis- 
 cerns the use to which they may be turned, connected 
 with the state ; and he has given to large numbers of 
 them employment in the public service. Dr Bowring, 
 in his official report addressed to Lord Palmerston, pre- 
 sented to both Houses of Parhament in 1840, justly 
 says, " The influence of the Copts is undoubtedly an in- 
 creasing influence, and they will probably occupy no 
 small part of the field in the future history of Egypt. 
 Theirs have been centuries of cruel sufferings, persecu- 
 tions, and humiliations. In the eyes of the Turks, they 
 have always been the Pariahs of the Egyptian people ; 
 yet they are an amiable, pacific, and intelligent race, 
 whose worst vices have grown out of their seeking shel- 
 ter from wrong and robbery. A certain sympathy, per- 
 haps the result of common suff'erings, exists between the 
 Copts and the Arabs. They are the surveyors, the 
 scribes, the arithmeticians, the measurers, the clerks ; in 
 a word, the learned men of the land. They are to the 
 counting-house and the pen, what the fellah is to the 
 field and the plough. . . In the manufactories of 
 the Pasha, many of the Copts are employed as hand- 
 loom weavers. . . A great many of them are em- 
 
THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. 149 
 
 ployed ill public-offices."* They are nearly ten times 
 more numerous than the Turks in Egypt, who are reck- 
 oned at 20,000; and, except in so far as the army is con- 
 cerned, from which they are excluded, they are begin- 
 ning to occupy the situations formerly held by Turks. 
 An evangelical reformation amongst them would in- 
 crease as well as sanctify their influence. 
 
 VI. THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The adherents of this church occupy the whole of the 
 country marked in our maps as Abyssinia, with the ex- 
 ception of its outer parts on all sides, which are now 
 occupied by Heathen and Muhammadan tribes, which, 
 till lately, were fast contracting its limits. Beyond the 
 bounds of Habesh, on both sides of the river Gochob, it 
 appears, from credible reports communicated to Sir 
 Wilham Harris during his late embassy to the country, 
 ^* there exist in various quarters, isolated communities 
 professing the Christianity of ^Ethiopia, who for a long 
 period of years have successfully held their position 
 among the mountain fastnesses in the very heart of the 
 now Pagan and Muhammadan country." Of these I 
 would here glean a few notices, as the most important 
 and interesting accessions to the geography of Christen- 
 dom which have been made in our day. For the sake 
 of precision, I give them in the words of Major Harris 
 himself. " One of the most remarkable of these seats 
 is in the lake Zuai." Its five islands " are covered with 
 lofty trees, and contain upwards of three thousand Chris- 
 tian houses." " In Gurague the population are almost ex- 
 clusively Christian. Twelve isolated churches, previous- 
 
 * Bowring's Report on Egypt, pp. 8, 9. 
 
150 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 ly imlieard of, were discovered a few years since on tlie 
 conquest of Yeya, by Sdhela Selassie [king of Shoa in 
 Abyssinia]; and between Garro and Metcha, where 
 forest commences in the south of Shoa, is a small tract 
 peopled by Christians, who reside entirely in caves among 
 the mountains, as a measure of security against the 
 heathen, by whom they are compassed in on every side." 
 " Eight days' journey from Aimellele, on the frontier of 
 Gurague, is Cambat, a small mountainous province, lying 
 due east of Zingero. With exception of a few Mu- 
 liammadan rovers, this independent state is inhabited 
 solely by Christians." " Wollamo is another Christian 
 pi-ovince under an independent sovereign, lying below 
 Cambat, to the south-eastward of Zinorero." *' Eio;ht 
 days' journey beyond Zingero is the country of Mager, 
 the king of which, by name Degaio, is represented to be 
 a very powerful monarch. Korchdsi, which is famous 
 for the great river Wabi, is peopled by Christians, as is 
 Sidama also, and both are surrounded on all sides by the 
 heathen." " But of all the isolated remnants of the 
 ancient ^thiopic empire to the south of Abyssinia, Susa 
 would appear to be the most important and the most 
 powerful. This kingdom is situated beyond Caffa, and 
 extends to the head of the Gitche, which rises in Chara- 
 Nara, and is one of the principal sources of the Gochob. 
 
 The language spoken is quite distinct from that of 
 
 the Galla, from the Amharic, and from the ancient Giz 
 or ^thiopic. It possesses a written character." These 
 mtimations are not less delightful than startling from 
 their entire novelty. They would appear to rest upon 
 good authority. " Making due allowance," says Major 
 Harris, " for the superstition and geographical ignorance 
 of the various natives from whom the foregoing particu- 
 
THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. 151 
 
 iars have been collected, the fullest credit may be ac- 
 corded, — minute cross-examinations of individuals, who 
 oould have held no previous communication with each 
 other, having corroborated every point." " It is im- 
 portant," he adds, " to know that the Gochob, in its 
 upper course, is occupied by so powerful a Christian 
 people, whose sovereign exercises over the destinies of 
 the surrounding Gentiles, an influence which, if properly 
 directed, could be made to check the rapid spread of 
 Islamism, instead of fostering the traffic in human 
 beings."* Where is the enterprising Christian traveller 
 who will personally visit these remote localities in the 
 interior of Africa ; and where is the missionary of the 
 cross who will descant to their inhabitants on the love 
 and grace of Him whose name they bear, till, moved 
 by his own Spirit, they in very deed lay hold of His 
 I'iojhteousness, and be born again in the imag-e of His own 
 holiness ? 
 
 The earliest authentic notices which we have of the 
 conversion of -Ethiopia to Christianity, are connected 
 with a visit made to the country about the year 327 of 
 our era, by Meropius, a merchant of Tyre, and his ne- 
 phews Frumentius and ^desius. When, after exploring 
 the country, and having set sail on their return, they 
 were forced by a disaster at sea to re-enter one of its 
 ports, the uncle was murdered, and the youths sent 
 into captivity. They were carried to court, where one 
 of them, Frumentius, was appointed to the office of se- 
 cretary. The sovereign, before his death; gave them 
 their liberty ; but the queen-regent prevailed on them 
 to remain in the country during the minority of her son. 
 They embraced the opportunities presented to them of 
 
 * Harris's Highlands of Ethiopia, vol. iii, pp. 74-83. 
 
152 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 commendino; the religjion of Jesus to those around them; 
 and they were blessed in their labours. When they did 
 leave the country on the king becoming of age, Fruraen- 
 tius communicated to Athanasius, the patriarch of Alex- 
 andria, the success which he experienced ; and by this 
 father he was ordained a bishop to the Ethiopians, among 
 whom he afterwards experienced such success, that the 
 king and the great body of the people embraced the 
 Christian faith.* It was at Axum that this sovereign 
 resided, as appears from a letter of Constantius the em- 
 peror, — who wished to bring him within the pale of 
 Arianism, — quoted by Athanasius, clearly shews. t Fru- 
 mentius is commemorated by the Abyssinians till the 
 present time. He occupies a place in their calendar of 
 saints, under the name of Salama. 
 
 To other notices of the early history of the Abyssinian 
 Church I cannot here advert. J The connection which 
 it formed with Egypt through Athanasius has remained 
 to this day ; its Abuna, or chief ecclesiastic, being still 
 appohited by the patriarch of the Coptic Church, of 
 which it reckons itself a branch, and which it imitates 
 both in doctrine and discipline, — far outstripping it, how- 
 ever, in the multiplicity of its absurd legends, vain and 
 superstitious ceremonies, and its idolatrous worship of 
 
 * Socrates, lib. i. cap. 19. Sozomen, lib. ii, cap 24. Theodori- 
 tus, lib. i. cap. 23. The country mentioned in these passages as 
 the scene of the labours of Frumentius is called " India." I for- 
 merly thought that it referred to Hindustan (Second Exposure of 
 Hinduism, p. 145) ; but I am now convinced from the mention of 
 Axum (which is in Abyssinia) in the letter of Constantius re- 
 ferred to below, that " India," was indefinitely used as correspon- 
 dent with ^Ethiopia. 
 
 t Athanasii Apologet. ad Imp. Constant. 
 
 I For the most important of these see Geddes's Church History 
 of JSthiopia. 
 
THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. 153 
 
 saints and ano-els. How far it has strained its inventive 
 
 o 
 
 faculties in the exercise of will-worship, appears from its 
 crivino- Pontius Pilate and his wife Procla a place in the 
 calendar of its saints, under the 19th of June, — the for- 
 mer, because he washed his hands before condemning 
 our Lord, and the latter, because she said, Meddle not 
 with that just person. The clergy are remarkable for 
 their ignorance, and no check seems to exist as to the 
 assumption of the ministerial office. '* The .ordination 
 of priests," says Mr Gobat, " is easily performed. It is 
 sufficient for a man to know the letters of his alphabet, 
 with a few prayers, and to give two pieces of salt to the 
 interpreter of the Abuna or Coptic bishop, after which 
 he receives the imposition of hands, without examination 
 or exhortation ; and this is the reason why those who 
 are better instructed would be ashamed to be made 
 priests. There are exceptions ; but I am speaking of 
 the generality."* The religious instruction of the peo- 
 ple is not to be expected in these circumstances ; and its 
 twelve thousand clergy are nothing but " twelve thousand 
 clerical drones."t Public worship, as conducted by them, 
 seems neither designed to honour God nor benefit man. 
 " Capering and beating the ground with their feet, the 
 priests stretch out their crutches toward each other with 
 frantic gesticulations, whilst the clash of the timbrel, the 
 sound of the drum, and the howling of hai"sh voices, com- 
 plete a most strange form of devotion. The lessons are 
 taken partly from the Scriptures, partly from the mi- 
 racles of the Holy Virgin and of Tekla Haimanot,J the 
 
 * Gobat's Abyssinia, p. 349. 
 
 f Harris's /Ethiopia, vol. iii. p. 131. 
 
 J Tekla Haimanot is the favourite saint of Abyssinia. " Tekla 
 Haymanot lived in the seventh century and was the apostle around 
 Shoa. Tekla Haymanot means Planter of the Faith ,• his original 
 
154 IXDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 life of St George, and other foolish and fabulous works ; 
 but all are in the ancient JEthiopic tongue, which to the 
 congregation is a dead letter."* The books found in the 
 country beside the Scriptures are 108 in number. Co- 
 pies of all of them have been taken to Germany by my 
 friend Dr Roth, the naturalist of the British embassy, 
 and deposited in the Protestant College of Erlangen. 
 They consist principally of legendary lives of the saints, 
 monks, and other personages ; of abridgments of scrip- 
 ture history, sadly corrupted by absurd traditions and ex- 
 travagant inventions; of collections of hymns and prayers, 
 some of which are intended to fiighten evil spirits ; and of 
 ecclesiastical canons and summaries of doctrine. Taking 
 them as a whole, they are more fitted to mislead than 
 to edify, to nurse superstition, than to beget a right faith 
 and cherish a right devotion. A few of them, perhaps, 
 are worthy of examination, as contributing in some de- 
 gree to throw light on the religious history of Ethiopia.! 
 Many of the customs of the Abyssinians, — such as the 
 practice of circumcision on the eighth day, abstinence 
 from the unclean animals, the observance of the last day 
 of the week as a day of rest (in addition to the Lord's 
 
 name was Fesahat Ziun, i. e. Juy of Zion. He was bom in Shoa. 
 He replaced the royal family upon the throne, and was zealous 
 in converting the Galas to Christianity. He even made such an 
 impression on the Devil by preaching, that he (the Devil) deter- 
 mined to become a monk for forty years The same Tekla 
 
 Ilaymanot stood forty years upon one place praying, until he broke 
 his leg. There are twenty-four elders around the throne of God 
 with censers in their hands, serving God, and Tekla Haymanot is 
 the twenty-fifth. He had six wings like angels." "Wolff's Journal, 
 vol. v. p. 350. This is a fair specimen of the legends of Abysssinia. 
 
 * Harris's /Ethiopia, vol. iii. pp. 13S, 137. 
 
 t See a catalogue of these works in the appendix to the third 
 volume of the Highlands of Ethiopia, by Sir AVilliam Harris, 
 
THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. 155 
 
 day), religious purifications, the wearing of a ribband of 
 blue as a symbol of their faith, the construction of their 
 churches in the form of synagogues, the performance of 
 worship with the musical instruments mentioned in the 
 Psalms, abstinence from the sinew that shrank and 
 from blood, the practice of confession on the day of the 
 atonement, and the offering of a kind of atoning sacrifice 
 called Boza, — have evidently had a Jewish origin ; and 
 there consequently can be little doubt, that the nation 
 was considerably affected by Jewish manners and cus- 
 toms before its conversion to Christianity. I think it proba- 
 ble that the Jews, in some numbers, extended themselves 
 from Egypt and Yemen to the country before the Chris- 
 tian era. It is a matter of certainty, that many Jews 
 repaired to it both after the destruction of Jerusalem by 
 Titus, and on the persecution raised by Adrian. Many 
 of their descendants, estimated by Dr Wolff at 200,000, 
 are still in Abyssinia, known by the name of Felashas. 
 Heathen proximity and intercommunion, however, have 
 told more on the church there than Judaism. 
 
 I have already mentioned, that the Abyssinian Church 
 is a branch of the Coptic. It is not necessary for me, 
 then, particularly to advert to its constitution and creed. 
 It may be proper to mention, however, that, for the last 
 sixty years, religious controversy has raged within it, 
 and that certain differences of opinion respecting the 
 birth and unctions of the Saviour, — of which we have 
 not yet received consistent and intelligent accounts, — 
 have divided it into three parties most inimical to one 
 another, and who will no longer partake of the commu- 
 nion together.* 
 
 * Compare Gobat pp. 342, 343, with Major Harris, vol. iii. pp. 18 
 -191. 
 
156 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 All the Abyssinians whom I have met in India, 
 Egypt, and Syria, seemed to deal with religion as a 
 matter of great seriousness and importance ; and I ob- 
 served that the most outwardly devout pilgrims visiting 
 Jerusalem are from Ethiopia. Nothing but religious 
 feelings of some kind or other, indeed, could make the 
 Abyssinians submit to the numerous fasts and penances 
 enjoined by their ecclesiastical standards, and prescribed 
 to them by the priests, and in which they suppose the 
 essence of religion consists. Depraved and degraded 
 though they almost all are, from their imperfect know- 
 ledge of that holy fiith which they nominally profess, 
 and the superstitious practices to which, acting almost 
 on the license of Pagans, they have devoted themselves, 
 there is still something connected with them calculated 
 to act on our sympathy as Christians. " We may still 
 congratulate them," says Mr Gobat, " for the little they 
 have preserved of Christianity, for it is, after all, to this 
 that the Christian traveller is oblioed to attribute all 
 those traces in the character of the Abyssinians which, 
 in many respects, render them superior to all the nations 
 of Africa. Indeed, it is a great advantage for Abyssinia 
 to have had till now none but Christian governors. This 
 is acknowledged even by the Musalmans of that country. 
 It is in this religion itself that the seed is to be found 
 for the regeneration of the people of Abyssinia." 
 '• Abyssinia as she now is," says Sir William Harris, 
 " presents the most singular compound of vanity, meek- 
 ness, and ferocity — of devotion, superstition, and igno- 
 rance. But, compared with the other nations of Africa, 
 she unquestionably holds a high station. She is supe- 
 rior in arts and in agriculture, — in laws, religion, and 
 social condition, to all the benighted children of the sun. 
 
THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. 157 
 
 The small portion of good work which does exist may be 
 justly ascribed to the remains of the wreck of Christi- 
 anity, which, although stranded on a rocky shore, and 
 buffeted by the storms of ages, is not yet overwhelmed. 
 There is, perhaps, no portion of the whole conti- 
 nent to which European civilization might be applied 
 with better ultimate results ; and although now dwindled 
 into an ordinary kingdom [with several chiefs], Habesh, 
 under proper government and proper influence, might 
 promote the amelioration of all the surrounding people, 
 while she resumed her original position as the first of 
 African monarchies." 
 
 Is there no hope of the speedy amelioration of this 
 
 most interesting country ? The attention of the Church 
 
 of England Missionary Society has been directed to it for 
 
 several years. In 1820, the Rev. Mr Jowett, the agent 
 
 of that institution, purchased, on account of the British 
 
 and Foreign Bible Society, an entire version of the Bible 
 
 into the Amharic, the principal vernacular language of 
 
 Abyssinia, which had been executed at Cairo by a native 
 
 of the country. It has been printed for distribution. 
 
 Messrs Gobat and Kugler entered Abyssinia at the 
 
 close of 1836. The latter was cut off by a melancholy 
 
 accident ; but the former, after a missionary journey in 
 
 the country of three years, says, " The word of God, as 
 
 contained in the four Gospels, and some copies of the 
 
 epistles, has been distributed in every quarter of the 
 
 country. The religious conversations which I had at 
 
 Gondar have been reported in every province. The 
 
 most instructed persons have begun, in consequence of 
 
 these means, at least to doubt the truth of some of those 
 
 errors which they had always considered truth itself; 
 
 and some young people appear to feel the drawing of 
 
158 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 the Father, who will lead them to Jesus, that they may 
 receive eternal life." Mr Gobat, accompanied by Mr 
 Isenberg, a second time visited the northern provinces. 
 Dr Wolff also made a journey to the northern parts 
 of the country, where he found Mr Gobat so unwell that 
 he was obliged humanely to accompany him to the coast. 
 Mr Isenberg returned to this country, where he pre- 
 pared some elementary works in the Amharic and Galla 
 languages. Mr Krapf, another missionary, whose inte- 
 resting journal has lately been pubhshed, proceeded to 
 Slioa, the southern province of the country, where he 
 seemed to be acquiring a salutary influence, and where 
 he was joined by two other labourers. I fear that, for 
 the present, they have left the country ; but I trust that 
 it is only to return to it with greater advantages than 
 those hitherto enjoyed. The seed which these excellent 
 men have already sown, may yet spring up and bear an 
 abundant harvest. From other providential occurrences 
 more nearly connected with ourselves, we have hopes of 
 a blessing for at least some parts of Abyssinia. 
 
 Wlien Dr Wolff visited the country, he and Mr Isen- 
 bercr encourao-ed an influential native to set out for 
 India with his two promising sons, in ordei* to procure 
 for them a superior education. On their reaching Aden, 
 they wrote to the Bombay Government informing, it, 
 that they had obtained letters for me, and that they 
 intended to place themselves under my care. On their 
 arrival in India, I was prepared to receive them into my 
 family, and to appoint the youth to study in our mis- 
 sion institution. The father staid a year with me, 
 watching diligently over his sons; and he then re- 
 turned to Abyssinia, leaving his sons under my care. 
 They remained four years and eight months under my 
 
THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. 159 
 
 roof, (luring which time they profited much by the in- 
 structions received in my family, and by their attend- 
 ance at our institution, all the members of the mission 
 showing the deepest anxiety to advance their improve- 
 ment. They distinguished themselves even among the 
 Hindu pupils, with whom there is no lack of talent ; 
 and, what is of far more importance, they shewed the 
 most pleasing and satisfactory signs of personal piety, 
 being constrained by their religious feelings to sit down 
 with our native church at the Lord's table. On my 
 leaving India for this country, they accompanied me to 
 Aden, from which they proceeded to Abyssinia. I have 
 had no tidings of them since they entered that country ; 
 but this may be accounted for by the difficulty of com- 
 munication. If spared, they will, through divine grace, 
 prove lights in the midst of the surrounding darkness ; 
 and, full as they are of Christian zeal, they will seek the 
 instruction of their countrymen. They repeatedly ex- 
 pressed the wish to me to return to India, if their friends 
 Avould permit them, to complete their studies for the 
 lioly ministry, and to devote themselves to the work of a 
 missionary among their kindred according to the flesh. 
 They have the pledge from me and others that they 
 will not be overlooked ; and if no tidings of them be soon 
 received, a special native messenger will be despatched 
 from Aden to inquire about their fate. May they be 
 preserved, and made a rich blessing to multitudes in 
 ^Ethiopia, which, in all its extent, will yet stretch out 
 its hands unto God. 
 
 I cannot at present extend these notices of the 
 Independent Eastern Churches, though I have in my 
 possession abundant materials for a much fuller descrip- 
 
160 INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 tion of them. I trust, however, that it has not alto- 
 gether been in vain, that you have this day been called 
 to advert to their past history, and present condition, 
 and the benevolent efforts which are now being made 
 in their behalf. When you contrast their constitu- 
 tion, as formed through the ministry of apostles, evange- 
 lists, confessors, and martyrs, — the splendour of their glory 
 in the morn of their existence, when the beams of the 
 Sun of Righteousness, unobscured by the clouds of error 
 and superstition, directly conveyed to them life and heal- 
 ing, and when the Spirit of God himself rested on their 
 members, with all the effulgence of his enlightening, 
 purifying, and beautifying grace, — and their first love, and 
 works, and charity, and service, and faith, and patience, 
 amidst all the opposition whick they experienced from 
 the Prince of the power of the air, and his ministers on 
 earth arrayed in all tbe untarnished and unbroken pano- 
 ply of a matured and dominant paganism, and the dis- 
 appointed worldHness of a perverted Judaism — with their 
 present darkness, desolation, and ruin, you must be well 
 nigh lost in wonder and astonishment, and tempted to 
 leave them as they are to the fearful judgments of that 
 God whose righteous indignation they have done so much 
 to provoke, and long-suffering patience to exhaust. 
 When, however, you bear in mind that some of them 
 form a remnant wonderfully preserved for ages, though 
 so often assailed by the sword of the false prophet, and 
 the heathen chief, and the frauds of the man of sin — 
 whose efforts to secure their allegiance have been despe- 
 rate and unceasing — you may come to the conclusion that 
 God may yet have rich grace in store for them, and 
 errant them speedily a day of merciful visitation, intro- 
 duced, though it may be, by fearful chastisements and 
 
INDEPENDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. IGl 
 
 changes. If we view some of them as the alhes, or even 
 the subjects, of Babylon, we should still say to their mem- 
 bers, in the name of God, '' Come out of her, my people, 
 that ye be mot partakers of her sins, and that ye receive 
 not her plagues : for her sins have reached unto heaven, 
 and God hath remembered her iniquities." If we view 
 the lands in which they are found as the field of the 
 warld's battle, we should also remember that they are 
 the destined scene of the world's deliverance. If no 
 state on earth neglects its frontier, without injury, Chris- 
 tendom should look to its interests where they come in 
 contact with the dominions of the Heathen and Muham- 
 madan powers ; and, if our own country at present be 
 the most highly-favoured on earth, we should remember 
 that its influence should be felt where protection, re- 
 covery, and advance, are most imperiously needed. If 
 we esteem it a privilege and a duty to labour and pray 
 for the conversion of the Jews to the faith of that Jesus 
 whom their fathers crucified, we should not overlook 
 those depressed communities bearing the Christian name, 
 in which are to be found the descendants of that rem- 
 nant according to the election of grace, which, in the 
 days of the apostles, saw in Jesus of Nazareth that Sa- 
 viour of whom Moses and the prophets did write. We 
 should remember that it is as clearly revealed, that it is 
 through God's mercy to the Gentiles that the Jews are 
 to obtain mercy ,^ as that the receiving of the Jews is 
 to be to the Gentiles as life from the dead ; and that 
 the neglected Eastern Christians are, by their idolatries 
 and superstitions, at present stumblingblocks in the way 
 of the Jews, while, if evangelical truth were again re- 
 stored to them by the blessing of God upon our exertions, 
 * Rom. xi. .31. 
 
162 INDEPENDEXT EASTERN CHURCHES. 
 
 the Jews mio-ht be provoked by them to jealousy and 
 emulation, to their being saved. We have seen that 
 o-reat doors of usefulness are opening up among these 
 Christians : and it becomes us, with others, to enter in, 
 and labour for their enlightenment and reformation. In 
 the view of their claims and necessities, I thank God for 
 the formation of the Committee of the Free Church for 
 holding correspondence with, and promoting the interests 
 of, the Foreign Churches, which has given me this op- 
 portimity of making this first appeal in their behalf in 
 Scotland. 
 
 In concluding, I beg to observe, that our present con- 
 tributions to the Eastern Churches may be easily em- 
 ployed for their benefit. Members of the Armenian 
 and ^Ethiopian churches belonging to Persia and Abys- 
 sinia, as well as India, have already been educated at 
 our Mission Institution at Bombay ; and I know of others 
 willing to repair thither if the promise of assistance in 
 supporting themselves could be held out to them. A fund, 
 then, for the thorough education at Bombay — our great 
 commercial emporium for Arabia, Persia, and the shores 
 of Africa — of members of the Eastern Churches destined 
 to return, surcharged with Christian truth, to the lands 
 of their nativity, would, through God's grace, accomplish 
 an amount of good not easily to be over-estimated. When, 
 as we expect it will ere long be the case, a mission will 
 be formed by us at Aden for the numerous Jews of 
 Yemen, it may prove a valuable auxiliary in procuring 
 Christian pupils for us from Africa, and eventually, by 
 its o-reater proximity to that continent, supersede the 
 Indian missionaries in the charge of them. In the joint 
 Presbyterian mission to the Jews of Damascus^ Mr 
 
LVDEPEXDENT EASTERN CHURCHES. 163 
 
 Graham regularly preaches every Lord's day m Arabic, 
 a language which he acquired with unexampled rapidity, 
 to as many members of the various churches of that 
 place as he can assemble together ; and aid should be 
 given to him in defraying the expenses incurred in this 
 department of his work, and in the circulation of such 
 tracts and books calculated for edification as can be pro- 
 cured. Mr Allan, in subordination to his work among 
 the Jews of Constantinople, may aid our American breth- 
 ren there, when occasion demands, in their labours among 
 the Armenians and Greeks, particularly by the distribu- 
 tion of books. Our American friends in Syria, Asia Minor, 
 Constantinople, and other parts of Turkey, have not, as 
 we have seen, the means of meeting the demands which 
 are made upon them through the press ; and we may 
 much forward the cause which we have in view by as- 
 sisting them in their printing operations. If the libe- 
 rality of the public encourage the enterprise, direct mis- 
 sions to some of the Eastern churches may be founded by 
 ourselves and other evangelical denominations in Scot- 
 land. Let us be prepared to act in earnestness, prayer- 
 fulness, and devotedness, and the Lord will graciously 
 use our instrumentality to the promotion of his own 
 glory .^ 
 
 * Contributions for any of the objects here indicated, -will be 
 thankfully received by the Committee of the Free Church on 
 Foreign Churches, and by the author of this Lecture. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 The Ancient History of the Waldensian Church. 
 BY REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY TO TUE SYNOD OF OillGlNAL SECEDEKS. 
 
 "Where was your Church before Luther?" is a ques- 
 tion that has been often put to Protestants by their 
 Komish adversaries, and always with an air of trium- 
 phant confidence, as if it admitted of no reply, and 
 decided the whole controversy. It would not be diffi- 
 cult to show, that the question, viewed as an objection 
 against the truth of the Protestant religion, is founded 
 upon mere fallacy and gratuitous assumption. It as- 
 sumes not only that Christ has promised that there 
 shall always be in the world a visible Church, but that 
 this Church must be so visible as to be seen by all, and 
 that it must be confined to a particular locality. But 
 although we have every reason to believe that our 
 Lord has always had a visible Church on earth, in 
 which the faithful have been nourished and preserved, 
 it does not follow that it was at all times equally 
 visible. On the contrary, the same Word which holds 
 out the prospect of a perpetual visibility to the Church, 
 warrants us to expect that, during a long and dreary 
 
 N 
 
165 LECTURE III. 
 
 interval, the Anticliristian interest would maintain a 
 visible ascendancy; while the true Church, under the 
 emblem of the Two Witnesses in the Revelation, would 
 be reduced within very narrow limits, and driven to 
 preach the gospel in a state of great distress and de- 
 pression : so that the Church may have existed under 
 a visible form, though, like the sun in the heavens, it 
 may have been often and long involved in obscurity, 
 though it may have been hidden from the observation 
 of the world, and though the ecclesiastical historian 
 may search in vain or to little purpose for the records 
 of its organic existence. In like manner, although 
 Christ has given a promise of perpetuity to his Church, 
 it does not follow that this promise is to be allocated 
 to any particular Church, far less, as our opponents 
 have the simplicity to believe, and the presumption to 
 maintain, that this promise was made to the Church of 
 Rome. 
 
 The great question certainly is, not where our Church 
 was, but where our religion was, before the Reformation? 
 Where did true Christianity exist, the spirit and power 
 of a living faith? To this question we reply, that true 
 Christianity, though buried for ages, to a great extent, 
 under the rubbish of Popery, was never extinct. It 
 lived in the Word of God, " which liveth and abideth 
 for ever;" in those sacred records, which, in spite of the 
 efforts of Rome to suppress or supplant them. Provi- 
 dence has preserved entire and unpolluted. And it lived 
 in the hearts of the faithful who were raised up from 
 time to time, to protest against her' apostacy, and who, 
 though nominally within the pale of the Romish Church, 
 liad not received the mark of the beast, neither wor- 
 sliipped his im^ge. The summons, " Come out of her, 
 my people," clearly intimates that before the Reforma- 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 167 
 
 tion, which may be viewed as its response, Christ had 
 a people within mystical Babylon, whom he owned a? 
 his people, and who were as distinct from her as the 
 captive Jews were from ancient Babylon. We may go 
 farther, however, and reply that we find our Church 
 before Luther, not in the Roman, but in the Catholic 
 Church, or in those branches of the Church universal 
 which adhered to the truth of the Gospel. We do not 
 seek our pedigree in the Church of Rome, which, from 
 her very constitution, is a schismatical Church, and 
 which we view as, beyond all question, the Antichrist 
 of Scripture, and consequently no church of Christ at 
 all. She may pretend to be the mistress of other 
 Churches, but in virtue of this very claim to ascendancy, 
 she forfeits her catholicity. If she will be the Roman, 
 she cannot be the Catholic Church. Still she is only a 
 particular Church — a mere piece of the Church — fixed 
 down and stereotyped within the locality of her seven 
 mountains — the Roman Church, bearing, in the very 
 name that she boasts of, the certificate of her schism. 
 The Catholic Church is composed of all the churches 
 of Christ, combined into a whole, not under the name 
 or authority of any particular church, but under the 
 name and authority of Christ, the Head of them all, 
 and embracing " all that in every place call upon the 
 name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." 
 Now that such Churches did exist during the dark- 
 est ages before the Reformation, vre have no reason to 
 doubt. It is not necessary that we should be able 
 to trace their existence, far less their uninterrupted 
 succession. Our faith in this matter is founded, not 
 on the testimony of man, but on the sure promises 
 of Jehovah. In tracing the descent of these Churches 
 from the Apostles, we are guided, through the intricate 
 
168 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 and sometimes almost impenetrable course of their 
 history, not by the names of Popish bishops, little 
 known and long forgotten, if indeed they ever existed 
 except in the imagination of their monkish chroniclers, 
 but by the clear, sparkling, living stream of evangelical 
 truth, leading up to the sacred fountain. And in 
 identifying ourselves with these churches, we are not 
 actuated by the vain ambition of " tacking ourselves 
 on" to antiquity, as if we considered it necessary to 
 establish such a link of connection, in order to prove 
 our descent from the Apostolic Church ; for the true 
 link is not corporeal, but spiritual, or, as one of the 
 fathers expresses it, '• Where the Church is, there is the 
 Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is the Church." 
 Our object simply is to show that, even during 
 the darkest ages of the world, "God has not left 
 himself witliout witness," and to illustrate the sub- 
 stantial unity in the faith which has at all times 
 distinguished the followers of the Lamb. On this 
 point we are not left to mere conjecture. We have 
 the testimony of unimpeachable history — a testimony 
 which recent investigations have rendered clearer, fuller, 
 and more explicit, than ever it was before, that during 
 the darkest ages, there were, not individuals merely 
 within the pale of the Romish Church, but whole 
 Churches living in a state of separation from her, and 
 retaining the ancient faith of the gospel — Churches 
 which can be traced back to the days of primitive 
 Christianit}'-, and some of which continued to exist 
 down to the time of the Reformation — true branches 
 and living representatives of the Catholic Church of 
 Christ. We might have referred, as an illustration, to 
 the Syrian Churches, which have been proved by the 
 researches of Dr Claudius Buchanan, confirmed by 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 1G9 
 
 subsequent inquiries, to have preserved, foi; many cen- 
 turies, their independence and their primitive puritj. 
 But we confine ourselves at present to the Christians of 
 the Alps, who, under the general names of Waldenses 
 and Albigenses, can be proved to have retained from 
 the earliest ages the character of true Churches of 
 Christ. 
 
 It may not be out of place, before proceeding fur- 
 ther, to advert a little to the evidence which we possess 
 of the antiquity of the Christian Churches on both 
 sides of the Alps, who were, in more than one respect, 
 closely connected together. The difficulties necessarily 
 attendant on all such inquiries, and which have crea- 
 ted much confusion among Protestant as well as Popish 
 writers, have been greatly enhanced by a circumstance 
 which deserves more consideration than has hitherto 
 been given to it. We refer to the variety of names 
 which have been given to the early Christians, in- 
 vented by their enemies, and too easily adopted and 
 freely applied to them by their professed friends. We 
 say invented by their enemies, for we have evidence to 
 show that they were rejected as calumnies and by- 
 names by those to whom they were originally ap- 
 plied. It has been the uniform policy of Rome, to 
 vilify and defame every party or Church which has 
 dared to question her supremacy. In order to up- 
 hold her claim to catholicity, or universality, it be- 
 comes an essential point with her, that there should be 
 no other Church on earth to dispute the palm with 
 her. The existence of another, an independent Church, 
 is fatal to the pretensions of Popery. Other Churches 
 may have brothers or sisters: — Rome is a mother- 
 church, and will own none but sons or daughters. 
 Other Churches may quarrel with their neighbours. 
 
170 LECTURE III. 
 
 and, like graham and Lot, " separate themselves" to 
 the right or left : — Rome must annihilate others, or be 
 herself annihilated. Her motto is, Aict Cesar, aut 
 nihil.'' To this cause, which furnishes a key for the 
 explanation of all her persecutions in the past, as well 
 as her proselyting zeal in the present time, we must 
 trace the policy, cunning as it was contemptible, of in- 
 venting nicknames, and a multitude of various dresses 
 for those who opposed her pretensions. These appella- 
 tives were derived from various sources — sometimes 
 from the names of individuals who happened to distin- 
 guish themselves for their piety, or success in gaining 
 converts, sometimes from the places where the Christ- 
 ians chiefly flourished, at other times from the most 
 trifling peculiarities, such as the cut of their clothes, or 
 the shape of their sandals. Thus, on the Italian side 
 of the Alps, we meet with some of them called Beren- 
 garians, from the famous Berenger of Tours, Cathari, 
 which corresponds with our term of Puritans, Beghards, 
 Paulicians, Paterins, Subalpines, and Vaudois. On the 
 French side, we have them denominated Albigenses, 
 from Albi, a town in the south of France, where they 
 abounded for some time; Waldenses, from Peter Waldo 
 of Lyons, whose followers again have been styled Lyon- 
 ists, poor men of Lyons ; Sabatati, from a kind of 
 sandal called zahata, which some of them wore ; with a 
 variety of other names too tedious to mention, and 
 the very number of which shows the prevalence of their 
 opinions.* 
 
 The obvious design, however, of this pyebald nomen- 
 
 * Usher, de Christ. Eccl. Success, and Statu, p. 108. Mosh- 
 eim, cent. xii. We do not recite here the much more oppro- 
 brious epithets, founded on the pretended crimes ascribed to 
 them, and applied to them, not only by their vulgar persecut- 
 ors, but by learned historians. Perrin Hist, des Vaudois, p. 10. 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 171 
 
 clature, was to affix to these confessors of Christ the 
 character of obscure and paltry schismatics, following 
 divisive courses from the true Catholic Church, and 
 ranging themselves under the banner of some here- 
 siarch, instead of that of the Pope, the sole representa- 
 tive of Christ on earth. The device succeeded, at the 
 time, to admiration. All true Catholics shunned the 
 detested names of the heretics, with more horror than 
 ever true Churchman disavowed the name of Puritan 
 or Methodist. The good men, again, to whom they 
 were applied, when summoned before the inquisitorial 
 courts of that age, found themselves placed in the try- 
 ing dilemma, of either disowning the degrading soubri- 
 quet, and thus appearing to renounce their peculiar 
 profession, or of acknowledging it, and thus confessing 
 themselves schismatics. In either case advantage was 
 taken of them by the wily inquisitors of Eome, as we 
 learn from the bitter taunts and complaints contained 
 in their writings, and the records of their courts. " Are 
 you a Waldensian 1 are you a Subalpine f would their 
 inquisitors demand. If they refused the name, and 
 begged to explain that they were Christians, and ac- 
 knowledged none as their master but One in heaven, — 
 " See the obstinacy of these heretics," it was said; 
 " they will never give you a direct answer !" If, again, 
 they owned the designation, — " Ah, the schismatics !" 
 was the exclamation of their inveterate foes ; " they 
 prefer the name of Waldensians and Subalpines to that 
 of Christians!" But these multifarious titles have 
 been productive of more lasting mischief. They have 
 tended to involve the history of these Christians in al- 
 most inextricable confusion, and rendered the study of 
 it any thing but inviting to the general reader. What 
 is still more to be deplored, they have led to disputes 
 
172 LECTURE III. 
 
 among even Protestant writers, who, misled by the 
 similarity, or perplexed by the number of these wretch- 
 ed nicknames, instead of searching together for the veins 
 of evangelic truth, under whatever kind of strata it 
 might be found, have unhappily quarrelled with each 
 other, and spent their time in idle controversies as to the 
 respective origin of the Waldenses and Albigenses, and 
 the precise differences between the Paulicians and the 
 Paterins.* The advantage which such disputes afford 
 to our Romish adversaries, it is needless to show; and 
 it must increase our regret to know, that they are whol- 
 ly uncalled for. What need we care for the names by 
 which their enemies stigmatized them, when the fact 
 stands out unquestioned, that with the exception of 
 some diversities of sentiment and practice of an inferior 
 kind, which can easily be accounted for from diffe- 
 rences of locality, they all agreed in protesting against 
 the supremacy of the Pope, and the characteristic errors 
 of Popery, and in holding the main distinctive tenets 
 of the Protestant creed ? 
 
 Another grand device of the enemy, which has suc- 
 ceeded in creating confusion and contention in regard 
 
 * We might refer particularly to the unhappy turn given to 
 this controversy by Mr Maitland, in his " Tracts and Docu- 
 ments" regarding the ancient Albigenses and Waldenses, in 
 which he attempts, not in the very best spirit, and certainly 
 without any great success, to overthrow the evidence of Mr 
 Faber, in his " Sacred Calendar of Prophecy." The later 
 work of Mr Faber on the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, 
 is one of the most complete answers to all the charges which 
 have been brought against the antiquity and theological purity 
 of these chiirches. Considering the tone in Avhich he has been 
 treated by Mr Maitland, we are not surprised that Mr Faber 
 should not have referred, by name, to an opponent to whose 
 boastfully paraded testimonies his work is a more than suffi- 
 cient reply. 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 173 
 
 to these churches, was to charge them with the most 
 odious heresies and the most revolting crimes. The 
 Albigenses, in particular, as certain of these Christians 
 were called, have been confidently accused of being Ma- 
 nicheans, a class of heretics who appeared in the early 
 ages of Christianity, and who held, among other things, 
 that the visible universe, or the whole of matter, was 
 the creation of the devil. This charge, which has also 
 been brought against the Paulicians, who emigrated to 
 the south of France, and who are represented as the an- 
 cestors of the Albigenses, has been most satisfactorily 
 disposed of ; and it has been evinced, by a large induc- 
 tion of facts, chiefly drawn from the writings of their 
 accusers, that the only heresies of which they were 
 guilty, were the blessed truths of the gospel which we 
 profess, and that, as in the case of the primitive Chris- 
 tians, against whom the same kind of odious calumnies 
 were raised, the only crime of which they stand con- 
 victed, was that of leading blameless and holy lives. "^ 
 Indeed, when we consider the character of the tribunals 
 before which they were tried ; when we know that they 
 made it a rule to receive the testimony of the most aban- 
 doned characters against them, while they paid no re- 
 gard to the disclaimers of the accused ; when we reflect, 
 moreover, how easy it was for them to put a forced con- 
 struction on the harmless language and the sound sen- 
 timents of a simple and unlettered people, which would 
 amount to a charge of heresy, and how much it was 
 for their interest to show that these separatists were as 
 much opposed to the faith of the gospel as they were 
 to the authority of Rome ; we cease to wonder at the 
 sentences of these monkish courts, and are only amazed 
 
 * See Faber's Vallenses and Albigenses, pp. 68-270. Peyran's 
 Hist. Defence of the Waldenses or Vaudois, pp. 15, 147. 
 
174 LECTUEE III. 
 
 at the amount of saving truth which, it appears, even 
 from the testimonies of their antagonists, was held 
 by the much calumniated Churches. Were it in our 
 power to examine the records of these inquisitorial 
 dens, instead of the reports carefully prepared for the 
 eye of the public by interested agents, we have no 
 doubt that evidence still more satisfactory would be 
 found to show that, after the manner which they called 
 heresy, these Christians in the middle ages worshipped 
 in spirit and in truth the God of their fathers. Even 
 as it is, the cloud of unmerited scandal having been 
 blown away, we behold the interesting spectacle of 
 Churches whose antiquity stretches back into the age of 
 the apostles. The Christians in the south of France, 
 during the twelfth century, are seen to be only the re- 
 mote descendants and representatives of Churches which 
 are known to have existed in Armenia under the name 
 of the Paulicians, in the middle of the seventh century, 
 or about the year 650; while those on the Italian side 
 of the Alps, at the same period, can be shown to be 
 merely the gleanings of a harvest of Churches, which 
 remained in a state of independence of Kome and her 
 corruptions from time immemorial, until mowed down 
 by the relentless scythe of persecution.* 
 
 The Vaudois or Waldenses of Piedmont, to whom it 
 is time to direct our more special attention, are not less 
 interesting a people when viewed as the last relics and 
 representatives of these ancient churches, than they 
 are for their history as a separate church. Dwelling 
 amidst the lofty recesses of the Cottian Alps, in those 
 beautiful and sequestered valleys which are formed by 
 
 * See Allix's Remarks on the Ancient Churches of Piedmont, 
 p. 10.9, &c. 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDEXSIAN CHURCH. 175 
 
 the mountain torrents, this ancient Church has asserted 
 from the earliest ages her independence of Rome, and 
 preserved, in the face of the most relentless and un- 
 wearied persecution, the primitive simplicity of the 
 gospel. The Creator seems to have constructed these 
 retreats for what he designed them to be, — the asylum 
 of a persecuted flock. The scenery presents a striking 
 combination of all that is grand and beautiful in na- 
 ture. Alps piled upon Alps in majestic confusion — 
 tremendous crags intersected by raging torrents — steep 
 gullies, accessible only by a single gorge — appear as if 
 purposely thro'C\'n as a rampart around this little 
 sanctuary of truth ; while the valleys beneath, care- 
 fully cultivated, are so many storehouses in which 
 nature has collected her most luxurious fruits. In 
 this abode, which may be regarded as the hollow of 
 the Almighty's hand, the descendants of this Church 
 reside, down to the present day. Placed between 
 Italy and France, they bear no resemblance to the 
 natives of either country, in manners, language, or re- 
 ligion. " Dwelling alone in the midst of the people," 
 they still retain all the peculiarities of an ancient race ; 
 and in surveying them, one feels, as on inspecting an 
 antique building, curious to know something of their 
 past history. 
 
 In addition to the confusion arising from that va- 
 riety of names already noticed, it so happens, that by 
 what we can only regard as an unlucky coincidence in 
 the sound and spelling of the words, the Vaudois of 
 Piedmont, who were sometimes termed Waldenses, 
 which some consider a corruption of Vallenses, and 
 sometimes Leonists, from Leo of Ravenna, have been 
 confounded with the followers of Peter Waldo of Lyons, 
 who were also called Waldenses and Lyonists, or Poor 
 
176 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 Men of Lyons. It is easy to see how these names 
 should have led to confused and apparently contradic- 
 tory statements in regard to the origin of the Vaudois. 
 But from whatever source they may have derived the 
 name of Waldenses, and whatever other name may 
 have been applied to them, it is beyond all doubt that 
 they existed, as a distinct church and people, many 
 ages before the appearance of Waldo. This person was 
 a rich merchant of Lyons, who came into notice about 
 the middle of the twelfth century, and distinguished 
 himself by his piety, by his translation of the Scrip- 
 tures, and his success in gaining converts to the faith. 
 But anxious as the Romish writers are to identify the 
 persecuted Yaudois of the Alps with the name of 
 Waldo, and thus make them no older than the twelfth 
 century, we have happily sufficient evidence, not only 
 from their own records, but from the writings of their 
 opponents, to show the contrary. It seems but fair, in 
 estimating the antiquity of any people, that we should 
 take into account, as a very material testimony, their 
 own records and traditions. The ancient histories of 
 this people were destroyed by the rage of their enemies, 
 who sought thus to exterminate the memory as well as 
 the whole race of these so-called heretics. But among 
 their manuscripts, which were preserved by Sir Samuel 
 Morland, and deposited in the University of Cam- 
 bridge, there is a catechism bearing the date of 1587, 
 in which the question is put, " How long is it since 
 the pure doctrine has been preached in the valleys ?" 
 and the answer is, " About 500 years, as near as can 
 be gathered from any histories, but according to the 
 opinion of the inhabitants, from father to son, time out 
 of mind." The most venerable of these documents, 
 called the Noble Lesson, which is a simple exposition 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 177 
 
 of the Cliristian doctrine in verse, not only bears evi- 
 dence of its own antiquity in its dialect, but contains 
 its precise date, 1100, and speaks of the term Vaudois 
 as even at that period applied to them in contempt. 
 It commences thus : — 
 
 Brethren, give ear to a noble lesson, — 
 
 One thousand and one hundred years are completed 
 
 Since it was written, that we are in the last times. 
 
 And then, after describing the Christian, it adds, 
 
 Such a one is termed a Vaudois; 
 
 And they seek occasion, by lies and deceit, 
 
 To deprive him of the fruits of his toil. 
 
 " As for us," said the venerable Peyran to Dr Gilly, 
 " we have been called heretics, and Arians, and Mani- 
 cheans, and Cathari ; but we are, like yourselves, a 
 Church built up in Christ. We have adhered to the 
 pure tenets of the apostolic age, and the Roman Catho- 
 lics have separated from us. Ours is the apostolic suc- 
 cession, from which the Eoman hierarchy has depart- 
 ed."* " Neither," says the brave Henry Arnaud, " has 
 their church ever been reformed ; whence arises its 
 title, Evangelic. The Vaudois are, in fact, descended 
 from those refugees from Italy, who, after St Paul had 
 there preached the gospel, abandoned their beautiful 
 country, and fled, like the woman mentioned in the 
 Apocalypse, to these wild mountains, where they have 
 to this day handed down the gospel from father to son, 
 in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by 
 St Paul."t 
 
 « Gilly's Narrative, p. 79. 
 
 + Blair's Hist, of the Waldenses, i. 7. 
 
178 LECTURE III. 
 
 Listen to the testimony of their enemies, and you 
 will find that it entirely coincides with their own tra- 
 ditions, and by doing so, furnishes a confirmation of 
 their truth, which has all the weight of the deposition 
 of an adverse witness who voluntarily comes forward to 
 support the declaration of the pannel at the bar. One, 
 for example, tells us, that '" the ancient Yaudois would 
 admit no other name than that of Apostolicals, as they 
 maintain that they are the successors of the apostles 
 and the primitive church." A second declares, that 
 " their origin cannot be found out with certainty, and 
 that in the ninth and tenth centuries they were not a 
 new sect." A third testifies with much bitterness, that 
 " always, and in every age, the valley of Angrogna had 
 been filled with heretics." A fourth makes the same 
 remark regarding Toulouse; while another, who was 
 both an apostate and an inquisitor,* and has written 
 bitterly against them, confesses, that " this sect is the 
 most ancient of all, some supposing that it existed 
 from the days of Pope Sylvester, while others trace its 
 origin from the times of the apostles."t 
 
 Besides all this, we can account for the prevalence of 
 
 • Reinerius Sacco, who flourished during the earlier part of 
 the fifteenth century. 
 
 + Peyran's Hist. Defence of the Vaudois, p. 25-29; Mor- 
 land's Hist, of the Evang. Churches of Piedmont, p. 10-29 ; 
 Gilly's Researches, 78 ; Faber's Vallenses, &c. The two last 
 of these writers have accused Dr M'Crie of denying the anti- 
 quity of the Waldenses, or confounding them with the Albi- 
 genses, in his History of the Reformation in Italy. It is hard- 
 ly necessary to observe, what Mr Faber seems willing to allow, 
 (Vallenses, Preface), that this is an entire mistake, arising 
 from their not attending to the fact, that Dr M'Crie speaks 
 simply of these churches, under whatever name they might go, 
 as alike "the hereditary witnesses for the truth against the 
 corruptions of Rome." (Italy, p. 4, 2d ed. ) 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 179 
 
 evangelical sentiments among the Vaudois, and can 
 trace their history in the soundness of their creed and 
 the purity of their lives. The labours of Claude, 
 bishop of Turin, the diocese within which the Valleys 
 were included, in the year 823, eiFected a reformation 
 in the district to such an extent, and in such a spirit, 
 that he deserves to be classed with the most eminent of 
 our reformers. He declared war against all the pre- 
 vailing corruptions of the church, particularly against 
 images, the use as well as worship of which he con- 
 demned. He ordered all the images, and even the 
 crosses, to be cast out of the church, and devoted to the 
 flames. He treated relics with the utmost contempt, 
 and severely inveighed against superstitious pilgrimages 
 to the tombs of the saints. In short, he published com- 
 mentaries on several of the books of Scripture, from 
 which it appears, that he held the leading doctrines of 
 the gospel, and condemned the corruptions of Kome. 
 The Vaudois gratefully acknowledge their obligations 
 to the zealous services of Claude, and to these, among 
 other causes, we may ascribe the Scriptural knowledge, 
 and freedom from superstition, which have ever distin- 
 guished this primitive people. 
 
 The distinguishing tenets which they held clearly in- 
 dicate their derivation. All agreed in regarding the 
 Church of Rome as the Babylon of the Apocalypse, in 
 denying the corporeal presence in the Eucharist, reject- 
 ing the sacraments of confirmation, confession, and mar- 
 riage, and in charging with idolatry the exposure of 
 images in the churches. The bells which summoned 
 the people to the adoration of these emblems, they 
 called the trumpets of demons. And if the body of 
 Christ, said they, had been as large as one of our moun- 
 tains, it must have been devoured long ago, by the num- 
 
180 LECTURE III. 
 
 berswhom tliey pretend to have eaten of it."^ But they 
 were no less distinguished for that purity and piety of 
 life, which is the best commentaiy on a sound religious 
 creed. Their adversaries, unable to deny so conspicu- 
 ous a feature, could only account for it by having re- 
 course to the ordinary shift of all such characters, and 
 ascribing it to hypocrisy. 
 
 " All other sects," says the inquisitor formerly refer- 
 red to, " render themselves odious, by reason of their 
 blasphemies against God himself, but, on the contrary, 
 the Waldenses have great appearances of piety, inas- 
 much as they live justly in the sight of men. They 
 believe well, as concerning God, in all things, and hold 
 all the articles of the creed. There is only one thing 
 against them, and that is, they hate and blaspheme the 
 Church of Rome, and hereby they easily gain credit 
 and belief among the people, "t 
 
 Another feature illustrative of the Christian charac- 
 ter of this ancient colony, and accounting for the rapid 
 promulgation of their opinions, was their missionary 
 spirit. Like the Church at Jerusalem, when scattered 
 abroad by a great persecution, they went everywhere 
 preaching the gospel. The following curious account, 
 given by a contemporary historian, discovers the mode 
 in which they sometimes improved their opportunities 
 for enlightening their neighbours, and shows that the 
 
 * Sismondi, Hist, of the Crusades, p. 7. 
 
 -|- The same testimony to their strict purity is borne by Thu- 
 anus, one of the most candid of Romish historians, who records 
 with high praise the self-devoted act of a Waldensian young 
 woman, who, on being pursued by the soldiers of La Trinita, 
 threw herself headlong from a tremendous precipice into the 
 gulf below, that " by a generous death she might escape the 
 lust of her barbarous pursuers." 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 181 
 
 colporteurs of France follow no modern trade.* " The 
 heretics cunningly devise how they may insinuate them- 
 selves into the familiarity of the noble and the great. 
 They exhibit for sale to the lords and ladies, rings, and 
 robes, and other wares which are likely to be accept- 
 able. When they have sold them, if asked whether 
 they have any more goods for sale, one of these travel- 
 ling pedlars will answer : I have jewels far more pre- 
 cious than these, which I will readily give you, if you 
 will secure me against being betrayed to the priests. 
 The security being pledged, the heretic then proceeds 
 to say : I possess a brilliant gem from God himself, for, 
 through it, man comes to the knowledge of God : and I 
 have another which casts out so ruddy a heat, that it 
 forthwith kindles the love of God in the heart of the 
 owner. In like manner proceeds he to speak of all his 
 other metaphorical gems. Then he recites a chapter 
 from Scripture, or from some part of our Lord's dis- 
 courses. — After this the heretic draws a comparison be- 
 tween the Roman Church and the ancient Pharisees: — 
 and then puts the question. Judge ye, which faith is 
 the more perfect, that of our community, or that of the 
 Church of Rome, and when you have honestly judged, 
 choose that which you deem the best."t Animated by 
 such a spirit as this, we need not be surprised to learn, 
 that these Christians of the Alps should have penetrated, 
 not only into Italy and France, but into Germany, 
 
 « Mr Faber applies this account to the P'rench Waldenses, 
 and maintains that the Vaudois never displayed the migratory 
 and missionary spirit of the Albigenses ; but the truth is, the 
 Christians known under these names always showed this spirit, 
 until compressed by the force of persecution within the narrow 
 limits of the valleys. Peyran, Nouvelles Lettres, pp. 48—56. 
 
 t Reiner, do Kaeret. Faber, p. 73. 
 
 
 
182 LECTURE III. 
 
 Bohemia, Spain, and even England. Wlierever they 
 went, they carried the light of the gospel with them, 
 and feeble as that light was, it pierced through the 
 thick darkness which it could not dispel, with a pure 
 and steady radiance. Thus, literally " set upon a hill," 
 the Waldenses have verified their ancient device, that 
 of a lighted candle, surrounded by seven stars, and 
 bearing the motto. Lux lucet in teneb7'is, " The light 
 shineth in darkness." And thus may this Church be 
 viewed as the living link between the primitive and 
 the protestant Church, — the archway between the 
 apostles and the reformers. 
 
 But there is another mark by which we may trace 
 the history of this ancient Church — a mark, alas ! too 
 well descriptive of a Church of Christ — the same by 
 which their cruel persecutors were wont to track the 
 poor fugitives to their retreats in the mountains — the 
 mark of blood. The fury of persecution fell first on 
 tliose that have been termed Albigenses, who occupied 
 the province of Languedoc, in France ; and as we view 
 these Christians as forming part of the same Church, 
 under another name, with that of the Vaudois, who were 
 merely the grape-gleanings of the vintage, we may ad- 
 vert a little to the suiferings they underwent. In the 
 year 1208, the vengeance of the Court of Rome was di- 
 rected against this unhappy people, under pretext of 
 waging war against their sovereign, Raymond, Count 
 of Toulouse. The Pope issued a Bull, in which he 
 ordered that this prince should be anathematized in all 
 the churches. " As we must not observe faith," said 
 his holiness, " with those who keep not faith towards 
 God, or who are separated from the communion of the 
 faithful, we discharge, by apostolic authority, all those 
 who believe themselves bound to this Count by any 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 183 
 
 oath of alliance or fidelity ; we permit every catholic 
 man to pursue his person, to occupy and retain his ter- 
 ritories, especially for the purpose of exterminating 
 heresy."* On the faith of this barbarous edict, the 
 monks began to preach up crusades against the here- 
 tics ; and, in an incredibly short period, the plains of 
 France presented a most extraordinary spectacle. A 
 thousand knights, the flower of Erench chivalry, are 
 drawn up in battle array, encased in iron armour. 
 Bishops have blessed their standards, and engaged to 
 pray for their success. Priests have absolved them 
 from all their sins, past and prospective, and promised 
 them heaven for the blood which they are to shed. 
 Each of these mailed warriors is a pilgrim, engaged, he 
 thinks, in a holy war, on which Heaven smiles, and to 
 feel pity for the victims of which would, in his appre- 
 hension, be a crime to be confessed to the priest, and 
 only to be wiped oiF by bathing in the blood of his 
 fellow-creatures. These are the Crusaders ; and along 
 with them are fifty thousand meaner men, — persons of 
 the most abandoned characters, animated at once by the 
 lust of rapine, the rage of bigotry, and the hope of 
 heavenly pardon. At the head of this fanatical band 
 is Simon de Montfort, a name which stands out in the 
 annals of history, stained with every crime that can 
 tarnish the laurels of the hero. 
 
 Onwards rolls the fiery mass to the scene of its 
 destination. The Count of Toulouse, trembling at 
 their approach, yields to the Pope, and is only forgiven 
 on condition of his joining in the bloody expedition. 
 They approach the town of Beziers, where sixty thou- 
 sand people, including women and children, are assem- 
 
 * Sismondi's History of the Crusades, p. 21, 
 
184 LECTURE III. 
 
 bled, among whom are many Roman Catholics. 
 These, when required by their bishop to betray their 
 fellow-citizenSj nobly refuse ; and the inhabitants, 
 animated by a common sentiment of devotion to their 
 country, make a vigorous but unsuccessful resistance. 
 The knights of the crusade, having asked the Pope's 
 legate how they are to distinguish between the catho- 
 lics and the heretics, receive the celebrated reply, 
 "Kill them all; the Lord tvill know well who are hisT 
 His orders are executed to the letter; not a living 
 creature escapes ; and when the last of the sixty thou- 
 sand are massacred, they set fire to the city, and re- 
 duce it to one vast funereal pile ! 
 
 In vain do the wretched inhabitants, filled with 
 consternation on hearing of this horrible act, betake 
 themselves to fortified places, hitherto deemed impreg- 
 nable; it is only to be gathered to the slaughter. 
 De Montfort has brought with him engines of war 
 hitherto unknown. Among these is one which, from 
 its form and mode of working, was named the Cat. A 
 huge moveable wooden tower, covered with sheepskins, 
 is moved by the soldiers within, close to the wall 
 of the beseiged city. Its side then opens, and an im- 
 mense beam, armed with iron hooks, is projected like 
 the paw of the cat, which shakes the wall with re- 
 iterated blows, and then with its claws tears out and 
 pulls down the loosened stones. With this instrument 
 De Montfort approaches the strongly fortified castle of 
 Cabaret; tlie cat is pushed forward, and its terrible 
 claws soon open a passage for the knights of the cru- 
 sade. The priests, clad in their pontifical habits, 
 await with undisguised eagarness the commencement 
 of the carnage ; and the result may be told in the lan- 
 guage of one of them who was present. " Very soon," 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 185 
 
 says he, " they dragged out the knights of the castle. 
 The noble Count immediately ordered them to be hang- 
 ed; but perceiving that this would occasion delay, he 
 commanded the rest to be massacred ; and the pilgrims 
 (i. e. Crusaders) receiving the order with the greatest 
 avidity, very soon massacred them all on the spot. The 
 lady of the castle, who was an execrable heretic, was, by 
 the Count's orders, thrown into a pit, which was filled 
 up with stones. Afterwards our pilgrims collected the 
 innumerable heretics that the castle contained, and 
 burned them alive with the utmost joy T'^ 
 
 The Crusaders, however, did not always proceed to 
 immediate execution. Candour requires us to state, 
 that, on one occasion at least, they proposed to their 
 victims to save their lives, on the simple condition of 
 abjuring their religion. The castle of Minerva sur- 
 rendered after a vigorous siege; the Crusaders entered 
 singing Te Deum, and found the men assembled in one 
 house, and the women in another, preparing themselves, 
 on their knees, for the fate they anticipated. An ab- 
 bot was ordered to preach to them ; but men and wo- 
 men unanimously refused to comply with his terms: 
 " We will have none of your faith; we have renounced 
 the Church of Rome." De Montford ordered an im- 
 mense pile of wood to be erected in the square, and the 
 people, amounting to more than a hundred and forty, 
 were conducted to the spot. " Be converted to the Ca- 
 tholic faith," cried the Count, " or ascend that pile." 
 Not one complied with his demand. The fire was kin- 
 dled, and filled the square with the conflagration. But 
 no force was required to fulfil the other part of his al- 
 ternative. The martyrs voluntarily plunged into the 
 flames. 
 
 * Sismondi, pp. 05, 76. 
 
186 LECTURE III. 
 
 By a series of atrocities like these, which the writers 
 of romance require to conceal, lest the effect of their 
 gaudy pictures of the Crusades should be spoiled, and 
 the delicate feelings of their readers should be shocked, 
 but which the pen of faithful history has disclosed, the 
 plains to the north of the Alps were laid desolate. The 
 Inquisition, following in the wake of the crusaders, 
 completed their work; and those branches of the Alpine 
 church, which have been called the Albigenses, were all 
 but exterminated. Still, however, the churches in the 
 valleys of Piedmont, and in Calabria, protected partly by 
 the inaccessible nature of their country, partly by the 
 cupidity of their rulers, who derived much of their re- 
 venues from their industry, continued to flourish ; and 
 so long as they existed, proved an eye-sore to the Pon- 
 tiff and his clergy. In the year 1400, an attack was 
 made on the Valley of Pragela, when the ground being 
 covered with snow, the inhabitants were taken by sur- 
 prise, and found themselves shut up to one retreat 
 alone, a mountain called the Albergo. Thither they 
 fled with their wives and children, pursued by the 
 ruthless invaders. Mothers were seen carrying their 
 infants, and leading their children by the hand ; but 
 thus encumbered, many were overtaken and cruelly put 
 to death. The inclemency of an Alpine winter night 
 finished what the soldiers began. When the morning 
 dawned, eighty infants were found dead in their 
 cradles, and their mothers expiring by their side. 
 Some blows leave a scar on a nation's heart which time 
 cannot efface. Two hundred years after this catas- 
 trophe, the natives of Pragela could not mention it 
 without a shudder; and it is not forgotten even to this 
 day. Rome needs not to renew her persecutions again : 
 she has only to show her teeth, to prove her unchanged 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 187 
 
 temper, and she will revive the memory of the past, 
 and marshall against her every generous feeling that 
 God has planted in the breast of man. 
 
 Patient as the Vaudois were under unavoidable suf- 
 fering, they were not so destitute of spirit as to suffer 
 themselves to be cut down as Christians, when they 
 were able to fight for themselves as men; nor could 
 they tamely submit to see their wives and children 
 butchered before their eyes, so long as they had brawny 
 arms and brave hearts to defend them. In this, as 
 in many other points, they bear a close resemblance to 
 our own Scottish forefathers in the time of persecution. 
 About the close of the fifteenth century, when 18,000 
 troops were mustered against them, under the profaned 
 banner of the cross, they turned upon their assailants. 
 Planting themselves in the straits of their mountain 
 fortresses, the front ranks protected with long wooden 
 shields, while those behind fought with slings and 
 cross-bows, they repulsed the attack. On this occa- 
 sion, while their fathers and brothers were engaged in 
 the unequal conflict, the women and children, placed 
 in the rear, were loudly imploring on their knees the 
 assistance of Heaven, crying, " God, help us !" Their 
 prayers, which excited the ridicule of the brutal and 
 bigotted soldiery, seemed to have been listened to with 
 more regard by their heavenly Protector, — a dense fog 
 which descended on the mountains having completely 
 confounded and dispersed their assailants.* 
 
 It is extremely interesting to notice, as the Reforma- 
 tion began to dawn on Europe, how gladly its healing 
 beams were hailed by these watchmen and witnesses on 
 the mountains, and how cordially, and, as it were, 
 
 ♦ Perrin, 153. 
 
188 LECTURE III. 
 
 instinctively, they adjoined themselves to the Reformers. 
 No sooner did they hear of this event, than they sent 
 some of their pastors as deputies to wait upon and 
 consult with the most eminent of the Reformers. In 
 the month of October 1530, two of these deputies, 
 George Morel and Peter Masson, visited Haller and 
 Ecolampade at Basle, and Bucer and Capito at Stras- 
 burg. They told them that having heard of the gifts 
 of the Holy Spirit bestowed on the Reformers, as ap- 
 peared by their blessed fruits, they had come to share 
 in their illumination, and obtain instruction on some 
 points on which they were in doubt, and others on 
 which they modestly acknowledged and deplored their 
 ignorance, which they ascribed partly to their own neg- 
 ligence, and partly to the unfavourable circumstances 
 in which they had been lately placed. " Such as we 
 are," said they, "we are poor instructors of a little 
 liock, which has now for four hundred years, nay, ac- 
 cording to the general tradition of our people, from the 
 time of the apostles, lived among cruel thorns, though 
 not, as good men may easily conceive, without the spe- 
 cial favour of Christ." They then gave a long account 
 of their ecclesiastical discipline, their doctrine, worship, 
 and customs. Thus brought into contact with the re- 
 formers, without having had any previous concert with 
 or knowledge of each other, it is striking to observe how 
 closely, in all the leading points of doctrine, and even 
 of discipline, they were found to agree together. Guid- 
 ed by the same Word and the same Spirit, never was 
 there a more complete illustration of what the apostle 
 denominates " the unity of the faith and of the know- 
 ledge of the Son of God." Their confession of faith, so 
 far as it went, was nearly, in the eyes of our reformers, 
 unexceptionable; and the few points on which the de- 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 189 
 
 puties expressed doubts, referred to doctrines of an ab- 
 struse and controversial kind, with respect to which, 
 as held by Luther and others, they had received a 
 garbled account. The only points of discipline on 
 which they followed a different practice from the re- 
 formed churches, were that, they retained something 
 like confession, when consolation or advice was re- 
 quired, but without superstition or tyranny — that 
 their pastors lived for the most part unmarried — and 
 that they had females, called sisters, who lived together 
 under a vow of perpetual celibacy."^ On other points, 
 there was the most wonderful agreement. Their pas- 
 tors, or harhes as they were called, were set apart to 
 the holy ministry by prayer, and by the imposition of 
 the hands of their brethren, and were freely elected by 
 the people. On being presented before them, they were 
 to entreat the people to receive them, and to pray God 
 for them that they might be worthy of such a charge. 
 They had no other food or raiment than what was be- 
 stowed on them by the free charity of the good people 
 whom they instructed, or what they gained by the labour 
 of their own hands, the young and able-bodied pastors 
 being expected to Avork at some employment, though 
 the aged were exempted from such a necessity.f 
 
 Attempts have been made to show that they had 
 
 • These practices do not appear to have existed among them 
 in the earlier ages of their Church, but to have been intro- 
 duced after the 12th century, with the view of wiping away 
 the odious calumnies propagated against them by their po- 
 pish enemies. Faber's Vallenses, p. 475. For the same pur- 
 pose, they had been for some time in the habit of occasion- 
 ally attending mass in the popish chapels, a practice which 
 they agreed to abandon, on the recommendation of the re- 
 formers. 
 
 f Ruchat, Hist. Reform. Suisse, ii. 252. Perrin, 210. 
 
190 LECTURE III. 
 
 bishops, and the Episcopal form of government, and 
 even of worship, among them. But never were at- 
 tempts of this nature more unsuccessful. Such asser- 
 tions are contradicted by the ancient constitutions of 
 the Waldensian Church, by the testimonies of their 
 enemies, and by their owti unvaried disclaimers. Sir 
 Samuel Morland has observed, that such suppositions 
 are "mere fictitious notions and chimeras," and that 
 " none of their pastors were empowered to act in the 
 least matter without the consent and advice of their 
 brethren and associates in the ministry." Their form 
 of government was, in fact, purely Presbyterian. " As 
 to their synodical constitutions," says the same writer, 
 *' their manuscripts tell us that the barbes, or pastors, 
 assembled once a-year, to treat of their affairs in a gene- 
 ral council — that this council was constantly held in 
 the month of September, and that some hundreds of 
 years ago, there were seen assembled together in one 
 synod, no less than a hundred and forty barbes." The 
 same manuscript adds, that " they had always their con- 
 sistories, and a form of discipline among themselves, 
 except it were in the time of persecution, and then the 
 barbes had their consistories in secret, and did also 
 preach to their congregations, during the winter season, 
 in their own private houses, and in the summer 
 time, upon the tops of mountains, as the people were 
 there feeding their flocks.*" The Waldensian deputies 
 having heard that a difference of practice prevailed 
 among the reformers on this point, made it one of their 
 questions for information, "If there ought to be degrees 
 of dignity among the ministers of the Word of God, 
 such as bishops, priests, and deacons V And Ecolam- 
 
 * aiorland, p. 179—183. 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 191 
 
 pade, in his answer to this inquiry, stated, that while 
 ministers of the gospel ought to avoid those titles and 
 degrees of dignity, which savoured of Papistical pomp 
 and pride, he saw no harm in some of them being pre- 
 sidents alone, while others gave themselves to the 
 preaching of the Word ; and that some might be visi- 
 tors, whom, if they chose, they might call bishops." 
 But this suggestion, moderate as it was, was never 
 adopted by the Vaudois; their ministers remained 
 simple pastors; and even to this day, notwithstanding 
 endeavours made to introduce something like the Epis- 
 copal form among them, by those who had showed them 
 much kindness, and whose wishes they had every temp- 
 tation to gratify, they have uniformly adhered to the 
 simplicity of their ancient Discipline.* On other points, 
 they were found to* have the same agreement with the 
 great body of the reformed Churches. The Commis- 
 sioners appointed in 1506, by Louis XII. of France, to 
 examine into the truth of the false reports which had 
 been circulated against the Vaudois, reported to their 
 master, " that they had visited all the parishes and 
 temples of the places mentioned ; that they found nei- 
 ther images, nor the smallest appearance of any orna- 
 ments, nor of the masses and ceremonies of the Church 
 of Rome ; that the people were not guilty either of sor- 
 cery nor impurity, nor of any of the horrible crimes re- 
 lated of them, but lived like honest men, without in- 
 juring any one ; that they obsei^ved their Sabbaths 
 
 » An attempt having been lately made to induce them at 
 least to appoint one as perpetual moderator of their Synods, 
 it was unanimously resisted. Among others who spoke 
 against it, was a venerable elder of the Church, who said, — 
 " What would our friends in Scotland say or think of us, if we 
 should adopt the constant moderator ?" 
 
192 LECTURE III. 
 
 with punctuality ; that they caused their infants to be 
 baptized according to the order of the primitive Church ; 
 that they taught their children the articles of the Chris- 
 tian faith, and of the ten commandments of God ; that 
 they prayed with their eyes lifted up to heaven ; and 
 that the Word of God was purely expounded among 
 them." On hearing this report, Louis exclaimed with 
 an oath, " These men are better than I and the rest of 
 my Catholic people." We shall only add here, that the 
 deputies having returned to the valleys, a meeting of 
 Synod was held at Angrogna, at which, aided by the 
 suggestions of the reformers, several practical errors into 
 which they had fallen were corrected, and a new Con- 
 fession of Faith was drawn up, embodying the doctrines 
 of the Reformation, which was cordially subscribed and 
 solemnly sworn to in September '1532. This Confes- 
 sion having been approved of by the Reformers, the 
 Vaudois may, from this date, be viewed as forming a 
 branch of the great Protestant family. Vital religion 
 was revived by this happy union ; and it may be truly 
 said, " The wilderness and the solitary place was glad 
 for them, and the desert did rejoice and blossom as the 
 rose." 
 
 It is often seen, however, in the history of Christ's 
 church, that a time of spiritual awakening and religi- 
 ous attainment is followed by a season of severe trial. 
 In 1536, Francis I., the king of France, having con- 
 quered Piedmont, was induced by the solicitations of 
 the Pope to sanctify his conquest by attempting the 
 conversion, or, failing in that, the extermination of his 
 heretical subjects. Deaf to their humble entreaties, he 
 swore that " he did not burn Lutherans in France to 
 permit a reserve of them in the Alps." He commenced 
 by employing the arm of the law. The parliament of 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDEKSIAN CHURCH. 193 
 
 Turin commanded them, on pain of death, to dismiss 
 their revered pastors, who had spoken to them the 
 word of God, and receive a relay of priests to sing 
 masses to them. The Vaudois nobly replied, " that they 
 could by no means obey commands contrary to the 
 laws of God, and that they would render to Cesar the 
 things that were Cesar's, and to God the things that 
 are God's."* Soon the sounds of war, and the shrieks of 
 massacre, were heard on both sides of the Alps. On the 
 one side, next to France, stood two smiling towns, Me- 
 rindoles and Cabrieres. These were doomed to fire and 
 sword, and a wretch, named Oppeda, was charged with 
 the execution. The inhabitants were destroyed with- 
 out regard to age or sex. Forty females were locked 
 in a barn, and the straw within having been set on 
 fire, the poor creatures, on attempting to escape, were 
 driven back by the spears of the gallant soldiers, and 
 miserably perished in the flames. Mothers, having 
 their breasts cut off, were left to perish with their in- 
 fants. But it were too shocking to dwell on these 
 barbarities. Upwards of eight hundred perished in 
 Cabrieres alone. On the other side of the Alps, in 
 Calabria, where a flourishing colony of the Vaudois 
 had long been permitted to dwell in peace by their 
 rulers, who derived a rich revenue from their industry, 
 the court of Rome found another bloody revenge. 
 Here there was not even the poor pretext of war. No 
 trumpet sounded to battle ; even the excitement of the 
 chase was awanting; it was a human battue, for the 
 victims were found cooped up in their hiding-places, 
 and made no resistance. The scene [.wanted even the 
 decent formalities of a judicial execution. It was con- 
 
 * Blair, vol. ii. p. 222. 
 
194 LECTURE III. 
 
 ducted with all the coolness and deliberation of the 
 shambles. " To tell you the truth/' says an eye-wit- 
 ness, " I can compare it to nothing but the slaughter 
 of so many sheep. They were all shut up in one house 
 as in a sheep-fold. The executioner went, and bring- 
 ing out one of them, covered his face with a napkin, 
 led him out to a field near the house, and making him 
 kneel down, cut his throat with a knife. Then taking 
 off the bloody napkin, he went and brought out an- 
 other, whom he put to death after the same manner. 
 In this way the whole number, amounting to eighty- 
 eight men, were butchered."* Woe to the men whose 
 religion is thus perverted! and woe to the religion 
 which thus perverts men, stifling the natural emotions 
 of the breast, and turning man into a monster, more 
 cruel to his kind than the beasts that roam in the 
 forest ! 
 
 While such scenes were transacting at their feet, on 
 their brethren of the same blood and faith, the Vaudois 
 of the Alps could not expect to remain unmolested. 
 In 1560, the troops of Savoy, whose Duke had regain- 
 ed his dominions, led on l:)y the unprincipled La Tri- 
 nita, were commissioned by the Pope and cardinals to 
 exterminate the inhabitants of the valleys. In vain 
 did they try, by menace and cajolery, to induce these 
 simple mountaineers to make submission to Rome. 
 Reluctant to draw the sword against their native 
 prince, they agreed at first to relinquish their abodes 
 in the valleys, and retreat to the loftiest of their moun- 
 tains, preferring, under the Divine protection, to en- 
 counter the storms and snows of the Alps, rather than 
 embrace the religion, or trust in the mercy, of their 
 
 ♦ Reformation in Italy, bv Dr M'Crie, p. 305. 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 195 
 
 enemies. Aged men, women, and children, might be 
 seen carried by their friends, or dragging their feeble 
 limbs to the place of safety. But even there were 
 they followed by their blood-thirsty pursuers. Hem- 
 med in on every side, driven to bay, and provoked be- 
 yond endurance by the infamous La Trinita, who vio- 
 lated every treaty, torturing and murdering all who 
 came within his reach, the spirit of the Vaudois was 
 roused, and by a well-sustained guerilla warfare, they 
 repulsed the veteran troops of Savoy, and procured at 
 length a temporary respite. 
 
 During the truce that followed, an incident oc- 
 curred which illustrates the absurd calumnies propa- 
 gated against this harmless people, by their bigotted 
 persecutors. It was not only alleged that the Vaudois 
 fought with poisoned weapons, and that they used the 
 arts of sorcery, but that nature had stamped the mark 
 of infamy on their offspring, — that their infants were 
 born with black throats, with four rows of teeth, and 
 one eye in the middle of the forehead, like the cy clops. 
 Philip VII., Duke of Savoy, having expressed a desire 
 to see some of their children, to satisfy himself on this 
 point by ocular inspection, twelve infants were brought 
 down to him from the mountains, along with their 
 mothers. On being exhibited to the Duke, he inspect- 
 ed the babes with intense interest, and declared, that 
 " he had never seen prettier children in his life." 
 
 The subsequent history of the Vaudois presents little 
 more than a repetition of the scenes we have attempted 
 to describe, more or less melancholy and disastrous. 
 In this respect it differs considerably from the history 
 of our native country, which has its periods of sun- 
 shine as well as storm, and which, even in the darkest 
 of its persecutions, exhibits some redeeming traits of 
 
196 lectuhe hi, 
 
 happiness^ and even of humour. The history of the 
 Waldenses maj be read in tears, may be heard with 
 sighs; but it can never, by any chance, awaken a smile. 
 Another dissimilarity must have struck you, in the 
 wholesale character of the martyrdoms of the Alps. 
 In Scotland we had our single martyrs, our Wisharts 
 and Hamiltons under Popery — our Argyles and Camer- 
 ons under Prelacy — whose individual sufferings, and 
 specific testimonies, even in the very words they uttered, 
 have been embalmed in our martyrologies. The Vau- 
 dois, again, were offered up in hecatombs, and few par- 
 ticular cases have been left on record. Their execu- 
 tioners were whole armies; the scaffolds on which they 
 bled, were their own snow-clad mountains; and as 
 " there was none to bury their dead bodies," there was 
 none to transmit their dying testimonies. How true, 
 as well as beautiful the lines of our own Milton, whose 
 muse was inspired by the distant report of their suffer- 
 
 " Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
 Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold : 
 Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old. 
 When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, 
 Forget not; in thy book record their groans. 
 Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold, 
 Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that rolled, 
 Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans 
 The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
 To heaven. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow 
 O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
 The triple tyrant; that from these may grow 
 An hundred others, who having learnt thy way, 
 Early may fly the Babylonian woe !" 
 
 A few examples, however, of individual suffering 
 have reached us, and one of these, which took place in 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 197 
 
 the beginning of the seventeenth century, we may 
 briefly notice. Bartholomew Copin was a Vaudois 
 merchant in the valley of Lucerne, and had come in the 
 way of his business to the fair of Aost. When at sup- 
 per with some other merchants, one of the company 
 began to inveigh, in the most insulting terms, against 
 the inhabitants of the valleys. Copin, provoked at his 
 insolence, spoke up in their defence. " What!" said 
 the reviler, " are you a Vaudois?" He acknowledged 
 he was. " And do you not believe that God is in the 
 host?" " No," said Copin. " Faugh !" replied the other. 
 " What a farce of a religion is yours !" " My religion," 
 said Copin, " is as true as that there is a God, and as 
 sure as death." The next day he was summoned be- 
 fore the Bishop of Aost, who told him that he must 
 confess his crime or suiFer for it. The honest mer- 
 chant refused to acknowledge any fault. He had 
 some property, he said, with a wife and children, but 
 he would sacrifice all for a good conscience. He pled, 
 too, that he had not violated any civil law. The 
 bishop, however, would hear of nothing but submission. 
 He was thrown into prison ; there he was visited by an 
 inquisitor, who tried him first with honied speeches, 
 but finding him obdurate, ended with curses. " Be- 
 gone, thou cursed Lutheran," cried the enraged monk ; 
 " thou shalt go to the devil, and when tormented by 
 unclean spirits, thou shalt repent of thy obstinacy, in 
 choosing to go to hell, rather than be reconciled to 
 holy mother church." '• It is a long time now," said 
 Copin, " since I was reconciled to the holy Church." 
 To subdue his fortitude, his wife and son were permit- 
 ted to see and sup with him in prison ; but he spent 
 the time in reconciling them to their approaching loss; 
 and having blessed his son, he took an affecting farewell 
 
198 LECTURE III. 
 
 of his wife, exhorting them to live in the fear of God. 
 Their cries and tears, on leaving him in the prison, 
 were enough to melt a heart of stone. But Copin with- 
 stood the temptation. " My dearest companion," he 
 wrote to his wife, " I received much consolation from 
 your visit. I feel persuaded we shall never meet to- 
 gether again. May God comfort you and bless you. 
 Be not concerned about me ; for if it please God that 
 I have reached the end of my days, and that I now ren- 
 der back the soul he has lent me so long, I trust he will 
 receive it into heaven, through his Divine mercy, for 
 the love of his holy Son, Jesus Christ, through whose 
 holy death and passion I believe that our sins are 
 washed away." One morning, sometime afterwards, 
 the body of the martyr was found strangled in prison, 
 lest his confession and constancy should be publicly 
 known, and thereafter it was drao-ged from the dun- 
 geon, and committed to the flames.* 
 
 At length, in the year 1655, the implacable enemies 
 of the Vaudois gained the object after which they had 
 been striving for centuries — the expulsion of this pri- 
 mitive race of witnesses from the Valleys. In that fa- 
 tal year, which bears the blackest mark, even in the 
 dark calendar of this oppressed Church, the Duke of 
 Savoy, under the instigation of the court of Rome, and 
 among other reasons to make room for the Irish Pa- 
 pists who had been banished by Cromwell for their 
 atrocities during the rebellion, t lent himself to a 
 scene of atrocity which has hardly its parallel in 
 the history of civilized nations. By an order issued by 
 Gastaldo, the legate, all of the reformed religion were 
 
 * Perrin, 177-183. 
 
 -}- Leger, part ii. chap. vii. 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 199 
 
 ordered to withdraw from and abandon their native 
 valleys, within the space of three days, under the pain 
 of death and confiscation, unless they became Roman 
 Catholics. The hardship of such an order, issued in 
 the midst of winter, when the ground was covered 
 with snow, may be easily conceived. We shall not at- 
 tempt to describe the distress and consternation into 
 which the poor people were throAvn, when old and 
 young, the blind and bed-rid, the sick and dying, be- 
 took themselves to their retreats on the mountains, 
 and prepared for their melancholy departure. Nor 
 shall we attempt to sketch the misery and devastation 
 that followed, — " a story," says honest Morland, " so 
 lined and interwoven with horrible attempts, such 
 bloody edicts, such profound stratagems, and barbarous 
 persecutions, — whole families miserably ruined, and 
 the innocent blood of the saints poured out as water 
 on the ground, — insomuch that my spirit has often 
 waxed cold within me, and my heart even failed me, 
 yea, my very hand has trembled, as with a fit of palsy, 
 in the writing thereof" The barbarities inflicted by 
 the savage soldiery, on the unfortunate people who 
 fell into their hands, are too fearful for description. 
 The ears of men in the nineteenth century have be- 
 come too delicate to hear what the hands of men were 
 found capable of perpetrating at the time to which we 
 refer. And 1 can only darkly insinuate, that the ope- 
 rations of the butcher on the carcase, and of the ana- 
 tomist on the corpse, combined with those of the miner 
 in exploding his quarry, and, I may add, the cannibal 
 on the shores of Africa, convey a dim idea of the atro- 
 cities committed on the living bodies of the poor Vau- 
 dois. The cry of their oppression rung through Eu- 
 rope, and met with a response in every Protestant 
 
200 LECTURE III. 
 
 bosom. To his eternal honour as a man, and as the 
 ruler of a Protestant country, Oliver Cromwell pro- 
 rested, on hearing the sad tale, that " it lay as near, 
 to rather nearer, his heart, than if it had concerned his 
 nearest and dearest relations in the world."* He imme- 
 diately dispatched Sir Samuel Morland as his ambassa- 
 dor to the courts of France and Turin, to remonstrate 
 against the bloody policy which they were pursuing 
 towards a people whom he regarded as his brethren in 
 the faith; and not obscurely intimated that, if the per- 
 secutions were not arrested, he would make common 
 cause with the sufierers. Not content with this, he 
 sent letters to all the Protestant states, inviting them 
 to join in the interposition; and a collection was or- 
 dered throughout England in behalf of the suflferers, 
 which speedily amounted to nearly L. 40,000. Never 
 was the voice of Old England heard in a juster and 
 holier quarrel. It does one's heart good to see how the 
 craven spirits of the persecutors quailed, and how they 
 apologised and slunk back from their bloody work, be- 
 fore the noble remonstrance of the blunt soldier of the 
 commonwealth. Cromwell, however, died; the treaty 
 which he procured in the favour of the Vaudois was 
 violated; they were at last driven from their valleys, 
 and the miserable remains of them were obliged to be- 
 take themselves for shelter to the cantons of Switzer- 
 land. Eor upwards of twenty years, during what may 
 be considered the dark age of Protestantism, when 
 the Huguenots of France, and the covenanters of Scot- 
 land, were passing through the furnace of persecution, 
 the ancient valleys of the Vaudois were desolate and 
 deserted; the incense of praise and prayer no longer 
 
 * Morland, 552. 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 201 
 
 ascended ; and nothing was heard save the blasphemies 
 of their invaders, echoed by the scream of the moun- 
 tain eagle, as he rose scared from feeding on the bloody 
 and bleached remains of the slaughtered saints. 
 
 But Providence had determined that these valleys 
 should be re-peopled with their ancient inhabitants. 
 We can only advert to one of the most remarkable 
 scenes in the annals of Protestantism, — the glori- 
 ous return of the Vaudois to their native mountains, 
 under the chieftainship of their noble-minded pastor, 
 Henri Arnaud. In August 1G89, — a year remarkable 
 for the deliverance of our own country from Popish 
 tyranny — Arnaud, after a day spent in fasting and 
 prayer for the Divine help, set out from Switzerland 
 with between eight and nine hundred of his banished 
 countrymen. Never was the hand of Providence more 
 visible in any expedition of the same nature. Boats 
 seemed to be kept ready waiting to convey them over 
 rivers — battalions of armed men opened up a passage 
 for them — the darkness of night and the light of day 
 seemed alike to favour them — and the heavens seemed 
 prepared either to hurl its hail and lightning in the 
 face of their foes, or to cast a mantle of mist around 
 the little band, to favour their escape. Day after day 
 were they hunted from mountain to mountain, dealing 
 destruction on their opponents ; and when at last, be- 
 fore a tremendous host and train of artillery, their last 
 retreat was demolished, " Retreat we must, my brave 
 friends," exclaimed Arnaud, " though our road should 
 lie over ravine and precipice. Better far to meet 
 death, shattered on the rocks, than surrender our 
 bodies to infamy and death in the hands of our ene- 
 mies." " See," he continued, pointing to a cloud of 
 mist which came at that moment rollinof down the val- 
 
202 LECTURE III. 
 
 ley ; " see how the hand of Jehovah is, in this hour of 
 our extremity, outstretched to save us." It was even 
 so. Enveloped in its sable curtain, they were enabled, 
 by sliding and catching at projections, to descend the 
 frightful precipice undiscovered. Next morning, when 
 the enemy arrived at the post they had occupied, ex- 
 pecting an easy and full revenge, they found it deserted, 
 and saw the undaunted mountaineers high above them 
 on another of the Alps, and far beyond their reach. 
 
 Of these brave and devoted men, the present Wal- 
 denses are the descendants. They would soon, to all 
 human appearance, have been crushed, had not Provi- 
 dence again stirred up the Protestant states to aid 
 them. They found efficient friends in the persons of 
 King William, and his pious queen, Mary, who founded 
 a royal subsidy for their support, which in the reign 
 of George III., was converted into a national grant. 
 During the last century, repeated attempts have been 
 made to expel or exterminate them, which have been 
 providentially thwarted ; and nothing affords a clearer 
 proof of the inextinguishable hatred borne towards 
 them by their Popish neighbours, than the fact, that 
 one of the basest of these attempts was discovered, when 
 on the eve of being executed by agents of the Sardinian 
 government, shortly after the French Revolution, al- 
 though the Waldenses proved so strictly loyal to the 
 king of Sardinia, that they refused to submit to the con- 
 quering arms of Napoleon, and fought in the ranks of 
 their ungrateful prince, until he was compelled to sur- 
 render. But though thus saved from extinction, they 
 have been strictly confined, since the beginning of last 
 century, to three of their valleys. Lucerne, Perouse, and 
 St Martin. Every means which legal tyranny and 
 Jesuitical chicanery can devise, have been used to de- 
 
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. '20S 
 
 grade and depress them ; and at this moment they are 
 almost as dependant on the sympathy and succour of 
 their Protestant friends in more favoured lands, as when 
 they were suiFering from the fire and sword of persecu- 
 tion. 
 
 Next to the miraculous preservation of the Jews, the 
 continuance of this little Church in the very heart and 
 centre of Popery, may be regarded as one of the most 
 striking of the standing miracles which confirm our 
 holy faith. Surely Divine Providence must have some 
 great end to fulfil by the instrumentality of a Church 
 which he has so wonderfully preserved. It is not pre- 
 sumptuous, we trust, to conclude, that it may have been 
 preserved as an agent for diffusing the light of the gos- 
 pel through poor benighted Italy, and thus, by sup- 
 porting it, we may be lending a hand to the overthrow 
 of that system of superstition and tyranny which has 
 there so long held its seat. Let it be hoped, that the 
 final effort which that system is now making to regain 
 all, and more than all, its past ascendancy, may have 
 the blessed effect of uniting all the sections of the Pro- 
 testant Church together, and that the descendants of 
 those who have suffered under her dominion, may meet 
 to hold their jubilee over her downfall, according to the 
 promise, " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy 
 apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on 
 her." 
 
LECTUPvE IV. 
 
 On the Pkesent Condition and Future Prospects of the 
 Waldensian Church. 
 
 BY THE REV. ROBERT W. STEWART, A.M., 
 
 LATE OF ERSKINE. 
 
 The armorial legend of the Protestant valleys of 
 Piemont, from time immemorial, has been " Lux lu- 
 cet in tenebris ;"* and it contains, remarkably enough, 
 a truthful epitome of their history. Somewhat similar 
 in signification is the motto of Geneva, the model 
 church of the Reformation, " Post tenebras lux,"t 
 and yet in the use of the same words, there is sufficient 
 diversity to establish a striking contrast between a pri- 
 mitive and reformed church. Though poor and despis- 
 ed by the world, the Vaudois community lays claim to 
 the high prerogative of being called a primitive church. 
 From father to son an unbroken tradition has been 
 handed down among them, which the writings of their 
 enemies have unwittingly confirmed, that the doctrines 
 they maintain were received directly from the apostles ; 
 and Henri Arnaud, their renowned pastor-chief, has left 
 
 * " The light shineth in darkness." 
 f " After the darkness light." 
 
206 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 on record this testimony concerning them, which has 
 never been denied, " neither has their church been ever 
 reformed, whence arises its title of evangelic."* 
 
 Their eventful history during past ages — their earnest 
 " contendings for the faith once delivered to the saints" — 
 the cruel massacres, by which they were repeatedly in 
 danger of being entirely exterminated — and the atroci- 
 ties, too shocking for detail, perpetrated upon them by a 
 dissolute soldiery, goaded on by the blood-hounds of the 
 Inquisition, have all combined to associate with their 
 name, a vague traditionary interest, more sacred in 
 character, though similar in kind, to that which is 
 awakened by the names of Bruce and Wallace in read- 
 ing the annals of our own country. Unfortunately for 
 them, as well as for us, this interest on our part, up to 
 the present period, has partaken more of the passive ad- 
 miration, mingled with regret, which one is apt to in- 
 dulge over the memory of departed excellence, than of 
 that active sympathy, which calls into exercise imme- 
 diate and sustained exertion on behalf of brethren still 
 enduring persecution and distress. We have been wont 
 to talk of the Vaudois as a valiant and religious race, 
 who, after holding up the lamp of truth, amid the thick 
 darkness of the middle ages, and " resisting unto blood, 
 striving against sin," merged both their testimony and 
 their existence in the churches of the Reformation, ra- 
 ther than as a living church, still bearing witness to the 
 truth, and suffering in our own times a constant and 
 painful oppression at the hands of " the man of sin, the 
 
 * •■' The Glorious Recovery," by Henri Arnaud, pref. p. 14, 
 edit. Lon., 1827. The original work, in French, dedicated to 
 Queen Anne, is exceedingly rare; not more than eight copies 
 are known to be in existence, and one of these is now deposited 
 in the library of the Free Church College, in Edinburgh. 
 
THE WALDEXSIAN CHURCH. 207 
 
 son of perdition." To this mistaken view of their his- 
 tory, I apprehend, is to be attributed the unenviable 
 position Scotland has, up to a very recent period, occu- 
 pied, as the only Protestant nation in Europe which 
 has never, in its national capacity, contributed towards 
 the alleviation of their poverty and distress. If this be 
 the true cause of the vague sentimentalism so long en- 
 tertained towards the Vaudois, it has only to be pro- 
 claimed upon the house-top, that they are living, wit- 
 nessing, suffering still, to awaken on their behalf an 
 active and universal sympathy. Amid the deep re- 
 cesses of the mountain valleys, surrounded by the 
 stupendous precipices, the dark-blue glaciers, and un- 
 trodden snow of the everlasting Alps, there exists 
 at this moment a Church, venerable for its anti- 
 quity, which reaches back to apostolic times, and 
 lovely for its simplicity and comparative purity, — a 
 Church which, though it waxed small under the iron 
 rod of persecution, has yet outlived the most unheard-of 
 and revolting cruelties, and which during the dark 
 ages, when " all the earth wondered after the beast," 
 was the sole depository of gospel light throughout 
 Europe — a witness prophesying in sackcloth for the 
 truth of God. Such is the evangelic Church of the val- 
 leys of Piemont ! — nurtured in a sterile soil — com- 
 pressed within narrow boundaries — composed for the 
 most part of poor unlettered peasants, — yet in it has 
 been treasured up the " salt of the earth," wherewith 
 in days past the kingdoms of the Reformation have 
 been salted ; and with which also, so far as man can 
 judge, it seems the purpose of Him " who is wonderful 
 in counsel," that the benighted kingdoms of France 
 and of Italy shall in due time be purified. 
 
 Some modern writers have drawn a distinction be- 
 
208 PRESENT CONDITION AND EUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 tween the names Waldenses and Yaudois, afFirming 
 that the latter is the proper appellation of this moun- 
 tain community, while the former is a Popish term of 
 opprobrium, intended to mark them out as a sect de- 
 riving their origin from Peter Waldo, the rich merchant 
 of Lyons. It is certainly true, that Popish writers 
 have called them Waldenses in this sense, against which 
 we find them protesting in some of their public docu- 
 ments ; but that is no sufiicient reason for the distinc- 
 tion, as the ingenious and erudite Faber,* following 
 Beza, satisfactorily makes out that Peter of Lyons de- 
 rived his sirname Waldo from these very valleys, of 
 which he was a native, while the name Yallenses (from 
 which Waldenses has been derived) was applied to their 
 inhabitants at least a century before his birth. Their 
 own historian, Leger.f assures us, that the names, Val- 
 lenses, Valdesi, and Vandois, by all of which that peopl-e 
 are known, have been derived from the valleys they inha- 
 bit, according as the dialect used was that of ancient or 
 modern Italy, or of Gaul. " Those," says he, " who 
 first called the valleys Vaux, called its inhabitants Vau- 
 dois, meaning simply by the name Yaudois, those who 
 dwelt in the Vaux, in the same way that others called 
 them Valdesi or Vcddenses, having regard to the word 
 Vol, or if you will, to the Latin and Italian words 
 Vallis and Valle.'' 
 
 At one period, the Yaudois Church extended over a 
 considerable portion of the province of Dauphino in 
 Prance, but it has again been reduced within its origin- 
 al limits in the valleys of Piemont, situated between 
 Monte Yiso and the Col de Sestriere, at the eastern 
 
 * Faber's Vallcnses and Albigenses. 
 
 -j- Leger Histoire Gen. des Eglises Vaudoises, p. 17, edit. 
 Levdc,^16G9. 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 209 
 
 base of the Cottian Alps, extending, according to Dr 
 Gilly's estimate, twenty-two miles north and south, and 
 eighteen miles east and west. These valleys are gener- 
 ally said to be three in number, viz., Val Lucerna, 
 throuofh which flows the river Police, — Val Perosa, 
 through which flows the river Clusone, — and Val St 
 Marfcino, watered by the torrent Germanasca; but pro- 
 perly speaking there are jivey the other two, Val di 
 Rora, and Val d' Angrogna, though both smaller, being 
 far the most celebrated during the struggles for religious 
 freedom in which their inhabitants were engaged, dur- 
 ing the fearful massacre of 1655. 
 
 On approaching the Vaudois territory from Pinerolo 
 and Bricherasio, the coup d'oeil is varied and most 
 magnificent. To the right, on the top of one of the 
 undulating hills which separate the Val Lucerna from 
 the Val Perosa, lies the commune of Prarustino, with 
 its white church peeping out gracefully at intervals 
 from the forest of chesnut and walnut trees which sur- 
 round it. This parish, which has two Protestant 
 churches within its bounds, one at St Bartholomeo, and 
 the other at Piocca-piatta, is now the only connecting 
 link between the two Protestant valleys which open 
 from the plains of Piemont; though both Leger and Sir 
 Samuel Morland, in their histories, relate that the in- 
 habitants of Bricherasio, St Secondo, Garciliana, and 
 Osasco, villages situated around its base, were at one 
 time Protestants also. To the left, over the dark moun- 
 tain-chain which intervenes between Lucerna and the 
 valley of the Po, Monte Viso is seen rising in pyrami- 
 dal form, crowned with virgin snow, like a watchful 
 sentinel keeping guard over the peaceful valleys be- 
 neath. In the back ground, the valley rises abruptly 
 towards the main ridge of the Alps, and the practised 
 
210 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 eye can at once discern the altitude, by the varied hues 
 on the mountain side, so peculiar to these Alpine re- 
 gions, — the bright green of the meadows — the brownish 
 tint of the fruit and forest trees — the sombre shade of 
 the pine forests — and the cold blue tints of the rocky 
 region that intervenes between the line where vegeta- 
 tion ceases and perennial snow begins. The rich and 
 luxuriant vegetation which the immediate foreground 
 displays, relieves the scene. Every inch of ground that 
 can be brought under cultivation, has been occupied, 
 and every rocky eminence where the spade or plough 
 are useless, is covered with fruit trees. The vines are 
 planted in rows between ridges of wheat, maize, pota- 
 toes and hemp, and hang in most graceful festoons along 
 the rude trellis-work which supports them, while the 
 wood-built chalets of the poor but brave peasantry, ap- 
 pear to great advantage half hid amidst the profusion 
 of chesnut, mulberry, and walnut trees, which clothe 
 the hills on either side. It is impossible to view the 
 hamlets ranged one above another, on the steep moun- 
 tain side, without being convinced that these valleys 
 are too densely populated, and that wretchedness and 
 misery — notwithstanding the fertility of the soil, must 
 be the consequence of the despotic edict which impri- 
 sons them, on account of their religion, within a terri- 
 tory far too strait for them. 
 
 In a region where there is scarcely a vineyard or a 
 meadow that has not been the scene of warfare and of 
 horrible atrocity, — scarcely a precipice in that land of 
 precipices, which has not associated with it a tale of 
 infamy and blood, — scarcely a mountain pass in that 
 land of mountains, that has not proved a new Ther- 
 mopylae, nor a torrent whose waters have not been dyed 
 with the blood of martyrs, it would be no easy matter, 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 211 
 
 even if this were a fitting occasion, to describe the places 
 most celebrated in Waldensian history. The crag of 
 Castelluzzo which frowns above the hamlet of St Mar- 
 guerita, in the Val Lucerna, still proclaims the slaughter 
 of the innocents who were precipitated from its summit 
 to the plain below. Rora is celebrated to this day for 
 the martial achievements of its hero Gianovello, as also 
 the Balceglia in Val St Martino, for the memorable de- 
 fence of the intrepid Arnaud and his followers ; while 
 the Val d' Ano;rog:na is at once famed for its Barricade, 
 behind which the Vaudois defied all the efforts of their 
 enemies ; and for its College at the Pra del Tor, where 
 their Barhes^ in ancient times gathered around them 
 not only the students of the valleys, but those of Bo- 
 hemia and Calabria also, who sought ordination at their 
 hands. I would recommend those who desire to be- 
 come better acquainted with these localities to consult 
 the very interesting works of Dr Gilly of Durham,t who 
 was the first, of late years, to revive in this country an 
 interest in the Vaudois : and of Dr Henderson of Hiorh- 
 bury,t whom I met in the valleys last summer, — the 
 latter of which was published so recently as the begin- 
 ning of the present year. There is a spot, however, in 
 Val Perosa, which particularly fixed my attention, on 
 account of the solemnity of the event that occurred 
 there, and as I have not seen any notice taken of it in 
 the records of preceding travellers, I hope I shall be ex- 
 cused for shortly adverting to it. A few miles above 
 
 * Literally Uncles. — The name anciently given to their Pas- 
 tors. 
 
 r Narrative of an Excursion to the Mountains of Piedmont, by 
 the Rev, Wm, Stephen Gilly, M.A. London: 1824. And 
 Waldensian Researches by the same author. London: 1831. 
 
 ± The Vaudois, by E. Henderson, D.D. London; 1845. 
 
212 PEESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 the village of St Germano, and in the same parish, 
 there is a place called Pinache d' Envers. It is by no 
 means remarkable for the beauty of its scenery, — the 
 meadows are not interspersed, as on the other side of 
 the Clusone, with vineyards and orchards, because after 
 mid-day the sun's rays are intercepted by the heights 
 which tower above it; and the dark pine forest that 
 bristles to the mountain top, adds a feature of sternness 
 to the landscape, and sheds around an air of profound 
 melancholy. Here during the months that elapsed ere 
 the treaty of Pinerolo was signed, after the bloody mas- 
 sacre of 1655, the Yaudois remnant met Sabbath after 
 Sabbath to worship God under the open canopy of hea- 
 ven. On one of these occasions, two of their ministers, 
 Peter Gros and Francis Aguit, who, while prisoners at 
 Turin, had abjured their religion under the torture of 
 the rack, appeared before the weeping congregation to 
 confess their sin, and to " testify their extreme sorrow 
 for their defection, through infirmity, from the true re- 
 ligion." How humiliating to them must have been the 
 thought, that while they had fallen in the day of trial, 
 many from among their unlettered flocks had kept the 
 faith amidst sorer temptations, and had endured the 
 martyr's death rather than " remove their integrity 
 from them." Morland has preserved their declaration ; 
 the last sentence of which is as follows, " We recant 
 whatsoever we may have pronounced to the prejudice of 
 the Evangelical truth, and promise for the future, 
 through the grace of God, to persevere in the profes- 
 sion of the reformed religion to the last moment of our 
 life; and rather to suffer death and torments, than to 
 renounce that holy doctrine which is taught in our 
 church according to the word of God; even as we 
 swear and promise, with our bended knees upon the 
 
THE AVALDENSIAN CHURCH. 213 
 
 eartli, and our hands lifted up to the eternal, our Al- 
 mighty God and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. As we 
 desire His assistance to do this, even so help us God. 
 Amen.""^ 
 
 It may be proper here to give an outline of the con- 
 stitution of this mountain Church. Of late I have often 
 had the question put to me, " Is the form of Church 
 government among the Waldenses episcopal, and do 
 they hold the modern notions of Apostolical succes- 
 sion f The doctrine of Apostolical succession is strong- 
 ly held by the Vaudois Church, but in a sense very dif- 
 ferent indeed from that which many attach to it in the 
 southern part of this island. If "the fruits of the 
 Spirit" manifest themselves in the labours of those 
 who have been put in charge of the ministry, the idea 
 of attaching weight to the question whether ordination 
 has been transmitted to them in an unbroken line 
 from the Apostles, appears too childish to be for a mo- 
 ment entertained. They believe, to use the words of 
 their confession, " That it is necessary that the Church 
 should have ministers, known by those who are em- 
 ployed for that purpose, to be learned, and of good life, 
 as well to preach the word of God, as to administer the 
 sacraments;" but they also believe that the doctrines 
 and ordinances of the gospel are not made effectual by 
 any virtue in him that administers them, but only 
 through the blessing of God, and the effectual operation 
 of his Spirit in those who by faith receive them. They 
 claim an apostolical succession, because they now hold 
 and teach those very doctrines, which from time im- 
 memorial their forefathers handed down to them as the 
 
 * History of the Evajigelical Churches of Piedmont, by Sir 
 Samuel Morland. Bookii. Chap. 3. p. 279. 
 
214 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 doctrines of the Apostles, and for the maintenance of 
 which they bled and died. 
 
 So far as I know, almost every traveller who has 
 visited that region of late years, bears testimony that 
 the constitution of the Evangelical Church of the val- 
 leys is in all material points a facsimile of our own. 
 " The constitution of the Vaudois Church," says Dr 
 Henderson, " comes nearer to the Presbyterian than to 
 any other form of ecclesiastical polity now in existence;" 
 and even Dr Gilly, while labouring to prove that their 
 ancient constitution was episcopal, records the fact, that, 
 " their discipline is now presbyterian, very much re- 
 sembling that of the Church of Scotland." If the 
 episcopal form of church government ever obtained 
 among them, it is very certain that all knowledge of 
 the fact has now. disappeared from the valleys, a circum- 
 stance exceedingly strange, and unlikely, when we call 
 to remembrance with what scrupulous care they have 
 ever guarded against all innovations, and have handed 
 down as a precious heir-loom from father to son, the 
 tradition above referred to. The grounds on which this 
 assertion rests, do not appear sufficient to support it. 
 It is maintained that the change from episcopacy to 
 Presbytery took place about the year 1630, when the 
 clergy who came from France and Switzerland to re- 
 place their own pastors, who, with the exception of two, 
 had all been cut off by the plague, introduced the form 
 of church government to which they had been accus- 
 tomed in their own countries. It seems very unlikely 
 indeed, that a mere handful of strangers should have in- 
 fluence enough to effect a change so much in opposi- 
 tion to all the feelings and prejudices of the people; 
 and though Leger speaks of some slight relaxation in 
 discipline, as occurring in consequence of their arrival. 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 215 
 
 he never hints at any thing like an organic change, 
 though had such taken place, he must have been cog- 
 nizant of it. But surely the advocates of episcopacy 
 must have entirely overlooked the fact, that one of the 
 ancient manuscripts deposited by Sir Samuel Morland 
 in the University of Cambridge, bearing date 1587, 
 speaks of a church government by kirk-sessions and 
 synods, as having already existed among them for some, 
 hundred years.^ This is surely sufficient evidence to 
 prove that if episcopacy had any existence amongst 
 them at all, it must have been centuries previous to the 
 irruption of French clergy into the valleys, in 1630. 
 Another argument in favour of episcopacy, has been 
 attempted to be drawn from the mention of Bishops, 
 made in some Waldensian manuscripts. Unfortun- 
 ately for its conclusiveness, however, the term never 
 occurs in the singular but always in the plural num- 
 ber, in conjunction with the term pastors, and hence, if 
 it proves any thing at all, it proves too much for their 
 purpose, because if episcopacy ever did exist among 
 them, they could not have had more than a single 
 bishop, and even he must have enjoyed a comfortable 
 sinecure, with so small a diocese. In the second article 
 of the ancient discipline of the Evangelical Church of 
 Piedmont, "concerning pastors or ministers," the fol- 
 lowing passage occurs ; " Among the powers which God 
 hath given to his servants, as belong to their station, is 
 
 ♦ " The Italian manuscript, the original whereof is to be seen 
 with the rest in the University of Cambridge, bearing date 1587, 
 tells us that this council (Synod) was constantly held in the 
 month of September, and that some hundred years ago, there 
 were seen assembled together in one Synod held at Valone del 
 Lauso, in Val Clusone, no less than 140 Barbes. The same MS. 
 adds that they had always their Comistoires:'' Morland's Hist, 
 p. 183. 
 
216 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 the election of Rulers of the 'people, and Priests in tJie 
 offices, according to the diversity of operation, with the 
 unity of Christ, which is proved by what the apostle 
 says, Titus i., " I left thee in Crete that thou mightest 
 set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain 
 elders in every city." The words denoting Rulers and 
 Priests, in the Waldensian dialect are " regidors,''' 
 and " preires,'' and on the strength of these. Epis- 
 copacy again claims ancient jurisdiction over the val- 
 leys. On this passage Dr Henderson admirably re- 
 marks, — " Whatever difference may have been design- 
 ed to be expressed between " irgidors,'"' and " pre- 
 ires," the passage alleged from Titus sanctions the 
 ordination of none but TTpeac^vrepovs, presh^/ters or 
 elders, so that if it had any force, as adduced in 
 proof, it could only be regarded as descriptive of the 
 two-fold view of the same office, viz. ruling and teach- 
 ing. At all events the term regidor cannot be consi- 
 dered as equivalent to bishop, inasmuch as the subjects 
 of rule are expressly said to be the people, not the pres- 
 byters." But, farther, we have the testimony of Kein- 
 erus Sacco, an apostate Waldensian barbe, and after- 
 terwards a Jacobin inquisitor, that neither prelatic 
 titles, nor episcopal authority, were recognised among 
 the Vaudois so far back as the 13th century. In the 
 year 1254 he wrote a treatise against them, in which 
 he assures us, that among other " blasphemies" uttered by 
 them, they affirm, " that prelatic names, such as pope, 
 bishop, and the like, are to be reprobated ; that obe- 
 dience has to be given, not to the prelates, but to God; 
 that no man is greater than another in the Church, "for 
 all ye are brethren.'"''* In another passage he describes 
 
 « Reinerus Sacco in Blair's Hist, of Waldenses. Vol. i. p. 
 460. 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 217 
 
 their cliief pastor and his associates, in such a way as to 
 leave no doubt that the ecclesiastical authority was then 
 vested in an executive board, similarly constituted, with 
 " The Table " of the present day. " They had a chief 
 bishop among them, who had always two attending 
 him, the one whereof he called his eldest, and the other 
 his youngest son, and beside these two, he had also a 
 third, that followed him in the quality of a deacon."* 
 Who can fail to trace in this description, the moderator, 
 the moderator adjunct, the secretary, and the deacon, 
 who conjointly conduct the business of the Vaudois 
 Church, during the intervals which elapse between the 
 meetings of Synod 1 
 
 During my first visit to the valleys in 1842, I learn- 
 ed that an attempt had been made in certain influen- 
 tial quarters to alter their present form of Church go- 
 vernment for a modified episcopacy, by introducing a 
 bishop under the title of 2^e-r2^eiual moderator, — who 
 should hold no cure of souls, but give his attention en- 
 tirely to the management of the afiairs of the Church, 
 and be the organ of official communication with the 
 government. The overtures on this subject were very 
 coldly received in the valleys, for the clergy and the 
 laity were alike opposed to the plan. One of their 
 clergy, in speaking of the matter, said to me, " even if it 
 had found favour with the clergy, it never would have 
 been adopted, because the elders have a majority of two 
 to one over the clergy in our Synod, and they never 
 would have submitted to it." Another said, " it can- 
 not be proved that bishops ever did exist in the Vau- 
 dois Church, and even if it could, we never would re- 
 turn to episcopacy, as it is not suitable to our present 
 
 * Rein, in Morland's Hist. p. 17u. 
 
218 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 circumstances." The present moderator, M. Bonjour, a 
 man well qualified by his piety and judgment for the si- 
 tuation he holds, is decidedly opposed to any such 
 change, though the effect of it in all probability would 
 be to confirm him in the moderatorship for life. The 
 following curious conversation on this subject took 
 place between the Minister of the Interior and him 
 in July last, on the occasion of his presenting the 
 prospectus of business for the approaching synod : 
 Minister, " I hear that you are about to apply to his 
 Majesty for leave to sanction the appointment of a 
 Protestant bishop over your Church, but I advise you 
 not to do so, as your request will certainly be refused." 
 Moderator, " You know that proposition was not so 
 well received at the last meeting of synod, so you need 
 entertain no apprehensions ; and, besides, it is altogether 
 Catholic, and inconsistent with Protestantism." Minis- 
 ter, " Well, I have told you this as a friend, because if 
 you apply, I know it will not be granted. If you had a 
 Protestant bishop, the Catholic bishops and he would 
 be continually fighting, and the government has other 
 things to do than to attend to their quarrels." 
 
 It cannot be expected that the same number of 
 Church courts should be maintained at present, while 
 there are o\Aj fifteen parishes and sixteen regular pas- 
 tors, as were found among them in the brighter days of 
 Yaudois history, when the number of their Barbes was 
 not less than one hundred and forty, and when the in- 
 habitants of Yal Pragel, and a part of themarquisate of 
 Saluzzo, belonged to their Church. It would be obvi- 
 ously absurd for the same individuals to meet at one 
 time as a presbytery, at another as a synod, and at a 
 third as a general assembly, but they have retained all 
 that was requisite, in their peculiar circumstances, to 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 219 
 
 prove them presbyterians, viz., the consistoire, or kirk- 
 session, as a local court in each parish, and the synod 
 as a court of review. 
 
 The CoNSiSTOiRE is composed of the pastor, who is 
 moderator; of the elders, who are elected by a vote 
 of the heads of families in their respective quarters; 
 and of a deacon, whose office it is to attend to the re- 
 pairs of the temple, and to relieve the poor. In the 
 Book of Discipline for the Evangelical Church of the 
 valleys, adopted by the Synod in 1839, we are told 
 that " the Consistoires are charged with the adminis- 
 tration of poors' money, the election of regents or 
 schoolmasters, the surveillance of schools, the main- 
 tenance of good morals, and the advancement of the 
 temporal and spiritual interests of their parishes." 
 The qualifications requisite in the candidate for the 
 eldership are, that he is not under twenty-nine years 
 of age, that he does not keep a tavern, that he is 
 able to read and write with ease, that he receives no 
 support from the poors' fund, and that he does not 
 stand in the relation of father, son, or brother to any 
 one already a member of the same consistoire. 
 
 The Synod is the representative assembly of the 
 Vaudois Church, and is composed of all the pastors 
 and ministers who are, or have been, employed in her 
 service, — of two lay members from each parish, having 
 only one vote between them, and of the two laymen 
 who were members of the last Table. In ancient times 
 this court met every year in the month of September, 
 but now it only meets once every five years, partly on 
 account of the smaller amount of business requiring to 
 be transacted, but chiefly on account of the great ex- 
 pense incurred in procuring letters patent from govern- 
 ment, (amounting to L.oO), without which a synod is 
 
220 PEESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 not permitted to be held. After sermon by a Pastor, 
 appointed at last synod for the purpose^ the moderator 
 opens the meeting by prayer, and after the commissions 
 of deputies have been received, the order of business 
 proceeds as follows : — 1st, The reading of the royal 
 patent ; 2d, The settlement of vacant parishes ; 3d, 
 The report of the Table's proceedings since last meet- 
 ing ; and, lastly. The election by ballot of a new com- 
 mission. The Table are bound to send in a list of sub- 
 jects to be brought before the synod, to the minister of 
 the interior, for the information of government, at 
 least a month before the meeting of that court. The 
 Intendant of Pinerolo, with his secretary, is present, to 
 watch all their deliberations, and to take care that 
 nothing is enacted which may be prejudicial to his 
 Majesty's government; but, like her Majesty's commis- 
 sioner in the General Assembly of the Church of Scot- 
 land, he can take no part in their proceedings. They 
 are compelled to hold their sederunts with closed doors, 
 and not only are strangers from other countries ex- 
 cluded, but the population and office-bearers of the 
 valleys also, with the exception of those who have been 
 elected deputies. The acts passed at one synod are 
 not adopted as the laws of the Church, until they have 
 been confirmed by the succeeding one. The delibera- 
 tions of the synod excite deep interest throughout the 
 entire population ; and it is therefore part of the secre- 
 tary's duty, within fifteen days after the rising of that 
 court, to transmit a copy of its acts and proceedings to 
 every parish, which the pastor is bound to read to his 
 flock from his pulpit, and afterwards to deposit among 
 the records of the consistoire. 
 
 In addition to these two courts, there is also an exe- 
 cutive board, called " La Table," to which allusion has 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 221 
 
 already been made, corresponding exactly in its func- 
 tions with our Commission of Assembly. It is com- 
 posed of three clergymen, the moderator, the mode- 
 rator adjunct, and the secretary, and of two laymen, 
 who are members of synod. According to the Book of 
 Discipline, " the Table is charged with the execution 
 of all the laws and regulations in force in the Vaudois 
 Church. It has the right of inspection and surveillance 
 over the temporal and spiritual administration of the 
 parishes and their office-bearers. It conducts all the 
 correspondence which affects the interests of the pa- 
 rishes both within and without the kingdom. It 
 settles all disputes which may be brought before it, 
 and distributes the sums transmitted from abroad. It 
 is also charged with the examination of schools, and of 
 bursars, the superintendence of students, the ordination 
 of candidates for the ministry, the inspection of the 
 Vaudois hospitals, and the presbyterial visitation once 
 in five years of all the parishes in the bounds."* 
 
 Such is the constitution of the Vaudois Church at 
 the present moment; but there was a time when the 
 regular gradation of kirk-session, presbytery, and synod 
 was found among them. The presbytery was called by 
 them the Colloque or Class, the latter being the very 
 name still in use in the Dutch Church ; and Leger and 
 Morland inform us, that previous to the year 1655, 
 there were two of these in the valleys. " Before the 
 late horrible dispersion of these poor Protestants in the 
 year 1655," says the latter, "there were in the said 
 valleys, which were peopled with Waldenses, fourteen 
 churches, which composed two classes or colloques, and 
 these two classes one synod. The one of these was 
 
 * "La Discipline de PEglise Evangelique des Vallees Vau- 
 doises du Piedmont." 1839. Unpublished. 
 
222 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 called ' the Colloque of Val Lucerna,' comprising the 
 churches of San Giovanni, La Torre, Villaro, Bobio, 
 Rorata, Angrogna, and Roccapiatta ; the other colloque, 
 which was called ' the Colloque of Val Perosa and St 
 Martino,' contained the other seven, viz., St Germano, 
 Pinachia, La Cappella, Pramol, Villa-secca, Maneglia, 
 and Prali.""^ 
 
 In the Yaudois church, as in all the other Protes- 
 tant churches of the continent, there is no class of 
 men to be found corresponding to the probationers 
 in our own churches. So soon as a student has finish- 
 ed his course of study at a university, or theological 
 academy, he is examined, and, if found qualified, at 
 once ordained to the office of the holy ministry.f 
 Formerly the Vaudois students were ordained at Ge- 
 neva, or wherever they had completed their studies, 
 but on the wise suggestion of Dr Gilly, this system has 
 been discontinued, — the Vaudois church has resumed 
 the ordination of its own ministers, and none can now 
 hold office in it who have been ordained elsewhere. 
 The ceremony of ordination takes place only once a- 
 year in the valleys, and every candidate, before receiv- 
 ing the imposition of hands, is obliged to sign the Con- 
 fession of Faith. The only distinction with us, in ec- 
 clesiastical orders, is made between a preacher and a 
 minister; with them, however, the distinction lies be- 
 tween the 2^^('Stor and the minister, — the former alone 
 having the cure of souls. The election of a pastor to a 
 vacant church is vested in the heads of families, and is 
 conducted by ballot, after which, the Consistoire ad- 
 dress a call to the person elected, in name of the con- 
 
 * Morland's Hist. p. 4. Leger Hist. Gen. les Egh. Vaun. 
 p. 10. 
 t See Appendix, No. I. 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 223 
 
 gregation. Their choice is somewhat trammelled, how- 
 ever, by the following regulation laid down in the Book 
 of Discipline. All the parishes in the valleys are di- 
 vided into two classes. The first class contains the 
 four parishes of Maneglia, Macel, Kodoretto, and Prali, 
 while all the rest pertain to the second class. None 
 but young men are eligible to parishes of the first class, 
 on account of the physical energy required for the dis- 
 charge of the pastoral duties in those mountain regions. 
 But a young minister cannot be elected to a vacant charge 
 of the second class, until it has been offered in turn to 
 each of the four pastors of the first class, according to 
 seniority, and been refused by them. The induction 
 of the pastor into his charge takes place upon a Sab- 
 bath, one of his brethren officiating on the occasion, by 
 appointment of the Table. The election and ordina- 
 tion of elders is conducted very much after the mode 
 observed in this country.* 
 
 Besides the presbytere, or manse, with its little plot 
 of garden ground, each pastor is paid 500 francs an- 
 nually, from government ; — at least, the government has 
 laid on each commune a tax of 500 francs, for the sup- 
 port of its own minister, which is raised by the muni- 
 cipal council along with other taxes, and paid at once 
 into his hands without passing through the public 
 treasury. The sums annually distributed among them 
 from Holland, and from King William and Mary's 
 fund in this country, (restored to them in 1827 through 
 Dr Gilly's unwearied exertions), when added to the go- 
 vernment allowance, produce an income varying from 
 1300 francs to 1500 francs, — the latter sum being 
 about equal to L.60 sterling. When it was announced 
 
 * See Appendix, No. II. 
 
224 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 to tlie pastors (at that time tliirteen in number) that 
 the British pension, so long withheld, amounting to 
 L.277 annually, was about to be restored, they unani- 
 mously resolved, with a self-denial that did them cre- 
 dit, to appropriate only a part of it to the augmenta- 
 tion of their own stipends, devoting the rest to the es- 
 tablishment of a fund for widows of deceased pastors, 
 and for the support of two suffragan-pastors to be sta- 
 tioned in the parishes of Macel, and Rodoretto, the 
 churches of which had been closed for upwards of 200 
 years, from want of funds. The latest accounts from 
 the valleys brought the melancholy intelligence, that 
 M. Buffa, the pastor of E,odoretto, and his whole fa- 
 mily, had been destroyed about two months ago by an 
 avalanche of snow, which swept away the presbytere in 
 its impetuous course. 
 
 In 1827 an arrangement was entered into between 
 the Vaudois Table, and the three Protestant ambassa- 
 dors* at Turin, to have a minister from the valleys, ap- 
 pointed as chaplain to them conjointly. His stipend 
 is paid by the ambassadors, each contributing towards 
 it 1000 francs annually. He officiates in a chapel at- 
 tached to the Prussian ambassador's house, and as the 
 service is conducted in French, it is of incalculable be- 
 nefit to the poor Vaudois servants, and others, residing 
 in the capital, who were entirely deprived of ordinances 
 till this admirable arrangement was effected, chiefly 
 through the zeal of their late lamented benefactor, the 
 Count AValdburg Truchsess, Prussian ambassador at 
 the court of Sardinia. The present moderator, M. Bon- 
 jour, was the first who filled the office of " pasteur-chape- 
 lain," and on his translation to the parish of San Ger- 
 
 * British, Prussian, and Dutch. 
 
THE W.ILDENSIAN CHURCH. 220 
 
 mano, the present chaplain, M. Amedee Bert, was 
 elected by the ambassadors to succeed him. I had the 
 pleasure of attending public worship on one occasion 
 in the chapel, and was delighted to find a congregation 
 of about 200 persons present. 
 
 The use of a liturgy by the ancient Vaudois church 
 rests on better evidence than that which is brought 
 forward to establish its episcopacy. There is reference 
 made to it in several of their ancient documents ; Mor- 
 land has preserved a fragment of it in his history, and 
 I have seen in the public library at Geneva a duode- 
 cimo volume in which it is said to be preserved entire, 
 though I had not an opportunity of examining it, as it 
 is very carefully kept under lock and key. Until late- 
 ly, the clergy made use of the liturgies of the Swiss 
 churches, — each, according to his liking, officiating 
 from the service-book of Geneva, of Lausanne, or Neu- 
 chatel, but if a liturgy was to be retained at all, they 
 are certainly under obligations to Dr Gilly for his sug- 
 gestion, that a service-book of their own should be 
 compiled from these, and adopted in all their churches. 
 
 A liturgy of this sort was accordingly prepared, — it 
 received the sanction of the synod in 1839, and is now 
 used in every parish of the valleys. Besides prayers for 
 public and family worship, it contains a burial service, 
 (before unknown in the valleys,) the formularies for 
 the ordination of pastors, and elders, and the confession 
 of faith 1655, which the synod of 1839 has adopted, 
 " as the truest compend, and most pure interpretation, 
 of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible."* This 
 liturgy, however, is not intended, and does not actually 
 supersede, the use of extempore prayer; and so far 
 
 « See Appendix, No. III. 
 
226 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTUEE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 from being used by tlie people for the purpose of taking 
 part in public worship by " audible responses," as in 
 the Church of England, it is intended only for the use 
 of the clergy, and resembles the " Directory for Public 
 Worship," bound up with our Confession of Faith, or 
 rather, " John Knox's Liturgy," prepared for the use of 
 the newly reformed Scottish Church. When calling 
 last summer, along with my friend Dr Henderson, on 
 Madame Bert, an English lady, who, though domiciled 
 in the valleys, still retains her early leanings towards 
 episcopacy, the conversation turned on the use of the 
 liturgy. She informed us, that when the cheap 
 edition of it, published in 1842 at Lausanne, for the 
 use of the common people, was introduced into the val- 
 leys, they would not use it, — that for a while she 
 brought her copy to church, and used it during the 
 service, but at length she was glad to give it up, as 
 they stared at her with astonishment, remarking very 
 naively, by way of excuse, " Poor thing, she does not 
 yet understand French sufficiently, to follow the pray- 
 ers without a book! " 
 
 The office of Eeader is still retained, and its func- 
 tions are discharged by the schoolmaster, who, during 
 the assembling of the congregation, reads a portion of 
 the Bible, with Osterwald's Reflections on it. He 
 ceases when the pastor enters the pulpit, and the ser- 
 vice proceeds in the following order: — si^.iging, prayer 
 from the liturgy, reading a portion of Scripture, an 
 extempore prayer, another psalm, and a sermon, after 
 which follows a second prayer from the liturgy, a psalm, 
 and the apostolic benediction. The organ is not used 
 in the churches of the valleys, more, I apprehend, from 
 want of means, than of inclination, as it is used in all 
 the Presbyterian Churches on the continent, and the 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 227 
 
 cliurcli of La Torre had one within the last 20 years. 
 There used formerly to be only one service in each 
 parish church on Sabbath morning, the afternoon being 
 devoted to catechetical instruction ; but now that Sab- 
 bath schools are being introduced, the younger and more 
 zealous clergy have adopted a second service. The 
 pastor is obliged to preach extempore ; he is not 
 allowed the assistance even of notes, and the practice of 
 reading would not be tolerated for a moment. 
 
 Baptism is always administered during public wor- 
 ship, except in cases of severe illness, and it is re- 
 fused to the children of those who are not members of 
 the church. Godfathers and godmothers take part in 
 the ceremony, as well as the parents. The Lord's 
 Supper is dispensed eight times a-year in their churches, 
 viz. on Christmas Day, and on the preceding Sabbath; 
 on Easter, and on the preceding Sabbath; on Whitsun- 
 day, and on the preceding Sabbath; and on the two 
 first Sabbaths of September. The young communicants 
 are admitted after a long course of instruction, which 
 they call Confirmation. The ordinance is dispensed in 
 the same way as in the Swiss Churches. The service 
 begins, as amongst ourselves, by reading the words of 
 institution, from 1 Cor. xi., and fencing the tables. 
 The minister first communicates, then the elders, after 
 which the congregation pass before the table in single 
 file, the men first, and afterwards the women, — they 
 partake of the elements standing, and then return in 
 the same order to their pews. 
 
 It must be confessed, that owing to laxity of disci- 
 pline among them, many are admitted to the Lord's 
 table, who have no title to be there. The Consistoire, 
 though it has the power of suspension and excommuni- 
 cation, seems to exercise no authority in keeping back 
 
228 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 unwortliy communicants ; and after a solemn warn- 
 ing addressed from the pulpit to intending communi- 
 cants, every man is left to follow the dictates of his 
 own conscience. On this account, principally, some of 
 the most godly persons in the valleys felt compelled to 
 withdraw themselves from the communion of the Vau- 
 dois Church, and to institute a separate communion of 
 their own. This secession is chiefly confined to the pa- 
 rish of San Giovanni, and took its origin from the con- 
 duct of M. Mondon, the former pastor there. This man, 
 while studying at Greneva, imbibed the Socinian doc- 
 trines so unblushingly taught in its academy, and after- 
 wards began to preach them to his flock. Those who 
 dissented from his doctrines, applied to the Table to be 
 allowed to restrict their communion to those churches 
 whose pastors were known to be sound in the faith; and 
 when this most reasonable request was refused, they had 
 no alternative left them but to secede. Being joined 
 by a young minister, called M. Gay, returning at that 
 time to the valleys, they received the sanction of the 
 civil authorities to form themselves into a separate as- 
 sembly, and had the Lord's Supper dispensed among 
 them for the first time in 1831. M. Mondon and his 
 adherents acted towards them in a most harsh and ty- 
 rannical manner ; but it must be remembered, that the 
 great body of the Waldensian pastors disapproved of 
 these proceedings. M. Bonjour, his successor in San 
 Giovanni, is decidedly evangelical ; and the seceders, 
 amounting in all to sixty individuals, now generally 
 attend the other services in the Vaudois churches, 
 though they still refuse to join in communion with 
 them. I had the strongest assurances from the mode- 
 rator, himself decidedly a pious man, that all the clergy 
 at present in the service of the valleys, both hold and 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHTJRCH. 229 
 
 preach the doctrines contained in their confession of 
 faith. I do not mean to affirm, that the pastors are all 
 men of deep-toned pietj, and great spiritual experience, 
 or all equally zealous in the discharge of their duties. 
 Some of them, especially those who have been trained 
 of late years under the auspices of Yinet, at Lausanne, 
 and Gaussen and Merle d'Aubigne, at Geneva, are de- 
 cidedly so, and would be reckoned blessings and orna- 
 ments to any Church ; and if there are others not so 
 spiritually-minded, it is at least matter of unfeigned 
 thankfulness, that they preach the sound doctrines laid 
 down in their own evangelical standards. 
 
 The Vaudois Church has ever been distinguished for 
 its extreme anxiety to extend the blessing of education 
 to all the inhabitants of the valleys. They still continue 
 to devote much of their attention to this subject ; and 
 by the labours of Dr Gilly, Colonel Beckwith, and other 
 zealous friends, a considerable improvement has of late 
 years taken place in their educational institutions. 
 Every parish has its parochial school, and the teachers 
 are elected conjointly by the Consistoire, and the Muni- 
 cipal Council. Their salaries vary from 300 francs, to 
 600 francs, (L.25) and are paid partly by funds raised 
 in Holland for the purpose, and partly by a tax laid on 
 each commune by government. There are besides, 120 
 district schools in the valleys, which are taught in 
 miserable hovels on the mountain sides, a small salary 
 being allowed to each teacher, by the Consistoire 
 of the parish in which his school is situated. The 
 parish schools are kept open during eight or ten 
 months of the year, the smaller ones, during three, four, 
 or five months in winter, according as the season is 
 more or less favourable for agricultural operations. 
 They are examined twice a-year by the pastor, and two 
 
230 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 elders, appointed for tlie purpose bj the Consistoire; 
 and reading, writing, arithmetic, French and Italian 
 Grammar, the Bible, Osterwald's Catechism, and sacred 
 music are the ordinary branches taught in them. The 
 patois of the country is necessarily employed in them, 
 as the medium of communicating knowledge ; and as, 
 in all probability, it will ever continue to be used in the 
 chalets of the peasants, I am inclined to think, that the 
 republication of their ancient Catechism, and of their 
 celebrated poem, " La Nobla Le^on," for the use of 
 schools and private families, would be attended with 
 great advantage, as the children would thus acquire a 
 knowledge of the elements of Divine truth, at an earlier 
 age than they can do at present, when it is communi- 
 cated in a foreign languige, which must first have 
 been acquired through the medium of their own. 
 There are five schools for girls in the valleys, to which 
 the London Vaudois Committee give an annual grant 
 of L.52, in addition to four others supported by private 
 liberality. The appointment of the matrons is vested in 
 the Table. In 1837 the foundation stone of an Institution 
 for the higher branches of education, called Trinity Col- 
 lege, was laid at La Torre, — funds for the purpose hav- 
 ing been raised by Dr Gilly in England. It is now 
 complete, and the course of study pursued there, com- 
 prises classics, mathematics, belles lettres, geography, 
 and history. Philosophy and theology are forbidden 
 by government to be taught in the valleys. There were 
 fifty students in the College in July last, and four pro- 
 fessors, one of whom is also principal. The course of 
 study lasts six years, after which those who are intended 
 for the ministry remove to some foreign university to 
 complete their education. I have but to add that 
 Colonel Beckwith has founded a female school of a su- 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 231 
 
 perior order, at La Torre, for the ediacation of pastors' 
 daughters and other young ladies, which is very ably 
 conducted, to bring this sketch of their educational 
 state to a close. 
 
 During the days of the empire, when Napoleon was 
 driving kings before him into banishment, and plant- 
 ing his victorious eagle successively in every province 
 of Italy, the Vaudois, notwithstanding their poverty 
 and insignificance, attracted his attention, and found 
 favour in his eyes. More loyal, honest, and industri- 
 ous than their countrymen who inhabited the plains of 
 Piemont, he yet found them prohibited by a barbarous 
 edict, from acquiring land or following any profession, 
 beyond an arbitrary boundary therein defined as the 
 limit of their habitation. With an impartiality that 
 did him honour, he instantly removed all restrictions, 
 placed the Protestants on a level with their Popish fel- 
 low-subjects, and in short introduced a new era in the 
 history of the valleys. The clergy was the only class 
 among the Vaudois, Avho, for a time, were sufferers by 
 his usurpation of Italy. An annual pension from this 
 country bestowed upon them from the time of William 
 and Mary, was withheld by the British government from 
 the moment that they became the subjects of France. 
 This circumstance having been related to Napoleon, he 
 immediately made provision for them, enrolling their 
 names among the clergy of the empire, and allotting 
 lands for their maintenance which yielded to each 1000 
 francs annually, in addition to a sum of 200 francs 
 per annum, bestowed upon them for registrations and 
 population returns. Bloodstained and cruel as Napo- 
 leon's career undoubtedly was, it is an undeniable fact, 
 that the brightest and most prosperous period of Wal- 
 densian history was that which elapsed while he occu- 
 
232 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 pied the throne of Italy. " Napoleon never lost sight/' 
 says Dr Gilly^ " of the Church of the Valleys, after he 
 had once learned to take an interest in its fate. I have 
 the copy of an order signed by him at Moscow in 1812, 
 by which he directed a negligent Vaudois pastor to be 
 suspended. Strange ! that the invader of Russia, in the 
 palace of the Czars, should be concerning himself with 
 the affairs of a small parish in the remote wilds of Pied- 
 mont; and that the Protestant representatives of the 
 ' Defender of the Faith/ should forget the Waldenses at 
 the congress of Vienna ! Tlie usurpers, Cromwell and 
 Buonaparte, have left a better lesson behind them in 
 regard to the Vaudois, than the advocates of legiti- 
 macy." 
 
 At the peace concluded in 1814, the throne of Sar- 
 dinia was again restored to the house of Savoy, and 
 with its return, all the apprehensions of the Vaudois 
 were again called forth. It is true that a clause in the 
 treaty of Paris, of May 31, 1814, stipulated, " That in 
 the countries restored and ceded by the present treaty, 
 no individual of ivhatever class or condition shall he 
 prevented, harassed, or disturbed in his person or pro- 
 perty, under any pretext,'' yet still the Vaudois remem- 
 bered how it had fared with them under the old regime; 
 and the deputation from the valleys, which proceeded 
 to Geneva to welcome Victor Emanuel on his landing, 
 and to declare their loyalty, besought him earnestly, 
 that the civil rights and privileges acquired under the 
 empire might not be disturbed. They were put off, 
 however, with fair promises, which, from his subsequent 
 conduct, it seems probable he never intended to be 
 put in execution. Undoubtedly it is mainly owing to 
 British wealth and valour that the reigning family ever 
 were restored; and had our representatives been suffi- 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH, 233 
 
 ciently alive to Protestant interests wlien that treaty 
 was drawn up, such stringent clauses might easily have 
 been introduced into it, as would have for ever secured 
 the Yaudois in the undisturbed enjoyment of the liber- 
 ties they had previously acquired. Victor Emanuel 
 showed by his treatment of Lord William Bentinck that 
 he was fully aware of this oversight. "The British 
 General naturally conceived, that he who had been instru- 
 mental in replacing his majesty upon the throne of his 
 ancestors, had some pretensions to be heard in favour of 
 subjects, who professed the same religion as his own so- 
 vereign and himself He took the earliest opportunity 
 of urging their suit, and at Geneva, before the king 
 could even set foot in the hereditary dominions to 
 which the British arms had restored him, and while 
 he was yet under the protection of a British escort. 
 Lord William Bentinck most earnestly pleaded for 
 the oppressed churches of the valleys. The king lis- 
 tened to the eloquent and feeling appeal, with worse 
 than indifference. His determination most probably 
 was already made, for in four days afterwards, and on 
 the morning after he had taken possession of his palace 
 at Turin, the ungrateful monarch issued an edict, by 
 which he dispossessed the Vaudois of all that they had 
 enjoyed during his dethronement ; and put many vexa- 
 tious decrees in force which had been proclaimed against 
 them by his bigoted and intolerant predecessors.* 
 Amongst other acts of cruelty towards the Vaudois, 
 which signalized his restoration to the throne, the king 
 deprived their clergy of the salary allowed them by the 
 French government, and the English pension being still 
 withheld, though the French domination in Italy had 
 
 ♦ Gilly's Narrative, p. 92. 
 
234: PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 ceased, many of those worthy and laborious men were 
 reduced, with their families, to a state of abject poverty. 
 He likewise ordered the church of San Giovanni, built in 
 his absence, to be immediately closed; and when strong 
 remonstrance was made against such injustice, by the Pro- 
 testant ambassadors, the church was at length allowed 
 to be reopened, on condition that an immense wooden 
 screen should be erected in front of it, lest the Popish 
 inhabitants of the parish, amounting in all to forty, 
 should be scandalized by its appearance, or their ears 
 polluted by the sacred melodies of the seventeen hun- 
 dred Protestants who worshipped within its walls. Can 
 it be believed, that the same prince who acted so harsh 
 and unnatural a part towards his loyal subjects, should 
 have previously borne this remarkable testimony to their 
 character, " I know I have faithful subjects in the Wal- 
 denses, they will never dishonour their name." Some of 
 the more enlightened Catholics are ashamed of the gross 
 injustice thus practised on their unoffending fellow-sub- 
 jects, and one in particular, — the Count Ferdinand dal 
 Pozzo, — in a pamphlet written to redress the wrongs of 
 the Vaudois, indignantly exclaims, " How then in God's 
 name, could it happen, that without any fault or crime on 
 their part, they should lose their rights and be reduced to 
 their ancient state ? It may be asked, by what fatali- 
 ty has the restoration of the King of Sardinia been 
 followed by so dreadful a consequence, as the degrada- 
 tion of his Protestant subjects, while no similar effect 
 was produced by the restoration of the Bourbons to 
 France, nor by that of the other sovereigns, in coun- 
 tries also for a time united to France, but afterwards 
 again dismembered 1 The fact is, that no Protestants 
 now exist in Europe, in so low, in so degraded a condi- 
 tion, as the Vaudois, and that they are now still more 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHUKCH. 235 
 
 secretly harassed by some fanatics than they were 
 before the French domination, on account of the ascend- 
 ancy gained anew by the court of Rome, the Jesuits, 
 and the Parti-Pretre."* In a former lecture, I doubt 
 not earlier treatiest have been cited, which entitle this 
 country to be heard at the court of Sardinia, on behalf 
 of her Vaudois subjects, but even were none such in 
 existence, is there not sufficient ground for the inter- 
 ference of Britain, or of any of the high contracting 
 powers, in the systematic violation by the house of 
 Savoy, of that very treaty which restored to it the 
 throne of its ancestors 1 
 
 From that period until the present, the Yaudois 
 have never been altogether free from persecution; for 
 even when exempt from acts of open hostility, they 
 have been ground down by a system of petty oppres- 
 sion, under the galling yoke of which, their spirit must 
 have failed ere now, but for the advice and encouraijement 
 of Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith, a brave British soldier, 
 who for nearly iivenly years has devoted his time, for- 
 tune, and energies to their service. There is the 
 strongest ground, however, to believe, that were it not 
 for the all-predominating influence of Jesuitism at the 
 coTirt of Sardinia, their sovereigns would deal kindly 
 towards these Alpine Protestants. In 1816, for exam- 
 ple, letters patent were issued at Turin, making procla- 
 mation of the royal intention " to soften the rigour of 
 the measures adopted in ancient times, towards the 
 \'audois;" but there were those around the throne, 
 whose aim and interest it was to prevent any such 
 amelioration in their condition, and so, with the inti- 
 
 * The Crown or the Tiara. Lond. 1842. p. 21. 
 + Treaties between England and the Duke of Savoy, dated 
 20th October 1690, and 4th August 1704. 
 
I'SG PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 mation of the king's benevolent intention, the matter 
 ended. When the present sovereign ascended the 
 throne in 1831, and for some years subsequent, the 
 influence of the parti-pretre at court v/as understood to 
 be less than during the previous reign, and so long as 
 this continued to be the case, he showed considerable 
 kindness towards his Yaudois subjects. This momen- 
 tary calm, however, was but the prelude of a fiercer 
 storm about to burst upon the valleys, for Rome speedily 
 regained her influence, and it soon became evident, 
 that the favourable leanings of the sovereign towards 
 this persecuted race had only tended to exasperate her 
 ire and to hasten her revenge. 
 
 In 1834, M. Andre Charvaz, the Popish Bishop of 
 Pinerolo, a cunning Savoyard, who had acquired consi- 
 derable influence at court, while discharffino; the ofiice 
 of tutor to the king's sons, began openly to utter threats 
 against them, and successfully to exert his influence in 
 getting put into execution, the rigorous, but then obso- 
 lete edicts, hurled against their ancestors. In 1836, he 
 published anonymously, at Turin, a book entitled 
 "Piecherches Historiques sur la veritable origine des 
 Vaudois, et sur le caractere de leurs doctrines pri- 
 mitives," in which all the exploded calumnies and 
 falsehoods of early writers are again unblushingly pro- 
 mulged, evidently for the purpose of turning the tide of 
 public opinion against them, and at the same time giving 
 a fair pretext for ulterior proceedings of a harsher 
 kind. A just estimate of this prelate's character may 
 be formed from the fact, that while he and his party 
 have succeeded by intrigue, in so eflectually closing the 
 public press in Sardinia against the Vaudois, that the 
 most trifling pamphlet cannot be printed within the 
 kingdom without exposing the author and publisher to 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 237 
 
 the severest penalties, he jet has the hardihood to 
 taunt them with cowardice, or inability to rebut his 
 charges, because they remain silent; and when remind- 
 ed that their silence is not voluntary, but brought 
 about by his intrigues, he coolly tells them, that the 
 prohibition of the press in Sardinia can form no real 
 impediment, as they have access to the press in France, 
 in Britain, and in Switzerland,"^ though well he knows, 
 that by availing themselves of the press to which he 
 thus invites them, they would fall into a snare, and ex- 
 pose themselves to fine and imprisonment at the king's 
 pleasure, for contravention of the law which forbids 
 any communication on political affairs beyond the 
 bounds of the kingdom. Is not such conduct in full 
 keeping with the character of the Jesuits ? But even 
 were there no such law forbidding them to communi- 
 cate to other nations the acts of their own government. 
 
 * The same author has published an address entitled " Con- 
 siderations sur le Protestantisme," delivered in the cathedral 
 of Pinerolo last year, on the occasion of the baptism o^ tiventy- 
 four Vaudois. In a foot-note, at page 27, he says, " On nous 
 assure aussi, que nos adversaires rendraient raison de leur long 
 silence sur des ecrits qui tendent a dissiper leur erreurs, en 
 disant a leurs Freres qu'ils n'ont pas la liberte d'ecrire. Mais 
 ils n'ont pas oublie sans doute, qu'ils ont fait imprimer assez 
 recemment leur nouveau Catechisme a Londres, et leur nou- 
 velle Liturgie a Lausanne, et a Edimbourg. Ils savent aussi, 
 qu' un de leurs Pasteurs a fait imprimer en France son His- 
 toire des Vaudois du Piemont. Ils ont done assez bien prouve, 
 ce nous semble, que toutes les presses de France, de Suisse, 
 et d'Angleterre sent a leur disposition." 
 
 M. Muston was actually banished the kingdom of Sardinia, 
 because he ventured to write a history of the Vaudois Church. 
 He is now pastor of a church in France, and it was only about 
 three years ago, on occasion of the Crown Prince of Sardinia's 
 marriage, that M. Bert succeeded in obtaining from his majesty 
 an acte de grace ioT him. 
 
238 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 — supposing them in a condition to take advantage of 
 the bishop's very considerate suggestion, — supposing 
 that the necessary funds were raised in Britain for 
 printing and conveying to them their defensive writ- 
 ings, and that the journals of France were thrown 
 freely open for their use, — what chance, after all, I ask, 
 have the poor Vandois either of propagating their doc- 
 trines among their countrymen, or defending them- 
 selves against the insidious attacks of the Jesuits, so 
 long as there remains an Index Expurgatoriiis in Sar- 
 dinia, — so long as the censor of the press excludes all 
 politics from their own journals, and the government 
 prohibits the admission of foreign newspapers, lest they 
 should dissipate the profound darkness of that priest- 
 ridden kingdom? I was informed in 1842, that the 
 two Prostestant newspapers published in Paris were 
 strictly prohibited; and that only two copies of the 
 " Archives du Christianisme" found their way into the 
 kingdom, one for the Prussian ambassador, and the 
 other for Colonel Beckwith. 
 
 " It took three years," says the author of a very able 
 anonjTiious pamphlet, entitled " the Crown or the 
 Tiara," " after the Bishop of Pinerolo had threatened 
 to reduce the Waldenses to the miserable condition of 
 their forefathers, in the 16th and 17th centuries, before 
 Romish intrigue and intolerance could turn away the 
 benevolent heart of the king of Sardinia from his un- 
 offending subjects of the Valleys." In 1837, however, 
 the Parti-Pretre triumphed, and the king gave his 
 assent, and attached his signature (unwillingly it is 
 said) to a new code of laws, which has already produced 
 the most baneful effects, and threatens, if rigorously 
 executed, utterly to annihilate the Vaudois. Such, no 
 doubt, is the intention of the prelate Charvaz, and his 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 239 
 
 -con-fraternity, and the Vaudois need look for no mercy, 
 except it be extorted by the vigilance of the represent- 
 atives of the Protestant powers at the court of Turin, 
 €0 long as the king admits to his councils, one who has 
 sworn never to rest until he has exterminated thern. 
 After declaring that " the Catholic religion is the only 
 religion in the State," the civil code goes on to say, 
 "The subjects who are not Catholics shall enjoy civil 
 rights, conformably to the laws, regulations, and usages 
 which concern them. The case is the same ivith the Jews'' 
 By this new code the Vaudois are reduced to the same 
 level with the poor Jews, who, it is well known, are 
 subjected to the greatest indignities, and most cruel re- 
 strictions, in almost all the kingdoms of Italy ; — while 
 " the laws, regulations, and usages," which modify their 
 civil rights, are none other than the intolerant and 
 persecuting edicts of former centuries. The cruelty of 
 these edicts will hereafter appear. 
 
 It has been already stated that the Vaudois territory 
 measures, as nearly as can be ascertained, including 
 mountains, 22 miles north and south, and 18 miles 
 east and west ; and within this narrow compass there is 
 found a population amounting in July last, to 26,920 
 souls. Of this number, 4462 are Papists ; and strenuous 
 efforts are being made to increase their number, by 
 getting persons of this persuasion to purchase all sale- 
 able lands within the bounds. It surely is a great ag- 
 gravation of their suffering that the Vaudois cannot 
 even call this little territory their own ; — nearly a 
 ■fifth part of its inhabitants being Papists, while no 
 corresponding provision has been made elsewhere 
 for the necessities of their increasing population.* 
 
 » See Appendix, No. IV. Dr Gilly has published a similar 
 population table for 1823, in his "Narrative;" and by compar- 
 
240 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 At present a father can make no other proyision for 
 his sons^ when they settle in life, than by alienating a 
 portion of his little heritage to each, thus impoverish- 
 ing himself without enriching them. But where is this 
 to end ? Suppose the same process once or twice re- 
 peated, and a large proportion of the inhabitants of 
 these valleys will then only have left them the miser- 
 able alternative of starvation at home, or expatriation 
 from a country endeared to them by a thousand asso- 
 ciations. The amount of the population might not in- 
 deed appear to be excessive were the locality one where 
 trade and manufactures afforded ample occupation, but 
 such is not the case in the valleys. There are only two 
 small manufactories for cloth, and two tan-yards, and 
 these give employment to comparatively few hands. 
 Besides this, there is a small trade carried on in char- 
 coal, from which the inhabitants do not derive much 
 advantage, as it is chiefly in the hands of merchants 
 from Turin. Many families have invested their little ca- 
 pital in the purchase of silk worms, and endeavour to 
 support themselves by the price obtained for the co- 
 coons. This is an exceedingly precarious investment, 
 however, because a change of temperature is certain de- 
 struction to them, and it is no easy matter in a Vau- 
 doise cottage to keep it always at the same height; 
 while the appetite of these creatures is so voracious 
 that more has often to be paid for the mulberry leaves 
 
 ing it with the one now published, the rapid increase of their 
 numbers, and the cruelty of their confinement will at once 
 appear. 
 
 Ifi23. Protestants, 18,600 Catholics, 1700 Total Population, 20,310 
 
 1844. „ 22,438 „ 4462 „ 26,920 
 
 Increase, „ 385S „ 2/62 "660 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 241 
 
 pn which they feed than their cocoons, when gathered, 
 will realize. The last two or three seasons have been 
 particularly unfortunate, and, consequently, the filature 
 at San Germano, which gave employment to a few 
 hands, has been closed. 
 
 By one of the cruel edicts above referred to, the Vau- 
 dois are incapable of holding any situation, civil or mi- 
 litary, throughout the kingdom; in all the learned pro- 
 fessions, too, the door is strictly closed against them, 
 for in the edict of 1G02, which has been again put in 
 force since 1837, it is enacted, " that no Vaudois may 
 practise as a physician, surgeon, apothecary, attorney, 
 or advocate, except among his own community..'''' It 
 will be asked, what resource then is left for the 
 23,000 Protestants of Piemont? Agriculture is the 
 only occupation from which they are not debarred 
 by statute, and the exceedingly primitive manner 
 in which farming operations are carried on among 
 them, abundantly proves, that even here they meet 
 with neither protection nor encouragement. Their 
 implements of husbandry are of the rudest kind, — a 
 clumsy wooden plough, drawn by a yoke of oxen,- and 
 a hoe of the same material, are the chief instruments of 
 tillage among them, while a two-pronged branch, cut 
 from the nearest tree, supplies the place of a pitchfork 
 in the time of harvest. The truth is, persecution is 
 brought to bear upon them, in their daily employments. 
 On what possible grounds can the Sardinian govern- 
 ment justify its procedure in imposing upon the Vau- 
 dois a land tax, nearly double the amount of that 
 exacted from the Papists, — the relative proportions 
 being 20 J per cent to 13 per cent ? Had such addi- 
 tional tax been imposed on those only who, during the 
 days of the Empire, had acquired land beyond the 
 
242 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 limits^ tyrannical as such a proceeding would liave 
 been, some shadow of excuse might have been pled for 
 it; but surely, within their own limits at least, they 
 have a right to expect that they should be placed on a 
 footing of equality with their neighbours. Nor is this 
 all; — another edict compels them to observe strictly 
 all Popish saints' days and holidays, the consequence of 
 which is, that within their own proper territory, 23,000 
 Vaudois, depending for subsistence entirely upon agri- 
 cultural pursuits, are compelled to abstain from labour, 
 at least one, and often three days, every week, to 
 satisfy the caprice of 5000 Papists, who, at best, can 
 only be considered as intruders there. The utmost a 
 Vaudois peasant can gain by his labour does not 
 amount to more than 15 sous a day in winter, and 20 
 sous (lOd.) in summer. Is it not, then, excessive 
 cruelty to deprive them^ through human inventions, 
 which they conscientiously condemn, of a half or a 
 third part of the time in which they might lawfully 
 earn this miserable pittance for their families? 
 
 Though the edict preventing the Vaudois from 
 acquiring land beyond the limits, issued the very day 
 after the fallen monarch was restored to his throne, it 
 was never dreamt that it could be retrospectively applied 
 to those who were already bona fide in possession of 
 them. It is said that the late king was urged again 
 and again by the Popish party, to deprive such of their 
 property; but he steadily refused, declaring that had 
 he been on the throne, they never should have acquired 
 it, but now that they were in possession, he would not 
 take it from them. It remained for Charles Albert, 
 the reigning monarch, on the urgent representations 
 of the Romish hierarchy, to give the order for perpe- 
 trating this additional injustice; and had it been exe- 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 243 
 
 cuted, it would have had the effect of driving back 
 many ruined families on the already over populated 
 valleys. In March 1841 the edict passed, and orders 
 w€?re given' to the judge of Pinerolo to warn those living 
 beyond the confines, that their lands must be disposed 
 of ; that two years would be allowed for this purpose, 
 in cases where they did not exceed two acres, and four 
 years in cases where they were of larger size. When 
 the tidings of so harsh a procedure, and of the ferment 
 produced by it in the valleys, reached this country, peti- 
 tions from various quarters were forwarded to govern- 
 ment, entreating its interference on their behalf with 
 the Court of Sardinia. A communication immediately 
 passed between the Foreign office and the Sardinian 
 government, which, though it is said to have been by 
 no means agreeable to his Sardinian majesty, was per- 
 fectly successful in the accomplishment of its object. 
 The edict has not been enforced ; intimation having 
 been given to those concerned that they should not for 
 the present be disturbed, hut that in case of a sale of 
 land, the jmrchaser must he a 2oapist ! ! ! I crave spe- 
 cial attention, however, to the manner in which this 
 deliverance has been given, as it is a fair specimen of 
 the " cunning craftiness" whereby these poor people are 
 being ruined. The edict ordering the lands to be 
 sold was duly published, and became part of the statute 
 law of the empire ; and so it continues at this day. No 
 edict has ever been issued to cancel it, and the permis- 
 sion to retain the lands rests solely on the king's parole 
 de grace. So long as his majesty's life is spared, all 
 may go on smoothly, but the persecuting edict is part of 
 the statute law of the empire still; the Vaudois can bring 
 no documentary evidence to prove its repeal, and, 
 therefore, it may at any future time be put in force 
 
244 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 against them in course of common law. The modera- 
 tor^ M. Bonjour, in presenting a petition for the repeal 
 of this edict, had an interview with the king, who, it is 
 said, received him coldly, and accused the Vaudois of 
 having appealed to foreign powers for redress^ saying, 
 that England had interfered between him and his 
 Yaudois subjects; at which he was very angry, as he 
 was an absolute monarch in his own dominions; on 
 which the moderator assured his majesty, he was mis- 
 taken, if he supposed the Vaudois had applied to the 
 English government for redress ; but it was natural to 
 suppose that some of their co-religionists from England, 
 visiting their valleys, and becoming acquainted with 
 the " severe measures" which he had applied to the 
 Vaudois, should have stirred up their government to 
 interfere. The king was pleased to receive the petition, 
 but told M. Bonjour, he wished every individual Vau- 
 dois to make aj^plication to him hy letter for the reten- 
 tion of Im 'property , as a favour at his majesty's hands. 
 Such written application, had it been made, would un- 
 doubtedly have been used hereafter to prove that the 
 petitioners had no legal right to these lands, but only 
 held them during the king's pleasure. From such a 
 snare, however, the Lord delivered them ! 
 
 It is impossible to enumerate in one short lecture, all 
 the grievances under which these Protestants are still la- 
 bouring. In each commune there is a municipal coun- 
 cil, consisting of a syndic, vice-syndic, and three ordin- 
 ary members. Of these, a majority must be papists, 
 although in some parishes there are so few of them, that 
 it is no easy matter to find men capable of undertaking 
 the duties of the office. To keep within the letter of 
 the law, in a commune where the Protestant inhabi- 
 tants are to the Papists in the proportion of 2,000 to 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 245 
 
 40; they are obliged to elect a majoTity of councillors 
 from among men of the very lowest grade in society. 
 Crucifixes, and shrines in honour of the Virgin Mary, 
 are erected with studious attention by the wayside, at 
 intervals of little more than half a mile, that the 
 Vaudois may ever be reminded of the superstitions they 
 abominate. Their worship is often interrupted on the 
 Sabbath, by Popish processions, headed by the priests, 
 which surround the church, chanting so loudly that 
 the pastor's voice cannot be heard. Prayer meetings, 
 and reunions for psalmody, have been once and again 
 interdicted by a mandate from the secretary of state. 
 They are forbidden by the edict of 1G02, to increase 
 the number of their churches, and beneficed pastors, 
 although the wants of the population demand an in- 
 crease of both. They are forbidden by the same edict, 
 to offer any opposition to the conversion of a protestant 
 to the Romish faith, while a seminary of missionary 
 priests of the order of St Maurice, and St Lazarus, has 
 been newly established in the valleys, for the avowed 
 purpose of making proselytes. Mixed marriages, cele- 
 brated between Protestants and Papists, are not reck- 
 oned valid, and the children by such, are liable to be 
 torn from their mothers' breasts, by the priests, as ille- 
 gitimate, and carried off to this new seminary, or to 
 the Hospice at Pinerolo, where they are baptised 
 according to the rites of the Romish Church. The 
 children of Protestant parents have also been more than 
 once carried off in a similar manner, under the pretext 
 that they had expressed a desire to join the Romish 
 communion, — their little popish playfelloAvs being ad- 
 duced as evidence against them. Children so kidnap- 
 ped, are seldom restored; — on various pretexts, the par- 
 ents are prevented from seeing them until they have 
 
246 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTTTRE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 readied tlie age of 12 if boys, or 10 if girls, when the 
 law forbids them under heavy penalties, to demand the 
 restitution of their own offspring. 
 
 The Church of Rome is never at a loss for inventions, 
 when proselytism, or the persecution of heretics is the 
 matter in hand. If one attempt proves abortive, a se- 
 cond is immediately made in another quarter; if one 
 expedient fails, another is as rapidly devised more likely 
 to succeed; and in such a country as Sardinia, where 
 Protestants are not safe if they attempt to offer opposi- 
 tion to the conversion of their nearest relatives, it were 
 strano;e indeed if these were not sometimes successful. 
 The Jesuits were no sooner foiled in their attempts to 
 drive back the Vaudois within their ancient limits, 
 than they adopted a plan for the extermination of 
 heresy, which partakes at once of the wisdom of the 
 serpent and of the baseness of the tempter. Knowing the 
 extreme poverty of many of their victims, they appeal- 
 ed to their basest passions, and have succeeded in in- 
 ducing some to make shipwreck of their faith, for a 
 handful of paltry gold. Others more ambitious, have 
 been won by the promise of promotion in the army, or 
 of civil employment in the State. An instance of this 
 occurred about the beginning of last year. A Vaudois 
 surgeon, disgusted with the restraints imposed upon 
 him, in the exercise of his profession, on account 
 of his religion, and ambitious of rising in it, not 
 only embraced the Popish religion himself, but com- 
 pelled his wife and children to embrace it also, on 
 the understanding that he should forthwith receive 
 a commission as surgeon in the army! I was in- 
 formed that his wife continues in a miserable state of 
 jnind, having been compelled, against her conscience, 
 to conform ; but he has gained his point, having, short- 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 247 
 
 \j after his abjuration of Protestantism, received a 
 commission as surgeon-major, nearly in the following 
 terms : — " Considering the favourable reports made to 
 us relative to R., and taking into account the resolu- 
 tion he has manifested to return into the bosom of our 
 holy mother, the Catholic Chiirch, appertaining to Rome, 
 We nominate him surgeon-major, d'c. <Lx. dx. So 
 anxious are they to succeed in the extermination of 
 the Yaudois, that the very prisons are ransacked for 
 proselytes, and it matters not what crimes they have 
 committed, or to what punishment they have been con- 
 demned, if the prisoners will but renounce their Pro- 
 testantism, their liberty is at once secured; — the well- 
 being of the state, the safety of its citizens, and the au- 
 thority of its judges, all giving way, as in duty bound, 
 before the claims of Papal Rome. Several conversions 
 of this kind occurred in 1843, and the prisoners were 
 immediately set at liberty. One of them, a wood- 
 ranger, had been convicted before the proper tribunal, 
 of laying false accusations against three individuals, of 
 stealing wood, for the sake of the reward, — a third part 
 of which goes to a convent at Pinerolo, a third part to 
 the government, and a third part to the ranger. Hav- 
 ing been found guilty, he would undoubtedly have been 
 sent to the galleys, but in order to save himself, he be- 
 came a Papist, and the process was immediately quashed. 
 On two different occasions, in the beginning of last 
 year, the Bishop of Pinerolo, with great pomp and ce- 
 remony, rebaptized 24 Vaudois in the cathedral of 
 that city. This man, with his family, (seven in all), 
 were of the number, together with some other prisoner 
 converts, and undoubtedly the prelate must have de- 
 rived unfeigned satisfaction from the thought, that in 
 bis zeal he had converted the very prisons into mission- 
 
248 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 arj seminaries for his cliurcli, and had succeeded^ if not 
 from conscientious conviction, at least from dread of 
 punishment, in " compelling them to come in." 
 
 Such are " the laws, regulations, and usages," which 
 modify the civil rights of the Vaudois, and when these 
 are taken in connection with the proceedings just de- 
 tailed, no one can feel surprised that every traveller 
 who visits them, comes away with the impression that 
 they are not only heart-broken, but miserably poor. 
 Were it not for the provision that God has bountifully 
 made for their sustenance, in the fruit of the wallnut 
 and chesnut trees, which grow in such abundance 
 throughout their territory, it would be impossible for 
 them to sustain life. Their food is of the poorest kind, 
 — butcher meat is a dainty unknown at the peasant's 
 board; roasted chestnuts, potatoes, and black bread of 
 the coarsest kind, with a little sour wine, the produce 
 of their own vineyards, and oil extracted from wall- 
 nuts, is their frugal fare throughout the year. The 
 peasant mixes his salad, and trims his lamp, from the 
 same cruise of oil. During five months of summer 
 they reside in chalets, on the higher Alps, for the pas- 
 turage of their cattle; and here their pastors follow 
 them during the week, to inquire into their spiritual 
 welfare, and occasionally, on Sabbath, to preach to 
 them the word of truth. 
 
 Nothing, perhaps, bespeaks their poverty more evi- 
 dently, than the manner in which they spend their 
 long and dreary winter evenings. Fuel is much too 
 dear an article to be used, except for culinary purposes; 
 but to make up for the want of a cheerful fire, the 
 whole family adjourn during the winter to the byre, 
 and live among the cattle, — the temperature being 
 kept equable by their breath. The oil is also suffi- 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 249 
 
 ciently scarce, to make it needful to economize, and a 
 saving is eifected by the following contrivance : — Two, 
 three, and sometimes four neighbouring families, unite 
 to spend the winter evenings, week about, in each 
 other's byres, — one lamp serves the whole assembly, and 
 the family whose byre is the rendevouz for the week, 
 provide the oil. I was sorry to learn that gambling by 
 cards, and dice, is not uncommon in some of these re- 
 unions. In others, however, one person is appointed 
 each night, to read aloud to the company, while the 
 others are engaged at their various occupations. On 
 these occasions, through necessity as well as choice, the 
 Bible is most frequently the subject of study, because 
 other books are lacking, and hence, the modern Vau- 
 dois, like their ancestors, have generally a very exten- 
 sive acquaintance with the sacred Scriptures. This 
 mode of spending the winter evenings is not confined to 
 the poorer classes of the Vaudois peasantry, but ob- 
 tains also among those of larger means. An English 
 lady, who is married to a Vaudois proprietor, assured 
 me that her mother-in-law, who lives with them, still 
 from force of habit, prefers the byre during the winter 
 evenings, to the salle with its comfortable stove. 
 
 That the Vaudois as a community are not now so 
 eminent for piety as their ancestors were, is admitted, 
 I believe, on all hands; but still I have no hesitation 
 in adding my humble testimony to that borne by most 
 travellers who have visited their valleys, that, notwith- 
 standing their defects, they are, after all, the most moral 
 and religious people in Europe. For amount of Bible 
 knowledge they will stand comparison with the best of 
 our Scottish peasantry; their honesty and simplicity 
 are proverbial ; they are ever ready to perform kind 
 offices to one another; instances of licentiousness and 
 
250 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 impurity are so rare among them, that when they occur, 
 the entire population feel themselves disgraced, and the 
 sin of drunkenness, so fearfully prevalent in this coun- 
 try, is utterly unknown in the valleys. The desecra- 
 tion of the Sabbath is certainly the foulest blot in their 
 character, although they are not worse in this respect 
 than the members of other Protestant Churches on the 
 Continent. After the services of the morning, the Sab- 
 bath is converted into a day of amusement, and instead 
 of " turning away their feet from finding their pleasure 
 on that holy day," they may be seen congregated in 
 groups, singing, dancing, and pursuing their other 
 favourite pastimes, as though the day were their own. 
 The more pious clergy are setting themselves steadily, 
 like Nehemiah of old, to prevent this horrid profana- 
 tion of the Sabbath, and their efforts have already been 
 attended with considerable success. Some visitors have 
 magnified their failings and defects, on account of the 
 exaggerated opinions which they had formed of them 
 previous to their arrival, from reading their ancient 
 history; it should be borne in mind, however, that in 
 judging of the religion and morality of the present race 
 of Vaudois, the comparison does not lie between them 
 and their forefathers, but between them and the other 
 Protestant nations of Europe at the present day. 
 
 Considering the beauty of their mountain scenery, 
 and the interest of their early history, it is mat- 
 ter of astonishment that thousands of our country- 
 men should pass annually within thirty miles of 
 their territory, travelling by Mount Cenis, from France 
 and Switzerland to Ptome, and yet never turn aside to 
 visit them. If a few of those families who now spend 
 their summers amid the dissipations of Lucca, or in the 
 scorching en-vdrons of Naples, would select the valleys 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 251 
 
 for their residence, they would not only benefit those 
 poor mountaineers by the money they put in circula- 
 tion, but would also increase, by their correspondence, 
 the interest beginning to be felt for them at home. 
 Much has been already done for them, but they greatly 
 stand in need of more ; and being too poor to contri- 
 bute themselves, they can only pray that the Lord 
 would put it into the hearts of their richer brethren in 
 other countries to do it for them. Russia and Prussia 
 have contributed to build their hospitals ; England has 
 built and endowed a college, supplied a library for the 
 students, (though the selection is none of the best, con- 
 taining, among other objectionable works, '^ the Tracts 
 for the Times,'") printed their liturgy, and rebuilt their 
 churches and schools ; Holland supplies the funds by 
 which their schoolmasters are supported; and, blessed 
 be God, though late in the day, Scotland has also 
 " come to their help against the mighty," and has 
 transmitted to them, in addition to smaller sums for 
 other purposes, L.500 to purchase a Theological Cir- 
 culating Library for the use of their pastors, which they 
 have called " The Scottish Library," 
 
 A collection is made annually throughout the Churches 
 of Holland, on behalf of the Waldenses, and I trust the 
 time is not far distant, when the Free Church of Scot- 
 land will emulate so noble an example. In the mean 
 time, much assistance may be rendered them by the 
 exertions of individuals, and of benevolent associations, 
 as a sum reckoned small in this country, goes a great 
 way there. I take this opportunity of directing the 
 attention of their friends in Scotland, to some of those 
 methods, by which, in the estimation of the Vaudois 
 Table, the welfare of their Church may be at present 
 
552 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTFRE PROSPECTS OP 
 
 jnost effectually promoted. As many promising young 
 men are prevented by poverty from prosecuting their 
 studies for the ministry, and as the Table has no avail- 
 able funds at its disposal for their support, the Modera- 
 tor earnestly recommends the institution of bursaries for 
 their assistance. These should be of two kinds; the larger 
 ones amounting to 500 francs (20 guineas) annually, being 
 devoted to the support of students at the Evangelical 
 Academy of Geneva; the smaller ones amounting to 400 
 francs, including board, or to 100 francs without it, being 
 destined for the support of scholars prosecuting their 
 preliminary studies at the college of La Torre. I think 
 it requires only to be known that for the sum of L.4, 
 3s. 4d. paid annually for six years, a student can be 
 maintained at the Vaudois college till his preliminary 
 studies are completed, to induce many benevolent per- 
 sons to place such bursaries at the disposal of the Vau- 
 dois Table for the support of individual students. The 
 Beckwith Institution for the education of pastors' 
 daughters at La Torre, is worthy the attention and pa- 
 tronage of those who can enter into the privations and 
 sufferings to which they must be exposed at the decease 
 of their parents, if not qualified by a superior educa- 
 tion to maintain the station they previously occupied. 
 The charge for a young lady's education, including 
 board, is 300 francs annually. Without some such as- 
 sistance it is impossible for a pastor, with a salary of 
 L.60 a-year, to support a large family and afford them 
 such an education as their station demands. 
 
 Another object of deep interest to the Vaudois Table, 
 is the establishment of a female school in every parish 
 throughout the valleys. The number of such schools 
 at present in existence is nine, thus leaving six parishes 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 253 
 
 still unprovided. One of these scliools, including rent 
 and the schoolmistress's salary is only 500 francs per 
 annum. 
 
 For assistance rendered in any of these ways, the 
 Waldensian pastors would be exceedingly grateful, but 
 if asked to suggest one particular object on which 
 the members of our Church might concentrate all their 
 energies, I am fully convinced, from long and earnest 
 conversations with the officers of the Table on the sub- 
 ject, that they would recommend the raising of a salary 
 for the support of two assistant ministers to act as evan- 
 gelists in the valleys. The sum required for this would 
 be L.50 per annum. On account of the persecutions 
 and privations endured in former days, two neighbour- 
 ing communes were not unfrequently united together 
 under the same pastoral superintendence, and hence it 
 comes, that sometimes two, and even three churches 
 are found within the boundaries of one of their mo- 
 dern parishes, in all of which. Divine service is cele- 
 brated more or less frequently. In addition to the 
 fifteen parish churches, there are no less than ten others 
 in good repair throughout the valleys, in all of which 
 pastors might be settled with great advantage to the 
 community, were it not for the edict which forbids their 
 increase. There is no law, however, to forbid the em- 
 ployment of suffragans. Could the requisite funds be pro- 
 vided, one of these would officiate regularly at each of the 
 ten churches in rotation, or would be appointed to di- 
 vide his services among those situated in the most 
 mountainous regions. The other would act as assis- 
 tant to the moderator, during his term of office, reliev- 
 ing him of the week-day duties of the parish, preaching 
 for him when necessary on the Sabbath, and when not 
 so employed, taking his turn with the others in sup- 
 
254 PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF 
 
 plying tliese district cliurches. The officers of the 
 Table were so exceedingly anxious for the accomplish- 
 ment of this object, that I have no doubt they have 
 already made a communication regarding it, to the As- 
 sembly's Committee for correspondence mth foreign 
 churches; indeed, the moderator assured me it was 
 their intention to do so. I trust the time is not far 
 distant, when, through the liberality of the members of 
 our Church, the requisite funds will be supplied for the 
 support of these additional labourers in this ancient 
 and very interesting corner of the Lord's vineyard. 
 
 From all that has been stated, it must be evident, 
 that the day of trial has already dawned upon the 
 poor Vaudois ; and if, even in this land of liberty, every 
 countenance is overspread with gloom, at the rapid 
 strides with which the Papacy is again returning into 
 power, what must their apprehensions be, in a land 
 where it makes use of despotism as a convenient tool 
 for accomplishing its deeds of darkness and of blood? 
 A general impression exists among them, that days of 
 severer trial are still in store, when, like their fore-fa- 
 thers, they will be called upon, not only to suffer, "but 
 to die also for the name of the Lord Jesus;" nor is this 
 apprehension groundless, for when Popery dares with im- 
 punity to insult the representative of a Protestantpower,* 
 
 * Last year Mademoiselle Heldervier, the daughter of the late 
 Dutch ambassador at the court of Sardinia, for the purpose of be- 
 ing permitted to marry an advocate in Turin, to whom she was 
 attached, professed herself a Papist. The father, having refused 
 his consent, she was inveigled into the convent of Santa Croce, 
 by the archbishop of Turin, and detained there. The ambas- 
 sador demanded the restitution of his daughter, on the ground 
 of nonage, but the archbishop was inexorable; and the king, 
 when applied to by the outraged father, declaredhis inability to 
 interfere in the matter ! The ambassadors of England, Prussia, 
 
THE WALDENSIAN CHURCH. 255 
 
 — to steal a beloved child from his embrace, and to re- 
 fuse, in spite of the strongest remonstrances, to restore 
 her, — what will it not attempt against the Vaudois, who 
 are so completely within its power 1 The removal by 
 death, at such a time as this, of the only ambassador 
 who warmly espoused their cause,* is a most trying and 
 mysterious dispensation, intended, without doubt, to 
 teach both them and us, in the day of extremity, to 
 lean on the creature less, and to trust in God more. 
 The unequivocal leanings towards Rome, which begin 
 to manifest themselves in high places, lead one to fear 
 that England will not much longer occupy the proud 
 position of defender of their faith, but so long as reci- 
 procal treaties exist between the two countries, which 
 confer on us the right of interfering on their behalf, it 
 becomes our duty to use every means for the protection 
 of the Vaudois, remembering that the more vigilance 
 and steadfastness of purpose we manifest, the more like- 
 ly we are, with God's blessing, to succeed. More than 
 100 years ago, Mr Hedges, the British ambassador, 
 wrote from Turin in the following prophetic language: 
 — " Nothing but great steadiness on our side, and in- 
 sisting strongly on our treaties, and the king of Sardi- 
 nia's promises, can preserve the Protestants of the val- 
 leys from sure and certain destruction. The inveteracy 
 
 Holland, and even of Austria, protested against such a i^ro- 
 ceeding, and in the name of their respective sovereigns, de- 
 manded from the government a guarantee for the future. The 
 answer given them was, tJiat they had nothing to fear ^ for their 
 subjects ivould be treated in Sardinia on the same footing as the 
 subjects of the king. What a guarantee ! If they act in this 
 manner towards ambassadors, and strangers, what may not the 
 poor Vaudois expect at their hands ? 
 * Count Waldburgh Truchsess. 
 
256 FEESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS, ETC. 
 
 against our religion is incredible, and if it be not sup- 
 ported with some warmth, since it is attacked with so 
 much, it must give way to superior power." 
 
 But though the prospect for the Vaudois is dark and 
 threatening at present, I believe that God has still a 
 great work in store for this little Alpine Church to per- 
 form, and that he will not destroy her, for " there is yet 
 a blessing in her." Surely there is an augury for good 
 in the work of reformation now going forward within 
 her pale, and in the increasing interest she awakens in 
 the Churches of the reformation, as her day of trial ap- 
 proaches ? This reflection forced itself upon me last 
 summer when a representative from the Dutch Church, 
 from the Congregational Churches of England, and from 
 the Free Church of Scotland, met together undesignedly 
 in the valleys, to enquire after her welfare; but I feel 
 it more strongly now, since I have learned how wonder- 
 fully the interest in her well-being has increased, in this 
 country within the last two years. May it not be the 
 case, that in the furnace, the Lord is about to purify 
 and prepare her for nobler work ? may it not be, that, 
 as in ancient times, when she sent forth on the right 
 hand and on the left the heralds of the cross to gladden 
 many lands with the tidings of salvation — so she shall 
 yet be the honoured instrument of evangelizing all the 
 kingdoms of Italy, and of causing the adjacent islands 
 '• to wait for Christ's law." While we watch for her 
 temporal, let us also pray for her spiritual interests, that 
 so " the God of all grace, after she has suffered a while, 
 may make her perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle 
 her," and enable her to go in and possess that land from 
 which she has been so long and so tyrannically excluded. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I. — Formulary for Ordination of a Pastor. 
 
 My Brethren, — The ceremony which brings us together is 
 
 most important, as it concerns the admission of N , here 
 
 present, to the functions of the holy ministry; let us approach it 
 with a devout spii-it, and with religious attention. And you, 
 dear brother, who desire to consecrate yourself to the service of 
 the Lord, consider well the excellency of the calling you are 
 about to undertake. Although you already know its duties, we 
 proceed shortly to enumerate them, by reading the apostolical 
 canons. 
 
 (Here the moderator reads Eph. vi. 11 — 13; 1 Tim. iii. 1 — 7; 
 iv. 1—6; Tit. i. 5—9; 1 Peter v. 1—4.) 
 
 These, dear brother, are the declarations 2tnd orders of God 
 himself, speaking to you by his Spirit. And in recalling them 
 to your mind, our object has been to make you feel the indis- 
 pensable obligation which rests upon you, of conforming your- 
 self constantly to them. 
 
 You therefore swear to fulfil, in soul and conscience, the 
 duties which rest on you as a minister of Jesus Christ, and al- 
 ways to teach the pui*e evangelical doctrine professed by our 
 ancestors, as it is contamed in the Holy Scriptures ? 
 
 You swear to labour for the advancement of the kingdom of 
 Christ, wherever Divine providence may call you; and, in par- 
 
258 APPENDIX. 
 
 ticular, to watch as a faithful pastor over your parishioners, 
 when a flock has been committed to your care ? 
 
 You swear to observe yourself, and so far as depends on you, 
 to make others observe, the ecclesiastical discipline now in force 
 in our valleys ? 
 
 You swear to submit yourself to the king and the established 
 authorities of our country ? 
 
 You swear 11 these things in the name of God, as you trust 
 that he will help you at the last day ? 
 
 The candidate answers^ " I swear." 
 
 In consequence of the request for ordination which you have 
 addressed to the synod (or to the Table), and of the solemn oath 
 you have taken before God and his Church ; — in consequence of 
 the certificates of ability and good conduct, with which the 
 university (or academy) of N. at which you have pursued your 
 studies, has provided you; — in consequence of the power which 
 God has given to his servants to lay hands on those who have 
 been reckoned fit for the miuistry, and who devote themselves 
 to it, — the Venerable Company of pastors of the valleys will 
 now proceed to your ordination, after having implored Divine 
 assistance for you. Humble yourself then in the presence of 
 God, and bow the knee before him to whom you are about to 
 consecrate yourself, and let us say together. 
 [Here follows a Prayer.] 
 
 The candidate then kneeling, the officiating pastor descends from 
 the pulpit, and naming him, hys his hands vpon his head, arid pro- 
 nounces fhefoUoiving words. The other pastors also lay their hands 
 vpon his head. 
 
 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
 we lay hands upon you, and put you into the sacred ministry. 
 We give you power to preach the word of God, to administer 
 the sacraments, to exercise discipline, to perform all the fimc- 
 tions of a minister of Christ. ]\Iay God fill you with His gifts 
 and graces, and ratify in heaven what we have now done on 
 earth. Amen. 
 
 Here the pastors give the right hand of fellowship to the newly 
 ordained minister, saying — 
 
APPENDIX. 259 
 
 We now regard you as our brother and companion in the 
 work of the Lord. In that capacity we give you the haud of 
 fellowship, saying with St Paul, " Take heed unto thyself, and 
 unto the doctrine, continue in them." 
 
 The pastor then re-mounts the pulpit^ and reads the ordinary 
 prarjer after sermon. 
 
 II. — Formulary for Ordination of Elders. 
 
 When Divine service is ended, he who has been chosen elder 
 according to the rule prescribed by the Synod, presents himself 
 before the pulpit, and the pastor says, — 
 
 You are aware, my friends, that N. here present has been 
 elected to discharge the duties of elder in the quarter of R. 
 We now proceed to instal him in that office. 
 
 And, first, I address myself to you who inhabit the quarter 
 about to be committed to his charge. You ought to consider 
 him as your special overseer, set for the maintenance of order 
 and good manners, and you should feel towards him that defer- 
 ence and regard, which are due to the duties he is called to ex- 
 ercise in the midst of you, and should submit yourselves volun- 
 tarily to his inspection and his remonstrances. 
 
 As for you who are this day ordained to the charge of the 
 eldership, your first duty is to hold fast with care the mystery 
 of the faith; — to let the light of your good works shine before 
 men; — to set a holy example both by word and action; — to be 
 distinguished by your probity and regularity of life, and so to con- 
 duct yourself as to conciliate the approbation and esteem of all 
 true Christians. 
 
 You must not only take heed to yourself, but you are call- 
 ed also to watch over this Church in general, and in particular 
 over the quarter committed to your care. You ought then to 
 give exhortation and advice, — to encourage every one to the 
 discharge of duty ; — to reprove with courage and with prudence 
 those who lead a scandalous life, — to reclaim with meekness 
 those who have erred; — to labour with all your might, that piety. 
 
260 APPENDIX. 
 
 the fear of the Lord, and obedience to his commandments may 
 reign in the midst of us. The poor and the sick should in an 
 especial manner, be the objects of your care and attention; — the 
 sick — that you may visit, console, and lead them to repentance; 
 and the poor, to inform yourself of their necessities, whether for 
 the purpose of assisting them yourself according to your means, 
 or of procuring them support, to comfort them in their distress. 
 
 And as peace is a most important obligation, and very preci- 
 ous benefit, you should neglect nothing which may tend to main- 
 tain or re-establish union in families, or between private indivi- 
 duals. That is an act of love equally advantageous to those on 
 whom it is exercised with those who exercise it, according as 
 Jesus Christ hath said, " Blessed are the peace-makers, for they 
 shall be called the children of God." 
 
 Finally, you should impose a law upon yourself, never to re- 
 veal indiscreetly the deliberations of the body of which you are 
 about to become a member. Silence and secrecy are all the 
 more necessary, where there is question concerning things which 
 affect the honour of individuals, and the peace of families. If, 
 therefore, you are imprudent and unguarded enough to divulge 
 what passes in the consistoire, instead of contributing to the 
 peace and edification of this Church, you would only fill it with 
 disorder and confusion. 
 
 Here in few words, you have the principal duties, attached to 
 the office in which you are now installed. Do you promise to 
 exert yourself to the utmost to discharge them faithfully ? Ans. 
 Yes. 
 
 Remember your promise, and keep in mind to fulfil it. It is 
 not to us only you make it, but to God, who now sees and hears 
 you, and will hereafter make reckoning with you concerning your 
 administration. Apply yourself then, that you may be m a con- 
 dition to hear one day, from the mouth of your Maker and Judge, 
 these consoling words, " Well done, good and faithful servant, 
 thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will make thee ruler over 
 many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 [Here follows a prayer.] 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 III. — Thied Confession, dated 1655. 
 
 A Brief Confession of Faith of the Reformed Churches of 
 Piemontj published, with their Manifesto, on occasion of their 
 dreadful Massacre of that year. 
 
 Because we being apprized that our adversaries, not content- 
 ed to have persecuted and spoiled us of all our goods, to render 
 us so much the more odious, still go circulating the most false 
 reports, which tend not only to disgrace our persons, but above 
 all, by the infamous calumnies, to blacken the holy and salutary 
 doctrine of which we make profession, we are obliged, in order 
 to undeceive the spirit of those who might be preoccupied with 
 false impressions, to make a short declaration of our faith, as 
 we have made in time past, and agreeably to the word of God, 
 to the end that all the world may see the falsity of the calum- 
 nies, and the injury which they have done to wrong us, and to 
 persecute us for a doctrine which is so pure. 
 
 1. We believe, first, that one only God exists, who is a spiri- 
 tual essence, etei'nal, infinite, allwise, merciful, just, and in sum, 
 all-pei'fect ; and that three persons are in that one only and 
 simple essence, to- wit, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
 
 2. That the same God has manifested himself unto us by the 
 works of creation and providence, as also m the word revealed 
 unto us first by oracles in several manners, and afterwards by 
 those written books, which are called the " Holy Scriptures." 
 
 3. That we ought to receive those holy Scriptures, as we do, 
 for sacred and canonical, that is to say, for the constant rule of 
 our faith and life : as also to believe that the same is fully con- 
 tained in the books of the Old and New Testament. 
 
 4. We acknowledge the divinity of these books, not only from 
 the testimony of the church, but more especially because of the 
 eternal and undoubted truth of the doctrine contained in them ; 
 and of that excellency, sublimity, and divine majesty, which 
 shine in them, besides the operation of the Holy Spirit, who 
 gives us to receive with reverence the testimony which the 
 
202 APPENDIX. 
 
 church gives us, who opens the eyes of our understanding to 
 discover the beams of that celestial light, which shines in the 
 Scriptures, and prepares our taste to discern the divine savour 
 of that spiritual food. 
 
 5. That God made all things out of nothing by his own most 
 free will, and by the infinite power of his word. 
 
 6. That he governs and rules all by his providence, ordain- 
 ing and appointing whatever happens in this world, without 
 being author or cause of any evil committed by his creatures, 
 so that faults neither can, nor ought to be any ways imputed to 
 him. 
 
 7. That the angels were all in the beginning created pure and 
 holy; but that some of them are fallen into irreparable cor- 
 ruption and perdition ; and that the rest have persevered in 
 their first purity by an effect of Divine goodness, which has up- 
 held and confirmed them. 
 
 8. That man was created clean and holy, after the image of 
 God, and that tlirough his own fault, he deprived himself of 
 that liappy condition, by giving credit to the deceitful words of 
 the devil. 
 
 9. That man by his transgressions lost that righteousness and 
 holiness Avhich he x'eceived, incurring, with the wrath of God, 
 death and captivity, under the jui'isdiction of him who has the 
 power of death, that is the devil, inso'much, that our free will is be- 
 come a servant and a slave to sin; and thus all men, both Jews and 
 Gentiles, are by nature the children of wrath, being all dead in 
 trespasses and sins, and consequently incapable of the least good 
 motion or inclination to anything which concerns their salvation; 
 yea, incapable to think one good thought without grace, all 
 their imaginations being wholly evil, and that continually. 
 
 1 0. That all the posterity of Adam is, in him, guilty of his 
 disobedience and infected by his corruption, and fallen into the 
 same calamity with him, even the very infants from their mo- 
 ther's womb, whence is derived the name of original sin, 
 
 11. That God saves from that corruption and condemnation, 
 those whom he has chosen from the foundation of the world, not 
 for any disposition, faith, or holiness, that he foresaw in them, 
 but of his mere mercy in Jesus Christ his Son, passing by all 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 the rest according to the ureprehensible reason of his free will 
 and justice. 
 
 12. That Jesus Christ having been ordained by the eternal 
 decree of God, to be the only Saviour and only head of that 
 body, which is the Church, he redeemed it with his own blood 
 in the fulness of time, and offers and communicates unto the 
 same all his benefits of the gospel. 
 
 1 3. That there are two natures in Jesus Christ, namely, the 
 divine and human, truly united in one and the same person, 
 without either confusion, separation, division, or alteration, each 
 nature keeping its own distinct properties, and that Jesus Christ 
 is both true God and true man. 
 
 14. That God so loved the world, that is to say, those whom 
 he has chosen out of the world, that he gave his own Son, to 
 save us by his most perfect obedience, especially that obedience 
 which he expressed in suffering the cursed death of the cross, 
 and also by his victory over the devil, sin, and death. 
 
 15. That Jesus Christ, having fully expiated our sins by his 
 most perfect sacrifice once offered on the cross, it neither can, 
 nor ought to be reiterated upon any account whatever, as they 
 pretend to do in the mass. 
 
 16. That the Lord, having fully and absolutely reconciled us 
 unto God, through the blood of his cross, and by virtue of his 
 merit only, and not of our works, we are absolved and justified 
 in his sight, neither does any other purgatory exist besides his 
 blood, which cleanses us from all sin. 
 
 17. That we are united with Christ, and made partakers of 
 all his benefits by faith, supported by those promises of life 
 which are given us in his gospel. 
 
 18. That faith is the gracious and efficacious work of the 
 Holy Spirit, which enlightens our souls, and persuades them to 
 lean and rest upon the mercy of God, and so to apply to them- 
 selves the merits of Jesus Christ. 
 
 1 9. That Jesus Christ is our true and only mediator, not only 
 redeeming us, but also interceding for us; and that by virtue of 
 his merits and intercession, we have access unto the Father, 
 to make our supplications unto him with a holy confidence and 
 
264 APPENDIX. 
 
 assurance that he will grant us our requests, it being needless 
 to have recourse to any other intercessor besides himself. 
 
 20. That as God has promised us that we shall be regenerated 
 in Christ, so those that are united unto him by a true faith 
 ought to apply, and do really apply themselves unto good 
 works. 
 
 21. That good works are so necessary to the faithful, that 
 they cannot attain the kingdom of heaven without the same, see- 
 ing that God hath prepared them, that we should walk in them; 
 and, therefore, we ought to avoid vice, and apply ourselves to 
 Christian virtues, making use of fasting, and all other means 
 which may conduce to so holy a thing. 
 
 22. That although our good works cannot merit any thing, 
 yet the Lord will reward ©r recompense them with eternal 
 life, tlu'ough the merciful continuation of his grace, and by 
 virtue of the unchangeable constancy of his px'omises made 
 to us. 
 
 23. That those who are already in the possession of eternal 
 life as the consequence of their faith and good works, ought to 
 be considered as saints and as glorified persons, and to be pi'aised 
 for their virtue, and imitated in all good actions of their life, 
 but neither worshipped nor prayed unto, for God only is to 
 be prayed unto, and that through Jesus Christ. 
 
 24. That God has gathered unto himself one Church in the 
 world for the salvation of mankind, and that same Church to 
 have one only head and foundation which is Jesus Chi'ist. 
 
 25. That that Church is the company of the faithful, who 
 having been elected by God before the foundation of the world, 
 and called with an holy calling, come to unite themselves to fol- 
 low the word of God, believing whatsoever he teaches them, and 
 living in his fear. 
 
 26. That that Church cannot fail, nor be annihilated, but must 
 endure for ever, and that all the elect are upheld and preserved 
 by the power of God in such sort, that they all persevere in the 
 faith unto the end, and remain united in the holy church, as so 
 many hving members of her. 
 
 27. That all men ought to join with that Church, and to con- 
 tinue in her communion. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 265 
 
 28. That God does not only instruct and teach us by his word, 
 but has also ordained certain sacraments to be joined with this 
 word, as a means to unite us unto Christ, and to make us par- 
 takers of his benefits ; and that only two of them exist, belong- 
 ing in common to all the members of the Church under the New 
 Testament, viz. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 
 29. That God has ordained the sacrament of Baptism to be 
 a testimony of our adoption, and of our being cleansed from our 
 sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, and renewed in holiness of 
 life. 
 
 30. That the Holy Supper, or Eucharist, instituted for the 
 nourishment of our souls to the end, that eating effectually of 
 the flesh of Christ, and drinking effectually his blood, by the in- 
 comprehensible virtue and power of the Holy Spirit, and through 
 a true and living faith ; and so uniting ourselves most closely 
 and inseparably to Christ, we come to enjoy in him, and by him, 
 spiritual and eternal life. 
 
 31. That it is necessary the church should have ministers, 
 known by those who are employed for that purpose, to be learn- 
 ed and of good life, as well to preach the word of God, as to 
 administer the sacraments and wait upon the flock of Christ, 
 (according to the rules of a good and holy discipline,) together 
 with elders and deacons, after the primitive church. 
 
 32. That God hath established kings and magistrates to go- 
 vern the people, and that people ought to be obedient and sub- 
 ject to them by virtue of that ordination, not only for fear, but 
 also for conscience sake, in all things that are conformable to 
 the word of God, who is the King of kings and the Lord of 
 lords. 
 
 33. Finally, that we ought to receive the symbol of the Apos- 
 tles' creed, the Lord's prayer, and the Decalogue, as funda- 
 mentals of our faith and of our devotion. 
 
 And for a more ample declaration of our faith, we do here 
 reiterate the same protestation which we caused to be printed, 
 in the year 1603, that is to say, that we do agree to the sound 
 doctrine with all the Reformed Churches of France, Great Bri- 
 tain, the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland, Bohemia, Po- 
 land, Hungaiy, and others, as it is represented by them in their 
 
266 APPENDIX. 
 
 confessions; as also we receive the Confession of Augsburg, and 
 as it was published by the author, promismg to persevere con- 
 stantly in it, with the help of God, both in life and death, and 
 being ready to subscribe to that eternal truth of God with our 
 own blood, even as our ancestors have done from the days of 
 the apostles, and especially in these latter ages. 
 
 Therefore we humbly entreat all the evangelical and Protes- 
 tant Churches to look upon us as true members of the mystical 
 body of Christ, suffering for his holy name's sake, notwithstand- 
 ing our poverty and lowness; and to continue unto us the help 
 of theu' prayers to God, and all other effects of their charity, as 
 we have heretofore abundantly found and felt; for the which we 
 return them our most humble thanks, entreating the Lord with 
 all our heart to be their rewarder, and to pour upon them the 
 most precious blessings of grace and glory, both in this life and 
 that which is to come. Amen. 
 
< 
 
 > 
 
 w 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 ^ 5 
 
 i 
 
 <: 
 
 2 
 
 Observations. 
 
 * In France, . 821 
 „ Italy, . 31 
 „ Switzerland, 147 
 „ Holland, 24 
 „ England, . 1 
 „ Russia, . 17 
 „ Prussia, . 2 
 ,, Germany, 8 
 „ Portugal, . 2 
 „ America, 6 
 „ Africa, . 19 
 „ Asia, : . 1 
 „ Turkey, . 1 
 
 Total, 1080 
 
 i 
 
 •IBjox sscio 
 
 
 •eottoiUcO 
 
 ^^i%B^^%^^^ii-iB^ 
 
 .•li:?oi 
 
 684 
 1585 
 2380 
 2315 
 2325 
 2124 
 2407 
 1364 
 1392 
 1293 
 1676 
 298 
 792 
 530 
 793 
 500 
 
 i 
 
 sj 
 
 1 
 
 *-puoaqv 
 
 ^^2||?is3S^53g^Sgf?S; 
 
 
 •tisuvj 
 aUJ "I 
 
 675 
 
 1537 
 2264 
 2150 
 2087 
 2045 
 2356 
 1310 
 1358 
 1272 
 1552 
 270 
 733 
 500 
 769 
 500 
 
 1 
 
 < 
 
 1 
 
 c 
 
 t 
 
 O 
 1 
 t 
 
 3U 333 33^35>2^ &g'«3 
 
 
 lil|lli§§§§§iiii 
 
 
 IssBllllllllill 
 
 
 
 -1 .-1 r-( .M rt ^ „ 
 
 ^ 
 
 Hypolite Rollier. 
 Jean Pierre Revel. 
 Frangoise Gay. 
 Henri Peyrot. 
 Jean Pierre Bonjour. 
 Pierre Monastier. 
 Cassar Auguste Rostaing. 
 Jean Jacques Bonjour. 
 Jacques Vincon. 
 Pierre Lantaret. 
 Alexandre Rostaing. 
 Pierre Auguste Louis Jalla. 
 Jean Jacques Durand Canton. 
 Daniel Buffa. 
 Mathieu Henri Gay. 
 Josu6 Amcdee Bert. 
 
 1 
 
 !2 
 
 Rora. 
 
 Bobio. 
 
 Villaro. 
 
 La Torre. 
 
 St Giovanni. 
 
 Angrogna. 
 
 Prarustino. 
 
 St Germano. 
 
 Pramol. 
 
 Pomaretto. 
 
 Villa Secca. 
 
 Maneilla. 
 
 Massel. 
 
 Rodoretto. 
 
 Prali. 
 
 Turino. 
 
 c "3 ii 
 " 5 1 
 
 -;<NM^«?i5t4.cooi©-5*e5«;j«sj» j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 NATIONAL TREATIES IN FAVOUR OF THE VAUDOIS. 
 
 The following extracts from a letter sent to the Earl of Aber- 
 deen, by the Rev. Mr Gilly, will show that national treaties 
 are in existence, binding the court of Sardinia to leave the 
 Vaudois in the uninterrupted enjoyment of their religious and 
 civil privileges, and pledging the honour of England to see them 
 maintained. 
 
 " The fruit of this mediation, on the part of the English 
 government in 1665, was a solemn compact signed by the Duke 
 of Savoy, in favour of his Vaudois subjects, and guaranteed by 
 the ambassador of the king of France, and the ambassadors of 
 the Reformed Cantons of Switzerland. But the compact was 
 soon violated, and in answer to a letter from the Swiss Cantons 
 to Charles II. about the year 1666, requesting his majesty's 
 interference, the king promised, * We will from our heart do 
 all we can towards the preservation and safety of those who are 
 so closely united to us by the sacred ties of a common faith.' 
 There is every reason to believe that the promised intercession 
 of Charles II. was but feeble; for at this crisis there com- 
 menced a system of more effectual persecution, which continued 
 to deprive the Vaudois of their lands and property, to confine 
 
11 APPENDIX. 
 
 one populous valley was wrested from the Protestants, and the 
 inhabitants were compelled to abjure their faith, during the 
 period of this inertness ; but in the midst of the evil, the argu- 
 ment which I am humbly using with your lordship, (namely, 
 that there are ample grounds and precedents for interposition 
 by virtue of treaties,) derives strength from the language and 
 conduct of the British minister, Mr Hedges, at the court of 
 Turin. He strongly protested against the infraction of treaties, 
 and he wrote repeated letters to his own government, imploring 
 them to be more in earnest, to instruct him to insist upon the 
 observance of engagements with the Vaudois, and pledging him- 
 self that it only required to be in earnest to carry the point. 
 
 " The following extracts from the despatches of Mr Hedges, 
 in 1727, are so much to the purpose, and so applicable to the 
 present state of things, that I trust your lordship will pardon 
 my troubling you with them. 
 
 " ' I believe, if the Marquis d'Aix, (Sardinian envoy in Lon- 
 don,) perceived an earnestness in England of having this affair 
 remedied, it would vei-y much facilitate it.' June 21, 1727. 
 
 " * I cannot but be of opinion, that one great reason of the 
 coldness I meet with here on those subjects, arises chiefly from 
 the little wai*mth with which it is urged to the Marquis d'Aix, 
 at London, and as they are points by no ways agreeable to the 
 king of Sardinia, I do not doubt but he informs his master 
 that we have them not so much at heart, as to oblige him to 
 make many alterations in either case. For the treaties are so 
 express with regard to the Protestants, that they cannot pos- 
 sibly have any thing to say in defence of their present behav- 
 iour to them.' August 23, 1727. 
 
 " * The Marquis de St Thomas owned to me the hardships 
 that the inhabitants of those valleys laboured under; but 
 pleaded in excuse, that they were obliged not to suffer the ex- 
 ercise of the Protestant religion in them by the treaty made 
 with France for the cession of those valleys in exchange for the 
 valley of Barcellonette; but, as I had carefully looked over that 
 treaty, and could find in it no one word relating to the not suf- 
 fering the Protestant religion, but, on the contrary, it appeared 
 to me, as your Grace will see by a copy of the article enclosed. 
 
APPENDIX. HI 
 
 them withiu more narrow limits, and greatly to reduce their 
 numbers. This oppression became more and more severe, 
 until the non-interference of the English government under 
 James II., and the revocation of the edict of Nantes in France, 
 gave the Duke of Savoy an opportunity of making a new at- 
 tempt to exterminate the Vaudois. The greater part of their 
 population was massacred; and of the remainder, some were 
 obliged to conform to Romanism, and the rest were driven from 
 their habitations. This took place in 1686. 
 
 " Within a few years afterwards, the coui^age and conduct of 
 the Vaudois refugees, who were aided by William III., enabled 
 them to repossess themselves of some part of their ancient set- 
 tlements, and in 1690, the Waldenses were once more indebted 
 to the English government, and recovered their political exist- 
 ence. 
 
 " Your lordship will take some interest in reading the ac- 
 count, which an historian of that day gives of the decisive con- 
 duct of the English envoy, who managed the affair. ' The 
 Duke of Savoy granted a very full edict in favour of the Vau- 
 dois, restoring their former liberties and privileges to them, 
 which the lord Galway took care to have put in the most em- 
 phatical words, and passed with all the formalities of law, to 
 make it as effectual as laws and promises can be; yet every 
 step, that was made in that affair, went against the grain, and 
 was extorted from him by the intercession of the king, and 
 the states, and by the lord Galway's zeal.' 
 
 '' The same zealous attention to the grievances of the Vaudoia 
 was again shown in the secret treaty of Turin, in 1704, between 
 Queen Anne and the Duke of Savoy; and it also appeared in 
 the face of the correspondence between those powers in 1709. 
 In the course of that correspondence, and in a conversation 
 with the ambassador Chetwynd, the duke admitted that he was 
 bound, both by treaties and promises, to give satisfaction to 
 England on this subject. 
 
 " Unfortunately for the Waldenses, the administrations, 
 which immediately succeeded, did not watch the execution of 
 these treaties and engagements with sufficient vigilance, or 
 they did not press the question with vigour. It is certain that 
 
IT APPENDIX. 
 
 that the inhabitants should be maintained inviolably in all their 
 privileges and immunities. I told him I could not possibly 
 imagine it was capable of receiving any such construction. I 
 then told him that I could not but be extremely surprised at 
 the little attention that was shown to His Majesty's intercessiou, 
 FOUNDED ON SOLEMN TREATIES, which could not possibly be miS' 
 understood.'" August 30, 1727. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF HOLLAND AND BELGIUM 
 SINCE THE REFORMATION. 
 
 BY WILLIAM K. TWEEDIE, 
 
 MINISTER OF FREE TOLBOOTH CHURCH, EDINBURGH. 
 
The Author of the following Lecture embraces this opportunity 
 to express the sanguine hope, that the time is fast approaching -when 
 the friends of truth and godliness vrill be found banded in a wide- 
 spread league against the rising power of Popery. All history, 
 and experience past and present, combine with the word of God 
 to shew, that that system is unchangeably the enemy of Jehovah's 
 truth, and therefore of man's soul ; and if the necessity for op- 
 posing its progress which now exists, does not compel evangelical 
 Protestants to combine against it, Protestantism will fall, — and, 
 we may add, it will deserve its doomi Study Popery where you 
 will, — in Rome, — in Germany, — in France, — in Tahiti, — in Ame- 
 rica. — in Ireland, — in Oxford, — it is everywhere the same anti- 
 rhristian scheme, — the counterfeit or caricature of Christianity, — 
 the antagonist of saving truth ; and amid many warnings to the 
 believer, in the days in which we live, to flee to the Rock that is 
 higher than we, it would be one source of encouragement did we 
 lind that the friends of truth are alive to their coming danger, 
 and preparing to meet it when it comes, in the strength of Him 
 v.ho alone can turn the battle from the gates. One of the Belgic 
 missionaries exclaims amid exhausting toils, " What a privilege 
 to be employed in labouring for the ruin of Rome !" — and all 
 Christians should labour and pray at least for its conversion. 
 
271 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF HOLLAND AND BELGIUM 
 SINCE THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Present aspect of the "World regarding Religion. — HOLLAND — 
 Reformation there — Persecution — Instances — The Progress of 
 Truth — Reformed doctrine at last established — Subsequent 
 declension — The causes — Present state of Religion in Holland 
 — Of Education — The Revival — A Secession — Persecution. — 
 Belgium — The atrocities perpetrated there at the Reforma- 
 tion — Instances of Martyrdom — The Reformed doctrine at last 
 proscribed — Popery thoroughly dominant — Revival commenced 
 — The causes — Its progress — The Evangelical Society of Bel- 
 gium — Its agency — The opposition encountered — The success 
 — Instances — Our duty — Conclusion. 
 
 The most superficial observer of the times in which 
 we live, cannot but have noticed the prominent import- 
 ance that is now given to rehgion. For no small por- 
 tion of the past century, it was treated as a subordinate 
 thing, and even appeared satisfied with the treatment 
 which it received. In some secluded corners it was 
 raised to the rank, or allowed to exercise the controul, 
 which is its right ; but looking far and wide over the face 
 of Christendom, we cannot but notice that, for half a 
 century at least, religion was regarded as an inferior and 
 secondary thing. One nation expunged it from their 
 statute-book ; they decreed its non-existence ; and if 
 they could, they would have utterly erased it from the 
 
272 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 minds and memories of men. Other nations, engrossed 
 with wars or political intrigues, had done in effect what 
 France had done by open proclamation or atheistic de- 
 cree ; and the result was, that religion, the link of con- 
 nection between the Creator and the creature, was either 
 utterly destroyed, or confined to those whom the Scrip- 
 tures describe as the " hidden ones''' of God. 
 
 But in our day, a change has come over all this ; and 
 in the providence of God, for the evolution of his pur- 
 poses, religion has been raised, in some degree, to the 
 rank which is its due. Wherever we turn our eyes, and 
 contemplate the doings of men, religious earnestness, in 
 one form or other, appears. It may be the reviving 
 power of a miserable superstition. It may be the put- 
 ting forth of the persecutor's wrath against the saints of 
 the 3Iost High. It may be the struggle of one form of 
 error against another, or of all errors in league against 
 the truth ; but in one form or other, religion is asserting 
 its prerogative, and demanding the attention of men. 
 Do you turn, for example, to Russia in the north? 
 There edict after edict is issued, proscribing or persecu- 
 ting one sect, patronizing and encouraging another. Do 
 you look to Italy in the south ? There plots are laid, 
 machinations formed, and concordats projected, for re- 
 gaining the long-lost power of Rome, and laying the 
 world prostrate again before her spiritual despotism. Do 
 you turn to Germany, the birthplace of the Reforma- 
 tion, — the land of deep erudition, and restless, but often 
 misdirected activity of mind ? There also you find re- 
 lio-ion the one universal subject on which all minds are 
 fastened, either to corrupt or defend it. It even appears 
 as if another Reformation were dawning there. Supersti- 
 tion has overshot the mark, and the reaction promises a 
 
IN HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 273 
 
 reform. System after system, and theory after theory, 
 reo-ardino- rehgion, thus pours from the teeming intellect 
 of Germany in rapid succession ; and though errors the 
 most deadly and incoherent pervade the vast majority, yet 
 are they enough to shew that religion, the medium of 
 connection between God and man, is the topic which en- 
 grosses the attention of myriads of minds, though it may 
 not reign, according to the Scriptures, in very many hearts. 
 Or again, do you look to France ? It is convulsed 
 through all its borders by the plots of the Jesuits. To 
 Switzerland? It is the same. Do you pass to the New 
 World, and watch there the progress of events ? Among 
 the millions of America, religion has also secured for itself 
 a place of prominence and power ; and though sect be 
 warring against sect, and subdivisions be multiplied be- 
 yond what can easily be numbered, yet there is reason to 
 believe that the truth goes forth conquering and to con- 
 quer in that land. Or do you pass from north to south — 
 the islands in the wide Pacific Ocean ? There also, I 
 need not tell, religion stands boldly forward. Amid all 
 that lately seemed so promising for the growth of truth, 
 the spoiler has intruded there, — the prediction has been 
 fulfilled, " I came not to send peace on earth, but a 
 sword." The New Eden, the Church of Christ, was 
 rising in its beauty, and the Old Serpent, envious as at 
 the first, has marred and deflowered it. Or do you pass 
 to the Antipodes, those lands which make it no longer 
 true that there are only four quarters of the globe ? 
 There also religion has become the great subject about 
 which men are decidedly in earnest — it is scarcely too 
 much to say, that in mistaken zeal, some are biting and 
 devouring each other in the cause. In many quarters of 
 India, we see the same spirit yearly gathering strength, — 
 
274 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 the interests of the soul, whether as destroyed by super- 
 stition or renewed by the Spirit of God, are demanding 
 and receiving more and more attention from men roused 
 into earnestness by the temper of the times. 
 
 Or farther still — Do you study the real state of matters 
 in the lands in which we dwell ? Look to England, and 
 see its Church in some of its sections, and by implication in 
 them all, shaken to its centre, in a way which some regard 
 as betokening dismemberment, or dissolution. Look to 
 Scotland, and it is lying, in some respects, faint and ex- 
 hausted under the effects of a great religious struggle, 
 which, we believe, has only begun. Or look to Ireland, 
 and see superstition there rising up in all the energy of 
 five hundred years ago — insisting on its prescriptive right 
 to ruin men's souls, and threatening to dismember the 
 empire unless its demands be conceded. Or finally, see 
 the English universities already become the very nurse- 
 ries of Popery, so that men trained within their precincts 
 are thoroughly equipped and furnished to do battle for 
 the Man of Sin. See the British Parliament turned into 
 an arena on which to debate the gravest theological ques- 
 tions. Nay, see the Sovereign of Britain appealed to by 
 her imploring subjects, to curb or correct the innovations 
 of their spiritual guides. See all this, study it in the 
 light of the Bible, and then say, Is it not true that reli- 
 gion has asserted, and to a large extent secured, the pro- 
 minence that is her due ? Men have grown earnest in their 
 belief, whether it be truth or falsehood that they believe. 
 They that follow Baal are following him with all their 
 heart. They that follow the Lord are doing likewise, 
 and without advancing farther into the future than ob- 
 vious facts will warrant us, it is plain to the most superfi- 
 cial, that matters are hastening to some crisis and con- 
 
IN HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 2/0 
 
 summation regarding religion, which can be guided and 
 controlled only by Him who holds the hearts of all men 
 in his hands, and who turns them whithersoever He will. 
 The yearnings of our age are after something which man, 
 as man, has never yet discovered. Shall it be unveiled 
 now, or shall men sink into denser darkness than before, 
 because they have extinguished the light which shines 
 from heaven on their path ? 
 
 Now, in this position of affairs, it is plainly the duty, 
 and the interest of all that know the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, to adopt the wisest means for extending God's 
 religion, and withstanding man's perversions of it. A 
 combination of circumstances unparalleled for many years 
 in the history of the church of Christ, calls aloud for 
 strenuous exertions on the part of all who would not 
 tamely see the truth put down, or interred beneath man's 
 corruptions. We are now assembled professedly with 
 that design, that is, to favour and promote the cause 
 of truth asrainst all the forms of error which are solicit- 
 ing men's regard ; and in the hope that our endeavours 
 may be blessed by Him who is revealed as the glorifier 
 of Christ, we would now endeavour to act in the spirit of 
 the saying, " Thou hast given a banner to them that 
 fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth." 
 
 I proceed, then, with the topics assigned to me in this 
 course, and now invite your attention briefly to the re- 
 ligious history of Holland, first as regards the past, and 
 then as regards the present."^ 
 
 * Subsequently to the issuing of the prospectus of these Lectures, 
 it appeared expedient to postpone, for the present, the full consider- 
 ation of the state of religion in Holland. The following referencee, 
 therefore, are both brief and superficial. 
 
276 STATE OF RELIGIOX 
 
 I. HOLLAND. 
 
 At the period of the reformation from Popeiy, few 
 countries struggled more devotedly or endured more pa- 
 tiently than Holland for the faith once delivered to the 
 saints. In consequence of its unflinching boldness in 
 that cause, and the soundness in the faith to which it was 
 guided, it has been dignified with the name of " Holy 
 Holland," and the result of its struggles and its suffer- 
 ings was the establishment of pure and undefiled religion, 
 in a form as nearly as possible identical with the doc- 
 trines and tenets of the church which was established at 
 the Reformation in the favoured land in which we dwell. 
 The system called Calvinism, but in reality the religion 
 of the Bible, was planted there, after emperors, and kings, 
 and popes, and priests, had done there utmost, by fire 
 and sword, by rack and scaffold, to prevent it. And 
 while Calvinism was the form of doctrine, Presbyterian- 
 ism was the ark in which it was laid up. Amid the suffer- 
 ings which the Dutch endured in casting off the yoke of 
 bondage which Popery had imposed on them and all 
 the nations, th.ey were forced to fall back on first prin- 
 ciples, in other words, to take the scriptures of truth for 
 tlieir supreme, their only guide. Nothing else could have 
 sustained them under the long years of wasting persecution 
 to which they were exposed; and the result was, that a re- 
 ligion of first principles, because a religion founded exclu- 
 sively in the word of God, both as to doctrines and forms, 
 was planted in that land. The close affinity which so 
 long existed between Holland and our native country, may, 
 perhaps, be traced to this harmony of their creeds, and 
 the identity of their forms. 
 
 It would serve only to harrow up the feelings of men to 
 
IN HOLLAND. 277 
 
 dwell at length on the sufferings which the Dutch endured 
 before they were allowed to enjoy the liberty with which 
 Christ maketh free. Yet, partly to enlist your sympa- 
 thies in the cause of truth, and partly to shew what 
 Christendom may expect should Popery regain- the 
 ascendant, as it seeks, and seems likely to do,* 1 recite a 
 few of the incidents carefully registered hj the historians 
 of those bloody times. So fierce were the persecutors for 
 the extinction of the hated heresy, that no tie was re- 
 garded by them. Wives durst not shelter their husbands, 
 nor children assist their parents; for instance, we read that 
 a father w^as put to death in Utrecht for merely allowing 
 one night's shelter to his son, who had returned from the 
 banishment into which persecution had driven him. In 
 1522, the Emperor of Germany appointed a functionary 
 to make strict inquiry into people's opinions and belief in 
 religious matters, and this " Faithtryer" Jirst threw sus- 
 pected men into prison, and then considered what should 
 be laid to their charo;e. The names of John de Backer, 
 William of Zorol, Teekson of Narden, Wendelmost- 
 Klaas, and a " cloud of witnesses" appear in rapid suc- 
 cession as the first fruits of the persecution that began 
 to wax hotter from day to day. Preaching the gospel 
 was made a capital crime. Manifesto followed manifesto 
 from month to month, to repress, or entrap the heretics. 
 Books were forbidden to be printed or read regarding 
 the disputed doctrines. To peruse them was declared 
 high treason — the usual resource of blood-thirsty and 
 
 * Even since the delivery of this Lecture, another immense stride 
 has been made by Popery, in the proposed endowment of Maynooth* 
 The reclamations of British Protestantism have been disregarded 
 — and this land is to be taxed to uphold a system which the Spirit 
 of Truth describes as " the Mystery of Iniquity" — headed by " the 
 Man of Sin" — "' the Son of Perdition." 
 
278 
 
 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 persecuting sovereigns to ensnare their subjects, and 
 furnish a pretext for their death. Ignominy of every 
 kind was heaped upon the sufferers, and the case of 
 Windehiiost-Klaas illustrates the spirit in which those 
 martyrs suffered. Being asked what she thought of 
 the Mass, she replied, " I think it only a piece of 
 dough." As to saints and images she said, " she knew 
 no mediator but Jesus Christ." Being threatened with 
 fire, she replied, " If this power be given thee from 
 above, I am ready to suffer." To one that said to her, 
 " You do not fear death because you have not tasted it," 
 she rejoined, " True, nor shall I ever taste it, for Christ 
 hath said, ' If a man keep my sayings, he shall never 
 see death.' " After she was sentenced to die, she was 
 advised to confess her sins to a priest, but cried aloud, 
 *' I have confessed all my sins to Christ my Lord, who 
 taketh away all sins," and in this spirit she went to the 
 place of execution, where she was first strangled and 
 then burned to ashes. Need we wonder though the his- 
 torian says of this and similar scenes, " the very ashes 
 which were scattered to the wind were a fruitful seed for 
 producing new antagonists to the murdering church !" 
 
 It deserves to be noted here, that, as a double precau- 
 tion, the inquisitors, in those days, burned both the bible 
 and the printers of it.* Every six months the emperor 
 issued a new placard against printing without license ; 
 and, not satisfied with such measures, we read that at 
 one time, nine men were hurried to the HagTie on 
 suspicion of anabaptism, imprisoned for a fortnight, 
 and then beheaded by the emperor's command, (1531). 
 At Haarlem (1532), a woman was thrown into the 
 lake, but her husband and two other men were carried 
 * Brandt, History of the Reformation in Low Countries, i. 49. 
 
IN HOLL.^'D. 279 
 
 to the Hague, chained to a stake, and roasted to death by 
 a great fire kindled at some distance from them. At 
 Arras three men were burned to death for refusing to 
 honour a holy candle ! In 1533, it was agreed that ob- 
 stinate heretics should be executed in private. In 1534, 
 Joost, a potter, Wiggertson, and Isbrand Scliol, a priest 
 of Amsterdam, were put to death for heresy. In 1538, 
 seventeen persons were condemned to die for their reli- 
 gious opinions — but time would fail to catalogue these 
 barbarities, increasing as they did in number and atrocity 
 from year to year. Cruelty became ingenious in invent- 
 ing tortures, and relentless in inflicting them, and all 
 this, in terms of the Emperor's first manifesto, " To 
 extend the glory of the Holy Cross, and of our Sa- 
 viour^ s sufering, to the utmost corners of the earth.'' 
 Amid these remorseless doings, all shared the same fate ; 
 priest and people were equally hurried to the scafi*old or 
 the stake, if they ventured to take their religion from the 
 word of God. It was deemed a favour to be only be- 
 headed, without enduring the preliminary tortures, and 
 that favour was purchased by recantation ; the rest of 
 the torture was remitted, but life was not spared.^ To 
 say that " Salvation proceeds from Christ alone," was 
 held to be a cause for decapitation, t Women were buried 
 alive. Some were crushed alive into coffins purposely 
 made too small for their bodies, with a view to add to 
 their torments, and then buried before they were dead ! 
 When the Redeemer came to earth to reconduct his 
 people to glory, it is well known that the power of Satan 
 was more signally displayed than at any former period ; 
 and, in like manner, when his truth was resuscitated at 
 the Reformation, " spiritual wickednesses in high places" 
 * See Brandt, i. 84. -j- Ibid. 85. 
 
280 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 were let loose in great strength against it. The most 
 revolting catalogue of atrocities that ever were perpe- 
 trated — except, perhaps, by Indian scalping-knives — is 
 found in Brandt's History of the Reformation, spreading 
 over a period of sixty or seventy years. In Holland, 
 during all that time " men had trials of cruel mockings 
 and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprison- 
 ment : they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were 
 tempted, were slain with the sword : they wandered about 
 in sheep- skins and goat-skins ; being destitute, afflicted, 
 tormented ; (of whom the world was not worthy ;) they 
 wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and 
 caves of the earth," for the " Church of Executioners'^ 
 did its work with an ardour increased by malignity. 
 
 But, in spite of every obstacle, the truth grew and pre- 
 vailed. The Church in Holland was at last established 
 upon thoroughly Reformed principles (1579), and the re- 
 sult was, that for many generations, its people were sig- 
 nalized by their high-toned moral and religious character. 
 Imbued from their youth with religious knowledge — their 
 minds being at once expanded and whetted by the influence 
 of truth — their habits were such as highly to distinguish 
 them amono; the nations of the continent. Though 
 limited in extent of territory and in numbers, their in- 
 fluence was at one period largely felt, while in some 
 places it was paramount, all round the globe. In short, 
 as from the country in which we dwell, men have gone 
 forth to every land throughout the earth, and there be- 
 come conspicuous or even renowned, so from Holland, with 
 about an equal population, men have gone forth subdu- 
 ing kingdoms, planting colonies, heaping up riches, and 
 rendering their country, for a time, supreme both by 
 land and sea. Politicians and others mioht find various 
 
IN HOLLAND. 281 
 
 explanations for this coincidence between the Dutch and 
 the men of our native land. We would largely ascribe 
 it to the identity of their training, the enlarging and ex- 
 pansion of mind occasioned by religious knowledge even 
 where it is not sanctified, and that self-dependence of spirit 
 which is produced by the conscious possession of a 
 truth which we feel to be irrefutable, because we know 
 it to be divine. Wherever men hold only O'pinions, they 
 will be found irresolute, wavering, and timid, amid straits; 
 Avhere they hold principles, they are made bold thereby, 
 and a few men, thus upheld, have seized for a time on 
 the mastery of the world. ^ 
 
 But the glory has departed. A great and faithful 
 host of preachers arose, and their efforts, blessed by God, 
 were like a preserving salt to Holland. It became the 
 asylum of England and Scotland, as Geneva was of 
 Italy, in days of persecution ; but the " Golden God" 
 was not then set up ; the effects of wealth had not begun 
 to be felt. In process of time, however, the church of 
 Holland shared in the general religious depression 
 which crept over Europe about a century ago, and is 
 only slowly reviving from its torpor. So far had it de- 
 generated, that, as among ourselves, its orthodox con- 
 fession would at one time have been modified, or even 
 abolished, had it been only principle that stood in the 
 
 * The population of Holland is about two millions and a half. 
 In 18l;9, there were 1600 ministers in the kingdom ; of these 1478 
 belonged to the Reformed Church, 63 to the Lutherans, 35 to the 
 Eaptists, and 24 to the Arminians. In 1830, the population of the 
 Netherlands stood thus— Protestants 1,541,748, Romanists 836,920, 
 Jews 45,493, Unknown 3,045, Total, 2,427,206. The Dutch Church 
 is now thoroughly Erastian. See Christian Instructor for April 1839, 
 p. 122. The Establishment is managed by a Minister of State, just 
 like the Home or the Foreign Department. 
 
282 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 way ; and there, as in other degenerate lands, popery is 
 now struggKng hard for the mastery, and fast making pro- 
 gress. The Dutch clergy are laboriously trained ; but their 
 training is another proof that gifts and literature, pre- 
 cious as they are, are not graces. Erastianism reigns 
 through all its borders, for their church is avowedly 
 managed by a Minister of State appointed for the pur- 
 pose. We are accordingly told that Socinianism, in 
 forms more or less disguised, is prevalent among the 
 religious teachers ; and " Holy Holland," one has said, 
 " the invincible rampart of the truth of God, will soon 
 be what Israel was when the Lord exclaimed, ' Woe 
 unto you, teachers of the law, for ye have taken away 
 the key of knowledge : ye entered not in yourselves, and 
 them that were entering in ye hindered.' " 
 
 We thus perceive that in that favoured country, popery 
 and rationalism are achieving their wonted triumphs 
 over the souls of men. An eye-witness* has told us that 
 Holland, so bold and resolute for the truth when first 
 it was reformed — so faithful to the word of God in the 
 doctrines which it professes — so highly signalized among 
 the churches of the Reformation — so resolutely set 
 against yielding to the persecutor's rage, has consented 
 to obscure the truth for which it once nobly suffered, 
 and to substitute the fancies of men for the revelations of 
 Jehovah. Error has penetrated — has taken root — is es- 
 tablished in many places. The world, with its riches 
 and allurements, has supplanted the religion of God, and 
 now rationalism has largely taken the place of the Saviour 
 — the form of godliness has superseded the spirit and the 
 power among the masses of the nation. Popery and 
 Neology contend for the mastery of mind ; and as the 
 
 * Dr Malan. Vingt-Sept Jours in Holland. 
 
IN HOLLAND. 283 
 
 former is ever active and vigilant, while the latter is 
 inert and inefficient, who that has read the history of 
 the past can doubt the issue of the struggle ? In refer- 
 ence to spiritual things, darkness will cover the land, and 
 gross darkness the people. 
 
 But hear the voice of one from that once privileged 
 land. The words convey a loud appeal across the Ger- 
 man Ocean : — " Great anarchy of principle reigns in 
 our churches : Socinians, Arians, Pelagians, Remon- 
 strants, all under the name of Reformed pastors, preach 
 in full liberty their perverse doctrines." — " The Synod, 
 composed in a great part of unfaithful pastors, does no- 
 thing to stop this fatal flood." — " In our cities and in 
 our villages, in catechetical lessons and in other books, 
 Arian and Socinian doctrines are everywhere preached, 
 and pastors are never summoned to account. The 
 training of the young is so conducted as not to ofPend 
 the Roman Catholics ; and though the State has adopted 
 this treacherous measure against the truth, the Church 
 has not offered a single reclamation — not a single word 
 in defence of scriptural education." Conscience is thus 
 weighed down, and the young are either left without 
 religious training, or exposed to the nuisance of a system 
 from which the truths of the holy word of God have been 
 strictly separated. A generation is thus rising up to 
 speed on the national degeneracy, and, it may be, to 
 repay amid scenes of blood, the neglect, or worse, — the 
 actual corruption practised by their trainers. Infidelity 
 on the one hand, and popery on the other, so apparently 
 different, yet in reality so allied, or identical, are fos- 
 tered ; and when the way is thus smoothed for lordly 
 Rome, the mother of abominations, to reofain her lono-- 
 lost power, what can we expect as the result but woe 
 
284 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 and tribulation, because the curse of Jehovah is upon 
 her ! 
 
 Farther, in Holland there are three universities, and 
 '' in two of them men teach an infidel science — a modi- 
 fied Rationalism — a system of doctrine in which vital 
 truths, such as the Trinity, the divinity of our Saviour, 
 the inspiration of the Scriptures, the expiation and death 
 of Christ to satisfy divine justice, the personality of the 
 Holy Spirit, all that forms the foundation of our reli- 
 gion, is denied in the most insidious manner ; and it is 
 under such teaching that young ministei'S are prepared 
 for the preaching of the Gospel." Under this perni- 
 cious system, men who love the truth, yet still adhere 
 to that degenerate church, forebode the speedy downfall 
 of the Reformed Church of Holland, unless some miracle 
 of mercy prevent.* " They retain the Bible ; they re- 
 tain their ancient catechisms ; but the heart — the heart 
 is far from God, and the Saviour is well-nigh unknown." 
 
 But have the gates of hell prevailed against the Church 
 of God in Holland ? Is the candlestick utterly removed ? 
 Is its house left desolate and hopeless? Far from it. 
 There are men in that land who now sigh and cry unto 
 God over the reigning abominations, and he has given 
 token that he has heard, and will answer. Strangers re- 
 mark the strict observance of the Sabbath rest in some of 
 the cities. The hour has come when the children of God 
 in that privileged land begin to awake from their torpor. 
 Like the discomfited Assyrians of old, they have found 
 themselves all dead men ; but the dry bones can live. 
 The enemy is sleepless and active — the friends of truth 
 
 * These painful facts are given on tte authority of Dr Capadose's 
 letter to the Rev. J. G. Lorimer, published in the Free Church 
 JNIissionary Record for January 1845. 
 
IN HOLLAND. 285 
 
 become no less so. A goodly number of ministers are 
 now proclaiming all the counsel of God. There are 
 among them men who can " inflame the heart with holy 
 ardour, or refresh it with the oil of peace." From house 
 to house, religious societies and meetings for prayer are 
 held. It is not now their question what will please or 
 displease men, but what will convert, what will save, 
 what will sanctify their souls, — men who would rather 
 bring sinners to enjoy the unction of the Holy One, — 
 than infect them with a crude and diluted theology, 
 proclaim the way of salvation by the free grace of God. 
 They are not satisfied with merely preaching the truth 
 in formality ; they seek for its fruits — they pray for its 
 increase ; they fortify themselves with the word of their 
 God — they reclaim against the reigning corruptions — 
 they speak in faith to the spiritually dead — and though 
 they may still be few who do so, God has ever chosen, and 
 he is now choosing in Holland, weak things to confound 
 the mighty, and things that are not, to bring to nought 
 things that are. Christ as the substitute of his elect 
 church, from his cradle to his cross, is openly proclaimed. 
 Men boldly say " Let the formalist condemn — let the 
 Christian who loves the world, and therefore fears it, be 
 scandalized — let those who do not understand how spiri- 
 tual life is opposed to their dead orthodoxy, continue at 
 their cards, and refuse to unite with us ; what of that ? 
 It is for the life, and the salvation of our souls that we act. 
 They are lost — they languish — the world seduces them 
 while our shepherds continue at their games — or even 
 blame those who are compelled by conscience and by 
 truth, to proclaim that Christians are not of the world.'' 
 In consequence of these movements, headed by such 
 men as the poet Bilderdyk, and the lawyer Da Costa, 
 
286 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 the ancient spirit of Holland begins to be stirred. The 
 men that know the truth and feel its preciousness are 
 helping to spread it to others. They first set their own 
 house in order, and then, recovered from their lethargy, 
 they become missionaries in their spheres, till one and 
 another, and another, receive and submit to the truth as 
 it is in Jesus. 
 
 But this extent of revival, and of return to the " old 
 paths," has not been allowed to proceed without hin- 
 drance, or hostility. The theology of Germany, crude, 
 ideal, superficial, and infidel as it often is, has inundated 
 Holland. French infidelity has weakened and diluted it 
 still farther, and a meagre attenuated orthodoxy, laid 
 up in books, but rarely embodied in the life, was all that 
 for many years existed to oppose the reigning delusions. 
 And in recent times, when religion began to revive and 
 reassert her supremacy in the consciences of men, these 
 combined powers did not tamely forego their ascendancy ; 
 on the contrary, persecution has endeavoured to per- 
 petuate what indifference began — the world refuses to 
 tolerate earnestness in religion, and the earnest have 
 encountered the enmity of the world's prince. In the 
 year 1834, a secession from the Estabhshed Church took 
 place, headed by Dr Cock, pastor of the church at Ulrum 
 in Friesland, a bold, impetuous man. The seceders at 
 least professed to adhere to the church's original consti- 
 tution ; but Dr Cock was deposed, other pastors joined 
 liini — Scholte from North Brabant, and Brummelkamp 
 from Guelderland, adopted his sentiments, and adhered 
 to the movement. Deposition increased instead of di- 
 minishing their numbers. Their flocks, for the most 
 part, adhered to them — and either sympathy in their 
 sufferings, or approbation of their opinions, swelled their 
 
IN HOLLAND. 28? 
 
 number to a considerable secession. The seceders de- 
 clared their adherence to the constitutional church of 
 Holland ; but in spite of their repeated protestations, 
 they have endured sore privations and hardships, both 
 in their properties and persons. They have been per- 
 secuted, fined, and subjected to military oppression. In 
 a word, scenes once so common in Scotland, and whose 
 history is traced in blood, have been recently repeated 
 in Holland against men who dared to assert the rights 
 of conscience, and claim, for themselves and their ad- 
 herents, their sacred right to liberty of thought in reli- 
 gion. Forgetting that the power of kings ends where 
 that of conscience begins, attempts have been made to 
 make men religious by the sword, or holy by oppression. 
 Troops were quartered among the members of the new 
 formed churches, and legalised injustice practised from 
 day to day. As in more recent times, the persecuted 
 sought refuge on the Dutchman's favourite element, the 
 sea ; but thither the soldiery followed them, scattered 
 their conventicle — buffeted the members of it, and were 
 guilty of deeds of brutality which only the enmity of the 
 carnal-heart against the truth could suggest. Their houses 
 were afterwards searched by the soldiers — and the per- 
 secution carried on against the seceders in detail. The 
 unlimited authority claimed by the civil power in mat- 
 ters of religion was carried out in all its rigour — under 
 cover of a clause in the constitution of Holland prohibit- 
 ing more than twenty members of any sect not tolerated 
 by name, from meeting to worship, atrocious cruelty was 
 exercised — and some of the worst forms of persecution, 
 namely, those which are according to law, were thus ex- 
 hibited in Holland. The established church through its 
 Commission, solicited with earnestness the Minister of 
 
283 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 State, charged with the general direction of the Re- 
 formed Church, to employ his influence with the " Mi- 
 nister of Justice" to check the schism which had thus 
 heen occasioned, and that functionary did not hesitate 
 to comply. " His influence and powerful efforts" were 
 put forth in the direction indicated by the persecuting 
 petition, but the hot persecution which ensued, instead 
 of consuming error, only stimulated the growth of the 
 secession. The penal code has been obeyed to the letter 
 ao-ainst them. The mob by its violence has added to 
 their sufferings. Their appeals to their sovereign for 
 mercy are either impeded in their way to the throne, or 
 utterly neglected. At Amsterdam, at Utrecht, in 
 Guelderland, and Friesland, their petitions have been 
 thus discarded ; but the blinded men, who knew not what 
 they did, were thus unconsciously throwing those sufferers 
 upon the sole strength of Him who pronounces the per- 
 secuted blessed, whose eyes are on the truth, who will 
 not turn away the prayer of the destitute, and who de- 
 clares that a man had better never been bom than injure 
 one of Christ's little ones.* 
 
 * The fines imposed on the seceders during the three years pre- 
 vious to March 1837 amounted to £3400. One individual in about 
 eight months had to pay £160. The seceders of Friesland had to 
 pay £600. Those of South Holland and Guelderland about the 
 same sum. Pastors were fined if they were known to have merely 
 intended to hold a conventicle. Utrecht, Leyden, Rotterdam, Bois- 
 le-duc, and other places, have been the scenes of such proceedings. 
 Imprisonment is added to fining, that by the most stringent mea- 
 sures short of death, the secession may be put down. One minister 
 relates that he had ten soldiers billeted on him for ten days to- 
 o-ether. In short, in reading the narrative of these proceedings in 
 Holland, it is difficult not to suppose that we are reading the his- 
 tory of the persecutions in Scotland for the thirty years previous 
 to 1688. For details, see Christian Herald, vol. iii. pp. 70, &c. 
 173, &c. 229, &c. 279, &c. 
 
IN HOLLAND. 289 
 
 And what has been the result ? Have the enemies 
 oi the truth succeeded in their bHndfold attempts to 
 extinguish conscience, and rob men of their spiritual 
 freedom ? They might as well attempt to roll back the 
 flowing tide. E-eligion has continued steadily to revive. 
 Evangelical truth is discovered to have still a firm hold 
 upon many of the people, and no created power can put it 
 down. Recovered from the effects of French infidelity 
 and German Neology, the Dutch appear to be preparing 
 again to take their place among the nations of Reformed 
 Christendom. Falling back on the principles which 
 formed their national character and established their 
 national fame, the hope cherished on their behalf may 
 yet be reahzed, that a reforming influence shall go 
 forth from them not merely into Protestant states, but 
 moreover into France, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Por- 
 tural. 
 
 o 
 
 Religious men who visit Holland, and who are tho- 
 roughly qualified to judge of her condition, cherish san- 
 guine hopes of her thus rising from her deep degradation. 
 They liken the kingdom to a garden whose odours are 
 still felt, nay felt the more, although the sun has set ; 
 and, remembering that the Sun of Righteousness is still, 
 as of old, powerful to reanimate and quicken, godly men 
 anticipate the time, and that not distant, when, at the 
 name of Jesus, many in that land shall bow in spirit and 
 in truth. Symptoms of that consummation already 
 thickly appear. The word of God is producing the pro- 
 mised effects. Now, as of old, the pitchers with their 
 lights are seen, the trumpets and the trumpeters are 
 heard. The sword of the Lord and of Gideon is drawn, 
 and, in spite of persecution, its bloodless victories will be 
 achieved. Let British Christians, — above all let Scottish 
 
290 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 Christians, labour and pray for that result, fraught, 
 as we hope it will prove, with blessings to the nations. 
 A bulwark for the truth will thus be erected, and Christ 
 will see of the travail of his soul among a people of whom 
 even a bigoted Romanist was compelled to confess, that 
 " they are intellectual by means of their good sense, their 
 industry amounts to genius, their phlegmatic tempera- 
 ment makes them virtuous, and with them passion is 
 reason."* 
 
 II. BELGIUM. 
 
 Though we have only touched, without pretending to 
 exhaust the wide subject of the past and present state of 
 religion in Holland, we must now proceed to the second 
 division of our subject, the -past and the present state 
 of Religion in Beloium. 
 
 o o 
 
 And commencing our survey at the period of the Re- 
 formation, it is instructive to notice the efforts that were 
 made to introduce pure religion into that kingdom, and 
 the sufferings that were endured in that cause. Even 
 so early as the year 1523, two Augustinian monks were 
 burned alive at Brussels for their adherence to the 
 
 * In recording these notices of Holland, and the state of religion 
 there, the author of this lecture cannot too strongly record his 
 conviction of the deep importance which attaches to that land, or 
 the strong claims which it possesses on the affections, the prayers, 
 and the sympathies of Scottish Presbyterians as the asylum of their 
 persecuted forefathers. There may be difficulties in the way of 
 any immediate efforts on behalf of the reviving church there, or 
 of those who are too indifferent to care for any of these things ; 
 yet, after inquiry, we would not hesitate to say, that even though 
 a Deputation from the Free Church were needed to ascertain the 
 real facts, and the right channels through which good may be done» 
 that Deputation should be sent* 
 
IN BELGIUM. 
 
 291 
 
 new heresy, as the truth was then termed, and a third 
 was privately despatched in prison. In 1524, another 
 martyrdom took place, and from year to year such pro- 
 ceedings multiplied and increased. But amid these per- 
 secutions and judicial murders, the cause which they 
 were designed to check, or the truth which they sought to 
 suppress, prospered more and more. In Belgium, as in 
 Holland, we read, " The funeral piles began to smoke very 
 freely by the management of some who understood much 
 better the burning than the converting of heretics ;" but 
 there, as in other lands, the smoke of those fires in- 
 fected all whom it touched. The spirit of enterprise and 
 boldness which signalized some of the chief cities of Bel- 
 gium, for example, Brussels, Ghent, and Antwerp, gave 
 a tone to the national mind, and when the spiritual des- 
 potism of Rome received its first shock at the time of 
 the Reformation, many of their inhabitants gladly sought 
 to profit by the promised emancipation. Even its con- 
 vents furnished some who united with the other citizens 
 of Belgium in welcoming the doctrines of the Bible once 
 more proclaimed among men. The Emperor of Ger- 
 many fulminated against these doctrines with manifesto 
 after manifesto, as if by " great swelling words of vanity" 
 the truth of God could be impeded in its " glorious 
 marchings." But in those stirring times, amid the wide- 
 spread revival, nothing could check its progress. Souls 
 were converted, churches were formed, and the chief ci- 
 ties of the kingdom, in spite of the persecutor's rage, had 
 each a church in which the truth was taught, and where 
 the Bible, not Popery, constituted the creed of men. 
 
 In our day of smooth and easy professorship, it is dif- 
 ficult to realize the struggles which the friends of reli- 
 gion liad then to make against that system which is so 
 
292 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 graphically described as upheld by men who were " drunk 
 with the blood of the saints." From the time when the 
 persecution opened in 1521, till the close of Charles's 
 reign in 1555, fifty thousand persons are said to have 
 perished by the hands of the public executioner, or amid 
 the varied horrors to which a malignant superstition led. 
 " Fines, imprisonment, exile, mutilation of the body, the 
 rack, the gibbet, drowning, burning alive, burying alive, 
 these were the weapons worthy of the cause which the 
 friends of Rome Q;loried in wieldinor ao-ainst the Reformers 
 and the Reformation."* Yet as these thousands died, 
 they just handed down their religion to the next in suc- 
 cession, to be held and bled for as the others had done ; 
 martyrdom was coveted and rejoiced in, death was lite- 
 rally swallowed up of victory, and, could we trace before 
 you, even in faintest outline, the scenes which Brandt, the 
 historian of those times, has recorded, it would plainly 
 appear tliat men grew bold in proportion as Popery 
 grew more and more relentless and fierce. Monks aban- 
 doned the cloister (1528), though death awaited them 
 almost at its porch. When j^ublic executions were 
 found only to increase men's courage and multiply re- 
 formers, the victims, in the true spirit of Popery, were 
 clandestinely murdered in the darkness of their dun- 
 geons, and " the cannibal church," as that of Rome 
 has been descriptively called, the cannibal church has- 
 tened to fill up the measure of her iniquity by drenching 
 Belgium with blood. The inquisition aided a brutal 
 soldiery in the work of death, and all, from the peer to 
 the peasant, were sacrificed on the altar of religious re- 
 venge, if they dared to reject the false religion for the 
 true. In one week Brussels saw many of the noblest of 
 
 * Heiigh's Religion in Geneva and Belgium. 
 
IX BELGIUM. 293 
 
 her inhabitants die for the truth. The counts of Egmont 
 and Home, the Barons of Battembourg, the Lords of 
 Dandelot, of Formault, and many others, mounted the 
 same scaffold, blessing the name of the Lord Jesus. 
 " What, my brother," said Diedrich of Battembourg, to 
 Gysbrecht, who seemed depressed, " is not this the day 
 which we have so much desired ? What greater good, 
 and also what greater honour could we enjoy than to die 
 for the doctrine of the Son of God ?" . " Think not, my 
 much-loved brother," was the answer, " that I am de- 
 prived of inward joy. I draw near to the Saviour as I 
 go to die for his name."* 
 
 The excesses of the Anabaptists furnished too favour- 
 able a pretext for such murderous measures. The rack 
 as well as the faggot, was the argument employed against 
 those unhappy men. They were first tortured, then 
 beheaded — then burnt — their heads and hands were set 
 upon stakes, in different parts of the country ; and all 
 this, bear in mind, to promote the religion of the Prince 
 of Peace ! All this was done by a Christian emperor 
 in league with the vicar and vicegerent of the Redeemer, 
 the Pope of Rome ! Though the civil magistrate made 
 full proof of his zeal, in this horrid cause, he could not 
 keep pace with the blood-thirstiness of the priests,! 
 for nothing could satisfy it, but the utter extinction of all 
 who dared to seek religion exclusively from the Bible, 
 and favour from God exclusively through Him whose 
 blood cleanse th from all sin. It gives additional but 
 melancholy interest to this record of woe, to know that 
 William Tindale, the translator of the Scriptures into 
 
 * Malan, Qiiatre-Vingt Jours d'un Missionaire, &c. p. 186. 
 t See Brandt's History, vol. i. pp. 59, 60, 61, 74, 80, 84. Indeed 
 passim. 
 
294 STATE OF RELIGIOX 
 
 English, was one of the victims of persecution in that 
 afflicted country. He was strangled and burned at 
 Antwerp in 1536. 
 
 Charles abdicated the throne in 1555. His son and 
 successor was yet more vile than Charles, and proceeded, 
 with hot haste and systematic cruelty, to finish what 
 his father had been unable to overtake. Persecution 
 was renewed with fresh fury under the bigoted Philip, 
 the husband of our "bloody Mary," and though the 
 Belgians were brave in defence of their spiritual liberty, 
 nothing could resist the remorseless ferocity with which 
 the reformed were now hunted down. It is computed 
 that one hundred thousand famihes, of whom upwards 
 of nine thousand were from one city (Ghent in 1534), 
 were driven into exile ; and the boast of the brutal 
 Alva, the o;overnor of Belg-ium, was that, in addition 
 to those who had perished by the sword, he had deli- 
 vered eighteen thousand heretics, in five years, into the 
 hands of the executioner.* We live in a city with about 
 one hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants, and what 
 would be our feelings were one in every eight or nine of 
 these, in the space of five years to be tortured, or buried 
 alive, or beheaded, or burned, or drowned, or otherwise 
 massacred, because they would not foreswear their al- 
 leo"iance to God our Saviour, and bow the knee in idolatry 
 to the Pope ? Ah, how many or how few would be found 
 so faithful unto death as the persecuted Belgians were ? 
 The answer may enable us in some degree to understand 
 the atrocities perpetrated in Belgium, against the friends 
 of God and of truth in that lovely but oppressed land. 
 
 For a time, it seemed doubtful whether persecution 
 or the truth was to prevail in Belgium. At last, how- 
 
 * Dr Heugh on Belgium. 
 
IX BELGIUM. 
 
 295 
 
 ever, the saints of the Most High were worn out. Exile 
 or death had thinned their numbers, and disheartened 
 the survivors ; and after a terrible struggle of more than 
 fifty years (1579), the cause of the Reformation may be 
 said to have been lost in that unhappy land. No doubt, 
 God had still his hidden ones — a remnant were left to 
 perpetuate the succession of the truth, and witness in 
 sackcloth for God ; but, like the prophets of Elijah's day, 
 they were hidden in caves and dark recesses, from the rage 
 of man, and worshipped their God in secret and in 
 sorrow. The bold were in the grave, or their dust was 
 scattered to the winds of heaven — their bones were 
 bleaching in the valleys and on the mountain sides, and 
 what could the timid and disheartened survivors do at 
 least, on the principles of human nature, but sigh and cry 
 for the sore desolations which they could neither prevent 
 nor repair ? The Bible, however, was often treasured 
 up with care, by the scattered remnant, and secreted 
 from the grasp of the priestly destroyers, who, when they 
 found it, committed it to the flames. One copy of the 
 sacred book had often to suffice for a neighbourhood or 
 a district ; and as the voice of living pastors was silenced, 
 and outlawed, the written word was all the more prized as 
 telling of the Incarnate Word — the Way, the Truth, and 
 the Life.* Religion was thus transmitted from race to 
 race — the fire on the altar, though dim, was not extin- 
 guished ; and as at the commencement of the Refor- 
 mation in Belgium, three folio Bibles were attached by 
 iron chains to the pillars of the town-house of Brussels, 
 that the people might there read and learn the truth ; 
 
 * Bibles have been found concealed in the thatch, or walls of 
 old houses of that age, thus connecting the present with the past 
 in a most touching way. 
 
296 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 SO when the E,eformation was all hut extinct in that 
 country, the same blessed fountain of hght and truth, 
 continued to guide and animate the peeled and perse- 
 cuted remnant of the faithful. Mons, the capital of 
 Hainault, was thus signalized in the providence of God, 
 and there, as at Sardis, a few there were who held fast 
 their integrity and did not let it go. 
 
 From these details, brief, and all superficial as they 
 are, we may be prepared to hear it stated that the Ro- 
 manists who had witnessed the extirpation of God's truth 
 would triumph in that result. In fact, those long years 
 of persecution had trained and inured them to such 
 hatred of the Protestants, that no where is popery more 
 bigoted than in Belgium. Through all the stages of 
 their history, we find the people there attached to popish 
 dogmas with a fierce and intolerant zeal. They now 
 hate Protestants for political as well as religious reasons. 
 They have protested from time to time against any con- 
 cessions to the Reformed, and would fain turn the civil 
 government into a mere instrument for protecting priests 
 and propagating popery. In East and West Flanders this 
 bigotry is paramount, and till comparatively recent years, 
 the work of spiritual desolation may be said to have been 
 complete. Some still continued to hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness, and embraced every stray opportunity of 
 satiating their cravings by hearing the gospel preached. 
 These, however, were but units among myriads, and it 
 is scarcely too much to affirm that the gates of hell were, 
 for a season, allowed to prevail against the Church of 
 Christ in Belgium.^ A few men had found out the 
 
 * We cannot trace this part of our subject with the accuracy 
 which it deserves and would repay. The reader may consult the 
 Scottish Christian Herald for July and August 18il, where he 
 
IN BELGIUM. 297 
 
 three great truths of the Bible, — the first, that man 
 perishes while he lives without Christ ; the second, that 
 the knowledge of Christ is life eternal ; the third, the 
 soul that has the life of Jesus will see God ; and they 
 held these truths to the death. But the rest were 
 blinded, though they formed the nation. In short, 
 Rome had achieved a triumph, and Belgium was the 
 victim dragged at her chariot wheel. 
 
 THE REVIVAL COMMENCED; 
 
 But we now turn from the dreary subject at which we 
 have only glanced, to contemplate more interesting scenes. 
 For nearly a century we hear little of the religion of Bel- 
 gium ; the blackness of spiritual darkness had settled 
 thickly down upon it. But towards the year 1780, some 
 streaks of light again begin to appear. Alternately tole- 
 rated and persecuted, the few and scattered Christians of 
 Belgium then began to assemble for social worship, and 
 from that period till this day, the light has been slowly 
 spreading. The French Revolution, for a season, swept 
 everything before it, and religion was for a time practi- 
 cally proscribed. Yet that terrible tempest left some 
 salutary effects behind it, and among others this : — Per- 
 secutors had less freedom to butcher and destroy. Popery 
 was engacred in a strns-de for its own existence, and mean- 
 while the cause of truth was prospering. In 1814, Bel- 
 gium and Holland were united under a Protestant sove- 
 reign. "^ In 1830, the Belgic Revolution dissevered them 
 
 •will find some interesting notices on the subject by the Rev, E. 
 M. Rate. 
 
 * Though a Protestant, he could do nothing for Protestantism 
 in that bigoted land. He durst not even allow a Bible Society to 
 be established in his kingdom, "his Chaplain assuring him that if 
 he gave it his sanction, it would cost him his kingdom,*' 
 
298 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 again, and from that period, ominous as it once appeared, 
 we date the commencement of a perfect rehgious freedom 
 in Belgium. Prior to the Revolution, various parties, to 
 promote their own ends, had clamoured for universal 
 hberty, though, in some cases, they meant only emanci- 
 pation from civil control. But He who makes the wrath 
 of man to praise him, overruled their machinations, and 
 gave to his people a breathmg time at least — that they 
 might scatter and foster the seeds of eternal truth.* 
 
 According to the present constitution of Belgium, all 
 religious denominations are made perfectly equal there. 
 The civil authorities have no power to interfere in matters 
 of religion, or in any way to impose laws on any religious 
 body.f " Liberty of worship for all," in the widest sense, 
 and the right to assemble unmolested in any number for 
 that purpose, are thus guaranteed ; and if the constitution 
 of the kingdom be honestly acted out, the people of God 
 might worship him over all that lovely land, beneath their 
 own vine and fig-tree, none daring to make them afraid. 
 And education is by the constitution as unfettered as reli- 
 gion, so that the church and the school may there be placed 
 side by side as among ourselves. Sinister influence may be 
 employed, and it often is enlisted to counteract this goodly 
 state of matters. Even now the allies of the Man of Sin 
 are strenuously seeking to regain their wonted power, and 
 from the high places of the land they are abetted and 
 patronised. On the other hand, truth makes slow pro- 
 gress among so many corruptions and such strong counter- 
 acting influences as abound in Belgium. It is as when 
 
 * Prior to the Revolution, D'Aubigne was a minister in Belgium, 
 and -was there trained amid intense Popery for describing as he has 
 done the Reformation from it. 
 
 t Heugh on Belgium. Malan, Quatre-Vingt Jours, &c. 
 
IN BELGIUM. 299 
 
 two vessels meet in a rapid stream, the one gliding swiftly 
 with the current, the other struggling its upward way 
 against it. Error swims with the stream — truth has 
 the current of the world running strongly against it ; yet 
 is that truth making progress, because God is in it, 
 and one after another in Belgium is thus plucked like a 
 brand from the burning. Amid exhibitions of the most 
 degrading superstition, on the part of Papists, and of 
 unprincipled concessions on the part of nominal Pro- 
 testants, there are symptoms of revival in many cor- 
 ners of the land, and nothing seems wanting but minis- 
 ters to gather in a rich harvest of souls to the garner of 
 the Lord. 
 
 THE AGENCY. 
 
 And since God has thus opened up a door, what are 
 the means employed for promoting the desired results ? 
 
 In answering this question, we conj&ne your attention 
 chiefly to the labours of the Evangelical Society of Bel- 
 gium,* and the means which it employs are those to 
 which reason and the scriptures point for the conver- 
 sion of sinners and the edifying of saints. The gospel is 
 preached as widely as ministers can be found to range. 
 The stations which they individually serve are often miles 
 apart, yet do they with admirable zeal preach the gospel 
 in season and out of season in those spiritual wastes. At 
 the same time, they support schools where the gospel is 
 carefully taught, and the young trained to walk in the 
 footsteps of their godly fathers. The children of Popish 
 
 * We do not refer at present to the other Protestant Churches 
 in Belgium, of which there are several, but not a few of these hin- 
 der instead of helping forward the work of evangelization. 
 
300 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 parents frequently attend them, so that, l^y preaching 
 to the old and training the young, the hope may be 
 cherished that many are brought nigh unto God, and 
 preparing to call him blessed in the days which are to 
 come. A free pulpit, a free press, and free schools, all 
 enjoyed in Belgium, if blessed by the Spirit of God, will 
 soon prove an overmatch for Popery. Then, as a powerful 
 auxihary, the Society of Belgium has recourse to the system 
 of colportage — a system which it is marvellous has never 
 been introduced into our own land, blessed as it has been in 
 others. According to it, believers of humble station, but 
 men of faith, and prayer, are employed to carry over the 
 country, and sell or distribute, copies of the scriptures, 
 tracts, and whatever can interest men in true religion and 
 the soul.'^ In godly simplicity, those men speak from 
 heart to heart. Like David they exclaim, " Come, hear, 
 all ye that fear God, and I will tell what he hath done 
 for my soul," and signally have their works of faith often 
 been honoured by God over all. They are the pioneers 
 of the gospel, embracing every opportunity in every place 
 to ply the work of winning souls, and thus begin the 
 impression which the Spirit often deepens into conver- 
 sion. Then follows the catechist, who trains the in- 
 quirers, organizes the church, and prepares for the pas- 
 tor ; while he, in God's good time, is sent to break the 
 bread, and speak the words of life among men who lately 
 were drugged to spiritual death by the lies and abomina- 
 tions of Popery. Churches have, by these means, been 
 formed in places where at first men were so mad against 
 the truth that they would not even sell a morsel of the 
 
 * About 60,000 tracts were distributed in 1844. Between 1834 
 and 1841, 87,582 copies of the Bible were circulated in Belgium, by 
 colportage and other means. 
 
IN BELGIUM. 301 
 
 food that perishes to the man who brought them that 
 word which is the manna of the souh* 
 
 The Society, which began its efforts with four agents 
 in the year 1837,t has now Seventeen labouring at 
 different posts in Belgium. But at the announce- 
 ment of that number, may we not exclaim, what are 
 these among so many ? Assisted from London, from 
 New York, from Geneva, from Edinburgh, and from 
 Glasgow, as the Evangelical Society of Belgium has been, 
 it has in the field after all only seventeen labourers, of 
 all classes, in the cause of Christ; and are we not prompted 
 by that petty number to remark, how paltry must have 
 been our aid, Mdien the labourers are so few where the 
 harvest is so abundant ! The State of Belo-ium alone 
 
 o 
 
 supports 4550 Popish clergy, and all that the Evan- 
 gelical Society can employ against such a host is seven- 
 teen men ! 
 
 THE OPPOSITION. 
 
 Nor are we less urged to zeal in this cause by the 
 hostility to which these labourers are often exposed. 
 Belgian bigotry, so long proverbial, is still often encoun- 
 tered, — for the church that would burn and destroy is 
 not dead but sleepeth. Priestly persecution still at- 
 tempts to drive the missionaries from their post. Bishops 
 prohibit the faithful from using the scriptures, and de- 
 nounce the distributors of them. The Archbishop of 
 Belgium devoted a charge to the same anti-christian 
 work. The priests have followed their chiefs. They 
 
 * See Malan, Quatre-Vingt Jours, &c., p. 295. 
 
 t The first station was Genval, where some earnest Christians 
 were found, owing to a Bible lent twenty years before to some in- 
 quirers there. 
 
 Y 
 
302 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 have torn the New Testament in pieces, they have dip- 
 ped it in turpentine, set it on fire, placed it on a pole, and 
 carried it in Satanic triumph through one of their towns. 
 The missionaries have been fired at, — the converts are 
 persecuted well nigh to death, and yet some display a for- 
 titude amid such scenes which only grace could sustain. 
 The priests seek to seize on the press, education, industry, 
 the army and commerce, for their own unholy ends, yet, 
 as monks were the first martyrs in Belgium when the 
 Beforraation began, the priests are now indirectly but 
 certainly advancing the cause which they seek to crush. 
 Nay, priest after priest has abandoned the false faith 
 of Rome, and symptoms are manifest, of some movement 
 even among those whose worldly interests and profes- 
 sional pursuits are all on the side of Popery.* The 
 storms which Whitfield and Wesley had to brave when 
 they first began to disturb the dead calm of dormant 
 Enorland have thus to be encountered a^ain in Belsjium. 
 Intolerant landholders, as at this day in Scotland, dismiss 
 their dependants when they dare to think for themselves. 
 Parents, in some cases, disown their children when they 
 become Protestants ; but still the truth prevails, for in 
 spite of personal violence and abuse, nay, the more on 
 that account, some are learning to esteem their souls at a 
 higher value than their bodies. On one occasion a priest 
 (at Jodoigne), amid his anathemas, cried aloud from the 
 pulpit, " The curse of God will be on our town since the 
 heretics have come ;" and a man, emboldened by such a 
 spiritual guide, actually asked that priest if he would be 
 damned were he to kill the evangelist? The populace 
 sought to drive him from his post by drowning his voice 
 
 * M. Panchaud's Address at Geneva in 1842. 
 
IN BELGIUM. 303 
 
 ill the discord of liarsh music* Women and children in- 
 sulted him in the streets, and he was albwed to preach 
 the gospel only when supported by soldiers obtained for 
 his defence. But the hostility of those misguided men is 
 sometimes directed not merely against the preachers, but, 
 moreover, against God himself. At one place, an aged 
 blasphemer noted for his violence, in mimic imitation 
 of the atheistic atrocities of the French Revolution, 
 challenged Jehovah to hinder him if he conld from 
 lifting a piece of money which he had laid down for 
 the purpose of the challenge. The blasphemer was 
 not struck dead by the long-suffering God, and His 
 
 * The following extract from last year's Report will not be read 
 without interest :— -" Arrived at Jodoigne on Friday evening to 
 hold the service as usual, I found that our enemies had arranged 
 their plans to disturb us Avhile in the act of worship, and to folloAv 
 me through the streets on leaving, with various discordant instru- 
 ments. I went to the police authorities to inform them of what 
 was preparing and to crave protection. The Burgomaster, to whom 
 I communicated my object, said he did not know me, and that I 
 ought to have reported myself to the authorities. I told him I had 
 done so, which was proved by the evidence of his own secretary, to 
 whom I had shown my papers, and who declared them all to be in 
 order. The Burgomaster then contested my right to preach at 
 Jodoigne, and said it was necessary for me, before doing so, to ob- 
 tain permission of the corporation, and that until I had this, he 
 should refuse me protection. I told him I should not ask for per- 
 mission, because the laws of the country did not require it ; here- 
 upon he reiterated his refusal, which I demanded in writing, but 
 which was refused me. As a last effort I then went to the gen- 
 darmes, and asked one of the chiefs, if it were indispensable for 
 protection to have an authorization from the Burgomaster. He 
 replied, such was the rule, but, seeing the indifference of that 
 functionary, he would, to avoid disturbance, adopt another course, 
 which was to go himself to the meeting, which would keep the 
 people in order. This brigadier kept his word, and all passed off 
 quietly, except that the mischief-makers assembled in an alehouse 
 at a little distance to display their hostility." 
 
304 STATE OF RELIGION ' 
 
 mercy was abused, for the bold sinner exclaimed zs 
 he lifted the money, " You see there is no God ;" and 
 yet by the words of peace, by delivering the message of 
 mercy from God to that guilty, hardened man, he was 
 so won or subdued as to ask the preacher with emotion ta 
 return and teach him to pray * A malignant priest- 
 hood, gross superstition, unbridled impiety, or, lastly, 
 atheism of the most revolting kind, cannot impede the 
 triumphs of free and sovereign grace. Nor should we 
 omit to mention here the embarrassments occasioned, 
 and the hostility displayed by Rationalists and Socinians, 
 men who profess to be Protestants only to mock the 
 truth. The Evangelical Society of Belgium have had 
 much to endure from such men, who have even attempted 
 to induce the government to violate the charter, and ar- 
 rest the labours of the evangelists. 
 
 THE SUCCESS. 
 
 Yet in spite of every obstacle which would thus fetter 
 truth, it should call forth devoutest gratitude, to know 
 that the cause of the gospel is prospering in Belgium, 
 and prospering to an extent that we can scarcely believe 
 for joy. With means comparatively insignificant, the 
 friends of religion there inform us, that the Lord has been 
 pleased to afford a degree of success which could have 
 been little expected. As the fruits of the Society's la- 
 bours, about 1500 adults regularly hear the gospel in 
 twenty- one different localities, of whom about 250 are 
 recognised as converted characters. Three hundred 
 children attend their schools for boys, girls, and infants, 
 
 * Details of such scenes are given in " Rapport de la Soc. Erang. 
 Beige," for 1844, pp. 6, 7, 11, 19. 
 
IN BELGIUM. 305 
 
 <tind make daily progress in the knowledge of the Scrip- 
 tures, while the number could be multipHed manifold 
 had the Society the means. Some of those who have 
 been converted by the Society's agency are now preach- 
 ing the gospel to their countrymen still sitting in dark- 
 ness, and the shadow of death. 
 
 Amid these doings, it appears that whole villages are 
 sometimes moved by the preaching of the word. The 
 following relates to Fontaine-L'Eveque : — " Eighteen 
 months have now elapsed since the gospel was preached 
 in that village for the first time, and then it was pro- 
 claimed irregularly, and only once in the week, in the 
 midst of many difficulties and much persecution. I was 
 the first pastor who rented a large hall, which is used 
 as our chapeL Whenever I preached, it was filled with 
 hearers ; the mass of those who hear me have already 
 abandoned, or are in the act of abandoning, the church 
 of Rome. My presence seems to produce a profound 
 fermentation in men's spirits. Many persons of influence 
 come openly to listen to me ; and others have led me to 
 understand that they wish to have private conversation 
 with me. The clergy of the town are all astir. Their 
 adherents lift up cries of alarm. ' Heresy is in the 
 town,' says one, * and is propagating itself.' A rich 
 proprietor, a person of noble family, an annuitant, and 
 some others, are the principal members of my congrega- 
 tion. I am about to establish prayer-meetings in all the 
 quarters of the town, and in the suburbs. A number of 
 persons who are not able or do not wish to attend at the 
 chapel, assemble at these. Last Monday I had a nu- 
 merously attended prayer-meeting in a private house. 
 A woman cried aloud in the street all the time of the 
 exercise, but did not succeed in her attempt to raise up 
 
306 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 the people against us. Yesterday evenincr I went to 
 another place. The crowd of hearers was immense. 
 The house was not sufficient to contain them. The 
 most profound silence reigned the whole time. It was 
 truly touching to see those poor workmen, after all the 
 fatigues of the day were over, listening with eyes filled 
 with tears, to the invitations of the gospel. When they 
 were departing, they grasped my hand as that of a friend. 
 When I shall be set free from the stations that are now 
 confided to me, there are seven or eight places in the 
 environs to which I shall go to announce the gospel. I 
 have not yet organized a church, but wish to wait some 
 time before forming it. There is a vast harvest, but 
 there are few labourers. I conjure you, dear brother, 
 to give the greatest publicity to these details. Make 
 them to be known everywhere, for they are true. Tell 
 the friends of the gospel to come to our aid. that 
 Scotland would hasten to aid us by her prayers and by 
 her means !" 
 
 Again, " Looking at the vast number of persons who, 
 from the various surrounding villages, attend the preach- 
 ing, and declare their abandonment of Popery, it will be 
 impossible much longer to continue it as a branch. It 
 must become a station also. The regular services and 
 numei'ous visits necessary among those who ask for private 
 instruction render it indispensable that the minister 
 should be there oftener than once a week ; and as a new 
 chapel has been hired at the request of several inhabitants 
 of Montigny, near Charleroi, it becomes imperative to have 
 an agent at Fontaine. To all these considerations must 
 be added, that a petition, signed by seventy-four inhabi- 
 tants of three villages, entreating another minister, has 
 been sent us. * * The spirit of inquiry and the desire 
 
IN" BELGIUM. 307 
 
 for evangelical preaching, are not limited to the already 
 existing stations, and amongst other places where these 
 delightful indications appear, we cannot but refer to a town 
 where there are already several pious persons, who long 
 to have a minister of the gospel among them, making it 
 the subject of their prayers to God, and their solicita- 
 tions to the agency. It is truly painful to have no other 
 reply than a refusal. To the Lord we commit the wants 
 of this place, and in His name we confidently lay them 
 before the friends of His kingdom." 
 
 The following information relates to another station — 
 Charleroi : — " Every place appropriated to worship has 
 continued to receive almost as many as it could contain, and 
 several, of whom before we could only mention their good 
 desires, have now been brought into subjection to the obe- 
 dience of Christ. It is really difficult to speak of the work 
 at this station, on account of the numerous meetings for 
 preaching the "Word, and the varied features of the 
 revival in each locality. In one place the hearers seem 
 to yield implicitly to the instructions of the preacher ; 
 in another, they betray more of the spirit of inquiry and 
 research ; in a third, they manifest that they are more 
 intent upon certain facts and details, and the evangelist 
 has to reply to those deplorable objections which the 
 infidelity of Voltaire has scattered throughout this com- 
 mercial and manufacturing district, as well as to feed the 
 souls of those who seek the Lord's direction in his Word, 
 regardless of human opinions. The peace and serenity 
 which the gospel inspires are already known to some of 
 the new hearers, while, on the other hand, others are 
 stiil in a sad state of conflict between the testimony of 
 God and the authority of Rome."* 
 
 ♦ " Practical, experimental piety has been evidently developed 
 
oU3 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 Satisfactory as these statements appear, we cannoC 
 withhold other facts illustrative of the present religious 
 condition of Belgium. Romanists have on some occasions 
 sat for three successive hours to hear the errors of their 
 system exposed, and the doctrine of salvation by free grace 
 proclaimed. In one city a few years ago, scarcely three 
 souls could be convened to hear the word of God. At 
 a recent meeting of the friends of religion, in that very 
 place, 500 were assembled, and many withdrew who 
 could not find admission. The Bible, the Bible ad- 
 vances, exclaims one, after a proscription of two hundred 
 years — it is made known, read, and loved, and the con- 
 viction is growing in many minds that Popery must re- 
 treat before it. By the blessing of God on the labours 
 of faithful minsters, few as they are, the desert begins 
 to be cultivated. A contempt for ignorant superstition 
 is widely spread.* The lying wonders of Rome begin 
 
 among the brethren at Charleroi, and the revival has continued with 
 a vigour and extension truly delightful. Persecution, so far from put- 
 ting down, has not been able to arrest this movement, for where it 
 seemed to have been, in some measure, impeded, it has manifested 
 itself with renewed energy. Thus Lodelinsart, a few years ago 
 the scene of meetings, but reduced through the persecution of the 
 workmen by the directors of certain establishments, is now the 
 theatre of a very important religious excitement." 
 
 * Speaking of one of the converts at GoUisseau, the last Report 
 (1844), says, " The servants of the Pope sent two or three persons 
 to reconvert him to Romanism, and they spared no pains to seduce 
 him, promising to pension his widow, to say masses gratis, for the 
 repose of his soul, to have his remains interred with musical pomp, 
 &c. In spite of all this, he was firm, and forsook not the Lord ; 
 I mistake, it was the Lord who remained faithful, who preserved 
 him from evil and was his Sun and his Shield. However, they 
 must make one effort more, so one day, at three o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, a knock was heard at the door, on answering which from the 
 window, his wife saw two priests with the host. In her alarm she 
 
IN BELGIUM. 309 
 
 to be unmasked. " The stupid slavery to which Popery- 
 subjects its dupes," is the language in which some venture 
 to speak of that system, and if the old serpent have 
 in Belgium his state prisons for souls, namely, convents 
 and houses called religious, He that came to bruise the 
 serpent's head has also his strongholds there. From 
 house to house, and even from castle to castle, the truth 
 is spreading, and each new convert made is not merely 
 a soul saved, but a new missionary employed, a new 
 centre of light amid the gross darkness that prevails. 
 
 Now from these details, which are but a fragment of 
 what we might submit, we may certainly gather that in 
 some districts, numbers of immortal beings are willing at 
 least to hear the gospel. Not merely the people, but 
 some of the nobility, begin to abandon Rome. To meet 
 the growing demand, ministers are compelled to preach 
 every day, and often thrice on the Sabbath, chiefly among 
 the Walloons, but in some cases also among the Flemish 
 part of the population, and the effects sometimes produced 
 on the men so long kept in ignorance and darkness, remind 
 us of the philosopher's cry, " I have found it, I have found 
 
 called for a neighbour by knocking against the wall. The neigh- 
 bour came out and asked the priests what they wanted. * We wish 
 to see Mr N — .' The neighbour, ' Mr N — does not ask for you. 
 The Priests, ' We have nothing to do with you ; N — has asked for 
 us.' The neighbour, ' That is untrue, but I will inquire of his wife.' 
 He then called the wife, to whom, on looking down out of the win- 
 dow, he said, * Is it true that your husband has asked for the 
 priest ?' The wife, ' No, he is converted to the Lord Jesus, he wants 
 no priests.' The neighhour, ' Ask him again if he wish to see these 
 gentry ?' The wife approached the sick man's bed and inquired 
 what she was to do. ' Tell them,' said he, ' that Jesus is my Sa- 
 viour, and that I require no mere man to mediate for me before 
 God.' The priests were then obliged to go away ashamed and 
 confused." 
 
310 
 
 STATE OF RELIGION. 
 
 it," In short, all the symptoms of a religious revival 
 appear in some districts. Christianity and Mariolatry* — 
 the religion of God and that of the priest, are again in con- 
 flict, and we know which shall conquer. Nay, already 
 the conviction is cherished that were there ministers to 
 
 * The following is. from the Society's Report for 1843 :— " Ro- 
 man Catholicism flourishes in this country as in a hot-bed. Rome 
 itself cannot vie with it, in blind and active zeal for all that is 
 connected with the interests of that awful system ; and as may be 
 expected, Popery shews itsel f in all its unblushing idolatry. Money 
 is lavished on the building and adorning of churches, shrines, and 
 Virgins. The Virgin Mary is exalted and worshipped as divine, 
 she receives more homage than Christ. More offerings are made 
 to her, than to Him ; more confidence is placed in her intercession, 
 than in that of the Saviour ! The following is translated from a 
 printed paper hung on the walls of a church in Mons : 
 
 ' I salute you, ray Divine Queen, amiable Mary. I adore and 
 bless the design which Godhas, of glorifying you in this holy place, 
 and of glorifying himself in you. To contribute as much as lies in 
 my power to the admirable purpose of his supreme majesty, and to 
 render you the honour due to you, I cast myself, Holy Virgin, at 
 the foot of the throne of your glory, and with my humble respect, 
 offer you that which all earth and heaven render to you. Amiable 
 Mediatrix between God and man, it is particularly in this holy 
 place you exercise this glorious office, and open to poor mortals 
 the treasures of divine favours, which, without your aid, Heaven 
 would refuse. Refuge of the miserable. Protectress of all who call 
 upon you, particularly in this holy place, condescend to pour on me 
 your grace, and to help your poor servant, who will do his utmost 
 to proclaim, at all times, and in all places, your praise and honour, 
 to the greater glory of God and of his Holy Mother.' 
 
 The following revolting travesty of the Lord's Prayer, is given 
 in the same Report as a sample of Belgian religion : — " Our mother, 
 who are in heaven, O Mary, blessed be your name for ever, let 
 your love come to all our hearts, let your desires be accomplished 
 on the earth as in heaven ; give us this day grace and mercy, give 
 us the pardon of our faults, as we hope from your unbounded 
 goodness, and let us no more sink under temptation, but deliver us 
 from evil. Amen."— ,See Note, p. 322. 
 
IN BELGIUM. 311 
 
 send to some quarters of Belgium, Ptomanism would 
 speedily be abandoned, and the religion of Christ planted 
 on its ruins.* 
 
 Do you ask, then, what is the encouragement to us, or 
 any portion of the Church of Christ, to aid and promote 
 the religious well-being of Belgium ? We point to the 
 facts now announced, the results already produced — the 
 state of religious transition in which so many are living. 
 We tell of Popery abashed before the preaching of the 
 cross, as completely as its victims are prostrate before 
 the wooden symbol. We tell of old and young, forming 
 whole congregations, all drawn from the bosom of popery. 
 The priests threaten, persecute, and curse ; but wherever 
 the Bible is read, the Mass and its accompaniments, igno- 
 rance, superstition, and idolatry are abandoned, and a 
 goodly number now boldly say to Eome, We desire neither 
 thy beast to worship, nor thy incantations to be practised 
 amongst us.f We can tell of men who were recently 
 bigoted papists, but who now travel leagues from Sab- 
 bath to Sabbath to hear the gospel preached. We hear 
 of a converted Popish priest now labouring as a missionary 
 in Belgium, confessing that when he was brought to 
 " study the Scriptures, he saw his Mass and ceremonies, 
 like a heap of sand, fall to the earth, and crumble into 
 dust." We read of poor workmen, who deprive them- 
 selves of food for two days each week, that they may be 
 able to purchase a Bible with their savings.^ Wherever 
 it is announced that the gospel will be preached, crowds 
 flock to hear, and when those long-deceived men once 
 open their minds to admit God's message of mercy, 
 poverty is welcomed rather than abjure the truth. Many 
 
 * See Documents in Witness Newspaper for 25th January 1845, 
 t Malan, Quatre-Vingt Jours, &c. p. 229. t I^i<i- 234, 
 
312 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 deplore the darkness in which they have so long been 
 held, and no one acquainted with the state of matters in 
 Belgium, can doubt that if they had only ministers — I 
 repeat it, because this is the great desideratum — if they 
 only had ministers in sufficient numbers, that country 
 which intolerance and persecution once turned into a de- 
 sert, would soon blossom like the rose. The priests cannot 
 otherwise explain the events which transpire than by say- 
 ing that the converts take an oath not to return to the 
 church, and so remarkable are some of the conversions 
 of those men formerly so ardent in defence of Popery, 
 that they have been compared to the effect that follows 
 the plunging of red-hot iron into water.* A miner, de- 
 scribinor his former ionorance by a fioure fetched from 
 his worldly calling, has stated that before his conversion, 
 he was hke one in a narrow gallery, in a mine, solely 
 employed with earthly things, and well nigh without a 
 guide ; but the steam-power, he said to the missionary, — 
 the steam-power of the Word of God raised him from 
 that darkness to the light of day. Whenever one reads 
 the Bible, they say, he ceases to be a papist, and so true 
 is the remark, that in one village, the church has had 
 thrice to remove since 1837, as chapel after chapel became 
 too small for the worshippers. 
 
 From these things, then, it is not difficult to ascertain 
 the present condition of Belgium. Though it has so few 
 agents, and such limited means for operating upon four 
 millions of people, yet, profiting by the religious liberty 
 which the nation enjoys, the Word of God has free course 
 among many ; and in such circumstances success is vic- 
 tory. One of the Belgic missionaries has called even 
 their commencements, " une suite de triomphes," and 
 
 * Malan, Quatre-Vingt Jours, &c. p. 319. 
 
IN BELGIUM. 313 
 
 the very enemies of the Bible have helped to accom- 
 plish this result, by their struggles for civil liberty. 
 Nor should it be forgotten, that some of the descend- 
 ants of the ancient martyrs are now rejoicing in the 
 truth for which their fathers died, while in some of the 
 places where persecution was most relentless and exter- 
 minatino* three centuries aw, the most abundant fruits 
 have followed the preaching of the gospel. In Liege alone, 
 several thousand copies of the Word of God have been 
 sold. One missionary records : "In pulpits, in private 
 houses, in public meetings, I found every door open, and 
 every facility for announcing the riches of the love of 
 God." We have seen that in Belgium, persecution shed 
 the blood of nearly a hundred thousand martyrs, and that 
 blood is now visibly becoming the seed of the Church — 
 for precious in God's sight is the death of his saints. 
 " Many even of the priests groan under the yoke which 
 they are obliged to wear, and were it not from the dread 
 of injuring their worldly interests, they would joyfully 
 unite to break it asunder." In short, after attentively 
 studying the state of matters there, as set forth at large 
 by those who have been on the spot, we do not scruple to 
 aver, that of all the fields which God our Saviour is now 
 in providence ripening for the gospel harvest, Belgium 
 seems one of the most promising and prolific. Let the 
 work be there carried on in faith and prayer, and idols 
 will in many places be cast to the moles and the bats. 
 " What have I any more to do with them" will become 
 the cry of thousands, and this man and that man will be 
 born of the Spirit of God, in a country where Rome's 
 appetite for blood was sated, its inquisition glutted, and 
 its dungeons filled with men of whom the world was not 
 worthy. The gospel in all its simplicity is thoroughly 
 
314 STATE OE RELIGION 
 
 understood, and the priest's occupation in every such 
 case is gone. " Why do you no longer appear at church?" 
 was the question put to one. " Why should I go thither?" 
 was the reply. " Men speak to us there of gaining 
 heaven by our prayers, our penitence, and alms, — and 
 the Bible says, Jesus Christ has gained it for us by his 
 death. We cannot beheve both of these statements at 
 the same time, and as we cannot say that the Bible hes, 
 we are compelled to conclude that it is the priest." 
 
 OUR DUTY. 
 
 Now, in pointing out the present aspect of religion in 
 Belgium, we at the same time point out the duty of 
 Christians toward that interesting land. If the work be 
 slowly advancing, should not we help to speed it on ? If 
 popish parents be willing to send their children to pro- 
 testant schools, should not we help forward the result as 
 God gives the ability ? If men are clamorous for the Word 
 of God, the bread of life, can we have Christian hearts 
 if we do not help to supply it ? If ministers are over- 
 tasked in the work of winning souls, how blessed at once 
 to relieve them, and further the work for which the Son 
 of God came to earth ? It is the property of false reli- 
 gion to cramp and circumscribe the energies of mind, 
 because falsehood can never fill it ; — it is the property 
 of true reliojion to extend and enlaro;e the mind, because 
 it can satisfy the soul to the full. Now, does our wide- 
 spread benevolence, do our catholic and comprehensive 
 views, prove that ours is the true religion — the ennobler, 
 the purifier of the mind of man, or do our stinted libe- 
 ralities and our feeble efforts only prove that ours is only 
 false religion un^ler the name of truth ? The highest 
 
IN BELGIUM. 315 
 
 amount received in any year by the Evangelical Society 
 of Beloium, from all sources, was £1343, and no large 
 minded believer in Christ would reckon that an adequate 
 exponent of Christian interest in so promising a land.* 
 
 But in addition to the intrinsic claims which truth 
 possesses, let me say that other considerations invite or 
 call our attention to Belgium. While the friends of truth 
 are active and vigilant, the friends of popery are not less 
 alert. They are zealously contending for their false faith 
 from their " bastions of superstition." They have now 
 their tract societies, — their missionary meetings, — their 
 revival sermons and addresses. A strange thing has been 
 heard under the sun, — Popery affects to be a popular 
 system — the friend of freedom, and of man — it is imitat- 
 ing the truth, and walking in its footsteps the more surely 
 to destroy. Its power, however, is the coil of a serpent, 
 not the embrace of a friend ; and all its stirring; activities 
 are just new calls to us to be vigilant. 
 
 And farther, think, as religious men, of " the de- 
 ceivableness of unrighteousness" which has so long held 
 Belgium in bondage, as an antichristian system. Op- 
 posed as it is to the word of God, Popery is in strictest 
 harmony with unrenewed human nature ; it is the kind of 
 Christianity which man would have invented had the 
 origin of Christianity been earthly. Does human nature 
 cling to self-righteousness in virtue of its primal consti- 
 tution, " Do and live ?" Romanism pampers and in- 
 dulges that tendency, for self-righteousness is an essen- 
 
 * It deserves to be noticed, that in 1830, the Presbytery of Lon- 
 don, sanctioned by the Government of Belgium, opened a Scots 
 Church in Brussels, which rapidly increased in numbers and respec- 
 tability. The disorders attendant on the Revolution wholly dis- 
 persed it, and no attempt has ever been made to collect the scattered . 
 flock. 
 
316 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 tial article of its creed, nay, according to it, a sinner may 
 have more rio-hteousness than he needs. Does human 
 nature dishke to draw near to God because " the carnal 
 mind is enmity against him ?" Does it instinctively 
 yearn for some veil to hide it from God's burning eye, 
 or withering frown ? Then Popery indulges that dislike, 
 and sends the sinner to seek salvation — not from God, 
 but from the sacraments or the church — to find religion, 
 not in the word of God, but from the priesthood ; con- 
 fession to a priest is made equal to confession to God, 
 and pardon from a priest guarantees a pardon from the 
 Searcher of hearts! Sacerdotalism supersedes Chris- 
 tianity, and the priest, not Jehovah, is the dispenser of 
 regeneration, pardon, absolution, heaven. 0, no marvel 
 though a system so flattering to man make proselytes in 
 our superficial day ; but we may marvel if men who know 
 the tmth, and whom the truth makes free, do not rise up 
 in the strength of the Lord God of Sabbaoth to counter- 
 act and repress the growth of this pernicious system, 
 for assuredly, hke the ivy, it kills whatever it adheres 
 to. Wherever Christians can find a spot of ground on 
 which to resist it with Christian weapons, in Belgium or 
 in Britain, it should be resisted. Like the serpent, 
 which is torpid and inactive in a temperate region, but 
 crushing and deadly in hotter climates, Popery, while 
 subordinate, may be meek and passive; but give it power 
 and it will extirpate and destroy all that love the truth, 
 — it is a sleeping tiger wherever truth prevails and keeps 
 it in check, but give it the supremacy, and all its ferocity 
 will be kindled, its first onset will be death. Witness 
 the massacres of tens of thousands in Belgium. Witness 
 the doings in Madeira, Tahiti, Ireland, in a word, wher- 
 ever Popery has free scope for development. 
 
IN BELGIUM. 317 
 
 Moreover, let it not for an instant be forgotten, that 
 the present religious freedom enjoyed in Belgium may 
 be only a breathing time, like the calm between the 
 gusts of the storm. Symptoms already appear, — nay, 
 efforts are already made, which tend to circumscribe the 
 liberty, and silence the witnesses for the truth. All the 
 deceivableness of unrighteousness which characterizes Po- 
 pery, according to the word of God, is mustering its re- 
 sources to suppress or counteract the gospel; and Belgium 
 has thus become a broad arena, on which it must be de- 
 termined whether the friends of truth shall be most stre- 
 nuous in its defence, or its enemies in seeking its over- 
 throw. 
 
 Nor should we overlook the startling fact, that Popery, 
 all round the world, is fast regaining its former position 
 of power.* In Belgium alone, 240 new monasteries have 
 
 * The followingfacts exhibit, -with statistical accuracy, the groTvth 
 and rapid extension of the Popish heresy in our day : 
 
 During the past year, the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Faith raised for that purpose upwards of £140,000. France alone 
 contributed more than £72,000. The society was formed in 1822, 
 when its receipts scarcely exceeded £600, It has a Missionary 
 Record, conducted with great ability, of which 162,000 copies were 
 circulated during last year ; 86,000 in French, 23,000 in German, 
 14,000 in English, the rest in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and 
 Dutch. The Queen of France, and many of the nobility, counte- 
 nance and encourage this publication, and it is acting like a cement 
 among Papists in every land. The following are the details of 
 revenue for 1844. According to the Paris Journals, the receipts 
 of the Society for the Propagation of the Catholic Faith amounted, 
 for that year, to 3,562,088 f. France had contributed 1,835,025 f. ; 
 Bavaria, 232,748 f.; Prussia, 145,066 f.; Germany, 42,159 f. ; Great 
 Britain, 237,795 f. ; Ireland, 181,905 f.; Spain, 10,578 f. ; Russia, 
 2,449 f.; Sardinia, 257,464 f.; Sicily, 109,118 f.; the United States 
 of America, 6384 f.; South America, 10,247 f. ; Oceania, 240 f. — 
 The society expended : in Oceania, 503,836 f.; in the United States 
 
 Z 
 
318 
 
 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 been opened in the space of fourteen years. I need not 
 tell again how rapidly it is rising in our own privileged 
 
 1,044,895 f. ; in the African missions, 266,069 f.; in Asia, 997,125 f.; 
 in Europe, 547,111 f. ; costs of printing, 256,360 f. ; the entire ex- 
 penses of the year amounted to 3,668,762 f. There was a surplus 
 of 424,303 f. in the treasury of the society lying over since last year. 
 
 There is the best reason to believe that Popery is rising simul- 
 taneously cdl round the world. For example, in Protestant Europe, 
 in those cantons of Switzerland which were formerly most opposed 
 to the Man of Sin, his allies are busily and successfully at work. 
 In England, " the mother and daughter," Popery and Puseyism, are 
 making manifest progress. In the north of Europe, the missions 
 were supported last year at a cost of 105,417 francs. In Holland, 
 the energies of Romanism are put forth to the utmost. In Turkey, 
 its missionaries are busily plying their vocation, chiefly among the 
 young. In Greece, 25,497 francs were last year devoted to spread 
 the Popish faith ; and in Gibraltar, 15,0CO were employed in the 
 same way. 
 
 In Asia the same onward movements appear. The Holy Land 
 is crowded with monks. Antioch, Ephesus, Smyrna, have become 
 so many centres of their operations. At Smyrna a college has been 
 opened. The Jesuits are busy with their craft and guile at Damas- 
 cus, Aleppo, and Beirout. At Pondichery in India, the popish 
 missionaries have, in a few years, been raised from five to twenty- 
 five in number. Agra is the seat of a Roman bishopric, whence 
 the errors of Popery spread even to the Himalaya Mountains. 
 Eastern Asia and China are drawing the attention of the Jesuits 
 as of old. In Siam, Cochin-China, Corea, Mongol Tartary, they 
 have numerous agents at work. Forty missionaries have gone to 
 China in one year. 
 
 In Africa the same work is in progress. Abyssinia, the Guineas, 
 the Cape of Good Hope, Alexandria, Algiers, all have been seized 
 on. At Hippo there is popish bishop with sixty-six priests, fifty 
 churches, and eighteen houses of education. 
 
 In America the progress of Popery may be estimated thus. In 
 1790 there was just one bishop of the Anglo-American Republic, 
 and 25 priests. In 1831 there were 9 dioceses, and 232 ecclesiastics. 
 In 1843 there were 16 bishops, and 4 new Episcopal Sees were called 
 for, while the Popish Church could count 600 priests, numerous 
 colleges, schools, asylums and other Institutions. 
 
IN BELGIUM. , 319 
 
 land, and how its devotees boldly look forward to the time 
 when Britain shall return to its allegiance to Rome. Are 
 not daily prayers offered up for our conversion in the very 
 Belgium to which your attention has been turned ?^ Is 
 
 In Polynesia, Tahiti has been trampled on by popish influence. 
 In Australia, in 1820 there was not a popish priest, and now there 
 are 2 bishoprics, 56 priests, and 31 schools. — See Witness of March 
 26, 1845. 
 
 * The following document will exhibit the anxiety of Romanists 
 for the conversion of our country to Popery. It is a prayer com- 
 posed by the Hon. and Rev, G. Spencer, a priest at Rome, a prose- 
 lyte from Protestantism, and brother to an English Peer. 
 
 PRAYER FOR THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND. 
 "Almighty God, Father of mercy — Thou who hast determined to 
 save men by faith, cast a propitious glance upon the kingdom of 
 England. Disperse the darkness which heresy has spread there, 
 and then make the torch of truth gleam in the eyes of her children, 
 so that all may joyfully return into the bosom of our Mother th e 
 Holy Church, through our Lord Jesus Christ. So be it. 
 Holy Virgin, Mother of God, pray for England ! 
 St Peter and St Paul, pray for her ! 
 
 St Gregory, the Pope, and St Augustine the apostle of England, 
 pray for her ! 
 
 St Thomas of Canterbury, holy martyrs, holy confessors of Eng- 
 land, pray for her ! 
 
 Holy virgins and widows of England, pray for her I 
 Deign to be moved, O Lord, by the prayers of your friends ! 
 Deliver your people — ^bless your heritage, and save these souls 
 redeemed at the cost of the precious blood of your divine Son, who 
 liveth and reigneth with you for ever and ever. So be it." — Church 
 and State Gazette. See Witness 15th January. 
 
 Approval — ^We give aur sanction to the above prayer, and for 
 every day on which it shall be devoutly repeated, we hereby grant 
 a hundred days' indulgence (from the pains of purgatory). "We 
 accord the same privilege to those who shall receive the holy 
 communion as well as to the priests who may celebrate mass with 
 the like views (of effecting the conversion of England to Popery). 
 
 We earnestly engage all who are of our Diocese, and especially 
 the priesthood and the members of religious societies, to be frequent 
 
320 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 not Ireland almost wholly, and daily more and more, 
 devoted to Rome ? Within our own borders, are not 
 many returning to its false faith?* Are there not 
 22,819 Jesuits at present plotting the overthrow of spi- 
 ritual freedom in different countries of the world ;t 
 11,413 being priests wholly devoted to the Man of Sin? 
 Do not the woes of unhappy Tahiti tell what will be the 
 portion of Protestantism, when Popery has become, what 
 it seeks to be, the queen or dictatress of the nations 
 again ? Did not the Institution for the propagation of 
 the Faith, expend more than £4000 Sterling last year 
 in forwarding the cause of Rome in our own Presbyte- 
 rian Scotland ?J Has not one of the bold adherents of 
 
 in prayer for an object so important, and to especially dedicate the 
 Thursday to this work. 
 
 Engelbert — Cardinal Archbishop of Malines. 
 Regarding this Belgian dignitary, we find, from a private letter, 
 that he has " received the highest honours from majesty, such as 
 belong only to the first families of the realm, while he possesses 
 so much influence that the military openly say that it is worth 
 more, in the view of promotion, to enjoy the patronage of the Arch- 
 bishop than of the King himself." 
 
 * In England, there are 509 Popish Chapels. 
 
 Scotland, 73 
 
 Scotland, 27 Stations. 
 
 England, 10 Colleges. 
 
 Scotland, 1 ."..... 
 
 England, 30 Convents. 
 
 Scotland, 1 
 
 England, 3 Monasteries. 
 
 England, 666 Priests. 
 
 Scotland, 91 
 
 ■j- They have four colleges in Belgium, and are using every en- 
 deavour to obtain the control of all the education of the country . 
 X Free Church Magazine, September 1844. The Dublin States- 
 man asserts, that a very large proportion of this is derived from 
 Ireland. 
 
IX BELGIUM. 321 
 
 the Pope (Count Montalambert) declared, that " the 
 Roman CathoHc Church is not the slave, the client, or 
 the auxiliary of any one. She is sovereign or she is 
 nothing.'"*^ Warned by such words, let us unite and 
 she will be nothing — the breath of the Almighty will 
 destroy her. Her power is political or superstitious, not 
 moral or spiritual, and must succumb to the truth. 
 
 And finally, let me fetch an argument for union among 
 Christians from the present aspect which Popery pre- 
 sents. How compact and well-knit are the enemies of 
 the truth ! How broken and disjointed we ! One firm 
 front is presented in favour of Popery throughout the 
 whole earth ; its adherents appear all of one heart and 
 mind : whereas the friends of religion are torn up into 
 sections, and rather contend with each other than against 
 the common peril. Need we add, that these things 
 ought not so to be ? If only one-sixteenth part of the 
 globe be nominally Protestant, how loud the call for 
 union ! If the Romanists be rallying all their strength 
 for one decisive struggle more, (which we know from pro- 
 phecy will be its last, and perhaps its most bloody,) how 
 important that we lift up a banner for the truth, and lift 
 it up together ! If the infidelity of the kingdoms of this 
 world conspire with the superstition of Rome to extinguish 
 or overlay the word of God, shall not we seek by his grace 
 to spread it far and wide ? If Popery has invaded our 
 territory, and spread its delusions among us, (and we have 
 found its pernicious tracts in quiet circulation in the city of 
 our habitation,) shall not we make reprisals in those lands 
 where the gospel can be freely preached, and will be 
 gladly welcomed ? We enjoy a day of privilege : let it 
 be embraced, and God will honour us ; let it pass un- 
 * North British Review, vol. ii. p. 642. 
 
322 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 improved, and our candlestick may either be removed, 
 or our light wax dim, and dimmer still, until it be 
 quenched in blood. Our nation loudly boasts that 
 the British legions have triumphed on the plains of 
 Belgium. The day has not long gone by, when the 
 names of Wavre, and Waterloo, and Charleroi, and 
 Brussels, were frequent in the bulletins and despatches 
 of murderous war ; they are now familiar in the reports 
 of the soldiers of the cross. Let them become more 
 familiar still by God's blessing on our help, and that 
 land so rich and beautiful by nature, will become more 
 lovely still, when the beauty of " holiness to the Lord" 
 is abundant there. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The following extracts from the Report of the Evangelical 
 Society of Belgium for 1842-3, will illustrate some points in this 
 Lecture : — " Only a few days since, in one of the largest churches 
 in Brussels, a most splendid crown was presented to a " Miracu- 
 lous image of the Vircfinj" invoked as the Mother of Mercy. 
 It is stated that there were 90 ounces of pure gold in the Crown, 
 and the workmanship alone cost £280. The following is a 
 description of the Crown, as given in the Journal de Bruxelles, 
 31st May 1843. 
 
 ' The front of the cross which is on the orb, is ornamented with 
 5 superb Sapphires ; the one given by her Majesty the Queen of the 
 Belgians, is placed in the middle ; on the sides are 4 Brilliants, 4 
 fine Rubies and 45 Rose diamonds. The back of the cross is the 
 same as the front, with the exception of the Sapphires, for which 
 Peridots are substituted ; in addition to these, the cross is en- 
 riched by 33 fine Pearls. The arches are of Gothic form and 
 studded with 40 Diamonds and 48 Vermeilles ; enamelled ivy 
 branches climb the sides of the arches and meet at the top. The 
 band which encircles the orb, and that which crosses its upper 
 
IN BELGIUM. 323 
 
 hemisphere, are of sky-blue enamel, and are adorned with 12 Dia- 
 monds and 4 Rubies. The fleurons are embellished -with 16 fine 
 Hyacinth* and other precious stones. The cap has 4 beautiful 
 Gothic ornaments, with four fine Siberian Amethysts and 284 Dia- 
 monds. Between each of these ornaments, there is an inscription 
 in sky-blue enamelled letters, Marice Matri MisericordicB. The 
 Crown is lined with Gothic lace of golden filigree work, intermixed 
 with Rubies, Diamonds, Emeralds, Sapphires, Turquoises, and 
 344 Pearls. The total number of precious stones in the Crown, is 
 593, and of fine Pearls 377. What in the eye of faith infinitely 
 augments the value of these precious stones is, that they are the 
 gifts of the middle classes, who have imitated the zeal of the poor, 
 {The subscription to buy the Crown was begun by the poor.) 
 
 ' The circle of the Diadem bears an inscription, MaricB Matri 
 Miser icor dice, in azure letters, because Mary is Queen of heaven 
 by the almighty power of God. The emblems are taken from 
 difi'erent royal and imperial crowns, to show that Mary's crown in- 
 cludes and far surpasses them all. On the top of the four arches 
 (after the royal crown), is an orb surmounted by the sign of Re- 
 demption, because the Mother of the Saviour reigns by this sign 
 of Salvation.' 
 
 " As may be supposed, the ceremony of crowning the image 
 was one of great pomp. The Journal de Bruxelles gives the 
 following account of it : — 
 
 ' The evening before Ascension-day, all that part of the High 
 Street which reaches from the church to the parsonage-house, was 
 planted with firs, on which were hung garlands of evergreens and 
 red, blue and white calico. Several triumphal arches were also 
 placed in the streets. Early in the morning an immense crowd 
 gathered around the church. At six o'clock the Cardinal-Arch- 
 bishop celebrated the mass, and during two hours administered the 
 communion. 
 
 ' The confessors had been engaged until midnight in hearing the 
 confessions of the people. At eight o'clock, the Archbishop of 
 Damietta, Nuncio at Brussels, celebrated mass and then continued 
 to give the communion ; in an adjoining chapel, the holy eucharist 
 had been distributed from five o'clock in the morning. Several 
 hundreds of persons, seeing the difficulty of approaching the Holy 
 Table, went to other churches to satisfy their devotion. There 
 were three thousand communicants at the chapel alone (the 
 
324 NOTE. 
 
 Church in which the ceremony took place). At ten o'clock the 
 Rector Magnifique of the Louvain Catholic University chanted 
 high mass, at which the Cardinal was present in his pontifical 
 dress, surrounded by his Grand- Vicar, several Canons and a great 
 number of the Clergy. 
 
 ' At two o'clock, the procession quitted the parsonage-house for 
 the church, headed and closed by a detachment of the Guides (the 
 King's Body-Guard), their music in front. 
 
 ' The procession was formed by a deputation of the different 
 Brotherhoods of the parish — the Council of Administration of the 
 Church — the Community of the Brethren of Christian Schools — 
 the Fathers of the Company of Jesus and of the Congregation of 
 Redemptorists — the Cure of the Parish and a numerous Clergy — 
 the Cardinal- Archbishop and his Vicar-general — the Rector Mag- 
 nifique of the University of Louvain and several Canons.' " 
 
LECTURE VL 
 
 Past and Present State of Evangelical Religion in 
 Switzerland, especially Geneva. 
 
 By PATRICK M'FARLAN, D.D., 
 
 MINISTER OF THE FKBE WEST CHURCH, G..EESOCK. 
 
 Switzerla:;[d is one of the most wonderful, anJ, per- 
 haps, the most interesting country on the face of the 
 earth. The magnificence of its mountain scenery, the 
 beauty of its lakes, and the cultivation and literary taste 
 of a large portion of its inhabitants, make it an object 
 of attraction and admiration to men in all quarters of 
 the globe. Its history in past and present times is not 
 less remarkable than its external appearance. To the 
 successful struggles of the Swiss cantons for national 
 independence, and to their courage and perseverance in 
 defending their dear-bought liberties, we look in vain 
 for a parallel; whilst the actual working of a republi- 
 can and federal form of government for several centu- 
 ries, presents some most important lessons in political 
 science, which it w^ere w^ell that the rulers and people 
 of other countries w^ere more inclined to consider and 
 apply. 
 
 It is not, however, of the physical appearance or the 
 civil history of Switzerland that we have to treat in the 
 
326 LECTURE VL 
 
 present discourse. Its aspect, in a religious point of 
 view, is not less singular, or to a Christian mind less 
 interesting and instructive, than its physical and poli- 
 tical condition j and it is to this that I have engaged 
 to direct your attention. I shall only observe, with 
 regard to its civil history, that the union of the thir- 
 teen cantons, of which the Helvetic confederation ori- 
 ginally consisted, each canton sovereign within its own 
 territory, was an event which, in the good providence 
 of God, was made signally subservient to the mainte- 
 nance and advancement of the cause of truth in the 
 world. Placed in the centre of Europe, indebted for its 
 existence as an independent state, more to the mutual 
 jealousy of the surrounding nations, than even to its own 
 inherent strength, Switzerland continued for many years 
 the chief nursery of the Reformation — the fountain 
 from which the living streams of spiritual knowledge 
 flowed into other lands ; its men of learning and piety 
 were the great lights of benighted Europe ; and its Pro- 
 testant towns, like the houses of refuge in its moun- 
 tain passes, were joyful asylums to the Protestants of 
 other countries from the storms of Romish persecution. 
 The history of the first introduction of the Christian 
 religion into Switzerland, is involved in the greatest 
 obscurity. We have reason to believe, that it had pe- 
 netrated into that country, at least as early as the third 
 or fourth century. In the eighth century, when the 
 corruptions of the Papacy were gaining ground univer- 
 sally, two Scotsmen from the College at lona came and 
 settled in Switzerland, and were probably the instru- 
 ments, under God, of arresting, for a little, in that coun- 
 try, the fatal progress of the Man of Sin. But the check 
 which he received was only temporary. In no part of 
 the world was ignorance and superstition more profound. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 327 
 
 or more widely spread, in the centuries which imme- 
 diately preceded the Reformation. Christianity w?ls 
 little more than a name, the domination of the Romish 
 priesthood was absolute and uncontrolled ; and though 
 doubtless God had his hidden ones amidst the gross 
 darkness which covered the land, no country in Europe 
 stood more in need of the gracious call of the Re- 
 deemer, — " Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the 
 <lead, and Christ shall give thee light."* 
 
 Another circumstance in the history of the Swiss 
 cantons exerted a most pernicious influence on the ha- 
 bits and character of the people of that period. 
 
 The long-continued struggle which they were called 
 to maintain, for the preservation of their liberties 
 against the oft-repeated aggressions of France and Au- 
 stria, had converted the Swiss into a nation of war- 
 riors. War was the element in which they breathed ; 
 their youth were trained to it, — the tocsin sounded, 
 and they rushed with eagerness to arms. The fame of 
 Swiss valour was spread over Europe, and the coun- 
 tries bordering on Switzerland anxiously sought the aid 
 
 * The following may be given as a proof of the superstition 
 and imposture'prevalent in that age: — "Anna Vogtli, of Bischoff- 
 zell, conceived the evil thought of working enchantments with 
 the host, and stole the same from the church of Ettiswyl, in 
 the canton of Lucerne, on the 24th May 1447. She soon, how- 
 ever, shrunk from her device, and cast the host behind a hedge 
 privily. Whereupon a white seven-leaved rose sprouted in- 
 stantly forth from the ground, and in its calix lay the conse- 
 crated wafer. The beasts of the field came and bowed before 
 it. The surrounding radiance revealed it to the eyes of an in- 
 nocent shepherdess, who discovered it to the people of the vil- 
 lage. Whereupon the priests came with toll of bell, with cross 
 and banners, attended by a multitude of believers, to bring the 
 holy thing back to its place." — Lardner''s Cyclopcjedia — Switzer- 
 land. 
 
328 LECTURE VI. 
 
 of the Swiss in their contests with one another. They 
 bribed them into their service, and on many occasions 
 secured their assistance, sometimes as allies, but more 
 frequently as auxiliary or mercenary troops. The 
 Swiss returned to their native mountains, bringing 
 with them the vices and luxurious habits of the plains, 
 and a rapacity and thirst for booty too often, in these 
 times at least, the result of military enterprise. The 
 majesty of the law was set at nought, and the rigid 
 execution of justice on multitudes of offenders was 
 all but ineffectual in preventing the cantons from be- 
 coming one wide-spread scene of disorder and anarchy. 
 It was then that God, in sovereign mercy, was pleas- 
 ed to visit this interesting country with the cheering, 
 peace-giving light of divine truth. The Reformation 
 had begun in Germany. The mind of Luther had 
 been led from one stage in his wonderful progress to 
 another, almost in spite of himself, till he cast off the 
 authority of the pretended vicar of Christ, and held up 
 for himself and his followers the infallible word of God 
 as the only standard of faith, — the only pure and un- 
 erring source of religious knowledge. But it is a sin- 
 gular and instructive fact in the history of that period, 
 that it was not through the Divine blessing on the 
 writings and example of Luther, and the other German 
 reformers, that the reformation in Switzerland was 
 commenced. As if for the purpose of bearing stronger 
 testimony against the errors of Popery, and for demon- 
 strating the oneness of the true catholic church, at tlie 
 very time that Luther and his fellow-labourers were 
 slowly finding their way to the only true resting-place 
 of religious belief, Zwingli, the earliest of the Swiss re- 
 formers, was arriving more directly, and far more ra- 
 pidly, at the same tenninus. The beginning of the 
 
STATE OF RELICilON IN SWITZERLAND. 329 
 
 •sixteentli century was one of the days of Christ's powef, 
 — one of the times of refreshing from the presence of 
 the Lord. Germany was receiving the showers of spi- 
 ritual influence. Switzerland, not less parched or less 
 barren than Germany, was destined to enjoy no small 
 share of the same precious blessing. 
 
 Ulrich Zwingli was the third son of a man called 
 Zwingli, amman or bailie of the commune of Wiid- 
 haus, in the Tockenburg. He was born on the 1st day 
 of January 1484, seven weeks after the birth of Lu- 
 ther.* His father was a herdsman, and was univer- 
 sally respected by the people of the commune. It was 
 the lot of Ulrich to have, even in that dark age and 
 country, a pious grandmother, w^ho told him stories 
 from the Bible, and devout legends, to which, when a 
 child, he listened with the greatest avidity. The am- 
 man saw the tendencies of his son's mind, and resolved 
 to give him as liberal an education as his circumstan- 
 ces would allow. Ulrich was put to school at Wesen, 
 and at the early age of ten was sent by his father and 
 uncle, the dean of Wesen, to Basel, and was entered at 
 the school of St Theodore. There he made rapid pro- 
 gress, and, taking part in fhe learned disputations 
 which, in imitation of the students at the universitv 
 were held by boys at school, always came off victorious. 
 In 1497, Zwingli was removed to Berne, and was 
 placed under the tuition of Lupulus, a man distin- 
 guished for his poetical talent, and taste for classical 
 literature. " He inhaled with ardour," says Merle 
 d'Aubigne, "the fragrant breath of ancient lore; his 
 mind expanded, his style was formed, and he became 
 a poet." At Berne, he narrowly escaped being drawn 
 
 * Merle d'Aubisne's Historv of tlie Reformiition, 
 
3S0 LEGTTJRE VI. 
 
 into the monastery of the Dominicans, who were at 
 this time engaged in a controversy with the Francis- 
 cans, and hoped to add to the reputation of their order 
 by the accession of the young and already accomplished 
 Tockenburger. His father, having heard of the allure- 
 ments presented by the Dominicans, instantly ordered ' 
 him to leave Berne; and thus, in the merciful providence 
 of God, this distinguished youth was preserved for a 
 blessing to his country and to the world. 
 
 From Berne, Zwingli went to Vienna, whence, after 
 a short visit to Wildhaus, he repaired a second time to 
 Basel, where, at the age of eighteen, he became at once 
 a student and a teacher. In compliance with the fa- 
 shion of the age, he studied scholastic theology; but 
 soon relinquished it, fatigued and disgusted. In 1505, 
 Wittenbach, a pious and learned man, came to Basel, 
 and drew around him Zwingli and all the youth of the 
 university. He predicted that scholastic theology 
 would soon be done away with, and the ancient doc- 
 trine of the church restored, and boldly proclaimed the 
 death of Christ to be " the sole ransom for our sins." 
 The preaching of Wittenbach appears to have made a 
 deep impression on the mind of Zwingli. 
 
 In 1506, the people of Glaris, a town not far from 
 Wildhaus, called Zwingli to be their parish-priest. He 
 was accordingly ordained at Constance, preached his 
 first sermon at Rapperswil, read his first mass at Wild- 
 haus, in the presence of his relations and family-friends, 
 and towards the close of the year, arrived at Glaris, 
 where he zealously devoted himself to the duties of his 
 parish. His talents and popularity attracted the notice 
 of the bishop of Zion, at whose instance he obtained 
 from the Pope a pension of fifty florins — the price, 
 though not the stipulated price of his attending to the 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 331 
 
 interests of his holiness in the wars in which he, along 
 with the other princes of Italy were, or might be en- 
 gaged. Zwingii accepted the pension, and thus became 
 one of the Pope's party. But his eyes were soon open- 
 ed to the pernicious consequences resulting from the 
 military enterprises of the Swiss, and, in a poem which 
 he published in 1510, entitled, The Labyrinth,\iQW2^YTi- 
 ed the people against the ruin which threatened them. 
 Whilst his mind was in what may be called this transi- 
 tion state, the commune of Glaris was counted out for 
 service, and Zwingii behoved to march. The army 
 crossed the Alps, and was victorious. The priest of 
 Glaris returned resolved to devote himself to the study 
 of Greek, " in order," as he said, in a letter to Vadian, 
 chief-magistrate of St Gallon, 23d February 1513, 
 " that he might obtain the doctrines of Jesus from their 
 proper sources;" thus, as Merle d'Aubigne justly ob- 
 serves, more than owning at this early date the grand 
 principle of evangelical Christianity, the infallible au- 
 thority of the Holy Scriptures. He searched them for 
 himself with earnest supplication for the Holy Spirit; 
 he studied the fathers as commentators, not as authori- 
 ties, tested their explanations by the Scriptures, and in 
 all the confidence of one who knew and was persuaded 
 that the doctrines which he taught were the truth of 
 God, he preached Christ to the people over whom God, 
 in his adorable providence, had placed him. 
 
 A second time Zwingii accompanied his parishioners 
 in a warlike expedition into Italy, and fought along 
 with them on the fatal fields of Marignan. This second 
 visit to Italy was of considerable benefit to him. It 
 afforded him an opportunity of prosecuting his inquiries 
 into the former history and practice of the church ; it 
 convinced him more than ever of the ambition, the 
 
532 LECTURE VI. 
 
 avarice, the ignorance and licentiousness of the priests, 
 and of tlie necessity for a reform. From that time he 
 preached the word with more clearness — he aimed at 
 making an impression on men's hearts, and looked for 
 the fruits of his preaching in their life. A spirit of in- 
 quiry breathed over the mountains of Switzerland, and 
 in the preaching of Zwingli the light of the Reforma- 
 tion began to shine on that spiritually enslaved, though 
 otherwise free country. 
 
 In 1516, Zwingli was induced to leave Glaris, to be 
 priest of the monastery and church of Einsidlen, a 
 remote and solitary place, where, besides having the 
 prospect of more retirement and tranquillity, and time 
 for study and meditation, he might enjoy the opportu- 
 tunity of diffusing the knowledge of Christ in distant 
 countries, by means of the pilgrims who resorted to that 
 place. He improved the opportunity with great bold- 
 ness and fidelity. Like Paul when he beheld the ido- 
 latry and superstition of the men of Athens, his spirit 
 was stirred within him, when he saw the superstition of 
 the pilgrim-worshippers of Einsidlen. He warned them 
 against supposing that God was more in the temple 
 there than in any other place. He went farther: he 
 told them plainly, doubtless to their utter astonishment, 
 that it was not by pilgrimages, offerings, and calling 
 upon the Virgin and the saints, that they could obtain 
 God's favour; but by faith in Christ, who once offered 
 himself upon the cross, " the sacrifice, and the victim 
 that makes satisfaction, even throughout all eternity^ 
 for the sins of all believers." The pilgrims returned to 
 their homes with different and opposite emotions — 
 some in horrors at the supposed impiety of Zwingli, 
 many of them convinced of their past errors, and all of 
 them more or less shaken in their blind and bigotted 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 333 
 
 attachment to the false doctrine and superstition of the 
 Church of Rome. The worshippers of Mary decreased 
 from day to day ; and the Keformation in Switzerland 
 had a commencement as auspicious as its most devoted 
 well-wishers could have anticipated. 
 
 No man obeyed his own convictions more calmly or 
 more steadily than Zwingli. He eagerly searched for 
 truth; and when he found it, he would not let it go. 
 Neither threatenings nor allurements prevailed with him 
 to keep back what he believed to be the will of God for the 
 salvation of men. With every acquisition which he made 
 in the knowledge of Scripture truth, he perceived more 
 clearly that " the whole popedom rested on bad founda- 
 tions." Under this conviction, he told Lucci, the pope's 
 legate, that, with the help of God, he would continue to 
 preach the gospel, and that " preaching would shake 
 Rome." And he did as he promised. He had taught the 
 pilgrims that their pilgrimages and offerings could not 
 save them, and had instructed them to turn the eye of 
 faith to Christ, and to Christ alone. In the same spirit 
 he assailed the doctrine of indulgences, Samson, a bare- 
 footed Carmelite friar, had entered Helvetia as a traf- 
 ficker in that ware, and, with an audacity not surpassed 
 by that of Tetzel, told the simple mountaineers that he 
 could pardon all sins; that heaven and hell were subject 
 to his power ; and that he sold the merits of Jesus Christ 
 to any one who was pleased to buy an indulgence for 
 ready money. The indignation of Zwingli was awak- 
 ened. He preached with great energy, not against 
 Samson merely, but against the doctrine of indulgences 
 generally; and again presented Jesus Christ before his 
 countrymen, as " the only oiFering, the only sacrifice, the 
 only way." 
 
 As it is not expected in these lectures that we should 
 
334 LECTURE VI. 
 
 give a full sketch of the life even of the most celebrated 
 of the Swiss Reformers, I shall draw to a close these 
 brief notices of the life of Zwingli, by adverting, in a 
 few words, to his appointment as priest in the cathedral 
 Church of Zurich, in 1518, and its results. 
 
 After a contest, in which a Suabian, named Lawrence 
 Fable, was his competitor, Zwingli was elected, by a 
 majority of seventeen out of twenty-four votes, to be 
 preacher in the cathedral, with cure of souls. It was 
 then that his influence began to be felt, not in Zurich 
 only, but throughout Switzerland. In the Bible mean- 
 ing of the phrase, he " preached the word." Knowing 
 the people's ignorance of the facts of gospel history, he 
 commenced with delivering, to crowded and deeply at- 
 tentive audiences, expositions on the gospel by Matthew, 
 in which he laid the foundations of an enlightened faith, 
 and a vital Christianity. In the face of opposition such 
 as he had not yet experienced, he continued to unfold 
 the precious truths of the everlasting gospel. The 
 Divine blessing rested on his labours, and many of his 
 hearers were awakened, and turned unto the Lord. His 
 published writings, and the writings of Luther, dispers- 
 ed at his instance, added to the effects produced by his 
 preaching. Men shook off the fetters of an ignoble spi- 
 ritual thraldom; and many who were not truly con- 
 verted ranged themselves on the side of the Reformers, 
 and rejoiced, if not in the exalted honour of those who 
 are made free by the Son of God, at least in the digni- 
 fied position of those who have ceased to prostrate their 
 understandings at the feet of their fellow-men. 
 
 The result of these changes in public opinion at Zu- 
 rich was the overthrow, one after another, of the gross- 
 er errors of Popery, the disuse of images in the wor- 
 ship of God, the abolition of the mass, and the restora- 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 335 
 
 tion of the sacrament of the Lord's supper to its primi- 
 tive form. Zwingli, not satisfied with this, was the 
 first after the Reformation to lay the foundation of 
 Presbyterian church government, by admitting the 
 Christian people to their rightful share in the govern- 
 ment of the church. For reasons to which we shall 
 afterwards advert, the line of demarcation between the 
 province of the civil magistrate and that of the church 
 was not distinctly drawn ; perhaps it was not clearly 
 perceived. But the subjection* of the church to the 
 Pope and the priesthood was expressly disavowed and 
 abjured; and the government of the church declared to 
 be, under Christ, and in submission to his word, in the 
 church itself, consisting of the office-bearers, and other 
 members of the church, including under that term 
 such as made a consistent profession of faith in Christ, 
 and of their subjection to him. 
 
 It is impossible, methinks, to look back even on this 
 brief and necessarily imperfect sketch of the life and 
 labours of Zwingli, unhappily terminated by his death 
 on the battle-field of Cappell, in his forty-eighth year, 
 without being deeply impressed with the force of that 
 great principle which conducted him to such glorious 
 results, and gave the only right direction to the Refor- 
 mation in the other cantons of Switzerland, He set 
 out on his singularly blameless career with this simple, 
 and, to us self-evident, first-principle, that the word of 
 God, interpreted by itself, and searched in humble de- 
 pendance on the Spirit of God, must be the only rule 
 of faith to every church, and every professing Chris- 
 tian. Guided by this great first-principle, refusing to 
 call any man master upon earth, Zwingli pursued his 
 course calmly but courageously, and mingling the most 
 remarkable prudence with the most ardent zeal, car- 
 
336 LECTURE VI. 
 
 ried all men along with him, and without violence or 
 popular commotion, and with the full concurrence of 
 the civil authorities, overturned the Papacy in Zurich, 
 and laid the foundations of a Protestant, or, to speak 
 more correctly, a truly Scriptural church. Zwingli 
 was not urged to the course which he pursued by dis- 
 appointed ambition, or a hatred to the Papacy, or the de- 
 sire of obtaining eminence by the subversion of a great 
 and long-established system of superstition ; but led by 
 that almighty Being who has the hearts of all men in 
 his hand, to see clearly that, if the Scriptures be a re- 
 velation from heaven, as he firmly believed, they must 
 be the only rule of faith and manners, he followed 
 them with child-like simplicity, not knowing whither 
 they might lead, and arrived at the glorious result 
 which we have endeavoured faintly and imperfectly to 
 describe. It was not Zwingli who overthrew Popery 
 in Zurich, but the word of God in the hand of Zwingli; 
 it was this which thrust out one after another the hu- 
 man inventions which had not merely obscured, but had 
 actually displaced the word of God ; it was with this 
 that the reformer of Zurich cleansed the xiugean stable, 
 and imparted to the infant Protestant church in Zurich 
 the distinguishing features of the apostolic age. 
 
 It is to the union of this spirit of free inquiry, with 
 an implicit submission to the word of God, that we 
 have to trace the superiority of the reformation in 
 Switzerland to the reformation in Germany. Merle 
 d'Aubigne has remarked, that it was a leading prin- 
 ciple with Luther that he would not " depart from the 
 doctrines and customs of the Romish church unless 
 when the words of Scripture made it absolutely neces- 
 sary;" in other words, what the Scriptures did not ex- 
 pressly condemn he would suffer to remain. The Swiss 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 337 
 
 reformer, on tlie contrary, in a bolder spirit, a spirit 
 worthy of the free country in which he was born, cast 
 himself loose from the doctrines and ceremonies of the 
 church, and rejected everything in both which the 
 Scriptures did not manifestly authorise. "Ye shall 
 not add unto the word which I command you, neither 
 shall you diminish from it,""^ are words which, judging 
 from his conduct, were ever present to his mind; and 
 the happiest results followed from the adoption of the 
 principle which they express. The Church of Rome 
 needed not merely to be purified, but to undergo an 
 entire reformation. Its ceremonies and its doctrines 
 were alike contrary to the mind of God; the former 
 were in truth the visible representations of the latter, 
 — in substance they were one and the same. Both 
 needed to be swept away by the relentless hand of 
 truth, that the will of God might be supreme, and a 
 truly spiritual temple might be reared " according to 
 the pattern which God hath showed to us" in his word. 
 Thus did Zwingli ; thus also did our Scottish reformers, 
 Knox and Melville, applying still more unsparino-lv 
 the great principle of their renowned predecessor, to 
 the glory of their divine Master, and the unspeakable 
 benefit of this once happy and truly Protestant coun- 
 try. Would Luther have broached, and, with so much 
 pertinacity, maintained, the unscriptural dogma respect- 
 ing the real presence in the Eucharist, which created 
 so wide a breach between Zwingli and him, if he had 
 acted on the simple and truly rational principle which 
 guided his fellow-labourer in his glorious course? We 
 think not. He would have seen consubstantiation to 
 be as contrary to Scripture and right reason as tran- 
 substantiation, and every vestige of Popery would have 
 * Deut. iv. 2. 
 
338 LECTURE VI. 
 
 disappeared before the great ruling principle, "What 
 saith the Lord." 
 
 REFORMATION IN BERNE, ETC. 
 
 Before proceeding to treat of Geneva, we shall take a 
 brief view of the progress of the Reformation in the can- 
 tons, to which we have not yet directed your attention. 
 
 The Reformation did not make equal progress in 
 every part of Switzerland. Among the secondary causes 
 which hindered this good work, may be mentioned the 
 independence of the cantons, and the practice of lending 
 their aid for money, as allies or auxiliaries, to the pope 
 and other foreign princes. Swiss valour was estimated 
 at the highest price. The pope left no efforts untried 
 for securing and maintaining the Swiss in his party, 
 with the twofold object of preserving them in their ad- 
 herence to the Church of Rome, and of employing them 
 as the instruments of his temporal aggrandisement. It 
 was not in every canton that God was pleased to raise 
 up a Zwingli, an ^Ecolampadius, a Farel, or a Calvin ; 
 and, though the doctrine of the Reformation had its 
 trophies even in places where the power and influence 
 of popery was most triumphant ; the victory, as was to 
 be expected, was in some instances on the side of error 
 in opposition to truth, and of the love of money and 
 plunder in opposition to true independence and enlight- 
 ened patriotism. The cantons which adhered to the 
 pope's party, and aided him with troops, continued Ca- 
 tholic, and remain to this day the victims of their own 
 and their fathers' unbelief 
 
 We have remarked, that Zwingli gave the right direc- 
 tion to the work of the Reformation in other parts of 
 Switzerland. By his learning, his piety, and his Christ- 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 339 
 
 ian prudence and moderation, he exerted an influence 
 over his countrymen m' hich no foreigner, not even Luther 
 himself, could be expected to possess. Accordingly, the 
 men who were the chief instruments of advancing the 
 Reformation in the other, and especially the German 
 cantons, not only embraced the simple and comprehen- 
 sive principle to which we have particularly referred, but, 
 in all their contests, sought the advice and were encou- 
 raged by the correspondence, of this great and good man. 
 The work of the Reformation was hastened at Berne 
 by the determination of the Popish cantons, Lucerne, 
 Schwytz, Uri, Unterwalden, Fribourg, and Zug, no 
 longer to sit in diet with Zurich. It behoved the 
 Bernese to resolve whether they should range themselves 
 on the Romish or Protestant side. The preaching 
 of Wittembach, which had made so deep an impression 
 on the youthful mind of Zwingli, was not without its 
 fruit. Berthold, Haller, and Meyer joined him as the 
 heralds of the same glorious gospel. They turned the 
 minds of the Bernese to the only foundation of a sinner's 
 hope ; taught them that the merits of a monastic life are 
 imaginary; presented Christianity to their view in all its 
 Scriptural simplicity, and, by the force of truth and the 
 Divine blessing, obtained the victory. After a struggle 
 between the two parties, in which the issue often appeared 
 doubtful, and the Bernese seemed inclined to pursue a 
 middle course, the council at length declared in favour 
 of Protestantism, and that distinguished canton was 
 added to those who had thrown off the yoke of the 
 Roman pontiff. 
 
 At Basel, Haus-schein, better known by his Greek 
 name ^colampadius, was the chief instrument of effect- 
 ing the Reformation. He was invited to that city by 
 Christopher van Utenheim, bishop of Basel, a man who, 
 
340 LECTURE VI. 
 
 like Erasmus, believed it possible to purify and amend 
 the Churcb of Rome, and thus avoid the necessity of that 
 radical change which the German Reformers and Zwingli 
 were engaged in accomplishing, ^colampadius became 
 devotedly attached to the bishop, and might have been 
 tempted to pursue the timid course which he proposed 
 to him, had he not, in the providence of God, been called 
 to Augsburg, in 1518, soon after the famous conference 
 between Luther and the papal legate, and while that 
 city was still under the excitement produced by it. 
 jEcolampadius was under the necessity of deciding; and 
 declared in favour of Luther. Harassed by the oppo- 
 sition which this declaration stirred up against him, he 
 retired into a monastery. There, avowing his attach- 
 ment to the grand principle of the Reformation, the 
 paramount authority of the Word of God, he was in 
 imminent danger of losing his life. He was invited by 
 Capito to return to Basel: he arrived there in 1522, 
 and some time after, was appointed vicar of St Martin's, 
 and every time he preached was attended by a crowded 
 audience; insomuch that Erasmus, who was at that 
 time residing in Basel, exclaimed, " jEcolampadius car- 
 ries all before him here !" Caspar Hedio, a native of 
 Baden in Suabia, succeeded Capito, the friend and fel- 
 low-labourer of ^colampadius ; and, notwithstanding 
 the chilling influence of the timid and temporising 
 policy of Erasmus, the ministrations of these learned and 
 good men were, through the Divine blessing, the means 
 of effecting in Basel a thorough reformation from Popery. 
 Not long after these memorable transactions at Berne 
 and Basel, the Pays de Vaud received the word of God. 
 A war between the Bernese and the Duke of Savoy, 
 materially contributed to this happy change, by trans- 
 ferring to the Bernese the greater part of the sovereignty 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 341 
 
 of the Pays de Vaud. To the honour of the Bernese, 
 they made it their first care, after these acquisitions, 'to 
 introduce into the conquered territories the doctrine of 
 the Reformation.* They stationed ministers in the 
 principal towns, and authorised them to preach in the 
 adjacent country, enjoining that they should be heard 
 without molestation, wherever an audience was willing 
 to listen to them, Viret was stationed at Lausanne, 
 and other ministers of less note in the history of the 
 Reformation, at Granson, Verdun, Thonon, Yevay, and 
 Lutry, Public discussions were held — the property of 
 the church and religious houses was, after allowances 
 to the present tenants, devoted to the instruction of the 
 people, the education of youth, and the support of the 
 poor. On the 24th December 1536, an edict was passed, 
 establishing the Reformed religion, not, however, without 
 a mixture of rigour against the adherents of the Church 
 of Rome, arising, as in other places at that period, from 
 ignorance of the principles of an enlightened toleration. 
 This important revolution was accomplished without 
 bloodshed, excepting the murder of a Genevese Re- 
 formed minister, and the execution of the murderers. 
 
 Lausanne, the chief town in that canton, stands emi- 
 nently conspicuous in the history of these events. It 
 appears that even during the war with the Bernese, 
 Viret preached there with acceptance, the council per- 
 mitting as many as pleased to hear him. After the 
 Bernese obtained possession of the district, a disputa- 
 tion was, by their authority, held in the cathedral 
 church, which lasted for eight successive days, and was 
 conducted on the part of the Reformed by Farel, Viret, 
 and Peter Caroli, who afterwards proved unsound, and 
 reverted to Popery. Calvin also was present, and spoke 
 
 * Scott's Continuation of Milner, vol. iii. 
 
 •2 B 
 
342 LECTURE VI. 
 
 twice on the subject of the sacrament. On the other 
 side, the canons of Lausanne only protested against the 
 meeting and withdrew; none of the clergy of the place, 
 secular or regular, took any part in the dispute. The 
 principal spokesman on the Romish side was Claude 
 Blancherose, a French physician at Lausanne, " which," 
 says Mr Scott, " gave occasion to Farel to remark, that 
 the priests certainly felt their cause to be in a sickly 
 state, seeing they had given it up into the hands of the 
 doctor." The disputation operated powerfully in favour 
 of the Reformation. Several persons who had taken 
 part in the discussion were convinced by the arguments 
 of the Reformers, and joined their party; one of them a 
 Franciscan, declared his conviction before the assembly, 
 and begged pardon of God for the opposition he had 
 given to the truth, and of the people, for having misled 
 them. In less than a month the citizens of Lausanne 
 openly embraced the Reformation. Caroli was appoint- 
 ed their first pastor ; but shortly thereafter, on his re- 
 lapsing into Popery, he was succeeded by Viret, who, 
 excepting for a short interval, in which he supplied 
 Calvin's place at Geneva, continued in that position till 
 1559, when he complied with an invitation to remove 
 to Lyons; where, we are informed, he was " the instru- 
 ment of the conversion of thousands." 
 
 Passing over the history of the Reformation in the 
 other Protestant cantons, on which the information fur- 
 nished is extremely scanty, we shall now proceed to 
 direct your attention more particularly to the begin- 
 ning and progress of the work in Geneva. 
 
 REFORMATION IN GENEVA. 
 
 Farel was unquestionably the chief instrument, in 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 343 
 
 the hand of God, of effecting the Reformation at 
 Geneva. Calvin, in one of his letters, calls him justly, 
 " the father of the Genevese Church, and the father of 
 Genevese liberty." It is true, that ten years previous 
 to the arrival of Farel at Geneva, Francis Lambert, — 
 who was expelled from a monastery at Avignon, for 
 having Luther s works in his possession, — did preach 
 the Scripture doctrine at Geneva, so far as he under- 
 stood and embraced it ; but apparently with little 
 fruit. It was not until 1531, when Farel and Saunier 
 visited Geneva, and preached the gospel there, that the 
 doctrine of the Reformation appears to have made any 
 considerable progress. A variety of causes seemed to 
 retard, and render almost hopeless, the blessed change 
 which had taken place in other portions of Switzerland. 
 The political condition of Geneva, — no less than three 
 different parties claiming jurisdiction within it, name- 
 ly, the citizens, the bishop, and the duke of Savoy, — 
 the superstition and bigotry of the inhabitants, and the 
 dissoluteness of their manners, presented the most for- 
 midable obstacles to the faithful preaching of the gos- 
 pel. A man of no ordinary faith, and courage, and 
 perseverance, was required to preach the gospel of peace 
 in the midst of so much discord, and to set his face like 
 a flint against the soul-destroying errors and gross im- 
 morality of the Genevese. Such was William Farel, 
 the father of the Reformation at Geneva. 
 
 William Farel was one of the sons of a noble family 
 of that name, residing at Farel, near Gap, in Dauphiny. 
 He was born in 1489. His parents were blind, bigoted 
 Romanists ; and young Farel threw himself, with the 
 impetuosity which was one of the most striking features 
 in his character, into their superstitious practices. But 
 his active, ardent mind could not be restrained within 
 
344 LECTURE VI. 
 
 these narrow limits : he longed for light — he asked to 
 be allowed to study. His father reluctantly yielded to 
 his importunities. After having acquired all the know- 
 ledge which his own province could supply, he went, 
 in 1510, to Paris, whither the fame of the university, 
 or rather, the unseen hand of that Divine Being, who 
 destined him to be the honoured instrument of un- 
 speakable blessing to another land, attracted him. 
 
 Among the doctors of the Sorbonne, was one Lefevre, 
 who taught as a doctor in theology, — a man who, 
 though yet a Romanist, rose far superior to the preju- 
 dices and false philosophy of the age; and at the time 
 of Farel's arrival in Paris, not only endeavoured to 
 revive the study of the languages and the learning of 
 ancient times, but went to the Bible, and re-estab- 
 lished the study of the Holy Scriptures. With this 
 man Farel formed an intimate acquaintance ; and, 
 after seeking the light and rest for which he longed, in 
 the philosophy of the schools, in meditations on the 
 lives of the saints, and in the works of the doctors of 
 later times, he had recourse to the Holy Scriptures. 
 The truth was beginning to obtain an entrance into 
 the mind of old Lefevre ; he perceived the grandeur of 
 God's word ; and, throwing aside the foolish legends 
 which had hitherto occupied too much of his atten- 
 tion, he betook himself in earnest to Holy Scripture. 
 When the light had made its way into his own 
 heart, he imparted the knowledge of it to his scholars. 
 The doctrine of justification by faith, Luther's articulus 
 stantis vel cadentis ecclesice, was, without concert with 
 Luther, openly announced in the Sorbonne, by Le- 
 fevre, as early as the year lol2. Farel eagerly listen- 
 ed to these instructions: they took possession of his 
 ijoul. He now found what he had long desired, and 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 345 
 
 sought in vain. The truth was revealed to him in all 
 its intrinsic beauty and consistency: he embraced it 
 sincerely and decidedly. As the light shined into his 
 soulj the errors of Popery disappeared. The last of 
 them, the invocation of the saints, after a terrible men- 
 tal struggle, was renounced. Jesus alone appeared to 
 him the proper object of adoration; and, to use his own 
 words, " then the popedom was utterly subverted : I 
 began to detest it as diabolical, and the holy word of 
 God had the first place in my heart." 
 
 Farel diligently applied himself to the study of the 
 Scriptures in the original tongues, and in process of 
 time taught in the college of Cardinal Lemoine, in Pa- 
 ris, and was aiding to Lefevre in disseminating the 
 knowledo'e of the truth amon«: the students who fre- 
 quented that great city. After a succession of interest- 
 ing events in his life, which do not properly come with- 
 in the scope of this lecture, Farel, driven by persecution 
 from France, came to Basel, and was affectionately re- 
 ceived by ^colampadius. A short time thereafter, he 
 preached with great acceptance and success at Mont- 
 beliard, Neufchatel, Aigle, Morat, Lausanne, and Val- 
 lengin ; and, at the instance of the council of Berne, in 
 the month of September 1532, he visited Geneva, along 
 with Anthony Saunier, also a native of Dauphiny. 
 There they had repeated conferences with the friends of 
 the Reformation. The Romish ecclesiastics took the 
 alarm, and but, for the protection of the senate, would 
 have proceeded to violence. In the end Farel and his 
 companion were commanded to leave the city, which 
 they did, and returned to Orbe and Granson.* Their 
 place, however, was soon supplied by Anthony Froment, 
 
 * St'ott's Continuation, vol.iii. 
 
346 LECTURE Yl. 
 
 like the two former, a native of Daupliiny. He was a 
 young man of only twenty-three years of age, for some 
 time a disciple of Farel, and a companion of his travels 
 and sufferings. Him Farel with difficulty persuaded 
 to go to Geneva, to disseminate the knowledge of divine 
 truth. Under pretext of teaching a school, and prac- 
 tisino- medicine, he drew around him a considerable 
 number of young persons and adults, and took occasion 
 to introduce to their notice the truths of the gospel. 
 Many were deeply impressed by his discourses, applied 
 themselves to the examination of the Scriptures, learned 
 to separate the wheat from the chaff, the doctrines of God's 
 word from human inventions, and were prepared for the 
 reception of the gospel, not in word only, but in power. 
 
 Froment was aided in this good work by one Bou- 
 quet, a Franciscan, who, though a Protestant in heart, 
 preached with so much caution, that both parties alike 
 went to hear him, and who, when the success of Fro- 
 ment had occasioned his being driven from the city, 
 felt his responsibility, and became more open and de- 
 cided in the avowal of his sentiments, exposed the doc- 
 trine of the mass, irritated the ecclesiastics, and in the 
 end was obliged to leave Geneva. 
 
 It seems surprising, that two or three months after 
 these events, the council publicly allowed the introduc- 
 tion of the New Testament in the French, the vernacu- 
 lar language of Geneva. The version admitted is sup- 
 posed to have been that of Olivetan, published at Neuf- 
 chatel, in 1535, the first French Bible printed in Swit- 
 zerland. 
 
 Froment attempted to return to Geneva, but very 
 nearly lost his life in the attempt. Farel also yielded 
 to an invitation to revisit the city, but was so ill treat- 
 ed, that he was compelled to withdraw. Notwithstand- 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 347 
 
 ing, the friends of the Reformation in Geneva kept their 
 ground. They held their meetings by night, prayed, and 
 read and expounded the Scriptures, and even celebrated 
 the Lord's supper, — employing John Guerin, a pious 
 tradesman, as the distributor of the elements. The 
 Romanists were enraged, and excited tumults against 
 the reformed, which had well nigh ended in bloodshed. 
 The bishop of Geneva, having united with the duke of 
 Savoy, and thereby increased his power and influence, 
 availed himself of this favourable opportunity for 
 strengthening the cause of the Church of Rome, but 
 by an extreme exercise of his authority injured, in- 
 stead of promoting it. He addressed letters and epis- 
 copal mandates to the city, prohibiting any changes 
 to be made in the accustomed mode of preaching ; 
 prohibiting, also, the reading of the Scriptures in 
 the vulgar tongue, and commanding all persons who 
 possessed copies of the Scriptures in French or Ger- 
 man, " to burn them immediately, under pain of ex- 
 communication." The council resisted this exercise of 
 episcopal power, and issued an order, " that only the 
 gospel should be preached, and nothing delivered from 
 the pulpit which could not be proved from Scripture ;" 
 and thus, in spite of the opposition of the priests, or, 
 rather, by means of that opposition, the word of God 
 " grew mightily and prevailed." 
 
 Guy Furbiti, a Dominican, having created a con- 
 siderable ferment by his invectives against the re- 
 formers at Geneva, the Bernese took up the quarrel, 
 and insisted on the holding of a public disputation, in 
 which, after some hesitation, Furbiti consented to enter 
 into discussion with Farel or Viret, or both. The dis- 
 putation not only produced a favourable impression 
 with regard to the Protestant doctrine, but afforded 
 
348 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Farel, Viret, and Froment, the occasion for whicli they 
 longed so earnestly, of preaching the word to the 
 Genevese, They did so constantly in their lodgings. 
 This subjected them to the reproach of holding con- 
 venticles ; and the deputies from Berne, hearing of 
 this complaint, urged the council to give them the use 
 of a church. The council represented to them that 
 they could not authorise, but neither would they op- 
 pose this request. Accordingly, on Sunday the 1st 
 March 1534, Farel was conducted by a numerous body 
 of the citizens to the church of the Franciscans, where 
 he puLlicly preached for the first time in Geneva the 
 doctrine of the Reformation. His ministrations, and 
 those of Froment and Viret, issued in a rapid advance- 
 ment of the cause of truth. Many openly declared 
 their adhesion to the Protestant faith, among whom 
 were three out of the four syndics and a majority of 
 the council; men began to be convinced that the time 
 of its full and final establishment was not far distant. 
 
 At length the death-blow was given to Popery in 
 Geneva by a disputation which was held at the instance 
 of James Bernard, who, from being a zealous defender 
 of the Bomish faith, had been led by Farel to a con- 
 viction of his errors, and thought that a public dis- 
 putation, such as had been held elsewhere, might be 
 productive of good effects at Geneva. He proposed 
 to maintain against all who might choose to come for- 
 ward the following theses: — " 1. That justification is 
 to be sought only in Jesus Christ, and not in our own 
 works. 2. That religious worship is to be offered only 
 to God, and that the adoration of the saints and of 
 images is idolatrous. 3. That the Church is to be 
 governed by the word of God alone, and that human 
 traditions are both vain and pernicious. 4. That the 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 349 
 
 sacrifice of Christ is the sole and sufficient offering for 
 sin; and that the sacrifice of the mass and prayers for 
 the dead are contrary to God's word. 5. That Jesus 
 Christ is our only Mediator; and that the doctrine of 
 the intercession of the saints has been introduced by 
 human authority alone," With the full approbation of 
 the council the disputation was held in the great hall of 
 the Franciscans, and lasted from the 30th May to the 
 24th of June, — Bernard, assisted by Farel and Viret, 
 taking the lead on the one side, and Peter Caroli, then 
 a Romanist, and a doctor of the Sorbomie, and Chapuis, 
 a Dominican of Geneva, on the other. Both acknow- 
 ledged themselves vanquished, and declared publicly 
 their conversion to the Reformed faith. Almost the 
 whole city, including many ecclesiastics, united with 
 them, and the greater council of two hundred be- 
 ing formally summoned to take the question of religion 
 into consideration, after an eloquent address from Farel 
 followed by a fei^ent prayer for Divine direction, 
 issued a general edict on the 27th of August 1535, en- 
 joining public worship to be conducted according to the 
 rules of the gospel, and prohibiting all Popish idolatry. 
 " From that time forth," says Mr Scott, " Farel and his 
 colleagues preached without restraint, administered the 
 sacraments, and performed marriages, and every kind of 
 religious services in all the churches; and henceforth 
 the mass was no more publicly celebrated in Geneva." 
 
 Soon after these events the Genevese were, after a 
 short struggle, confirmed in the enjoyment of their liber- 
 ties and their independence of the Duke of Savoy, and 
 availed themselves of this to carry forward the work of 
 reformation. In conjunction with the government, 
 Farel and his fellow-labourers in the ministry, amidst 
 great discords and heart-burnings, regulated the times 
 
3-50 LECTURE VI. 
 
 and places of public worship, provided for four pastors 
 and two assistants, commanded the Sabbath to be strict- 
 ly observed, enacted laws against profaneness and licen- 
 tiousness, established a college for the education of 
 youth, at the head of which Anthony Saunier was plac- 
 ed — ^adopted means for spreading the Reformation in 
 the rural districts of the canton, and drew up and pub- 
 lished a confession of faith which was sanctioned by 
 the council in the month of November 1536. 
 
 In that year, the celebrated John Calvin arrived in 
 Geneva. I shall not attempt even a sketch of the ear- 
 lier part of his life ; in the first place, because it is al- 
 most universally known; and, secondly, because it 
 would swell to too large a bulk this memoir, I pro- 
 ceed at once to mention, that returning from Italy 
 from a visit to the Duchess of Ferrara, a distinguished 
 patroness of religion and learning, the war compelled 
 him, contrary to his intention, to travel towards Basel 
 through Dauphiny and Savoy. On coming to Geneva, 
 he visited Farel and Viret. They urged him to remain 
 and share their labours ; and, on his resisting their pro- 
 posal, Farel, with characteristic impetuosity, addressed 
 him thus: — " I take upon me to announce to you, in 
 the name of Almighty God, that, if you thus, under 
 the pretext of prosecuting your studies, refuse to labour 
 with us in the work of the Lord, his curse will rest upon 
 you, as a man that seeks his own, and not the things 
 of Jesus Christ." Calvin was persuaded by Farel's ur- 
 gency, and surrendering himself to the disposal of the 
 consistory and magistrates of Geneva, he was appointed 
 a professor of divinity, and soon after, with the consent 
 of the people, a pastor of the church, — events produc- 
 tive of the most important consequences to Geneva and 
 the world. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 351 
 
 In SO great a change of religious opinions and pro- 
 fession as took place at the reformation from Popery, 
 it was not to be supposed that all who embraced the 
 doctrines of the Reformation were men of an enlighten- 
 ed and true faith, and really converted to God. Many, 
 no doubt, were acted upon by sympathy, others by dis- 
 gust at the frivolous ceremonies of Romanism, and the 
 profligacy of the priesthood, some among the magis- 
 trates and wealthier classes by a wish to gain posses- 
 sion of the property of the Romish church, and perhaps 
 a still greater number by a love of liberty, and a desire 
 to escape from the intellectual thraldom under which 
 they and their fathers had groaned. Such men, it is 
 evident, might willingly, nay eagerly, make profession 
 of the Reformed faith, and at the same time be very 
 reluctant to place themselves practically and unreser- 
 vedly under the yoke of Christ's commandments. 
 
 Thus it was in Geneva when Calvin arrived and re- 
 solved to labour among them. The Anabaptists began 
 to show themselves in the city. That sect, however, 
 was speedily suppressed. The charge of Arianism by 
 Peter Caroli, the apostate already mentioned, was, in 
 like manner, soon disposed of. But the greatest diflfl- 
 culty the Reformers experienced in the exercise of a 
 wholesome discipline for checking the licentious man- 
 ners and habits of the Genevese. In the prosecution 
 of this important object, the ministers were opposed by 
 the people and council; and, on the 23d of April 1838, ^ 
 an order was passed, first by the Little Council, then 
 by the Grand Council, and, finally, by the assembly of 
 the people, for the banishment of Farel, Calvin, and 
 Courault, — Calvin, on being informed of the decree, 
 observing, "Had I been the servant of men, I must 
 have complained of being ill requited; but it is well 
 
352 LECTURE YI. 
 
 for me that I have served one who never deserts those 
 who devote themselves to him." The bad spirit of the 
 Genevese continued after his expulsion, and Saunier, 
 Cordier, and other friends of Farel and Calvin, met 
 with similar treatment in the Christmas following. 
 
 Calvin proceeded to Strasburg, Farel to Neufchatel : 
 Courault died soon after his extrusion. The hopes of 
 the Romanists revived. A letter was addressed to 
 them by Cardinal Sadolet, in which nothing was 
 omitted which might induce them to return to the 
 Church of Rome. Calvin, who had repeatedly address- 
 ed to his deserted flock wise and paternal letters, re- 
 plied to Sadolet's address with such force of eloquence 
 and argument as left the cardinal little or no hope of 
 success. The Genevese continued stedfast in their re- 
 jection of the Romish faith. 
 
 In the all-wise providence of God events took place 
 which opened the way for the return of Calvin to Ge- 
 neva. Of the four syndics who had taken the lead 
 in his expulsion, one was executed for murder, a se- 
 cond, endeavouring to escape apprehension for sedition, 
 fell from the town wall, and died ; the other two were 
 banished for having betrayed the interests of the city. 
 Calvin was urged by Bernard and Viret to return; the 
 pastors of Zurich seconded their solicitations ; an ho- 
 nourable deputation was sent from the Council of Ge- 
 neva with the same request : the decree of banishment 
 was rescinded. Calvin, after some delay, returned on 
 the 13th September 1541, and was honourably and 
 joyfully received. Farel, though included in the de- 
 cree, remained at Neufchatel. 
 
 Calvin's banishment had not in the least degree af- 
 fected his determination to maintain a strict scriptural 
 discipline over his flock. Addressing the council he 
 
STATE OF Ei£LIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 353 
 
 told tliem plainly that, if they desired to have him for 
 their minister, they must correct the disorders of their 
 lives — that they must either command him to abandon 
 their town a second time — or re-establish the pure dis- 
 cipline of the church, and condemn their vices to a 
 perpetual banishment. One of his first cares, therefore, 
 after his return, was to procure the establishment of a 
 regular ecclesiastical polity, including the power of 
 censure and excommunication, without which he de- 
 clared himself incapable of duly discharging his minis- 
 try. This proposal met with considerable resistance, 
 but Calvin carried his point, and the Presbyterian 
 form of discipline was established, and received the 
 sanction of the people. A new catechism was also pre- 
 pared by him, which met with remarkable acceptance, 
 insomuch, that, before Beza wrote his life, it had been 
 translated into seven different languages. In 1542, 
 Geneva received many Protestants from France, refugees 
 from persecution, to whom, as might be expected, Cal- 
 vin, himself a native of France, and driven from his 
 country by the same cause, showed the utmost attention 
 and kindness. They, on the other hand, by their sted- 
 fast profession, and consistent conduct, strengthened the 
 hands of their Genevese brethren, and forwarded the 
 work of reformation. To his incessant labours in the 
 ministry, he added the publication of^numerous and 
 voluminous works, and an extensive correspondence 
 with foreign churches. It is almost incredible that so 
 much could be accomplished by one individual. Nor 
 is it wonderful, that, after more than twenty years of 
 incessant mental exertion, his bodily health, never ro- 
 bust, continued to fail, until, on the 27th May 15G4, he 
 fell asleep in Jesus. Apprehending the near approach 
 of death, he wished once more to address the senate in 
 
354 LECTURE VI. 
 
 their hall. They, out of tenderness to him, proposed to 
 meet with him in his own house ; which they did accord- 
 ingly next day. He took them to witness, that he had de- 
 livered purely and sincerely the work with which he was 
 put in trust; thanked them for their forbearance; remind- 
 ed them of their duty to God, if they would have the 
 republic to continue safe ; besought them to pardon his 
 infirmities ; and having prayed that the Almighty God 
 would shower down upon them the gifts of his grace, he 
 shook hands with each of them ; and they took leave of 
 him with tears, " parting from him as from a common 
 parent.""^ 
 
 On the following day he addressed the ministers in 
 language having peculiar reference to the duties of their 
 office, and with the same meekness and humility as re- 
 spected himself; and they also " took leave of him," says 
 Beza, "with sad hearts, and by no means with dry eyes." 
 
 On a review of these brief sketches of the Reformation 
 in Switzerland, one cannot fail being struck with the 
 perfection of the great work which Zwingli, as the in- 
 strument in the hand of God, commenced, and Calvin 
 consummated, and with the remarkable agreement of 
 the Swiss reformers on all the essential doctrines of their 
 common faith. It was no partial amendment, no mere 
 purification, which they effected : it was an entire change 
 of principle and doctrine. They were not servile imi- 
 tators of one another; but, taking the Bible and the 
 whole Bible as their guide, they were, with a few 
 exceptions, of one heart and one mind regarding the 
 faith of the gospel, and the service and worship of God. 
 
 * Scott's Continuation, vol. iii. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 355 
 
 Beholding in the same mirror the glory of the Lord, 
 they were changed into the same image ; and feeling the 
 obligation to comply with all that the Lord commanded 
 them, they left no part of the old system unreformed — 
 no portion of the spiritual temple unrestored. The 
 form of sound words was set forth in all its beauty and 
 harmony; and the people of Switzerland, hearing their 
 pastors speaking the same things, and agreeing in one 
 judgment, were confirmed in the persuasion, that, in 
 embracing the doctrine of God's word, they were not 
 following cunningly-devised fables, but were receiving 
 the truth of the living God. 
 
 In one particular we are constrained to admit that the 
 vSwiss reformers, in common with all, or almost all, the 
 great and good men of that age, failed to perceive the 
 mind of God. They did not understand the true prin- 
 ciples of religious toleration; although, as Dr M'Crie 
 justly observes, their Christian feelings generally pre- 
 vented them from following practically their erroneous 
 views. The error of almost all the Swiss reformers con- 
 sisted in this — that, because Scripture hath declared it 
 to be the duty of the civil magistrate to countenance, 
 and, in his place, to encourage the true religion, there- 
 fore, by his authority as a civil magistrate, he ought to 
 put down by force heresy and error. They did not see 
 clearly the line of demarcation between the civil and 
 ecclesiastical authorities, nor at all times apprehend the 
 vast importance of keeping them separate and distinct. 
 In the case of Bertelier,* when the senate, contrary to 
 their former deeds and oaths, decreed that to them it 
 should belong to give final judgment in matters of ex- 
 
 * Scott's Continuation, vol. iii. p. 44G. 
 
356 LECTURE VI. 
 
 communication, and to absolve whom it pleased them, 
 Calvin, with his usual firmness, said, " Before this decree 
 take place, either my blood or banishment shall sign it." 
 Yet neither he nor the mild and gentle Zwingli remon- 
 strated as they ought against the violent proceedings of 
 the governments of Zurich and Geneva towards men 
 convicted or suspected of heresy. Would that we could 
 say, with regard to the well-known case of Servetus, that 
 Calvin did nothing more than give his opinion ! History 
 acquits him of the fierceness and malignity of the igno- 
 rant blood-thirsty persecutor : his error, and it was 
 great, was an error in judgment, not in heart. 
 
 The evil consequences of thus confounding the civil 
 with the ecclesiastical power in matters of religion, are 
 felt by the churches in Switzerland to the present day. 
 Republicanism is not that free form of government 
 which many theorists have imagined. Where the po- 
 pulation is small, it is almost sure to degenerate into 
 an oligarchy; where it is large, the voice of the multi- 
 tude too often prevails over law and justice. Thus it 
 has been with the Protestant states of Switzerland. 
 When the masses of the people ceased to be religious, 
 they could not endure the sound doctrine of their faith- 
 ful evangelical pastors, — the populace insulted them, 
 the rulers in council imprisoned or banished them. It 
 is only when Christ rules supreme in his own house, 
 and the civil magistrate confines himself strictly to his 
 own province, that religious liberty is safe, whether un- 
 der one form of government or another. A great prince 
 is reported to have said, and his words ought to be writ- 
 ten on the door of every council-room, and every court 
 of justice, " My kingdom ends where that of conscience 
 begins." Happy the people, happy the church and the 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 357 
 
 country, where this great principle is recognised and 
 practically observed. 
 
 STATE OF EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND AFTER 
 THE REFORMATION. 
 
 M. Merle d'Aubigne has justly remarked^ that " the 
 fall of a stone is not more natural, than is the tendency 
 of the individual, and of the church, to turn aside from 
 the living God." When, with the exception of one 
 small spot on the surface of the earth, the whole world 
 was overspread with midnight darkness, God was pleased 
 to send his own Son to be the light of the world, and 
 by the ministry of Christ and his apostles, to reveal the 
 New Testament dispensation in all its healing and life- 
 giving power; a church was taken from among the 
 Gentiles; in a very short space of time the knowledge 
 of the truth was imparted to a large portion of the then 
 known world ; the heathen oracles ceased to utter their 
 responses ; the mighty fabric of heathen idolatry fell to 
 the ground; the gospel, in its converting power, was 
 felt in many a land; and the pleasing prospect was 
 presented, of the permanent universal establishment of 
 the reign of Messiah in every part of the earth. But 
 the time, " the set time," was not come, for the accom- 
 plishment of that glorious event. It was to be made 
 more glorious still, by the victory which the King of 
 Zion was to achieve over systems of error and supersti- 
 tion, more artfully contrived, and perhaps more deeply 
 rooted, than paganism, — systems calling themselves 
 Christian, but as far removed from Christianity in their 
 principles and their spirit, as the heathenism which the 
 preaching of God's word had so recently subverted and 
 
 2 c 
 
358 LECTURE VI. 
 
 destroyed. Even in the days of the apostles, the first 
 of these mysteries of iniquity had begun to work in the 
 church of Christ — the purity of the Christian faith was 
 obscured by the principles and maxims of a false philo- 
 sophy — vital godliness declined — each century, as it re- 
 volved, brought in some new corruption in the doctrine 
 and worship of God, until at length the Man of Sin, 
 having arrived at the fulness of his stature, stood forth 
 in all the hideousness and deformity which the light of 
 the Reformation was destined to expose. 
 
 Times of refreshing came from the presence of the 
 Lord. His Spirit was poured out, nearly at one and 
 the same period on men in various countries where the 
 Romish Antichrist reigned. They asked for the " old 
 ways," — they sought for them in the infallible records 
 of God's Word, — they cast off the slough of a corrupted 
 Christianity, vital religion once more began to prevail; 
 and good men were again encouraged to hope that the 
 time was near when the whole earth should be filled 
 with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, and the 
 name of Christ should be glorious from the rising to 
 the setting sun. 
 
 It is not from want of power in the King of Zion that 
 these fair and pleasing prospects have not been realised. 
 The truth is, it is not easy to determine in what cir- 
 cumstances the Divine power in the church is most 
 signally displayed, whether in preserving a small rem- 
 nant of faithful and holy men in times of almost uni- 
 versal apostacy and wickedness, and in causing the 
 fruits of righteousness to spring forth and be matured 
 amidst the briers and thorns of human corruption; or 
 in that wonderful triumph which he shall one day 
 achieve when Satan shall be shut up in the bottomless 
 pit, and shall deceive the nations no more, and pure 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 359 
 
 and undefiled Christianity shall everywhere prevail, and 
 the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms 
 of our God and of his Christ. It is the will of God 
 that we should judge of his infinite power and wisdom 
 in his church, as much by the difficulties and obstacles 
 which it surmounts, as by the rapidity of the conquests 
 effected by Christ and his faithful followers in Him. 
 " The law entered that sin might abound:" that "where 
 sin abounded grace might much more abound." The 
 Sun of Righteousness arose upon the Gentile nations that 
 they might be "without excuse," — if they rejected the 
 gospel : men sinned against that light, and became 
 more impiously wicked than their fathers, that the pow- 
 er and goodness of a righteous and merciful God might 
 again be seen in the awakening of the spiritually dead 
 to life, in the resurrection of his faithful witnesses, and 
 the vindication of his own truth and cause in the world. 
 The Romish Antichrist was not overthrown by 
 the Reformation. The beast received a deadly wound 
 with a sword, but continued to live. In many coun- 
 tries in Christendom, Popery has continued and still 
 continues to subsist in all the plenitude of its former 
 power, so far at least, as respects the minds and consci- 
 ences of the people, — the same false doctrine is profess- 
 ed — the same idolatry practised — the same superstiti- 
 ous reverence is entertained for a seducing and tyran- 
 nical priesthood. And in the unsearchable wisdom of 
 God, another Antichrist has been permitted to arise in 
 the heart of Protestantism ; — infidelity, in the form of a 
 proud and open rejection of Christianity, and in the less 
 repulsive forms of Arianism, Socinianism, and German 
 neology, demonstrates anew the tendency of the human 
 heart to depart from the living God, and is preparing 
 the world for that most glorious of all the victories of 
 
3G0 LECTURE VI. 
 
 the Prince of Peace, in which Antichrist in all its forms 
 shall be overcome, and Christ, and the saints of Christ 
 shall reign in the earth. 
 
 We shall commence our notices respecting the state of 
 religion in Switzerland after the Reformation, with Ge- 
 neva, one of the least populous of the cantons, but one 
 which, from its vicinity to France, the fame of Farel and 
 Calvin and their immediate successors, and other circum- 
 stances to which we shall have occasion to allude, occu- 
 pies a larger space in the eye of the church historian, 
 than any other portion of that interesting country. 
 
 Beza succeeded Calvin in the professor's chair and in 
 the ministry at Geneva, and fully maintained the repu- 
 tation which it had already acquired. He was follow- 
 ed by men of the same principles, among whom may be 
 mentioned particularly, the elder Turretine and Pictet. 
 A^ital religion and a sound theology continued to pros- 
 per, the one, no doubt, lending its aid to the preserva- 
 tion and progress of the other. The tendency to cor- 
 ruption in doctrine and morals was happily retarded by 
 the influx of thousands of persecuted Protestants from 
 France and elsewhere, down to the end of the seven- 
 teenth century.* Attachment to the Protestant doc- 
 trine, and a decided opposition to Popery were kept 
 alive by the presence, and sufferings, and steadfastness, 
 and godly life of their persecuted fellow-Christians; so 
 that until the first quarter of the eighteenth century 
 had elapsed, there does not appear to have been any 
 very signal departure from the purity and simplicity of 
 Protestant faith and manners. From that period, how- 
 ever, Geneva began rapidly to decline, and the minis- 
 
 ♦ It is a remarkable fact, that all the present members of the 
 committee of the Evangelical Society of Geneva are descend- 
 ants of refuarees. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 361 
 
 ters and professors of the city of Farel and Calvin, one 
 of the most distinguished nurseries of the Reformation, 
 misled by the delusive lights of an infidel philosophy, 
 putting their own reason in the ipl^ce of revelation, and 
 subjecting the truth of God's word to its fallible and 
 erring judgments, deliberately thrust out every one of 
 the fundamental doctrines of Christianity from what 
 they still continued to call the Protestant faith, and 
 substituted the lifeless body of Arianism for the animat- 
 ing truths of the gospel of Christ. 
 
 The eighteenth century may justly be termed the 
 winter of Protestantism. The Spirit of Grod seems to 
 have withdrawn his genial life-giving influences — the 
 Sun of Righteousness, obscured by the clouds of infidel 
 and heretical opinions, ceased in a great measure to put 
 forth his fructifying power. In Germany, in England, 
 and even in our own highly- favoured country, men ap- 
 peared to have lost their relish for the pure and una- 
 dulterated word of God. Instead of the words of Christ, 
 which alone are " spirit and life," to the dead soul of 
 unconverted man, men were fed with a cold and jejune 
 morality: nothing was ministered to their souls which 
 could convince them of sin, or comfort them under 
 affliction, or urge them to a life of holiness. In many 
 places, the divinity of our Saviour, the reality and 
 efficacy of his atonement, the necessity of the work 
 of the Spirit, were openly impugned. The churches 
 were deserted, the Sabbath was profaned, the plainest 
 principles and laws of morality were violated, and pro- 
 fessing Protestants seemed to imagine that they had 
 been rescued from the yoke of Popish tyranny, only 
 that they might indulge in impiety and licentiousness. 
 
 Nowhere was this mournful defection more strikingly 
 manifested than in the citv of Geneva. 
 
362 LECTURE VI. 
 
 For preserving uniformity and perpetuity in the pro- 
 fession of the Protestant faith, the government and peo- 
 ple of Geneva had publicly and solemnly sanctioned the 
 catechism of Calvin, mentioned in a former part of this 
 lecture — the Helvetic Confession, and, more recently, a 
 document called the Consensas, prepared and agreed to 
 at the synod of Dort. At the commencement of the 
 eighteenth century, the obligation to sign these formulas 
 was, at the instance of Alphonse Turretine, abrogated, 
 but illegally, because without consent of the people. 
 This was the commencement of that downward progress 
 to which I have referred. The alluring and pernicious 
 writings of Voltaire and Rousseau, and their residence 
 for some time in the neighbourhood of Geneva, by per- 
 verting the principles and corrupting the morals of the 
 inhabitants, gave additional force to the evil tendency 
 of ministers and professors; till, as we have stated, every 
 vestige of a pure Protestantism was effaced, and the 
 glory departed from the city, which the Spirit of God, 
 by the instrumentality of its great and much honoured 
 Reformers, had revived and sanctified. The following 
 facts, will appear, to every candid reader, to furnish 
 abundant proof of this charge. 
 
 In a volume of the French Encyclopaedia, published 
 about the middle of last century, D'Alembert, on the 
 part of the French infidels, claimed the pastors of Gene- 
 va as their auxiliaries in the assault which was being 
 made by them against Christianity. He represented 
 them as men who had taken from Christianity every 
 thing which distinguished it from a merely philosophi- 
 cal system, and in general terms approved of its moral- 
 ity, but suppressed or cast aside all its peculiar doc- 
 trines. " Purgatory," he says, " which has been one of 
 the principal causes of the separation from the Church 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 363 
 
 of Rome, is now the only punishment, that many of 
 them admit, after death. To say all in one word, many 
 of the pastors of Geneva have no other religion but a 
 perfect Socinianism, rejecting all that they call myster- 
 ies." The pastors complained of, and in vain attempt- 
 ed to answer and refute these charges. Rousseau reit- 
 erated and maintained them. " We ask," he says, " of 
 the ministers of the Church of Geneva, if Jesus Christ 
 be God ? They dare not answer. A philosopher with 
 a glance of the eye penetrates their character. He sees 
 them to be Arians, Socinians, Deists — he proclaims it 
 and thinks he does them honour. They are alarmed, 
 terrified ; they come together, they discuss, they are in 
 agitation, they know not to which of the saints they 
 should turn, and after earnest consultations, delibera- 
 tions, conferences, all vanishes in an ampliigouri, (logo- 
 machy), and they neither say yes, nor no. Gene- 
 vans, these gentlemen, your ministers, in truth, are very 
 singular people ! They do not know what they believe, 
 or what they do not believe: they do not even know 
 what they would wish to appear to believe. Their only 
 manner of establishing their faith is to attack the faith 
 of others."* 
 
 These formidable charges, these cutting sarcasms, did 
 not produce, and could not be expected to produce, any 
 change on the sentiments and false opinions of the pas- 
 tors and professors of Geneva. In the academy the theo- 
 logical professors ceased to teach Christianity; they 
 spoke to their pupils of Plato, and Socrates, and Cicero, 
 and literally said nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ and 
 the Holy Spirit. The pastors preached as they were 
 taught, and the people of Geneva loved to have it so. 
 
 * Haldane's Letter to Cheneviere, p. 135. 
 
364 LECTURE YI. 
 
 Until tlie commencement of the present century, there 
 was little to distinguish the professors, and pastors, and 
 polished inhabitants of Geneva, from a heathen city in 
 the darkest and most heathen age. 
 
 But God would not leave this once highly-favoured 
 city in this state of spiritual destitution. In his good 
 pleasure he presented the signs of a second Keforma- 
 tion— a reformation from a false and misnamed Pro- 
 testantism, to the knowledge and the faith of pure 
 Christianity. Near the commencement of the present 
 century, when the spirit of revival was poured out on 
 our own and other countries, one or two ministers of 
 Geneva began to preach the doctrine of salvation by 
 faith in Christ Jesus, through the sovereign grace and 
 mercy of God. The people listened with astonishment ; 
 some of them were irritated against the preachers; and 
 one of these (Dr Malan) was interdicted and driven 
 from Geneva. But the truth continued to excite atten- 
 tion, and, it is believed, savingly converted some to the 
 faith and obedience of Christ. The pastors and profes- 
 sors apprehended the revival of evangelical doctrine and 
 the subversion of their influence, and on the 3d of May 
 1817 ordained the following regulations to be signed by 
 every minister before he should be allowed " to exercise 
 the pastoral functions," and by every student, before he 
 should be " set apart for the gospel ministry'' : — 
 
 " We promise, as long as we reside and preach in 
 the canton of Geneva, to abstain from discussing, either 
 in whole discourses, or in parts of our discourses, the 
 subjoined topics : 
 
 " 1st, The manner in which the Divine nature is 
 united to the person of Jesus Christ. 
 
 " 2dli/, Original sin. 
 
 " 3dl7/, The operation of grace, or effectual calling. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 365 
 
 " 4,thly, Predestination. 
 
 " We engage also, not to oppose in our public dis- 
 courses, the sentiments of any minister or pastor on 
 these subjects. 
 
 " Lastly, We promise that, if we should be led to 
 mention these topics, we will do so without expatiating 
 on our own views, or departing more than is unavoid- 
 able from the words of the Holy Scriptures."* 
 
 The mention of the last three topics as doctrines 
 which their ministers were forbidden to preach, affords 
 sufficient proof, to those who are acquainted with the 
 doctrine of the Geneva Reformers, that the Compagnie 
 had entirely abjured the faith which these venerable men 
 taught and professed; and with regard to the first, 
 there is something extremely disingenuous in the man- 
 ner in which they virtually prohibit the declaration of 
 that mysterious, but most important and fundamental 
 truth of Christianity — the doctrine of our Saviour's divi- 
 nity. It was well known to every person in Geneva, that 
 they never taught that doctrine in their pulpits or in 
 their schools. It was not the " manner" of the union 
 to which they objected, but the fact of the union of 
 the Divine and human natures in the person of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Before adverting to another mournful proof of the 
 rejection of pure Christianity by the professors and pas- 
 tors of Geneva, I am called to bear a willing tribute 
 to the memory of a countryman of our own not long 
 deceased, to whom, as one of the most eminent instru- 
 
 « Haldane's Letter, p. 85. It will scarcely be credited that 
 these men proposed to celebrate, and did celebrate the third 
 centenary of the Reformation in Geneva in 1835, and invited 
 some of the Protestant churches, and among these the Church 
 of Scotland, to send representatives to the festival. 
 
36G LECTURE YI. 
 
 ments under God of the late revival in Geneva, the 
 Christian men of that city and canton owe a debt of 
 gratitude which they have not been slow to acknowledge. 
 The person to whom I refer is Mr Robert Haldane. 
 From the time when he was himself awakened, he felt a 
 strong desire to impart the knowledge of the truth to 
 others in his own and in foreign countries. Prevented 
 by the timid and now happily altered policy of Britain 
 from going to India with that object in view, he direc- 
 ted his attention to the Continent. He went thither 
 about thirty years ago, chiefly, I believe we may say, 
 entirely with the intention, if God should bless his la- 
 bours, of reviving Protestantism and winning souls to 
 Christ. As the best mode of accomplishing that end, 
 he made it his endeavour wheresoever he travelled in 
 France and Switzerland to gain the acquaintance and 
 influence the minds of the so-called Protestant pastors. 
 For some time he met with little success, — but, coming 
 to Geneva, he was unexpectedly encouraged to remain 
 there, as he himself states, by a visit from a young 
 man a student in divinity, who called in place of M. 
 Moulinie, one of the pastors in Geneva, to conduct Mr 
 and Mrs Haldane to see a model of the mountains a 
 little way out of town. With him Mr H. immediately 
 entered into conversation on the subject of religion, on 
 which he found him willing to receive information. 
 The student returned with him to the inn, and remain- 
 ed till late at night. He came back next morning with 
 another student equally ignorant with himself of the 
 Bible and its precious truths. These two brought six 
 others in the same state of mind, with whom Mr H. had 
 many and long conversations. Their visits became so 
 frequent that it was at length arranged that they should 
 meet with him at a fixed hour, three times a-week, with 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IX SWITZERLAND. 367 
 
 a view to conversation. Mr Haldane took the Epistle 
 to the Romans as his text, and continued to expound 
 that portion of Scripture during the whole of the winter 
 of 1816-17, and until the termination of their studies 
 in the following summer, during which period almost 
 all the students in theology regularly attended. Be- 
 sides these, some who did not wish to appear with the 
 students came at different hours; and several of the in- 
 habitants of Geneva, unconnected with the schools of 
 learning, and of both sexes, occasionally visited him in 
 the afternoon to receive instruction respecting the 
 gospel. 
 
 The result of these truly Christian and beneficent efforts 
 was, that out of eighteen students w^ho attended, sixteen 
 were truly converted. Several have entered into their 
 Master's joy; the remainder, dispersed in different parts 
 of the continent as pastors of congregations, are preach- 
 ing with fidelity and ardour the uncorrupted gospel of 
 Christ ; and two of them, Dr Merle d' Aubigne, the well- 
 known author of the History of the Reformation, and 
 Dr Gaussen, ex-pastor of Satigny, and author of a re- 
 cently published work on Inspiration, are professors in 
 the new Theological College at Geneva. Besides these 
 blessed fruits of Mr Haldane's self-denied and devoted 
 efforts, a very considerable impression was made on the 
 other inhabitants of Geneva; so great, as truly to 
 amount to a revival of spiritual religion. In 1827, a 
 venerable Christian layman, now deceased, referring to 
 the happy change thus produced, told the author of 
 this lecture, that, if Mr Haldane were then to revisit 
 Geneva, he would not know it for the same place. The 
 regulations of the Compagnie, mentioned in the preced- 
 ing pages, owed their origin in a great measure to the 
 
368 LECTURE VI. 
 
 success which accompanied the labours of our much- 
 honoured Scottish evangelist. 
 
 We return to the case of Dr Gaussen. 
 
 At the time of Mr Haldane's arrival in Geneva, he 
 was ordained pastor; but was one of those who attended 
 Mr Haldane's expositions and were savingly benefitted 
 by them. Appointed to the parish of Satigny, a few 
 miles distant from the town of Geneva, he devoted him- 
 self with the zeal and energy of one who knew the truth, 
 and felt its power, to his pastoral duties. The Geneva 
 catechism, (Calvin's,) one of the standards of the Pro- 
 testant church there, and one of the best summaries of 
 Christian doctrine, had, in a variety of successive edi- 
 tions, been gradually and surreptitiously altered, till 
 every one of the great doctrines of Christianity, viz. the 
 divinity of our Saviour, the fall of man, justification by 
 faith, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, were ex- 
 cluded, and it had become utterly useless, or rather per- 
 nicious as a book of elementary religious instruction, 
 " so abstract and so dry, that it produced in the youth 
 a disgust of religion, and never spoke to the heart. ""^ 
 Not long after M. Gaussen received the deep impressions 
 of religion to which we have alluded, he ceased to teach 
 this catechism to the youth of his congregation, or in 
 his examinations with a view to the admission of com- 
 municants; and, that he might give the least offence 
 possible to his colleagues, confined himself to expositions 
 of the sacred Scriptures. He pursued this course for 
 eleven years, having no other ambition, as himself de- 
 clares, than to preach the gospel in the rural district in 
 which his lot was cast, and to bring souls to the know- 
 
 * Lettres de M. Pasteur Gaussen a la Vendrable Compagnie, 
 p. 5. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 3G9 
 
 ledge of the Saviour — abstaining from controversy and 
 from personalities, and contenting himself with publish- 
 ing, in the least offensive manner, and in concert with 
 his father and friend, the pastor Cellerier, an. exposition 
 of his faith, that his flock might know, from the time 
 of his entrance into the ministry, what he believed, and 
 what he preached.* 
 
 After performing in this manner the duties of a 
 faithful minister for fourteen years, not, it is hoped and 
 believed, without some seals of his ministry, the Com- 
 pagnie, offended by the progress which evangelical reli- 
 gion and true piety were making in the town and canton 
 of Geneva, and by the share which M. Gaussen had, as 
 a servant of Christ, in effecting this blessed change, in 
 the month of October 1830, whilst they acknowledo-ed 
 the numerous defects of their own catechism, and inti- 
 mated to M. Gaussen that they were employed in cor- 
 recting it, insisted on his resuming the use of it in the 
 school of his parish, and in his own instructions; a 
 demand which M. Gaussen mildly, but firmly and de- 
 cidedly refused.f 
 
 * Lettres, pp. 12, 13. 
 
 f Dr Heugh, in his interesting work entitled Notices of the 
 State of Religion in Geneva and Belgium, has inadvertently stated, 
 at p. 82, that " Dr Gaussen consented to use the catechism, with 
 the express understanding, that he should he allowed to teach 
 also the doctrines which he believed;" and that the Company 
 were encouraged by his submission, in regard to the catechism, 
 to require him to withdraw the published letters referred to in 
 the margin. 
 
 Dr Heugh appears to have been led into this mistake by M. 
 Gaussen's letter of the 12th November 1830, (Lettres, &c. p. 7 1 ) 
 in which he does not object to the recital of the obnoxious cate- 
 chism — obnoxious, because deprived of the marrow and sub- 
 stance of gospel-truth — to children and catechumens in the school 
 
370 LECTURE VI. 
 
 This demand on the part of the Compagnie, and M. 
 Gaussen's refusal, gave rise to proceedings against 
 him, on the part of the Compagnie — the narrative 
 of which presents on the one hand, one of the finest 
 
 or iu the church, on occasion of the Sabbath catechising, but in 
 which he expresses his persuasion that the Compagnie did not 
 intend to abridge the liberty which he enjoyed of teaching his 
 flock the great and fundamental truths on which the catechism 
 was silent. The Compagnie, in their answer to M. Gaussen's 
 letter, (Lettres, &c., p. 75) seem to have understood him as 
 having made a much larger concession than his language ex- 
 presses or implies. It is evident, from the subsequent letters of 
 M. Gaussen, that nothing was farther from his intention than 
 his consenting to use — that is, to teach the deistical catechism 
 of the Compagnie. His refusal to do this was the origin of the 
 whole process. To yield this vital point was to give up all. I 
 have the authority of Dr Gaussen for saying, that he trusts he 
 would rather have suffered death. " /'ose bien dire que 
 fcurais plutoi souffert la mort,'^ than accept the catechism of 
 the compagnie. His sentiments on this subject are expressed 
 with great beauty and simplicity in the following passage: — 
 
 " Je sais bien que, pour les enfans de ma paroisse, il y aurait 
 entre mes mains quelques remedes a I'emploi du catechisme ae- 
 tuel. Je sais bien que je pourrais comme je I'ai fait quelques 
 temps, en remplir les lacunes, en montrer les erreurs, en reparer 
 les effets; je pourrais aussi le laisser reciter a quelques-uns 
 des enfans, et u'en pas tenir plus de compte dans mes explica- 
 tions subsequentes que s'il n'en eut jamais dte question. II y 
 aurait pour cela quelques remedes. 
 
 '' Mais si j'ai reju le titre de ministre de Jesus Christ au milieu 
 de mes concitoyens; mais si je suis de sa part une sentinelle en 
 Israel ; et si tandis que sa divinite fait la consolation et I'esper- 
 ance de mon ame; si tandis que je sais qu'il n'y a de vie que dans 
 la foi en son sang, si, au lieu de protester contre un Uvre qui 
 radconnait la divmite' de mon Sauveur et le chemin de la vie, je 
 venais a conniver avec I'erreur, en me laissant mettre ce livre 
 entre les mains, pour Taller moi-meme porter ensuite aux en* 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 371 
 
 displays of argumentative eloquence, conjoined with 
 Christian firmness and moderation, and, on the other, 
 the most reckless disregard of common justice and the 
 forms of law, which are anywhere to be found. In his 
 letters to the Compagnie, M. Gaussen denies the right of 
 the pastors to insist on his teaching any other catechism 
 or formulary but those which had received the sanction 
 of the state and people of Geneva — boldly claims as the 
 minister of an established church, the liberty under 
 laws (ordonnances) unrepealed and in force, of teaching 
 his parishioners the truth of God according to the Scrip- 
 tures and the recognised standards of the Church, and 
 declares his determination to submit to any sacrifice, 
 rather than betray his Master's cause and wound his 
 conscience. The Compagnie, on the other hand, con- 
 scious of the weakness of their cause, conduct their dis- 
 cussions with shut doors, afibrd M. Gaussen no oppor- 
 tunity of defending himself, insist on his withdrawing 
 the letters which he had been compelled to publish in 
 his own defence, and on his refusing to comply with 
 their demand, terminated their illegal and informal pro- 
 ceedings, by the following sentence : — 
 " 1. M. Gaussen is censured. 
 
 fans de ma paroisse; alors pour cela, bientot il n'y aurait plus 
 de remede; je ne serais pas net de leur sang; j'aurais a ren- 
 dre compte d'avoir abandonne la cause de mes concitoyens, 
 comma celle de mon Dieu; j'aurais renie mon Maitre devant lea 
 homraes." — Lettres, &e., pp. 53, 54. 
 
 M. Gaussen, for the sake of peace, and that he might continue 
 to occupy the sphere of usefulness in which Pi'ovidence had 
 placed him, was willing, in obedience to the church-court to 
 which he was subject, to permit the catechism of the Compag- 
 nie to be recited, but could not conscientiously teach it or re- 
 commend it to his parishioners. It may be questioned whether 
 he was at hberty to concede so much to the Compagnie. 
 
372 LECTURE YI. 
 
 " 2. He is suspended for a year from the right of sit- 
 ting in the Compagnie, except in cases where he shall 
 be specially sent for," &c.* 
 
 We have given this brief narrative of the proceedings 
 in the case of Dr Gaussen, partly with the view of show- 
 ing the un-evangelical character of the pastors at Gene- 
 va, and partly for the purpose of adverting to one of 
 the most important events in modern times in the his- 
 tory of evangelical religion on the continent of Europe: 
 we mean the establishment of the Evangelical Society 
 of Geneva. 
 
 About the time of M. Gaussen's censure and suspen- 
 sion, M. Merle d'Aubigne, who had for some time been 
 officiating as pastor in one of the Protestant churches in 
 Brussels, returned to Geneva. Offended with the hereti- 
 cal opinions of the pastors, and encouraged by the pro- 
 gress of truth and vital piety in the canton, he resolved, 
 in concert with M. Gaussen and M. Galland, also a pas- 
 tor at Geneva, to establish a society having for its ob- 
 ject the dissemination of gospel truth. In a short time 
 the society was formed, including, as a part of its plan, 
 the institution of a school of theology; and its forma- 
 tion was announced by public circulars. The Compag- 
 nie complained to -the consistory, demanding of that 
 court that M. Gaussen should be deprived of his office 
 as pastor of Satigny, and that he and MM. Galland 
 
 * The case of M. Gaussen affords a fine illustration of the 
 immense advantages of a religious establishment when it is on 
 the side of truth. If its laws be duly administered, it forms a 
 shield to faithful men amidst many faithless, and in the event 
 of the revival of pure religion, strengthens the hands of the 
 preachers of the word, and encourages the profession of the 
 truth as it is in Jesus. The writer does not, in this remark, 
 attempt to justify the errors and defects of the Genevese and 
 other Swiss Protestant establishments. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 373 
 
 and Merle, ministers, should be interdicted from preach- 
 ing in the churches and chapels of the canton. The 
 consistory in a summary manner complied with the 
 request of the Compagnie, and the government soon 
 after sanctioned and confirmed their sentence. 
 
 Happily for Geneva, and for the Christian world, 
 there is a greater measure of political freedom there 
 than in the other cantons. The government, though 
 it confirmed the sentence of the consistory, did not in- 
 terfere to prevent the establishment or continuance of 
 the Evangelical Society. It pursued its bold and 
 Christian course with indomitable firmness and energy, 
 and stands forth at the present moment the honoured 
 instrument of training men for the ministry in Switzer- 
 land, France, Germany, and Italy, and even in Ca- 
 nada, and of distributing in the former of these coun- 
 tries Bibles and tracts, on which the Divine blessing 
 has rested in a very remarkable degree. The report 
 of the Society for last year bears, that the actual num- 
 ber of students in the theological school was thirty-six, 
 viz. twenty in the school of theology, and sixteen in the 
 preparatory school. Of the actual students, eleven were 
 Swiss, eleven French, six Waldenses, three Belgians, 
 two Germans, two Italians, and one Scotch. Under the 
 head of Bible distribution and colportage, it states, that 
 its colporteurs had, during the year, sold about 11,000 
 copies of the Scriptures, and above 100,000 tracts. 
 Under that of foreign evangelization, the Society re- 
 ports, that its evangelists or missionaries, amidst al- 
 most continual opposition from the Romish priests, and 
 false Protestants, and Plymouth brethren, are not with- 
 out cheering indications of the Divine presence and 
 blessing. And notwithstanding the intolerance both 
 •f the Protestant and Catholic cantons, the success of 
 
 2 D 
 
374 lecttTre VI. 
 
 the Society in tlie diffusion of gospel truth in Switzer- 
 land has far exceeded its expectations.* In addition 
 to these bold and liberal efforts for the dissemination of 
 Divine truth, the Society has opened a place of worship 
 in Geneva, (the Oratoire), where the gospel is preached, 
 and the sacraments are dispensed. The expenditure of 
 the Society an all these different objects, for the year 
 ending 31st March 1844, considerably exceeded 100,000 
 francs. May we not, on contemplating these splendid 
 efforts of Christian liberality and zeal, cherish the fond 
 expectation, that Geneva is destined to become, in the 
 present age, as in the age of the Reformation, one of the 
 fountains whence the pure stream of Christian know- 
 ledge shall issue for the refreshment of the nations now 
 perishing for lack of knowledge? 
 
 The altered political condition of the canton of Ge- 
 neva operates to a certain extent as a discouragement 
 to these expectations. 
 
 At the restoration of the republic in 1815, the poli- 
 tical leaders of the canton craved of the Congress of 
 Vienna the cession of certain French and Savoyard vil- 
 lages on the right and left banks of the Rhone, with a 
 view to the concentration of the territories of the can- 
 ton. The request was granted. By the treaty of Tu- 
 rin in 1816 with the court of Sardinia, a new territory 
 was formed, including a considerable proportion of a Ro- 
 manist population. Before that period, all the Gene- 
 vese were Protestants, and returned only Protestant re- 
 presentatives to the Legislative Assembly: now the 
 number of Protestant and Popish representatives is 
 
 * The governments of the Valais, Lucerne, and other can- 
 tons, have passed laws so severe against proselytisra from Po- 
 pery, that it is said that it were more easy to preach the gos- 
 pel in Italy than in these places. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 375 
 
 nearly equal; and, considering the intolerance of the 
 Popish cantons to which we have alluded, the friends of 
 Protestantism have just ground to fear for their reli- 
 gious liberty, if the Catholics should obtain the majo- 
 rity. These apprehensions have led to the recent pub- 
 lication by Dr Merle d'Aubigne, of his animated pam- 
 phlets on what he terms " The Church Question of Ge- 
 neva." Let it be the fervent prayer of British and 
 other Christians that these fears may not be realized; 
 and remembering that prayer without the use of means 
 cannot be acceptable, or procure the blessing, let them 
 aid, according to their abilities, the Evangelical Society 
 of Geneva, now so earnestly and successfully occupied 
 in promoting the cause of gospel truth, not in Switzer- 
 land only, but throughout the earth. It is in truth the 
 great bulwark of Protestantism in that country, and, 
 so far as we can judge, the destined instrument, in the 
 hands of God, of preserving, for a time at least, its reli- 
 gious liberty. 
 
 At the time of the negociations, which terminated in 
 the treaty of Turin, a member of the Compagnie, now 
 one of the Professors of the Evangelical Theological 
 Seminary, entreated the pastors to go en masse to the 
 council, to represent to the citizens that the treaty 
 would unprotestantise them, and that it was a treaty 
 which their fathers would have resisted to the death. 
 But after deliberating upon the subject at several sit- 
 tings, one of the most influential of the pastors and 
 professors quashed the proposal by this prediction: 
 " Gentlemen, the Catholics will melt before us as snow 
 before the fire." " In place of that," says my inform- 
 ant, " they have increased in number from year to year, 
 like a ball of snow in our mountains." The increase, 
 however, has been chiefly on the frontiers of the canton^ 
 
376 LECTURE VI. 
 
 and has been caused not by proselytism, but by immi- 
 gration. 
 
 In connection with these facts, it is most gratifying 
 to be able to state on the highest authority, that in the 
 town of Geneva, the Evangelical Society has been reap- 
 ing the most abundant fruits. Never was there more 
 of a spirit of Christian union among the friends of 
 truth, — the spirit of prayer also has been copiously 
 poured out, and their zeal and activity increases from 
 day to day. The Compagnie are as hostile as ever, but 
 the number of its young ministers, of pious character 
 and deportment, unprovided with parishes or congrega- 
 tions, is on the increase, notwithstanding the obstinate 
 determination of the Compagnie to exclude from all 
 appointments men of evangelical opinions and charac- 
 ter. The people are opening their eyes and directing 
 their attention to the word of God. 
 
 Among other evidences of the progress of evangelical 
 relio-ion, is the rise of an association, entitled the " Pro- 
 testant Union." The Propaganda, the seat of which is 
 at Lyons, which the pope has sanctioned by a bull, and 
 which collects annually 3 millions francs, has itself 
 published that it remits every year the sum of 45,000 
 ■francs to the bishop of Fribourg, with a view to the 
 increase of Popery in Switzerland. With that money 
 the Papists are building fine churches, in places where 
 they have almost no flocks. In opposition to these 
 efforts, the Genevese founded the Protestant Union, 
 which has already been productive of good fruits, both 
 in awakening professing Protestants to a sense of the 
 danger to which the cause of Protestantism is exposed, 
 and in turning the attention of Protestants and Catho- 
 lics alike to the word of God. 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 377 
 
 THE OTHER CANTONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 
 
 No history has yet been published of the state of re- 
 ligion in these cantons, during the 17th and 18th 
 centuries. That of Ruchat, so far as yet published^ 
 brings down the narrative no farther than 1566.* Our 
 notices, therefore, on this part of the subject assigned 
 to us, must necessarily be very brief. 
 
 It is believed that the Catholic cantons have remained 
 to the present day very nearly in the same condition as at 
 the time of the Reformation. Except in a few instances, 
 where men of evangelical piety and zeal have succeeded 
 in shaking the attachment of their Catholic brethren to 
 Popery, and in converting them, no impression has been 
 made, no change effected on their spiritual condition. 
 They and their fathers have loved the darkness rather 
 than the light; and in that darkness a righteous God 
 has condemned them to remain. They vindicated their 
 civil liberty against the tyrants of France and Austria; 
 but they wanted, and still want, the inclination or the 
 courage to assert their spiritual liberty against the ty- 
 ranny of a cruel, a cunning, and an ambitious priest- 
 hood. They cannot pass from their own into a neigh- 
 bouring Protestant canton, without seeing, in its greater 
 civilisation and prosperity, the happy results of deliver- 
 ance from the Romish yoke : yet they remain the 
 willing subjects of a blind and degrading superstition, 
 committing their understanding and their conscience to 
 the keeping of men certainly as fallible as themselves, 
 and all whose power and influence rest on the ignorance 
 of those whom they keep in bondage. Popery in these 
 
 • The jealousy of the late government of Berne prevented the 
 publication of the last two volumes. 
 
578 LECTURE VI. 
 
 unhappy countries is the same now as it was 250 years 
 ago. The land is as parched and barren as at any 
 former period, waiting, to all appearance, till the hour 
 when the Man of Sin shall be utterly overthrown, and 
 the times of refreshing shall come which shall usher in 
 the glories of the millennium. 
 
 In the Protestant cantons, exclusive of Geneva, the 
 spiritual awakening produced by the preaching of the 
 doctrines of the Reformation does not appear to have 
 continued nearly so long as in that city; and this fact 
 is accounted for by a circumstance already adverted to, 
 namely, that there were fewer refugees in these cantons 
 to fan the embers of a faith ready to die. In German 
 Switzerland, after the times of Gualtherus, the Bullin- 
 gers, Haller, and others, there have been very few men 
 distinguished at once for learning and vital piety. 
 Both in German and French Switzerland, lukewarmness 
 and indifference succeeded to the enlightened fervour of 
 the Reformation, and the Arianism and Neologism of 
 the eighteenth century found a congenial soil in the 
 hearts of many of the professors, pastors, schoolmasters, 
 and people of Protestant Switzerland. 
 
 We have not perhaps a clearer indication of the de- 
 cline of evangelical religion and vital piety in those 
 times, than in the public renunciation of the creeds and 
 formularies which were accepted by the Swiss people in 
 the earlier and better times of the Reformation. The 
 form of republican government affords a greater facility 
 to the expression of the popular voice than any other. 
 The decrees of their Little and Great Councils, as they 
 were called, bring out the expression of the general, 
 though, in most instances, the rashly -formed and unen- 
 lightened opinion of the masses of the community. We 
 have noticed the illegal abolition of the ancient formu- 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 379 
 
 laries by the pastors of Geneva, the government and 
 people acquiescing in silence. We have now to mention 
 the more formal rejection of the Protestant confessions 
 by the councils of other cantons. 
 
 A short time after the middle of the 16th century, 
 when the Reformation had gained a solid footing in the 
 greater part of Switzerland, Bullinger, Peter Martyr, 
 and others, expressed a strong desire to have the several 
 churches united in a common and public confession of 
 the Helvetic faith. Before that time each canton had 
 its own formulary. Zurich and Berne had already 
 thought of uniting in the publication of a common 
 confession. The disputes between the Swiss and Lu- 
 theran churches, on the subject of the sacrament, for a 
 time interposed obstacles in the way of the accomplish- 
 ment of this desirable object. At length, however, a 
 confession drawn up by Bullinger having been fully 
 approved and accepted by the Elector Palatin Frederick, 
 it was communicated to the towns of Berne and Geneva 
 — by whom, and by Schaffhausen it was approved and 
 agreed to. Beza made a journey to Zurich, expressly 
 to testify to the theologians of that city, the consent of 
 the Genevese. Thereafter it was accepted by the Gri- 
 sons, St Gall, Neufchatel, and several free towns in 
 alliance with the Swiss. Finally, it was published in 
 German and Latin in the year 1566, with a defence 
 or apology by Semler, and attested by the seals of 
 the three cantons of Zurich, Berne, and Schaffhausen, 
 and the other places above-mentioned. When it was 
 published, the reformed churches of Scotland, Hun- 
 gary, and Poland, approved of it, and subscribed it. 
 The reformed churches of France and England also 
 approved of it, but did not adopt it as their proper for- 
 
380 LECTURE VI. 
 
 mulary. Basil, Glaris, and Appenzel embraced and 
 subscribed it. 
 
 It is evident from these facts that no formulary of 
 the reformed church has obtained a more universal ap- 
 probation than the Helvetic Confession, and that the 
 public abjuration of so excellent a summary of Chris- 
 tian doctrine affords the strongest evidence of the de- 
 parture of the people from true Protestantism. Yet it 
 is a fact that the canton of Zurich, by the influence of 
 an infidel clergy, and that of Vaud in opposition to the 
 unanimous advice of its clergy, have, by the will of the 
 Great Council, within these few years, publicly renounc- 
 ed the Helvetic Confession. We are grieved to state 
 that the clergy of Vaud have, notwithstanding, con- 
 tinued in the bosom of an Established Church, which 
 has thus openly and by a public act departed from the 
 profession of the Protestant faith. It is not wonderful 
 that, in these circumstances, their instructions, though 
 in many cases, sound and Scriptural, do not appear to 
 make any salutary impression upon their hearers, whose 
 hatred to the sect of the Momiers (Methodists), has 
 been manifested of late years in imprisoning and ban- 
 ishing, under a law passed for that purpose, some of 
 the ablest and holiest men of the Vaudese Church. 
 
 Basil retains its ancient confession, and its catechism, 
 which is excellent. The church there is one of the most 
 flourishing in Switzerland, in proportion to its numbers. 
 Out of twenty-four pastors and ministers of the canton, 
 twenty preach the gospel faithfully to numerous audi- 
 ences, composed of people of all ranks. Its missionary 
 institution, founded in 1816, has now sent out 174 of 
 its pupils, under its own or other societies. The Basil 
 Missionary Society had missionaries first in Astracan, 
 
STATE OF RELIGION IN SWITZERLAND. 381 
 
 then in the Russian part of Armenia, and at Tebriz in 
 Persia. These being broken up by the Russian govern- 
 ment, their second mission was in Liberia, which was 
 terminated by the death of nearly all the missionaries, 
 and was given up on the arrival of labourers from North 
 America. Last of all, they sent a mission to the Danish 
 gold coast, which now, after the early decease of five 
 missionaries, is going on prosperously. It consists of 
 six missionaries, one a negro educated in Basil. 
 
 In the other cantons of which we have spoken, there 
 are not wanting signs of spiritual life, which are not a 
 little encouraged by an annual conference of the Swiss 
 evangelical ministers, at which reports are given in, and 
 propositions discussed in private by the brethren. A 
 spirit of inquiry is awakened, and the pastors are mutu- 
 ally strengthened and animated. Some, among whom 
 may be mentioned particularly the well-known M. Viret 
 at Lausanne, preach the truth with great boldness, and, 
 it is hoped, not without fruit, to the glory of our Lord 
 and Saviour. In Berne there are awakenings in many 
 of the villages, and on the mountains of the Oberland. 
 In Zurich, where the Reformation had, under Zwingli, 
 so favourable a commencement, it is computed that of 
 200 ministers, not more than ten preach the gospel in 
 its purity. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I have thus travelled over the field allotted to me, 
 very cursorily and imperfectly, considering the magni- 
 tude of the subject, but in such a manner, I trust, as to 
 afford a correct and intelligible view of the state of 
 evangelical religion in Switzerland in past and present 
 times — which, let it be observed, has been the sole object 
 
382 
 
 LECTURE yi. 
 
 of this discourse. I shall not prolong the lecture by 
 expatiating on the various important lessons which are 
 presented to us in the spiritual history of this singular 
 and interesting country; but shall conclude with re- 
 marking, that in no country, and at no period in the 
 history of the church, shall we find a more striking 
 manifestation of the sovereignty of God in the dispen- 
 sation of spiritual blessings, and a more visible display, 
 if we may so speak, of the operation of the Holy Spirit 
 in producing once and again those religious revivals to 
 which our attention has been directed in the preceding 
 pages. In contemplating these things we ought to feel, 
 and humbly to acknowledge, our dependence and that 
 of our fellow-men on the God of all grace for repentance 
 and salvation, and, in fervent prayer for the free Spirit 
 of God, to commit ourselves and them to his keeping, 
 looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto 
 eternal life. 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF EVANGELICAL 
 RELIGION IN FRANCE. 
 
 BY J. G. LO RIMER, 
 
 MINISTER OF FREE ST DAVID'S, GLASGOW. 
 
 General Interest belonging to the History of France — Roman 
 Conquest and Religion — Early Christianity — Ireneeus at Lyons 
 — Vigilantius — The Paulicians — Gotteshalcus — Claud of Turin 
 — Piedniontese — Patarines — Peter Waldo — Crusades against 
 the Albigenses — Proofs that the Truth was not exterminated — 
 General character of the Albigenses — Peculiarities of the 
 French Reformation in the 16th century — Religious Wars — St 
 Bartholomew Massacre — Comparative prosperity under the 
 Edict of Nantes — Its Revocation — Religious decline and suf- 
 fering — Revolution 1793 — Revival since the Peace 1815 — La- 
 bours of R. Haldane, Esq.— Dissemination of the Scriptures — 
 Evangelical Societies — Spiritual fruit at the present day — 
 Practical lessons — Christ's faithfulness — His moral govern- 
 ment — Duties of Christians towards France — Peculiarities of 
 her position and prospects — Popery rising throughout the 
 world — France its head quarters. 
 
 Such is the subject which has been assigned me in 
 the present course of lectures. All will at once see that 
 it is most important and comprehensive ; so much so, 
 that I can hope to touch only the leading outlines. 
 
 To an intelliojent British Christian, few themes of 
 contemplation are more interesting than the history of 
 France. In its earlier days, prior to the introduction 
 
384 THE PAST AXD PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 of Christianity, it is the Gaul of which we read, at 
 school in the Commentaries of Csesar, — as the scene of 
 the most distinguished of Roman conquests. After the 
 blessed hght of the gospel has arisen, it becomes the 
 seat of many Christian churches — the land of glorious 
 martyrdoms. As time rolls on, its churches become 
 grossly corrupt — still there is a long and lingering testi- 
 mony against the usurpations of the Bishop of Rome. 
 The earliest traces of witnesses for the truth, are to be 
 found not only on the borders of France, the Alps of 
 Piedmont, but on the southern soil of France itself. 
 The first and most fearful crusade against the faithful — 
 armed with all the terrors of the Inquisition — was on 
 French ground, and against French witnesses of the 
 faith. Other scenes more directly British in their bear- 
 incr next come into view. There are many and pro- 
 tracted contests between France and the island of our 
 birth : many brilliant battles of British prowess won on 
 French ground. France invades Britain, and gives to 
 her a line of kings, and with them changes in laws and 
 manners, and in some respects langiiage, remains of 
 which survive to the present day, — while Britain holds 
 extensive possessions in France, which are slowly and 
 reluctantly yielded. Then come the days of the great 
 Reformation from Popery. Nowhere was the change 
 more rapid or promising ; nowhere the struggle more 
 fierce and bloody. Massacres took place in France, 
 which, in extent of treachery and woe, are not surpassed 
 by any of the most terrible doings of the antichristian 
 apostacy. Protected peace Ibllows, only to wear down 
 by harassing interference with the government and dis- 
 cipline of the church, what could not be accomphshed 
 by wholesale massacre. Error and decline invade the 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 385 
 
 church's borders; a fresh violent persecution followed, 
 which drove nearly a million of subjects to foreign shores, 
 to proclaim the treachery and bloodthirstiness of Rome. 
 Then succeeds, as might have been expected, the age of 
 weakness and exhaustion ; true religion almost expired ; 
 amid its ruins rank infidelity is nursed, and at length 
 comes forth to wrap not only France but all Europe in 
 revolutionary flame. By an unparalleled sacrifice of life 
 and treasure the conflao-ration was at leno-th extinguish- 
 ed, — only, however, after scattering the elements of dis- 
 order. Ever since the soil of the Continent has been; 
 volcanic. A political change in France is felt at the 
 limits of Europe. Weary with the reign of infidelity, 
 while a stranger to the love of the truth, her people have 
 been longing for rehgious rest. Popery is rising into 
 ascendancy anew, and turning all the influence of France, 
 in science, arts, arms, and civilization, into the chan- 
 nel of Rome. Events are evidently preparing for some 
 vast crisis. The far-seeing- Sovereio-n of the French 
 proclaims, that the next war in Europe will be a reli- 
 oious war. Such are the circumstances in which we are 
 called to give some account of the past and present state 
 of evangehcal religion in France. Surely, it must be 
 confessed, that, next to our own land, there is no one 
 which, whether from vicinity or character, or past asso- 
 ciations, should prove more interesting to a British 
 Christian. May it not justly be said, that the events of 
 its history are as stirring, yea more so, than those of our 
 own ; and that her prospects in the future are not likely 
 to fall short in interest of those which have become al- 
 ready the history of the past ? 
 
 Let us now return and take a rapid glance at the 
 religion of Gaul, always one of the most compact and 
 
386 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 well-defined countries of Europe, and also one of tlie' 
 most extensively known. The wisdom and mercy of 
 God anticipated the coming of Christ, and prepared the 
 world, long sunk in benighted darkness, to profit by His 
 advent when it arrived. Fifty years before the birth 
 of the Saviour, the Romans, as the great pioneers of 
 Christianity, by the opening up of countries hitherto in- 
 accessible, the establishment of roads and posts, — overrun 
 the multitudinous petty and divided tribes of Gaul, and 
 brought them under one uniform rule. The achieve- 
 ment was not accomplished without protracted policy. 
 Such were the military character and other qualities 
 of the people, that it cost the most illustrious general of 
 Rome, Julius Csesar, ten years of his active life, and in- 
 volved his engagement, according to Plutarch, with not 
 less than thirteen millions of men. Little as he dreamed 
 of the intention of Providence, — following, though he did, 
 only his own glory and the aggrandisement of the Re- 
 public, — there was a real and merciful design in the 
 event. God meant to prepare the way for the introduc- 
 tion and spread of the religion of his Son. 
 
 The Romans improved the country by planting colonies 
 and cities, particularly along the banks of leading rivers. 
 The cities of Lyons, Vienne, Aries, Toulouse, and many 
 others, are all of Roman origin. At first, the kingdom 
 nmst have borne a strong resemblance to Canada in our 
 day, almost covered with impenetrable forests ; but ere 
 long the savagism of nature gave place in some degree 
 to the arts of peace, and the very climate became so 
 changed to the better, as to admit of the introduction of 
 the vine and the olive. There were more important 
 changes, however, than these. Though the Romans, 
 with all their power and knowledge, were but poor 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 387 
 
 idolaters themselves, — indeed, eminent for their super- 
 stition, and cruel in their treatment of the vanquished, — 
 they had enough of humanity to be shocked with the 
 human sacrifices which the natives profusely offered at 
 the call of their Druidical priesthood. So little influence 
 has the mere doctrine of the unity of Deity upon men's 
 moral and religious feelings when disjoined from other 
 truths, that the Celts of Gaul, at the very moment they 
 maintained the faith of one supreme Divinity, delighted 
 in the sacrifice of their most beautiful children, — sacri- 
 fices which the Romans, sunk in the worship of ten 
 thousand idols, rejected with horror, and successfully 
 used their power to extinguish. Whatever religious im- 
 provement was introduced in this way, it cannot be 
 doubted that the chief service which Rome rendered to 
 ancient France, was by opening up the country to the 
 safe and easy travelling of the apostles of the Cross. 
 Hence the interestingr fact, that the earliest traces of 
 Gallic Christianity are identified with its Roman towns 
 and colonies.* 
 
 * In passing, it may be noticed, tliat the Divine providence 
 ■which prepared for the propagation of Christianity by the formi;- 
 tion of the Roman empire in its extent, provided for the preserva- 
 tion of the same at a later day, by dividing the Roman empire 
 into ten separate kingdoms. Thus the antichristian apostacy was 
 deprived of the povrer of exterminating the truth : when perse- 
 cuted in one country the faithful fled to another. But for this 
 wise and merciful arrangement, humanly speaking, evangelical 
 ireJigion, on repeated occasions, would have been exting-uished. 
 
388 
 
 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 EARLY CHRISTIANITY— FIRST PERIOD, FROM 
 APOSTOLIC TIMES TO A. D. 208. 
 
 The facilities of travelling between Greece and Italy 
 and Gaul, seem to have afforded an early opportunity 
 for the spread of the gospel into the latter. We do 
 not read in the 2d chapter of the Acts, of devout Jews 
 from France being among those who assembled at Jeru- 
 salem, and shared in the effusion of the Spirit on 
 the day of Pentecost ; but we read of representatives 
 from as remote quarters, and, among the Epistles of 
 the New Testament, we soon meet with a letter to 
 the churches of Galatia. There can be little question 
 that the inliabitants of this Roman province were ori- 
 ginally from Gaul. Besides direct testimony, their 
 character harmonizes with that of the French in every 
 age. It would be natural to suppose, that colonists 
 living- in the east, would not be loncf of eommunicat- 
 ing to kinsmen in the west, tidings of a revelation so 
 glorious as that of the free salvation of the Gospel. 
 Accordingly, we early read in ecclesiastical history of 
 the introduction of Christianity into Gaul. Irenseus, 
 who appears to have been born and educated at no great 
 distance from Galatia, was the pupil of Poly carp, who 
 again was the disciple of the apostle John. In all pro- 
 bability, not above sixty years stretched between the 
 death of the last of the venerable college of apostles and 
 the active days of Irenseus. This learned, and withal 
 laborious and missionary- spirited man,* went with Poly- 
 
 * It is stated that he acquired the Celtic language, to enable 
 him the better to minister the gospel among the moiintaineers of 
 hi^ charge > 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 389 
 
 carp to Rome, and, when there, seems to have been en- 
 couraged to travel westwards, and take charge of the 
 Christian church at Lyons, There were more reasons 
 than one for the step : not only were numerous country- 
 men settled in the south of France, but errors were ap- 
 pearing in the Christian churches of these regions. This 
 imphes that, early as the age was, Christianity had been 
 established for some time. The church, too, of Lyons, 
 to which Irenseus repaired, does not seem to have been 
 an infant institution, but fully organized with office- 
 bearers. We may not be able to trace the history of 
 this and of many similar churches of Christ in distinct 
 records. Usually God's people are " hidden ones ;" 
 and He withholds from posterity the knowledge of the 
 early history of churches, that they may not be tempted 
 to the idolatrous admiration of the earthly founders, — 
 an unhappy propensity, strong in our fallen nature."^ 
 Not unfrequently the indications of the Christian church 
 can be traced only in the fires of martyrdom ; so it was 
 with the early churches of France. The churches of Lyons 
 and Vienne on the banks of the Rhone, as early as 169 
 A. D., heard the distant roll of the thunder, which soon 
 burst in storms over their heads. This first recorded 
 persecution in France, as if to give its character for all 
 subsequent time in the same country, was peculiarly se- 
 vere. All ages and conditions were called to suffer : 
 Pothinus, the venerable pastor of ninety, — Sanctus, the 
 
 * It is doubtless owing to this, that God in his providence has 
 hitherto allowed the history of Piedmont, and the dominions of 
 the family of Savoy, to be less known and explored than that of 
 almost any region of Europe. Historical writers have strongly 
 complained of the denial of the means of information. It is only 
 now that the veil begins to }>e removed, and that but partially. 
 
390 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 deacon, — Maurus, the newly baptized, — Blandina, the 
 deHcate female slave, — Ponticus, the lad of fifteen years 
 of age, were all, with many more, subjected to incon- 
 ceivable tortures, in which the furious wild beast and 
 the red-hot iron chair bore their terrible part. Nobly 
 did they endure, — there was not the flinching of a mo- 
 ment. Irenseus, undismayed by the spectacle, two years 
 after accepted the post of danger as successor to the 
 pastor. He contended for the truth by his writings as 
 well as by his ministerial labours. The churches with 
 which he is associated were evidently felt to be influential 
 witnesses against heresy and disorder ; but this was no 
 protection, — their very fidelity provoked Satan and his 
 agents more than the worst heresy would have done. 
 Severus, the Roman emperor, worthy of the name, 
 started a persecution, one of the memorable ten ; and 
 Irenseus, after more than thirty years' services in France, 
 was decapitated with a multitude of his people. 
 
 EVANGELICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 208 TO A.D. 817. 
 SECOND PERIOD. 
 
 And now a new era opens upon us, which stretches 
 between the death of Irenseus and the appointment of 
 Claudius to the bishopric of Turin. The period is 
 one of 600 years ; and we make choice of this division 
 of time, because Claudius was connected with France, 
 and sometimes is denominated, we beheve justly, the 
 first Protestant reformer. I am anxious, if possible, 
 to trace the True Apostolic Succession of Divine 
 truth and Gospel ordinances from the beginning. The 
 promise of the ascending Redeemer to his disciples. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IX FRANCE. 391 
 
 that he would " be with them always even to the end of 
 the world," seems to intimate that the truth v/ould not 
 only be indestructible, but that there would be a succes- 
 sion of faithful men to maintain it in a church capacity. 
 It is in connection with their discipling all nations, and 
 baptizing them in the name of the adorable Trinity, and 
 receiving the warrant to exercise ecclesiastical authority, 
 that the promise of perpetual presence and blessing is 
 vouchsafed. If such be the correct interpretation, we 
 may be sure, — though the evidence of the fulfilment of 
 the promise may not have been recorded, — that it was 
 really made good. But there are some traces of the suc- 
 cession of which we speak.^' No doubt the period before 
 us is the very period when, in the just retributions of 
 the great Moral Governor of the world, the Roman 
 empire, which at an earlier day had been the oppressor 
 of others — the oppressor of Gaul, — came in her turn to be 
 overrun and oppressed by barbarian hordes. No doubt 
 this is the age when, favoured by these commotions, and 
 the ignorance and credulity which they drew along v/ith 
 them, the Bishop of Borne mounted the throne of the 
 Caesars, and became universal Pope. Still, disturbed as 
 society must have been, and fallen and corrupted as was 
 
 * The absurdities whicli have been written and spoken in con- 
 nection with the "apostolic succession" of churches which have 
 no just pretension to the name, may, in many Christian minds, 
 have created a disgust at the whole subject. But it is believed that 
 here, as in every thing else. Popery counterfeits a truth. There 
 is a real ajyostoUc succession, though not that of Rome. There is 
 the indestructible succession of gospel doctrine and ordinances ; 
 and, it is apprehended, that the best way of meeting the error is 
 not by denying the entire doctrine, but by teaching the true doc- 
 trine. Hence the importance of such historical notices as those 
 which follow. 
 
392 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 the church, the Saviour without question had a large 
 body of people for himself. It is not to be supposed 
 that in Gaul, where the churches had been numerous, 
 especially along the banks of leading rivers, where the 
 pastors had been eminent and the martyrdoms many 
 and heroic, the truth, or the divinely appointed in- 
 stitutions for perpetuating it, would quickly perish. 
 Accordingly, the most ancient Eoman Catholic historian 
 who writes regarding the Waldenses, says : — " Toulouse 
 (which is not on the borders of Piedmont, but far west 
 in the south of France) had scarcely ever been exempt 
 from its foundation from the pestilence of heresy from 
 father to son ;" and that " their opinions had been 
 transmitted in Gaul from generation to generation al- 
 most from the origin of Christianity."* 
 
 * " Our Lord's promises to his people and ministers extend no 
 farther than this, that a testimony in his behalf should be main- 
 tained from age to age, even till he shall come again ; and that this 
 work of witnessing for him in an evil world, should be committed 
 to a visible communitii, which, although driven into the wilder- 
 ness and threatened perpetually with exterminj^tion, should not at 
 any moment become extinct. The gates of Hfi'des shall not prevail 
 against it. The true church shall never be gwallowed up, or cease 
 to have a place among the living." — Isaac Taylor's Introduction to 
 the Life of Luther, p. 11. The adoption ^of the above view does not 
 prevent me quoting the evangelical sentiments of men who re- 
 mained in the church of Rome, as evidence of the succession. 
 The inference is, that, if even prominent men in the Romish com- 
 munion dared to express such sentiments without being compelled 
 to leave its pale, these opinions must have been comparatively 
 known and received, and safely held by parties beyond the mem- 
 bership of the church. It is not an argument for remaining in 
 the church of Rome ; God's mind is clearly expressed on that sub- 
 ject, " Come out of her," «fec. And few things are more apparent 
 from a study of ecclesiastical history, than the sad injury to the 
 cause of truth which has accrued from such men as Claud of 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 393 
 
 I am sure that I have no wish to rob the venerable 
 Waldenses of the smallest share of their hoary antiquity 
 and hard-earned renown. That antiquity and renown 
 with all their honours are indisputable. But I apprehend 
 there is reason for dividing it with others of a similar 
 spirit and character. It is in accordance with the plans 
 of the Redeemer not to limit his followers to a single 
 spot, but to have scattered independent witnesses, among 
 other reasons apparently, to check that creature idolatry 
 which is so strong in all minds even the renewed.* Hence 
 the more thoroudi the historical research of modem 
 times, the stronger has the evidence become, that there 
 were other pure depositories of the truth — other links 
 in the golden chain of apostolic succession besides those 
 of the Cottian Alps. Dr Gilly and other inquirers into 
 
 Turin, Wycliflfe, Huss, Boos, &c. not coming distinctly forth from 
 the papacy, and attempting to form evangelical churches like the 
 Reformers of the 16th century. Their power for permanent good 
 would have been tenfold greater, had they pursued the plain scrip- 
 tural course ; but their error on this point does not destroy their 
 testimony, and far less the general inferences which may be drawn 
 from it. 
 
 * There is ample evidence of the existence of witnesses in the 
 East. The Nestorian Christians, whom the late Dr Grant believed 
 to be the lost tribes of Israel, now reduced to 150,000 souls, seem 
 justly entitled to this character. Not only have they been pre- 
 served safely in their mountain fastnesses, defying all the merciless 
 force of Mahommed and of Tamerlane — even still scarcely ever 
 visited, certainly never overcome, by Turk, or Koord, or Persian — 
 but from A. D. 330 to the A. D. 1500, they carried on the most ex- 
 tensive and successful Christian missions over Central and Eastern 
 Asia, particularly from the 7th to the middle of the 13th century 
 (A. D. 800 to A. D. 1250), the very period of deepest darkness and 
 depression in Western Christendom. See Appendioe to Grant on 
 the Nestorians, p. 332. 
 
394 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 Christian antiquity, are strongly of this opinion.* Amonor 
 the mountains of Dauphiny, in the south of France, there 
 seem to have been many witnesses who held and trans- 
 mitted the truth in its purity, through the most early 
 and obscure historical times. Nor was the light con- 
 fined to them. In the west of France, at the foot of the 
 Pyrenees, not more than 150 years after the martyrdom 
 of Irenseus, we meet with a name which deserves to be 
 recorded among the way-marks of truth. I allude to 
 ViaiLANTius, the friend of Sulpicius Severus, the his- 
 torian. Boldly did he protest against the rising errors 
 of Rome, and that at a time when not a few of them 
 found favour with such men as Augustine and Jerome. 
 Earnestly did he spread gospel light over his native terri- 
 tory, and afterwards through important parts of France. 
 
 * The reader may be glad to see the following sentences from 
 Mr Taylor's Introduction. No authority can be higher in matters 
 of church history. " A pure — a truly apostolic church driven into 
 inaccessible regions towards the close of the 4th century, main, 
 tained its integrity from age to age, in poverty and amid fierce 
 persecutors, until at length the brighter light of the Lutheran 
 Reformation having been kindled, the office of witnessing for the 
 truth was transferred to men who were gratified to discharge it in 
 a manner better adapted to the altered condition of the European 
 nations." 
 
 It was not till after the text was written that I met with Mr 
 Taylor's Essay, the reader then will understand the pleasure which 
 I feel in having my views as to the early appearance of evangelical 
 religion in France, confirmed by such an authority. After stating 
 that it is now satisfixctorily ascertained that a system of doctrine 
 essentially reformed had a home in the "Western Alps, he adds, 
 " On both sides of the PjTenees, moreover, and especially on the 
 northern (the French) side and throughout Aquitane (one of the ex- 
 tensive divisions of ancient France), there appear to have subsisted 
 churches substantially apostolic in faith and discipline, and these 
 communities, protected l)y persons in power, were able to hold at 
 bay the dogs of papal fanaticism during several centuries ;" p. 16. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 395 
 
 Nor did he limit his efforts to oral communication. He 
 expended no small part of his time and his fortune in the 
 transcription and circulation of the word of God, which 
 with him was not only a rule, but to use the language of 
 our Shorter Catechism, " The only rule'^ of faith and 
 manners. This was the distinguishing peculiarity of 
 Protestantism. God blessed his labours, and whether in 
 the way of preserving from error or reclaiming from it, 
 so it was, that the pastors of Southern Gaul were sound 
 in the faith, when rising superstition and heresy were 
 spreading rapidly throughout Christendom. 
 
 Apart from what may be styled the native transmis- 
 sion and propagation of evangelical religion in France, 
 events occurred in the east httle more then 200 years 
 after the age of Vigilantius, which brought a favourable 
 influence from without to bear in the same direction, 
 I allude to the rise of the Paulicians about a. d. 650. 
 These men acquired their names from their noted at- 
 tachment to the writings of the Apostle Paul, in other 
 words to that true evangelic faith of which Paul was the 
 most distinguished apostle. As might have been ex- 
 pected from the temper of the times, (for but a few 
 years before, Phocas the Roman Emperor, a tyrant, 
 usurper, and murderer, had conferred the title of Uni- 
 versal Bishop and head of Christian Churches on the 
 Pope of Home), they were soon and severely perse- 
 cuted. Indeed, in these early days, it is often more 
 by the reproaches of enemies, tales of calumny, and 
 the blood- tracks of martyrdom, than by any recorded 
 statements of the parties themselves, that we trace 
 the succession of divine truth. The Greek Emperors 
 proved fierce enemies, — thus proclaiming that the ha- 
 tred to the gospel of grace is not confined to place ; that 
 
396 THE PAST AXD PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 in the east or the west, wherever there is depraved hu- 
 man nature, there the hostihty is the same. The 
 Empress Theodora, it is related, was the occasion of the 
 violent death of not less than 100,000 persons in Asia 
 Minor alone. While this shews how numerous were the 
 Pauhcians — how widely diffused the gospel by their in- 
 strumentality, it is not wonderful that multitudes, driven 
 from their homes, moved westwards, and as Galatia, one 
 of the provinces of x\sia !Minor, was oric^inally a Gallic 
 settlement, it is natural to suppose, that not a few would 
 find their way to France, from whence their friends and 
 forefathers had originally migrated. There can be little 
 question, that though the religious gloom of the west was 
 deepening every year, the refugee Paulicians would ex- 
 ert a favourable influence on the Christianity of the 
 countries where they sojourned. 
 
 A hundred and sixty years after their migration west- 
 wards, the providence of God, as subservient to the 
 kingdom of his Son, awoke a fresh and propitious influ- 
 ence for France in the person of Claudius, Bishop of 
 Turin. It would seem that God often carries on his 
 work in the world, not so much by continuous action as 
 by successive efforts and revivals. When one agent, 
 after having secured its end, becomes weak and dege- 
 nerate, a new one is raised up and called into play. When 
 the Pauhcian light becomes dim and begins to disap- 
 pear, a torch is put into the hands of Claudius. Long 
 chaplain to Louis the Meek, king of France, and highly 
 esteemed by him, he was appointed to his bishopric 
 A. D. 8I7. Claudius was mighty in the scriptures, and 
 powerful as a preacher of righteousness. His position 
 gave him great influence, and earnestly did he wield it 
 for Christianity. Indeed, his very appointment to the 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FllANCE. 397 
 
 bishopric of Turin by his royal patron, was intended to 
 counteract the progress of image- worship and supersti- 
 tion strongly prevalent in the north of Italy. In no 
 way did he labour more successfully for the cause of 
 truth than by his writings, which were very numerous, 
 consisting chiefly of expositions of the word of God. 
 The French king and the most learned abbots of the 
 period, earnestly encouraged him in such labours, and 
 accordingly he seems to have v.-ritten largely on the books 
 of Moses, the Gospels, and the Epistles. Like his great 
 successor Luther, he wrote on the Epistle to the Gala- 
 tians, and brought out views of the grand doctrine of free 
 justification, not inferior in clearness to those of the 16th 
 century. The French court protected Claudius, and a 
 synod held at Paris, by declaring against image- worship, 
 practically maintained the same views.* But neither these 
 things, nor the position which he occupied in the church, 
 could secure him against persecution. The great and 
 good Keformer was allowed to die in peace in a. d. 839, 
 but his writings were objects of hatred — fuel for the 
 
 * One cannot l)Ut ivgret that so great and good a man as Claud 
 felt it consistent with duty to remain in the communion of the 
 church of Rome. Besides being wrong in itself, and injurious at 
 the time to the cause of truth, such cases have afforded pretexts for 
 good men in after times acting a similar part. Who can question, 
 that the entanglements and consequent weakness into which they 
 have brought themselves, have boon owing to their false position as 
 regards the church ? Who can read the life of Boos in modern times, 
 and not see that the comparative abortiveness of a revival of re- 
 ligion in Popish Germany, which promised fair, was owing to his 
 obstinate attachment to a communion which he ought like Luther 
 and Rongeto have abandoned — an attachment which made him in- 
 strumental in gaining over even spiritually converted Protestants 
 to enter the Romish church I 
 
398 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 popish fire.* What of them remains would on many 
 points do honour to modern times. As Piedmont — the 
 country of the Waldenses strictly so called — was within 
 the diocese of Turin, of which he was bishop, we do not 
 wonder to be informed that it was filled with his doctrine. 
 G-enebrard and E/Orenco, two Roman Catholic historiauF, 
 testify to its prevalence in that region in the 9th and 
 10th centuries. I 
 
 It would be wrong, in tracing the evidences of evan- 
 gelical faith and practice at this dark period, not to 
 notice the Monk of Soissons in the north of France — 
 Gotteshalcus by name, (which in German means the 
 servant of God). J He flourished immediately after the 
 days of Claud, and advocated the doctrine of free grace 
 by his pen as well as his tongue. A revival of such 
 opinions was the fruit of his labours — but the punishment 
 was severe. It terminated in an imprisonment of above 
 twenty years' duration, which death brought to a close 
 in A. D. 870. In another district of France at the same 
 period, we have the record of similar evangelical views. 
 Remigius, the Archbishop of Lyons, and Florus, one of 
 the deacons, were not ashamed to be their advocates. 
 It is interesting to add, that the whole church of Lyons, 
 at its outset the church of eminent martyrs, seems to 
 have inherited their spirit down to this date. At least, 
 they accorded on this occasion in the views of their office- 
 bearers. 
 
 * AUix's Remains, 57-62. t Remains, 79. 
 
 + See his Life by Archbishop Ussher. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 399 
 
 EVANGELICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 839 TO A.D. 1160. 
 THIRD PERIOD. 
 
 And now we pass into our third period — extending 
 from Claud of Turin to Peter Waldo of Lyons. Waldo 
 is the next great historical milestone, if I may so speak, in 
 the present lecture. The space between reckons above 
 300 years, and what years ! It would not be wonderful 
 that in this age, which comprehends what even Roman 
 Catholic historians acknowledge to constitute the darkest, 
 most degraded, and immoral age of Popery, we should not 
 be able to find many-traces of the truth. ^ Our inability 
 would constitute no good argument against its existence. 
 A believer living in the days of Elijah — or reading the 
 record of universal idolatry, might conclude with the 
 prophet that he was the only faithful survivor ; but the 
 inference would be as mistaken as uncharitable. There 
 were still 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal : 
 and so of the period between Claud and Waldo. The 
 very darkness and violence of the age were most un- 
 propitious to historical records, especially of the truth. 
 Indeed, it was a practice of Papal Eome to destroy such 
 
 * " When a comparison is made between the writings of the 
 ecclesiastical chroniclers of the eighth century, and of those in the 
 preceding ages, an immense difference is found. Every vestige 
 of Roman civilization disappeared, even to the language, and bar- 
 barism was at its very acme. For, on the one hand, barbarians 
 entered into the clerical order, and became priests and bishops ; 
 and, on the other, bishops adopted the barbarian life, and, without 
 quitting their bishoprics, constituted themselves chiefs of banditti, 
 roaming over the country, pillaging and fighting, like the com- 
 panions of Clovis. Gregory of Tours mentions several bishops 
 who passed their lives after this fashion,"— Cw/rot, Lectures on His- 
 tory of Civilization. 
 
 2f 
 
400 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 records, to efface if possible the memory of her shame. 
 Still we have traces, and these warranting more general 
 inferences. 
 
 We do not detain the reader with any notice of what 
 might be called the missionary efforts of the church in 
 France in the end of the 10th century. There is reason 
 to think that there were such efforts, and that not a 
 few Normans on the north side of the kingdom were 
 now for the first time led to adopt the Christian name. 
 Whether the change involved more it might be difficult 
 to determine. We would rather call attention to in- 
 fluences from other countries which must have quickened 
 and strengthened the native Christianity of France. 
 There were more than one foreign party which in this 
 dark idolatrous age took up their residence within the 
 French border. Among the Apennines of Italy and 
 the Alps which separate Italy from France, there can be 
 little question there were native churches which had 
 retained purity of doctrine, discipline, and government 
 from apostolic times. It is more easy to conceive how 
 such parties should keep up an orthodox faith and practice, 
 than recover them if they had once been lost among the 
 corruptions of Eome. In the 10th century those in- 
 habiting the valleys of the Alps, and who, correctly speak- 
 ing, constituted the Waldenses, were so many in point 
 of numbers, as well as clear and decided in their testi- 
 mony, that they became the subjects of persecution. The 
 severity was so great as to drive them not only to the 
 neighbouring country, but to distant parts of Germany 
 and Italy, and even of England. We may be sure, then, 
 that France would become the refuge of the great ma- 
 jority. There was only one mountain barrier between — 
 peaked indeed with summits of from 4000 to 5000 feet 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 401 
 
 in elevation. It was to the French side of these moun- 
 tains that the sufferers were in the habit, in later times, 
 of betaking themselves. An immense cavern, capable of 
 holdinor from 300 to 400 refuo-ees, and of beino; defended 
 by a handful of men, opened its capacious retreat and 
 preserved many a valuable life.* Doubtless such facili- 
 ties encouraged the persecuted Waldenses in the earliest 
 days of violence to repair to France. Indeed, the inhabi- 
 tants of Piedmont and of the south of France seem to 
 have been so much blended together from early times as 
 common witnesses for Christ, that they are frequently con- 
 founded. They both rise so high as to be lost in the 
 mist of antiquity. 
 
 Nor were the Waldenses the only tributaries to the 
 native evangelical religion of France. Early in the 11th 
 century (a. d. 1025), we read of the disciples of Gun- 
 dulphus, an Italian, spreading their doctrines at Liege 
 and Cambray in the north east of France, — doctrines en- 
 tirely opposed to those of the church of Rome, and sub- 
 stantially the same with those professed by the Wal- 
 denses. f Thirty years later we read of another party 
 of Italian origin, denominated Patarines in reproach ; 
 and on the testimony of writers in the 12th and 13th 
 
 * There seems to be a reference to such retreats, not only in the 
 scripture language, " they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, 
 and in dens, and caves of the earth," but also in the expression, 
 where speaking of the persecuted church it is said, that & place was 
 prepared for her of God. The Great Head of the Church has 
 usually prepared an asylum for his people in mountainous re- 
 gions, which generally also have caverns. Hence the Apennines — 
 the Alps — the Pyrenees — the mountains of Khourdistan where the 
 Nestorians reside, and of Abyssinia, have all been retreats of the 
 faithful. 
 
 t Allix's Remains, 93-100. 
 
402 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 centuries, we find that, from a very early period, they had 
 settlements in Gallia Narbonnensis or the district of Na- 
 bonne, in the south of France, as well as in the diocese 
 of Cologne, and those of Flanders on the north * They 
 held similar theological views with the Waldenses, so 
 much so that the same party, down to the age of the 
 Reformation, were sometimes denominated Patarines and 
 sometimes Waldenses. It is no great stretch of charity 
 to beheve, that the Cathari, though they have been 
 charged with many hei'esies by the church of Rome, 
 (and some Protestant waiters have too readily credited 
 the allegation), were, after all, consistent Evangelical 
 Protestants — substantially at one with the different di- 
 visions to which reference has been made. Enemies 
 speak of them so early as a. d. 1140. Besides Italy 
 and Flanders, their chief settlements were in the south of 
 France and along the banks of the Rhine — the great natu- 
 ral boundary of the country. Whatever might be the state 
 of native Christianity in France, — however low and de- 
 generate, — it is scarcely possible to imagine that such im- 
 pulses from without would not be stimulating. This brings 
 us down to the age of Peter Waldo of Lyons, a.d. 1160. 
 At this time we read of persecution against the Waldenses 
 so fierce, that thirty of them crossed over to England. 
 A voyage then was a very different thing from the same 
 voyage now, and if men were constrained to flee so far — 
 after all to perish of cold and neglect — we may be sure 
 that many would remain nearer home ; in other words, 
 would sojourn in France, the neighbouring land.t 
 
 * Allix's Kemains, 149. 
 
 ■f " Even before the scenes at Orleans in 1017," says Dr Gillv, 
 described by Glaber, voices bad been beard almost simultaneously 
 from Germany, France, and Italy, protesting against ecclesiastical 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 403 
 
 The Romish church has a purpose to serve in deny- 
 ing the antiquity of the Waldenses as a Christian commu- 
 nity opposed to Rome, and hence endeavours to persuade 
 the world that Peter Waldo in the 12th century was 
 their father and founder. From the statements, how- 
 ever, ah-eady made, it is plain that, whatever influence he 
 may have had in adding to the number of those who 
 held the same sentiments, both the Waldenses of Pied- 
 mont, and their brethren the Evangelical Christians of 
 France, existed in strength long before the days of Waldo. 
 It is remarkable how God, in the exercise of his sove- 
 reignty, chuses not only some countries, but even towns, 
 to be the depositaries for ages of the blessings of evangeli- 
 cal truth, while other countries and towns are passed by, 
 or allowed to remain the victims of fatal error. The city 
 of Lyons in France is an illustration of the propitious, 
 destined doubtless one day to prove the occasion of 
 terrible doom, should the city, as it now threatens, 
 become the permanent head quarters of the Popish 
 apostacy. The flames of its ancient martyrs will then 
 only serve to light to more hopeless darkness and woe. 
 
 Peter Waldo was an opulent merchant of Lyons — 
 brought to the knowledge of the truth, — not by man — 
 not by any of the Waldenses, — but by the private reading 
 of the word of God, to which he was led by a striking dis- 
 pensation of Providence which deprived him of a friend. 
 Thus it was with not a few of the leading Reformers : 
 and we may see the reason. The circumstances of their 
 
 corruptions ; and we have tlie testimony of Bernard of Clairvaux, 
 Peter of Clugny, and Evevinus of Cologne, who flourished between 
 1120 and 1130, to prove that in that age zealous and holy men were 
 to be found who declaimed against the errors and vices of the 
 <-Iergy, and proposed schemes of reformation."— Z,^/e of Waldo. 
 
404 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 conversion were so ordered, that the world should not 
 have it in its power to say that they were mere pupils, 
 — the copyists of others. Their testimony to the truth 
 shall be independent, and therefore the more valuable. 
 Waldo having received the truth himself, could not 
 keep it in the secresy of his own breast ; he felt con- 
 strained to communicate it, and the plans which he 
 adopted were eminently wise. The same scriptures 
 which had proved so refreshing to his own soul, he used 
 means to render a well of living waters to the souls of 
 others. lie collected learned men around him, and had 
 the word of God translated out of the Latin into the 
 vernacular French — the Provencal dialect which had 
 been the first cultivated in modern times. This was 
 the earliest attempt of the kind, and the achievement, 
 though it was but part of the Scriptures after all which 
 was translated, conferred a loftier honour than victory 
 on a thousand battle-fields. The opulence of Waldo, and 
 his commercial relations as a merchant, now came in aid 
 of the efforts of his Christianity. He circulated the 
 Scriptures — preached himself, and procured the services 
 of others to preach — and though his friends and followers 
 were denominated " the poor men of Lyons," with God's 
 blessing they made 'many rich. Nothing could be more 
 circumspect than the movement of Waldo. Popish au- 
 thorities seem to have been recognised, if not consulted, 
 at every step. But none of these things could overcome 
 the native enmity of man, and especially of ungodly 
 ecclesiastical rulers, to the truth of God. Soon the suc- 
 cess of Waldo and his assistants drew down upon them a 
 Popish excommunication, which was repeatedly renewed. 
 Driven from their homes, they travelled over distant parts 
 of France, — Alsace, Picardy, along the borders of the 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 405 
 
 Rhine, as well as over Dauphiny and the neighbourhood 
 of Lyons. Eminently did God bless their labours. The 
 good old merchant, after twenty years of missionary life 
 and labour, was allowed to close his eyes in peace ; but 
 hot persecution raged against his followers, — persecution 
 in point of severity surpassing any thing that was known 
 before. Eighteen were burnt at Mentz, thirty-five at 
 Bingen, and eighty at Strasburg — all on the banks of the 
 beautiful Khine. But natural beauty has no power over 
 persecuting hearts, as the lovely scenes of Piedmont can 
 amply testify. 
 
 The case of Waldo reminds one of an important prin- 
 ciple apparently in God's government of his church, and 
 that is — to check the pride of ecclesiastical rulers, and 
 keep down the spirit of creature idolatry. Waldo was 
 not an ecclesiastic — he was a layman ; and his preach- 
 ing, though without office in the church, seems to have 
 been one of the things which provoked the excommuni- 
 cation. Yet the Spirit of God appended the most in- 
 dubitable of all seals to his ministry. He blessed his 
 labours more than those of many ecclesiastics ; and so it 
 has been since, apparently for the same reason. Wit- 
 ness the fruits of Robert Haldane's writings and labours 
 on the Continent as well as at home. 
 
 EVANGELICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 1160 TO A.D. 1500. 
 FOURTH PERIOD. 
 
 The next historical period stretches from Waldo to 
 the Reformation, — a space of above 300 years. Waldo's 
 followers may not have formed themselves into a distinct 
 church bearing his name ; they may rather have mingled 
 
406 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 themselves with the existing Christians ; but there can be 
 no question they were faithful to their principles, and im- 
 parted a powerful impulse to the cause of evangelical reli- 
 gion in France and in neighbouring kingdoms. The proof 
 of this is to be found in the fact, that the first great revolt 
 from the church of Kome, and which she punished with 
 tremendous and merciless severity, took place in France 
 immediately after the death of Waldo, and for thirty to 
 forty years subsequently. No doubt there was persecu- 
 tion before. We have seen that various parties, uncom- 
 fortable and oppressed at home, came as refugees as well 
 as missionaries to France ; still this was the first period 
 when the church of Rome came forth as a church, and 
 in her strength, to extinguish heresy. And when she 
 appeared in this character, it was not, as many may be 
 apt to imagine, against the Waldenses strictly so called, 
 — the inhabitants of the Cottian Alps, — but against the 
 Protestant French of the south, and south-east and west, 
 of the kingdom. Dr Gilly expressly states, that it was 
 not till A. D. 1210, that any public and authorized act 
 of oppression was committed in the Piedmontese valleys;* 
 whereas, from twenty to thirty years before this, the 
 hottest persecution raged in France, — persecution un- 
 surpassed by any thing which has been perpetrated in that 
 country, famous beyond all others for religious bloodshed. 
 So far from the Waldenses being persecuted at this time, 
 their valleys were tranquil and protected, — so much so, 
 that the poor suffering Albigenses,f the evangehcal Pro- 
 testants of France, betook themselves to Piedmont for 
 
 * Art. Valdenses, p, 541. 
 
 t So denominated from Alby, a French town, not on the borders 
 of Piedmont, but in the south-east of the kingdom. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FEANCE. 407 
 
 a refuge.* The honour, then, of standing the first brunt 
 of papal Rome, when fairly roused, was an honour con- 
 ferred upon France. Rome indeed triumphed, — she 
 crushed the revolt for a season, and put back the Refor- 
 mation, but how terrible and criminal the means ! Kings 
 were not only called in to destroy unoffending subjects, 
 but the Inquisition, that tremendous engine of treachery 
 and blood, was now first invented and brought into play. 
 Relioious orders wrouo-ht it. Its foundations, laid in 
 France, gradually extended over Europe. One striking 
 proof of the severity of the trial, is to be found in the 
 remote quarters to which the refugees were driven. We 
 may gather the force of the volcanic eruption from the 
 distance to which the blazing fragments are scattered — 
 and so of the volcano of persecution. The Albigenses 
 were not only expelled from Spain, whither many of 
 them had fled for an asylum ; they were hunted into 
 Croatia, Dalmatia, at the back of the Hadriatic, — yea, 
 to Bulgaria, on the borders of the Black Sea. 
 
 Nor was the Inquisition — an appropriate instrument 
 
 * Of course, it is not intended for a moment to disparage the 
 sufiferings of the Christians of Piedmont. My only wish is to give 
 the reader a correct idea of the chronology of martyrdoms. The 
 Dulces of Savoy, who ultimately became such persecutors, did not 
 acquire their full power in Piedmont till A. D. 1250. They pleaded, 
 generations afterwards, that they were bound by treaty to allow 
 the Piedmontese the free exercise of their religion ; and, there- 
 fore, they did not comply with the calls of their Popish friends to 
 exterminate heresy. Five separate seasons of oppressions can be 
 counted in the 15th century, but it was not till the 1560 that the 
 tempest fully descended. In 1540, 1541, and 1545, there was severe 
 suffering (as in France at the same time), and for more than a cen- 
 tury after, the history of Piedmont was little else than a history 
 of sanguinary cruelty, and unflinching fidelity and fortitude. — 
 Allix''s Remains, p. 268. 
 
408 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 of Papal torture — the only new application in that day 
 of blood and woe. The agje was the ao-e of the Crusades, 
 when Europe was precipitated upon Asia, and tens of 
 thousands of brave soldiers were sent to water Palestine 
 with their blood, in a vain attempt to seize the Holy 
 Sepulchre from the Turks. Rome caught the idea of 
 having a series of crusades asjainst the heretics at home 
 as well as the infidels abroad, and hence for years to- 
 gether, the south of France was made the scene of four 
 or five successive crusades, or rather massacres. All 
 men were invited, by the most tempting rewards for this 
 life and the life to come, to go forth and serve for forty 
 days against the accursed Albigenses, — persons, in the 
 eye of Rome, more hateful and worthy of death than 
 infidel Turks. Hence multitudes on multitudes, amid 
 unutterable scenes of treachery, licentiousness, and cruelty, 
 were put to death for no other reason than because they 
 were Bible Christians, and refused to acknowledge the 
 usurpations of an apostate church. I shall not sicken 
 the reader nor myself with details — it were easy to do 
 so — and perhaps careless Protestants would be the bet- 
 ter of a little such sickness ; sufiice it to say, that the 
 people in many cases were driven into self-defensive 
 wars ; that even Roman Catholic nobles and magistrates 
 called upon their persecuted people to defend them- 
 selves against robbers and murderers, who, in the name 
 of religion, laid waste entire provinces. Certain it is, 
 that no scalping Indians of America ever surpassed in 
 atrocity the proceedings of Frenchmen in the centre of 
 Europe, acting as the agents of the professed represen- 
 tative of the Son of God upon earth. At the destruc- 
 tion of the town of Beziers, not far from the foot of the 
 Pyrenees, it is estimated (the numbers vary) from 23,000 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 409 
 
 to 60,000 were massacred, — sad foretaste of and prepara- 
 tion for the massacre of St Batholomew at a later day, 
 but shewing the character of the people and the religion 
 ever the same. 7000 dead bodies were piled up in a 
 single church.* The only consolation to be drawn from 
 
 * It may be added, that, in one fire kindled on the borders 
 of Spain, 140 heretics were burnt at the same time ; of the num- 
 ber, only three poor women could be prevailed upon to recant. 
 Such was the magnitude of the work of persecution, that wood 
 failed for the building of prisons to confine those whom the sword 
 had spared ; and those who fell before its edge were not few in 
 number. It is estimated that, in about twenty years, nearly one 
 million of French professors of the faith were, in one form or 
 another, put to death, — in other words, fifty thousand a-year! 
 What pen but that of Inspiration could describe the scene : — " And 
 I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with 
 the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." It is at once painful and re- 
 volting to record such facts ; but it is salutary, and the aspects of 
 the present times almost demand it. 
 
 " While it must be said, that to read the history of the exter- 
 mination of the Albigenses is a sacred duty, it is true also that the 
 having read it is something like a lasting misfortune. So long as our 
 common nature, fallen as it is, contains elements of ferocity ready 
 at any moment to break forth into acts of carnage and cruelty, and 
 so long as the ancient superstition is extant, which, its principle 
 being unchanged, is always ready to do again what it has done so 
 often, — so long as it is so, none ought to think themselves excused 
 from the duty of becoming acquainted with those dark pages of 
 history. There are at all times at hand St Bernards and St 
 Dominies, eager to set on the dogs of intolerance ; nor will such 
 men ever be at a loss for a Simon de Montfort, or want for a furious 
 rabble, well inclined to do the pleasvire of hierarchical fanatics. 
 Spite of our boasted civilization, a few years of national convulsion, 
 stirring the appetite of blood in the lowest classes, and ending in 
 if it were only a short supremacy of despotism, might be enough to 
 bring back, even upon " merry England," the burning of heretics. 
 Human nature has at all times a latent hankering for vehement 
 excitements of this kind ; and it waits only for a word of encourage- 
 ment from a fanatical government to glut the horrid appetite. It 
 
410 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 these terrible facts, is the indirect evidence which they 
 supply of the wide-spread diffusion of evangelical prin- 
 ciples, and the fidelity and courage of the Albigenses. 
 Rome did not, we may believe, send forth an army on 
 one occasion of 300,000 men against a handful of heretics. 
 With all her desire to strike a crushing blow, the heresy 
 must have made, and been making, decided progress. 
 A Roman Catholic historian of the period relates, that it 
 had infected a thousand cities, and, if not checked, would 
 have overrun Europe. The district of Narbonne, in the 
 south of France, we are informed, had become so tho- 
 roughly evangelical, that, for thirty years, no mass had 
 been sung in several of its towns. 
 
 After the first grand furious and successful onset of 
 the Beast, there was comparative quiet in France, on- 
 wards to the period of the Reformation in the beginning 
 of the 16tli century. The scene of conflict was changed 
 from her soil to that of England under Wickliffe, and Bo- 
 hemia under Huss and Jerome, in the intervening period. 
 This was not wonderful, — nations as well as individuals 
 get weary of the shedding of blood. Even Voltaire 
 notices this in regard to the very period under review ; 
 and states, that for 200 years after the wars against the 
 Albigenses, they were unmolested. It cannot be doubt- 
 ed too, that, while there is weariness on one side, there 
 is exhaustion on the other ; the most prominent friends 
 of evangelical reliGjion are cut off, and the remainder are 
 
 is this knowledge of " what is in man," — it is this lesson, taught 
 by all history, that should inspire a constant watchfulness in re- 
 gard to the advances of any species of spiritual despotism, and 
 more especially in regard to that one species which, while it has 
 grown old in the trade of infernal cruelty, is still young in the 
 murderous energy of its hatred of truth." — Taylor, p. 20. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 411 
 
 scattered, or borne down into obscurity and silence. 
 Hence the general character of the age of which I write, 
 is the absence of prominent marks of evangelical life and 
 progress. Rome's first blow seems to have been in- 
 tended to strike terror throughout Christendom ; and she 
 succeeded in her aim. No subsequent period ever sur- 
 passed her earliest violence, True Christians appear to 
 have been thoroughly overawed, and, where they existed, 
 to have spoken only in a whisper. Of course I speak 
 generally and comparatively. The age, in more respects 
 than one, was dismal. It was the age of God's judg- 
 ments, which ought to have led all men to repentance. 
 It was the age of the pestilence, when Europe in a few 
 years lost twenty-five millions of its inhabitants ; but 
 there was no repentance. It was the age of the Cru- 
 sades — the age of man's madness — which lasted for the 
 better part of 200 years, and which cost the kingdoms 
 of Europe six millions of human lives, to terminate after 
 all in utter discomfiture and confusion.^ As might have 
 been expected, from the blended enthusiasm and mili- 
 tary spirit of the French, it was among them that these 
 insane military expeditions originated. It was the age 
 of magnificent cathedrals, and of the schoolmen of sur- 
 passing acuteness, and of papal power almost unlimited. 
 
 * Guizot, in his Lectures on the History of Civilization in 
 Europe, remarks : — " The main characteristic of the Crusades is 
 
 their universality. All Europe together took part in them 
 
 The French formed the bulk of the first army of the Crusaders 
 
 All the Christian nations were engaged in each. Nothing similar 
 
 had ever been -witnessed Kings, lords, priests, burghers, 
 
 husbandmen, all took the same interest and the same share in the 
 Crusades." He might have added, as a proof of the insane enthu- 
 siasm, that, on one occasion, 100,000 children set out on the ex- 
 pedition ! 
 
412 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 Could these have conduced to the true religious welfare 
 of men, no age should have been more blessed ; but as 
 if on purpose to shew the vanity of the unsanctified 
 power, wealth, and intellect of man, the age was enve- 
 loped in intensest darkness. The Scriptures were so 
 scarce and costly, that a labouring man must have toiled 
 for fifteen years, ere with all his earnings he could have 
 purchased a single poor MS. Pilgrimages and the 
 worship of relics were the substitute for religion ; and, as 
 might have been anticipated, the moral corruption, in 
 forms too shocking to be even alluded to, was universal, 
 and always worst among those who were under the 
 strongest obligations to purity.* 
 
 But with all this, evangelical truth was not exter- 
 minated in France. It was cast down and sore spent, 
 but it still survived. If, in the 14th century, there 
 were 80,000 Waldenses in Bohemia, it is not to be sup- 
 posed, however little is recorded, that they were ex- 
 tinct in France, which might be called their native 
 country. In the middle of the 13th century (a.d. 1250), 
 there was a fierce and protracted contest between the 
 Pope and the Emperor of Germany, which acted as a 
 diversion in behalf of the friends of Evano-elical reho-ion, 
 lately so severely persecuted. Thus it has been often 
 ordered in God's providence. He allows the hands of 
 the enemy to be so filled with their own quarrels, as to 
 afford a breathing time to his saints. In this interval, 
 Limborch, the historian of the Inquisition, speaking of 
 Italy, relates, that " heresy had greatly increased during 
 the preceding war." There can be little question that 
 
 * Rich men were so infatuated, that, when they felt themselves 
 a dying, they sent for the old habits of friars, that they might be 
 buried in them, and pass in safety as friars at the judgment day ! 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 413 
 
 the same causes operated in France to a similar result. 
 And throughout the whole of the 14th century, there 
 was a cause which operated still nearer home, and in the 
 same direction, — in other words, adversely to the papacy; 
 I allude to the removal of the seat of the Popedom from 
 Rome to Avignon in France, in the heart of the Albi- 
 gensian country (a. d. 1308). Not only was the loss of 
 historical recollections injurious, but the transference of 
 the Papal Court to France, like the visit of Luther and 
 others to Kome, was the occasion of disclosing Papal 
 vice to many who had dreamed only of sanctity. It 
 brought Rome near to them, and made sad disclosures. 
 Later in the century, the schism which broke out in 
 the Papacy, and which presented the edifying spec- 
 tacle of two or three popes and antipopes fiercely con- 
 tendino' for the tiara at the same moment, and excom- 
 municating one another, as if to put a fool's-cap on their 
 counterfeit doctrine of " apostoHc succession," tended 
 greatly to the temporary relief and quiet of the friends 
 of truth. When popes were fully occupied with factions, 
 wars, and personal imprisonments in their own precincts, 
 they had little time or taste for Albigensian persecu- 
 tions. Accordingly, while the Papal schism shook the 
 hierarchy, and aided the Reformation, it brought direct 
 relief and encouragement to the faithful French residing 
 in the midst of it. At the same time, the partial per- 
 secutions which took place in different quarters of France 
 in the course of the century, prove that the old spirit 
 remained. It also proves, that evangelism was not ex- 
 tinct ; there were numerous cheerful and devoted vic- 
 tims. In A. D. 1334, not less than 114 Albigenses were 
 searched out at Paris, and burnt apparently in one fire. 
 What an awful sacrifice ! We would be horrified at the 
 
414 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 sight of one ; here there were 114, and yet the whole 
 number bore the trial with noble unshrinking fortitude ! 
 Forty years later, a vast multitude were consumed to 
 ashes in the Place de Greve in Paris, — a place, at a 
 later day, not only stained but soaked with human blood. 
 About the same period at Grenoble, in the south-east of 
 France, there were similar proceedings. One monk of 
 the Inquisition could boast, that, in thirteen short years, 
 he had been the means of putting 150 victims to death 
 by burning. Seventy years later (a. d. 1450), and still 
 farther south, on the borders of Piedmont, three peaceful 
 valleys of Dauphiny, which had hitherto been filled with 
 humble disciples of the cross, were laid waste by a bro- 
 ther monk. So fierce and infatuated were his proceed- 
 ings, that even the King of France (Louis XI.), when 
 appealed to by those who were not Albigensians, put a 
 stop to the persecution, and condemned the persecutors.* 
 Though one could not appeal to such facts as these, 
 illustrative of the continued existence of evang-elical re- 
 liffion in France, after the fearful sufferino;s of the 12th 
 and 13th centuries, still we could not doubt its reality 
 or power, when we consider how warm and extensive 
 was the intercourse which prevailed among the faithful 
 of all lands in these dark and trying times, — and how 
 they strengthened each other's hands, and encouraged 
 each other's hearts, particularly after enduring a great 
 fight of afflictions. Rough and irregular as were the 
 roads, and uncultivated as comparatively was the country, 
 though travelling was far more difficult and dangerous 
 than it is now, yet it is almost incredible what warm 
 and extensive intercourse was kept up among the people 
 of God. Letters were ever passing, — personal visits 
 * Jones's History, vol. ii. p. 223. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 415 
 
 were frequent, — the houses of leading friends were hke 
 inns for the reception of the faithful ; and such was the 
 confidence which w^as cherished in one another, that, 
 in England, private societies for reading the Scriptures 
 in the version of Wickliffe, were kept up for tw^enty 
 years together, in the heart of watchful enemies, without 
 ever being discovered. In the middle of the 15th cen- 
 tury, from Cologne on the Rhine to Milan in Italy, 
 throughout the whole of Germany, there were houses of 
 friends, where the faithful could pass the night undis- 
 turbed, indicated by private marks on the gates * It 
 was not likely in such circumstances, and with such faci- 
 lities of intercourse, that true piety would be allowed to 
 die. There might be little said or done v/hich came 
 under the eye of the public, — personal safety as well as 
 the interests of religion might require this privacy, — but 
 the flame would not burn the less surely that it was 
 concealed. Hence, when the days of the great Refor- 
 mation in the 16th century arrived, it was found that 
 the very districts and even towns where the Aibigenses 
 had suffered, were the very quarters where the good 
 seed of the kingdom most rapidly and extensively sprung 
 up. Remains of truth had survived, and were kindled 
 into a flame by the torch of the Reformation. Associa- 
 tions too, with martyred sires, and, it may be, answers to 
 their prayers breathed forth from the stake, operated in 
 the same v/ay. So it was that Languedoc and Dauphiny 
 
 * Vitringa, as quoted by Dr M'Crie in his Memoir of Lambert, 
 notices the mutual fraternal love, without envy or emulation, 
 which characterized the leading men of the Reformation. Though 
 ministers and laymen, and of different countries, the concord was 
 not only wonderful, it was divine. Tlie only serious exception was 
 Luther's attack on Zuingle. 
 
 2g 
 
416 THE PAST AXD PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 quickly caught the flame ; and, from an early period, 
 Paris, and Metz, and Lyons, and Strasburg, shared in 
 the blessed illumination. All this shews the importance 
 of preserving alive, in our own and in other lands, the 
 memory of a martyr- testimony. It is not improbable, 
 when days of revival come, that it may be through it 
 the Spirit of the Lord will restore and extend his own 
 work.*^ The importance becomes more solemn, when it 
 is remembered, — what we believe could be made out 
 from the history of France as well as of other countries, 
 — that when men in earlier days reject the word of God, 
 their descendants in more favourable subsequent times 
 otten do not participate in the blessing ; in short, that 
 men, by theii* refusal of the gospel, may affect distant 
 posterity, f 
 
 * This shews the advantage of labouring in a country once 
 Christian, over labouring in lands hitherto heathen. The Roman 
 Catholic missionaries are alive to ancient associations ; and hence 
 the care with which they are at present planting their missions at 
 sacred spots in Palestine, and endeavouring to avail themselves of 
 traditionary recollections regarding the Bishop of Hippo, and 
 similar names. Protestants should turn the same influence to 
 account. It is an interesting circumstance, that several of the 
 evangelical revivals in France at the present day, have appeared 
 in spots where the truth had once been known, and where the 
 memorials of it told with effect, both upon the natives and upon 
 friends at a distance asked to lend their aid. The Vosges, Chalons, 
 Troyes, Toulouse, &c. are examples. Nay, many of the communes 
 in Haute Vienne, which at the present moment are separating 
 from Rome, were once reformed, and were compelled to conform 
 only by the dragoons of Louis XIV. The preacher can appeal in 
 these cases to principles and feelings of our nature, which the word 
 of God seems to sanction. It is interesting thus to mark the per- 
 petual vitality of truth. 
 
 t See Blair's History of the Waldenses. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 417 
 
 EVANGELICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 1500 TO A.D. 1598. 
 FIFTH PERIOD. 
 
 Before noticing the religious state of France in our 
 next period from the Reformation in the beginning of 
 the 16th century, to the passing of the Edict of Nantes 
 in 1598 at its close, 1 may advert for a moment to the 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE FAITHFUL AlBIGENSES, 
 
 of whom I have been speaking. The very fact of 
 their suffering so long and so cheerfully for Christ is 
 itself high virtue, and indicates the possession of many 
 other fine quahties, moral and spiritual. But there 
 is more direct evidence. Like their divine Master, 
 and the faithful of both Old and New Testament 
 times, they may have been, and we know they were, 
 subjected to all possible titles of reproach and the most 
 unfounded imputations both as to doctrine and life ; 
 but even the most violent enemies and the most preju- 
 diced popish historians have been constrained to bear 
 witness to their general excellence and vast superiority 
 to others around. Perhaps the most prominent feature 
 in their character — certainly the root of most of the ex- 
 cellence for which they were distinguished — was their 
 reverence and love for the word of God, — their familiar 
 acquaintance with it, — and the zeal with which they la- 
 boured for its diffusion. One popish writer, who had 
 himself been a persecutor, speaking of the faithful in. the 
 diocese of Toulouse, Alby, Rhodes, Cahors, Agen, and 
 Narbonne, towns which stretch over a large region of the 
 south-west of France, says they were so w-ell instructed 
 in the scriptures, that he had met with peasants who 
 could repeat the book of Job and the whole of the New 
 
418 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 Testament with the greatest accuracy. Another en- 
 larges the testimony. Speaking of the body as a whole, 
 he says one could scarcely find a man or a woman who 
 had not the whole New Testament by heart. This is 
 the more remarkable when we remember how ignorant 
 the Roman Catholics were of the scriptures, and that, 
 A. D. 1229, the reading of the word was for the first time 
 expressly prohibited. In the south-east of France, 
 again, on the borders of Piedmont, popish students from 
 the Sorbonne of Paris, after an examination of the peo- 
 ple (appointed by the popish bishop), confessed that they 
 understood more of the way of salvation, from the an- 
 swers of the little heretic children in their catechism, 
 than from all the theological disputations at which they 
 had been present. One great reason for tlie extensive 
 committing of the scriptures to memory, was not only 
 that they might thus possess the word in their minds, 
 though the outward volume were snatched from their 
 hands, but also that they might with more safety com- 
 municate the contents when perambulating the country 
 as small dealers in domestic articles. 
 
 The character corresponded with such teaching. It 
 was so ordered in the wise providence of God, which so 
 often makes enemies do the work of friends, that two of 
 the French kings, Louis XII. and Francis I., should be 
 led successively to order inquiries into the character of 
 their evangelical subjects, the better to ascertain the 
 truth or the falsehood of charges whispered to their dis- 
 advantage. On hearing the report of his commissioners, 
 the first declared with an oath that they were better 
 than himself or his people; and his confessor, on an- 
 other occasion, proclaimed his own wish that he were as 
 good a Christian as the worst in the heretical valley of 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 419 
 
 Fraissiniere. The result, again, of Francis I.'s inquiries 
 as to the province of Provence was, that the accused and 
 persecuted were a peaceful people, beloved by their 
 neighbours, faithful to their promises, punctual in the 
 payment of debts, liberal to strangers, charitable to the 
 poor, and most industrious in restoring villages desolated 
 by war, and spreading the ensigns of fertility over dis- 
 tricts once barren and desert. Thuanus, a French Ro- 
 man Catholic historian of great honesty, who lived shortly 
 after the rise of the Reformation, speaking of what, in 
 some measure at least, had passed under his own eye in 
 one of the valleys of Dauphiny, already referred to, 
 writes, — " Poor as they are, they are content, and live 
 in a state of seclusion from the rest of mankind. One 
 thing is very remarkable, that persons externally so sa- 
 vage and rude should have so much moral cultivation. 
 They can all read and write. They know French suffi- 
 ciently for the understanding of the Bible and the singing 
 of psalms. You can scarcely find a boy among them who 
 cannot give you an intelligent account of the faith which 
 they profess. In this indeed they resemble their bre- 
 thren of the other valleys. They pay tribute with a 
 good conscience, and the obligation of this duty is pecu- 
 liarly noted in their Confession of Faith."* Similar is 
 the testimony of Voltaire as to the body generally, t 
 
 And now we come to notice a few leading points in 
 the first hundred years of the French Reformation. Al- 
 ready there had been two great risings of Evangelical re- 
 ligion against the errors and corruptions of the Church 
 of Rome, — the first on the part of the Albigenses in 
 
 * Thuani. Hist, sui Temporis, lib. vi, sect. 16 ; quoted bv Jones, 
 p. 77. 
 
 f Universal History, vol. ii. p. 338. 
 
420 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 France, in the 12th and 13th centuries ; the second on 
 the part of the Lollards of Bohemia, in the 14th and 
 15th, so far as external aspects were concerned, Rome 
 had stood the assault ; yea, had severely punished the 
 daring, as she would account it, of her assailants on both 
 occasions. But now the day arrives when she shall meet 
 with reprisals, and almost one-half of Christendom shall 
 successfully disown her authority. I refer to the great 
 Reformation from Popery in the 16th century. The 
 swelling waters which had been turned back before could 
 be repressed no longer. 
 
 While the same divine hand can be seen in the events 
 of the Reformation in all the Protestant kingdoms of 
 Europe, there is at the same time a beautiful variety in 
 God's dispensations to each, just as we see in the opera- 
 tions of the same hand in nature and providence. The 
 peculiamties of the French Reformation, so to speak, 
 were particularly interesting. In its general character, 
 so far corresponding to that of its people, it was earnest 
 and energetic — rapid, decided, and diffusive — mingled 
 with occasional acts of serious imprudence, and stained 
 with some cases of prominent apostacy.* Though there 
 
 * These must have been very injurious. Suppose that Luther, 
 or Calvin, or Knox, after being fully committed to the Reforma- 
 tion, had acted a dishonest part and apostatized, what a triumph 
 would have been given to popery — what a blow to truth ! Less 
 prominent men must, according to their sphere, have proportion- 
 ally inflicted a similar injury. In modem days, cases could be ap- 
 pealed to where unfaithfulness in a mission-station against popery 
 has been enough not only to extinguish it, but to give new life 
 and strength to the apostacy. In the days of the French Refor- 
 mation, one of the worst cases was that of Brissonet, Bishop of 
 Meaux, who, after being identified with the reformers, and render- 
 ed even spiritually useful to the king's sister, gave way in the day of 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGIOX IX FRANCE. 421 
 
 were, doubtless, multitudes of hidden ones, faithful men, 
 scattered over the country, and we know that the Albi- 
 genses greatly prepared the way for the harvest of the 
 Reformation, yet the movement, like most other import- 
 ant French movements, originated in the capital,' — not in 
 the cell of a monk in a German village, but in the pro- 
 fessor's chair of the most celebrated university at that 
 time of Europe, in the heart of Paris. The French Re- 
 formation was not a copy from the German. This would 
 not have accorded with the character of the people, while 
 it would have been injurious, if not fatal, to the cause. 
 It was an unborrowed independent movement; and hence 
 the greater value belongs to it as a testimony to divine 
 truth. But as Paris is every thing to France, and 
 has ever been so, so it proved in the starting of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 It may be added farther, that it was the first move- 
 ment in Europe. I rejoice to find that D'Aubigne, 
 the celebrated author of the " History of the Refor- 
 mation," with all his just attachment to Luther, fully 
 concedes this point. Many imagine, as a matter of 
 course, that the German took the lead, and that but for 
 it, Europe must have remained in popish darkness. The 
 truth is, (and without detracting from the glory of any of 
 the noble instruments whom the great Head of the 
 Church saw meet to employ in the work, — let honour be 
 paid to whom it is due,) — it was in France, strictly speak - 
 
 trial. He afterwards became the bitterest of persecutors. By bis 
 agency many were condemned to the flames ; among the rest Peter 
 Clerc, the reformed pastor. One was imprisoned for life at the 
 bishop's expense ! and yet he had a considerable air of sanctity. 
 Probably in this way a guilty conscience sought to escape from its 
 own misery. 
 
422 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 ino;, that the Keformation beoan.* The devout and 
 learned Lefevre, Professor of Theology in the Univer- 
 sity of Paris, acquired the knowledge of the gospel not 
 from Germany — not from men, but from the word of 
 God, illuminated by the Holy Spirit. He was teaching 
 salvation by free grace to earnestly listening students, 
 who afterwards bore a distinguished part in the Refor- 
 mation, while the great German reformer Avas but grop- 
 ing his way to the truth, — at least before he had taken 
 any important public step on the side of the Reforma- 
 tion. It will be acknowledged by those who have studied 
 this period of French history, that though no Luther 
 had arisen, or the German Reformation had been stran- 
 gled in its cradle, there would still have been a great 
 Information in France, — a reformation which in all pro- 
 bability would have extended to Switzerland, England, 
 and neighbouring kingdoms, till it had overspread 
 Europe. Let us not forget the early and the noble ser- 
 
 * It is common to associate tlie light and the frivolous with the 
 French character, and there may have heen too much ground for 
 the -association imder the popish or infidel reigns of France ; but 
 the character under the power of divine truth is capable of great 
 elevation, stability, and attainments. The Evangelical Protestants 
 of France have ever been a noble race of men — very superior to 
 their Roman Catholic countrymen — eminent for energy, ingenuity, 
 and industry. Separated from popery as in the United States of 
 America, and mingling with other Protestants, the French Hugo- 
 nots have been distinguished among the different races of perse- 
 cuted Protestants who have been the chief j^arents of the Ameri- 
 can population. Three of the seven presidents, during the war of 
 the revolution, were of Hugonot origin ; and one competent to 
 judge has said, " No man in America need ever blush to own him. 
 self one of their descendants, for the observation has more than 
 once been made, that among their descendants the instances have 
 been rare indeed of individuals who have ever been arraigned for 
 crime before the courts of the country." — Baird's America, p. 168. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGIOX IX FRANCE. 423 
 
 vices of Lefevre, at once the teacher and the friend of 
 William Farel, — that Farel who was born within a few 
 years of Luther, and whose native valleys of French 
 Dauphiny were suffering severely for their testimony to 
 Christ and his gospel, while Luther was but a child. 
 And as Lefevre had the start of Luther in the public 
 and successful proclamation of salvation by grace through 
 faith, so he was not behind him in the next great instru- 
 ment of the Reformation — the translation of the word 
 of God into the vernacular language of his country. 
 Luther published his German New Testament in Sep- 
 tember 1522 ; Lefevre the chief part of his French New 
 Testament in the succeeding month, — the October of the 
 same year. 
 
 Another interesting feature in the French Reforma- 
 tion was the numbers in the higher classes of society 
 who embraced it. Among these, Margaret of Valois, 
 the sister of the king; — Francis I., who was herself after- 
 wards Queen of Navarre, in the south of France, was 
 the most prominent. It is doubtful whether any king- 
 dom of the Reformation could point at so early a period 
 to a professor of the truth in every way so estimable 
 and elevated. She was the zealous protector of the Re- 
 formed, and used all her influence with her brother to 
 bring him to the knowledge and love and obedience of 
 the gospel : in the earlier years of his reign, with the 
 promise of success which the latter miserably falsified. 
 As his reign proceeded, he became, with all his love of 
 learning, a fierce and implacable persecutor. 
 
 It would be an interesting theme of inquiry to ascer- 
 tain — never forgetting the sovereignty of divine grace — 
 what were the probable causes of so many of the French 
 aristocracy and opulent families of the middle classes, 
 
424 THE PAST AXD PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 and even branches of the Royal house, becoming Pro- 
 testant. One reason has been suggested by D. D. 
 Scott, Esq. m his interesting and philosophical introduc- 
 tion to the " Memoirs of Gaspar de Colligny." It is 
 to the effect that the Protestants were mainly composed 
 of families of Gothic and Teutonic origin, constituting 
 the nobles of the land ; while the Romans and the an- 
 cient Gauls, whom they had conquered, naturally re- 
 mained with the Roman or Latin church. Hence there 
 were two distinct races covering the soil of France, and 
 their mutual jealousies and prejudices created separa- 
 tions which rehgious distinctions at the Reformation em- 
 bittered. The reason assigned seems fitted to explain 
 the uncommon severity and continuance of the French 
 civil and religious wars. And it entirely coincides with 
 the more general fact which holds true of the countries 
 of Europe, viz., that those which finally cast off the Pope 
 were of Gothic descent, and spoke languages of Teutonic 
 origin ; while those which adhered to Rome, or shortly 
 thereafter relapsed into her arms, were of Latin origin, 
 and spoke some modification or other of the Latin tongue. 
 The northern nations of Europe which became Protes- 
 tant, were of a Gothic family ; the southern, which 
 continued Popish, of the Roman family. 
 
 But to return from this digression. Another marked 
 feature in the character of the French Reformation, was 
 the rapdity luith luhich the parties, Protestant and Po- 
 pish, came into a direct conjiict. This may have been 
 hastened by the causes to which I have just referred, 
 and the fiery spirit of the French. So it was, that lead- 
 ing friends of the gospel were quickly driven from Paris to 
 Meaux — from Meaux to Nantes — from Nantes to Lyons 
 and Dauphiny — and, ere long, were compelled to become 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 425 
 
 refugees in Switzerland. Of course the gospel made 
 great progress in spite of the opposition, and in the very 
 quarters where it most prevailed. Still there was early, 
 almost immediate colHsion beyond what we meet with in 
 other countries.* 
 
 And the severity was most merciless. In the earlier 
 years of the 16th century, when the more prominent 
 promoters of evangelical rehgion could not be found, a 
 poor wool-carder — an obscure hermit whose very name 
 has not been transmitted — a wretched youth of sixteen 
 years of age, whom previous apostacy had sunk into 
 misery, were not thought unsuitable victims for the great 
 Galhcan Popish Church ! We can scarcely conceive any 
 thing more mean or cruel. As the century advances 
 and the gospel spreads, the character of French Popery 
 does not improve in mildness. In 1535, Francis I. the 
 patron of literature, makes a procession through Paris, 
 and takes an active, almost a personal part, in the burn- 
 ing of six heretics, at six leading stations in the capital, 
 all on one day. What a day's work for any one, and 
 especially for a king ? — the murder of thirty-six of his 
 best subjects ! Martyr fires blaze all along through the 
 first half of the century. In 1553, we have an affecting 
 story of five young men, students, chained and burnt 
 in one fire at Lyons, that ancient seat of martyrs : — they 
 kiss each other, and, in token of forgiveness, kiss the ex- 
 ecutioner. Their last words, heard amid the flames, 
 are " Courage, brothers, courage. "t 
 
 * The earliest martyrs to the Reformation in the 16th century 
 seem to have been Frenchmen, as the latest Protestant sufferers 
 in the 18th, belong to the same nation. An aged minister was 
 destroyed so late as 1756 ! 
 
 t It is not necessary to record the horrors of the latter part of 
 the reign of Francis I. All his sister's influence, to whom he was 
 
426 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 All this could not extinguish the truth. The Holy Spi- 
 rit poured down His grace, or Satan poured out his wrath ; 
 and such advances did the gospel make, that by little 
 more than the middle of the century its friends were 
 prepared to form themselves into a distinct organized 
 communion. This is the Protestant Church of France — 
 a noble communion, distinguished for eminent office- 
 bearers, pure doctrine, government, discipline, and wor- 
 ship, marked with all the features of intelligent, as well as 
 living Christianity — noted for its concern for the instruc- 
 tion of the ministry, — the education of the young, — the 
 care of the poor — for union among Christians, — hatred of 
 Popery, — and love of souls; nor was it diminutive in num- 
 bers. So abundant was the outpouring of the Spirit, so 
 rapid His operations, that in twelve short years from the 
 meeting of the first General Assembly, Theodore Beza, 
 the colleague of Calvin, could count above 2150 congre- 
 gations. In the province of Normandy alone, situated, 
 not in the south, where evangelical religion had been pro- 
 pagated for ages, but in the north, where it had been 
 little known, there were above 300 ministers. The one 
 congregation of Orleans had five pastors and 7000 com- 
 municants. It would have been deiiditful had such an 
 order of things been permitted to continue, but there 
 was too much o'ood for Satan to endure — hence simul- 
 taneously with this period, and immediately subsequent 
 to it, there Avas a great conflict, and much suffering. 
 
 much attached, was vain as a check against the enmity of the hu- 
 man heart to the truth of God and its consistent professors. 
 Equally so was the fine address of Calvin to the King, in the pre- 
 face to his Institutes published in 1536. The persecution which 
 raged in France in 1510, overspread even the mountains and val- 
 leys of Piedmont. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 427 
 
 The age through which we are now passing was the age 
 of the rehgious or rather civil wars of France. It is ex- 
 tremely difficult to keep any strong influence in a country, 
 such as revivino' and extendino" Protestantism free from 
 an alliance in some form or other, with political parties. 
 These parties seek to turn it to their own advantage, 
 while Popish adversaries lay snares, and labour to divert 
 it into a political channel, for the express purpose of 
 thereby weakening its moral power. I am not prepared, 
 nor is it necessary, to defend all the proceedings of the 
 French reformed in connection with the nine civil wars. 
 It may be, that, in the military spirit of their nation, 
 they flew too quickly to arms and injuriously identified 
 their religion with a political and worldly party ; but, on 
 the other hand, it must be confessed, that the wanton, 
 sportive, and* unutterable cruelties to which they were 
 subjected, far beyond those of Claverhouse in this country, 
 necessarily drove to resistance ; and so far from its being 
 true that it v;as the taking arms which destroyed the reli- 
 gious movement, facts seem* clearly to shew that, but for 
 such proceedings, they must as a body have been utterly 
 exterminated. It was only repeated and determined re- 
 sistance which extorted the concession of being allowed 
 to breathe — a concession which was ever and anon inter- 
 rupted. The reader will have a tolerable idea of the sea 
 of troubles through which the Protestant Church of France 
 vras called to pass at this time, when informed that in the 
 thirty to forty years which elapsed immediately after her 
 public and proclaimed organization, there were 300 mili- 
 tary engagements, several hundred places besieged, and 
 one million of French subjects destroyed ! Jonathan 
 Edwards, in his History of Redemption, brings out the 
 picture still more in detail. When writing of this age he 
 
428 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 says, "It is reckoned that, within thirty years, there 
 were martyred in France for the Protestant reHgion, 39 
 princes, 148 counts, 234 barons, 147,518 gentlemen, and 
 760,000 of the common people." The large number of 
 persons, in the middle and even the highest ranks, who 
 fell a sacrifice, shews that the evangelical faith was not the 
 religion of the poor and ignorant only, but embraced much 
 of the rank, wealth, and intelligence of the nation.* 
 
 One mio"ht have thougrht that after the civil contests 
 were over, and experience had proved that neither war, 
 nor treacherous truces — more bloody than war — could 
 exterminate the hated Hugonots ; there would have been 
 permanent, though constrained peace. But, No ; the 
 very next event which meets us in the history, is the 
 massacre of St Bartholomew in August 1572, one of 
 the largest and deepest blood- stains in ^11 the bloody 
 history of Rome. Provoked, it would seem, with the 
 growing numbers of the Reformed, in spite of all efforts 
 to extinguish (for it was the very year before, that Beza 
 counted above 2000 congregations), the Church of Rome 
 resolved on a wholesale mas"sacre, in which treachery and 
 cruelty should strive for pre-eminence. She would fain, 
 as by one Gunpowder plot, at one stroke cut off the flower 
 
 * It has been estimated, that, besides those who fell in the civil 
 wars, not less than 200,000 persons suffered death in France for 
 their religion in forty-three years ("1555-1598). This is at the rate of 
 5000 lives a-year, or 13 lives a-day. Of what other country can such 
 protracted and unsatiable cruelty be alfirmed ? Surely the religion 
 must have been felt to be precious which could sustain all this. 
 
 Puffendorf, in his Introduction to the History of Europe, speaking 
 of the civil wars, says : — " It is related by some, that these civil 
 wars devoured above a million of people ; that £150,000,000 were 
 employed in paying off the soldiers ; that 9 cities, 400 villages, 
 20,000 churches. 2000 monasteries, and 10,000 houses, were burnt 
 or laid level with the ground." — P. 201. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN EKANCE. 429 
 
 of the Protestant strength ; and accordingly we have it on 
 the testimony of Roman Cathohc historians themselves, 
 that in a few months 70,000, some say 100,000, unoffend- 
 ing and confiding Protestants were massacred in cold 
 blood. In Paris alone there were ten thousand victims. 
 The river Seine was dyed with blood. Those who resided 
 on its banks at a distance, imagined some great battle 
 had been fought. Alas ! it was only the slaying of a 
 body of God's witnesses. Europe might well have put 
 on mourning ; but the Pope rejoiced — had a jubilee ap- 
 pointed, to which 100,000 pilgrims flocked — had medals 
 struck, so much esteemed and so much in the spirit of 
 the age as to be re-issued in 1839, — had a picture painted 
 on the walls of the grand stair-case of the Vatican, re- 
 presenting the massacre, a painting which, ominous to 
 tell, still remains fresh, open to pubhc gaze, without 
 shame or compunction. 
 
 Such an event as this must have been most disastrous. 
 Indeed, nothing can explain the continued existence, not 
 to speak of the advancement of the evangelical church, save 
 the special and sustained interposition of her exalted 
 Head. What church unhurt, could bear the loss of 
 70,000 or 100,000 of her choicest members ? While such 
 multitudes lost their lives, we may be sure m.any more 
 forgot their principles and proved apostates? We meet 
 with marked traits of degeneracy onwards to the grant- 
 ing of the edict of Nantes in 1598. This protective 
 edict, the gift of Henry IV., was in some respects a 
 proof of continued Protestant power, but there had been 
 a serious decline both in numbers and in spirit. There 
 are now less than a thousand congregations. The mas- 
 sacre has partially, at least, fulfilled the purpose of its 
 perpetrators — an immense part of Christ's French flock 
 are scattered and destroved. 
 
430 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 EVANGELICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 1598 TO A.D. 1685. 
 SIXTH PERIOD. 
 
 The next epoch in the history of evangelical religion 
 in France, is from the o-rantino- toJ:he recalof the Edict 
 of Nantes, a period of nearly a hundred years. Sub- 
 sequent to the early years of rapid and vigorous pro- 
 o-ress, this might be denominated the most prosperous 
 period of French Protestantism. There were indeed 
 perpetual — sometimes harassing infractions of the gua- 
 ranteed protection. There were many and watchful 
 enemies from without, and seasons of coldness and par- 
 tial error within. Still the French Protestant church 
 was a noble witness for Christ in the heart of a great 
 Popish land, and her influence was felt. Comparatively 
 speaking, persecution was at an end ; and though an 
 Erastian State hampered the free exercise of her go- 
 vernment and* discipline, the trumpet of doctrine blew 
 no uncertain sound. She could point to a long list of 
 most able and accomplished divines — was noted for her 
 love for the word of God — her zeal in the publication 
 and circulation of good books — her labours to promote 
 education and ministerial learning. She was distin- 
 'Tuished also for her protest against the errors and cor- 
 ruptions of the Church of Rome — her maintenance of 
 sound doctrine in general against the corresponding er- 
 rors — for her spirit of sympathy and benevolence — and 
 for her desire after Christian union among true churches 
 of Christ. It cannot be doubted that a vast multitude 
 of souls were, through her instrumentality, from genera- 
 tion to generation, gathered unto the fold of the great 
 and good Shepherd, and that she exerted a powerful 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 431 
 
 influence also even on the Romish Church. It is well 
 known that France was the grand theatre of the Janse- 
 nists, the only party in the Church of Rome who pro- 
 fessedly hold the doctrines of gratuitous salvation. It 
 would not be easy to estimate during their sixty years of 
 contest with the Jesuit and other Arminian parties, how 
 much they were indebted for the sound doctrinal views 
 which they held to the preaching, and the works of their 
 brethren of the Protestant Church. At least we find 
 no such struggle for the doctrines of free grace in any 
 other Romish land. It is not improbable that it was 
 the felt connection between the scriptural writings of the 
 Protestants and the rise and spread of Jansenism, which 
 led the Jesuits to exert all their influence, and success- 
 fully, alas ! for the recal of the edict of IN antes. 
 
 EVANGELICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 1685 TO A.D. 1793. 
 SEVENTH PERIOD. 
 
 This brings us to the next period in the history of 
 French Protestantism, that which stretches from the re- 
 peal of the edict in 1685, to the French Revolution in 
 1793. The protracted space comprehended between these 
 years might be said, both outwardly and spiritually, to 
 be one of lamentation, and mourning, and woe. God has 
 a very sovereign mode of dealing with churches as well as 
 individuals. In some countries, as Italy and Spain, he 
 allows the truth to be suppressed almost as soon as it has 
 had the bare opportunity of shewing that the soil is one 
 in which it can grow and flourish. In others, as in 
 France, he allows it temporary prosperity — a large de- 
 velopment at first — then a more contracted, but use- 
 
 4h 
 
432 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE QF 
 
 ful course — to be followed by more than a century of 
 persecution and decay — terminating almost in extinc- 
 tion ; while in other countries, like our own, the truth 
 in one church communion or another, is upheld in purity 
 and power through successive centuries, and never al- 
 lowed to die. 
 
 The revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. 
 — long meditated by enemies, and prepared for in part 
 by the declining spirit of the Protestant Church, and the 
 courtly spirit and tone of too many of her leading minis- 
 ters, was, in every light in wdiich it can be contemplated, 
 a tremendous event. Blood may not have flowed in the 
 name profusion as in the massacres of the previous cen- 
 tury, but there was a vast sacrifice of human life, while 
 nearly a milhon of the best — the most skilful and indus- 
 trious subjects were driven from their native land. 
 France has never, as a country, recovered the loss which 
 she then sustained.* But what was more serious — evan- 
 
 * One fact out of many may be stated as an example. Tours, 
 the capital of Touraine, was eminent for the manufacture of silk, 
 ■svhich it largely exported. The workmen were chiefly Protestants. 
 "NVliat was the effect of the recal of the edict ? The population 
 fell from 40,000 to 4000, and the silk-looms from 8000 to 1200. As 
 to other things bearing a retributive aspect, I quote the language 
 of another : — " At the commencement of the seventeenth century, 
 Tours was indeed a city of churches, and at least twenty steeples 
 or towers presented themselves to the eye in the outline of the 
 view, and formed a noble perspective : at the present day the outline 
 of the city is almost deprived of its ecclesiastical adornments ; the 
 two towers of the cathedral, two other towers in ruins, and a few 
 small spires, are all that appear, and of the remaining churches, 
 which suffered much during the Revolution, some are shut up, one 
 is now used as the cora-market, another as a magazine for hay, a 
 third is used for the stables of an hotel, and a standing-place for 
 carriages; the interior of another is divided into compartments 
 lor workshops, and t'ho public theatre desecrates another." 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. ' 43b 
 
 gelical religion was well nigh extinguished. Jansenism 
 was suppressed in the Romish Church : and what had 
 been the Protestant Church, the Church of Du Moulin, 
 and Bochart, and Daille, and Du Bosc, and Claude, and 
 Saurin, became little more than a shattered column, or 
 scattered fragments. For several generations a feeble 
 testimony was kept up on the mountains of Cevenne,* 
 in the south, and in secluded corners in other quarters ; 
 but the Dragoonades and Galleys of Louis XIV. and his 
 successors, were permitted to do their terrible work. Sa- 
 tan doubtless required. Wretched conformity, in other 
 words, apostacy and error, devoured what persecution had 
 spared. Not but that Christ had still a people in the 
 dark night of rising and spreading infidelity, even as he 
 had a people in the middle ages of popery in the times 
 of Vigilantius and of Waldo; but they were few in 
 number — cold in spirit — ready to expire. It is not the 
 way of popery to persecute a dead Protestant church. 
 We may therefore, apart from every thing else, be sure 
 that French Protestantism, at the epoch of the Revocation, 
 was to a great extent a living church, and the persecu- 
 tion, which continued at intervals througrh the succeedinfr 
 century, down almost to the Revolution, indicates that 
 there were still livino* conjrreixations — usually cono-reo-a- 
 tors of the desert, t Let us not, however, hide from our- 
 
 * It is stated by Court, in his " Histoire des Troubles des Co- 
 vennes," that, in the war of the Camisards, which lasted from 
 1702 to 1711, one hundred and twenty churches were burnt down, 
 tifteen Protestant preachers were put to death, and four hundred 
 and sixty-six places were sacked and plundered, while their inlia- 
 bitants were massacred. 
 
 ■f The persecuting spirit, during a part of the period, may be ga- 
 thered from the fact that, from 1669 to 1720, there were more than 
 tioo hundred edicts issued against the Refoiuied, which D. D. 
 
434 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 selves the painful truth, that martyrdom, imprisonment, 
 exile, an Erastian suppression of the meeting of church 
 courts, religious error associated with growing infidelity, 
 the absence of the means of suitable ministerial education, 
 and burning and burying of good books, sometimes 6000 
 in one fire — these, and kindred adverse influences, con- 
 tinued not for a few years, but for generations, wore out 
 the spirit of evangelical principle and piety, and left 
 little for the infidel revolution of 1793 to accomplish. 
 It is a fearful fact, that at that dread day more than 
 one Protestant minister came forth with the priests of 
 Rome, and publicly abjured Christianity, offering up the 
 sacred vessels of Christian communion on the altar of 
 infidelity, declaring that for years they had been pro- 
 fessing to teach what they did not believe. 
 
 It is not necessary to say anything in the history of 
 Evangelical religion of the revolution of France, itself 
 from first to last essentially infidel. There is only 
 a connection between the two which should never be for- 
 gotten. The infidelity of France, in the terrible conse- 
 quences of which not only Europe, but Christendom and 
 the world sufi'ered, was the obvious fruit of the protract- 
 ed persecution and almost extinction of evangelical reli- 
 gion. French popery in an inquiring age, and among a 
 people alive to the ludicrous, was left without check or 
 restraint. Pursuing its course of ignorance, creduhty, 
 and immorality, it provoked scepticism, which v/as imme- 
 
 Scott, Esq., who possesses a copy, and who hr.s turned much of his 
 attention to the subject, states, form " a corpus injuria" altogether 
 unrivalled as an exhibition of legislative wrong, papal fanaticism, 
 and political infatuation. This is equivalent, on an average, to 
 lour edicts a-year, or one every quarter I How anxious must the 
 Little horn have been to wear out the saints! 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 435 
 
 diately adopted, and carried forward with great talent, 
 and combined resources. This at length terminated in 
 the Revolution, with all its social and religious horrors. 
 Hence the Revolution maybe fairly regarded as the award 
 of the (Treat moral Governor of the nations for the lono- 
 and merciless persecution of the saints. And what could 
 be more just ? The Romish church had robbed the Pro- 
 testants for centuries, and now her property is made a 
 spoil. She had drunk deeply of their blood, and now 
 her own blood is shed profusely as water. Infidelity 
 shall be the executioner of Divine vengeance, and do what 
 evangelical religion could not have done. The very par- 
 ties — the priests who had been most active oppressors, 
 and the very places which had been most identified witli 
 oppression, such as Paris, Orleans, Meaux, Lyons, and 
 Nantes, in the days of the revolution, were the very 
 parties and places which were called most signally to 
 suffer, as if to render the moral retribution more marked 
 and indisputable."^ 
 
 This striking relationship between the French perse- 
 cution of the saints, and subsequent national revolution, 
 is not the fanciful idea of an ardent or intolerant mind. 
 
 * Burnet, in his History of the Clergy during the ReA'olution, 
 says : — " One hundred and thirty-eight bishops and archbishops, 
 sixty-four thousand curates or vicars, driven from their sees, their 
 parishes ; all the clergy, all the religious of both sexes, robbed of 
 the patrimony of the church, and forced from their retreats ; the 
 temples of the Lord converted into capacious prisons for the re- 
 ception of his ministers ; three hundred of his priests massacred 
 in one day in one city ; all the other pastors who remained faith- 
 ful to their God, either sacrificed or banished their country, seeking 
 through a thousand dangers a refuge among foreign nations ; such 
 is the spectacle exhibited to the world by the French Revolution." 
 How different from the light and sportive anticipations of Voltaire ! 
 Five-and-twenty years before, the infidel foresaw the harvest for 
 
436 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 Not only did the eminent Rev. Dr M'Crie mark it long 
 ago, but more recent writers, such as the late Rev. Blanco 
 White, a converted Spanish priest;* Rev. Dr Croly, in 
 his Life of Burke ;t and Mr Alison in his History of the 
 French Revolution J notice the same just but terrible tie. 
 The only marvel is (though by no means a rare one in 
 such cases,) that many of the worst offenders, so far as 
 a present world is concerned, were allowed to escape. 
 Louis XVI. was the first French monarch of respectable 
 inoral character for generations, and was, besides, un- 
 stained with the guilt of Protestant persecution ; yet it 
 is upon him that the guillotine of the Revolution de- 
 scends. Pie is made to reap the fruits of the polluted 
 and bloody proceedings of his predecessors,!] particularly 
 Louis XIV. and XV. 
 
 which he had industriously sown. In April 1764, he says, " what- 
 ever I behold is sowing the seeds of a revolution which will infal- 
 libly come, but which I will not have the pleasure to witness. On 
 the first occasion they will break out, and then there will be a fine 
 tumult. Young people are fortunate for they will see charming 
 thin^." Ah ! the heartlessness — the monstrous cruelty of infide- 
 lity ,r-and this is the friend of freedom and of man. 
 
 * Preservative against Popery, p. 22. 
 
 t Vol. i. p. 300. t "^'ol- X. p. 100. 
 
 jl Men who begin their readings of French History with the Re- 
 volution of 1792, may be scarcely able to understand the event or 
 to believe its details. Those who have studied the earlier periods, 
 especially the morally fearful character brought out in the courts 
 of Louis XIV. and XV., will almost wonder that the judgments of 
 God did not earlier descend. Never did a nation, through its 
 higher classes, more loudly call for Heaven's wrath. — De Bangeau's 
 Memoirs o/ the Court of France, and Justamond's Private Life of 
 Louis XV» 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 4S'^ 
 
 EVANGELICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 1793 TO A.D. 1815. 
 EIGHTH PERIOD. 
 
 Little time and space are necessary to trace Evangelical 
 relio-ion in France throuo;h the Revolution down to the 
 peace of Europe in 1815. The Revolution, with the vast 
 and protracted wars to which it gave origin, and particu- 
 larly its first ten years of outrageous infidelity, could not 
 be expected to exert a propitious influence in behalf of the 
 gospel. Externally, the condition of the Protestants was 
 improved — they were freed from persecution on the side 
 of popery, and civil privileges and advantages as a church 
 were even extended to them, but they were not in circum- 
 stances to profit by the gift. There was too little religion 
 to enable th^m to derive any real advantage from their 
 new position, while the favour which they naturally che- 
 rished for the liberal or infidel party, who had been the 
 first to befriend them, created an alliance which was not 
 on the side of true religion. The best proof of the me- 
 lancholy state to which matters were reduced among the 
 Reformed, is to be found in the fact, that at the begin- 
 ning of this century, the search of four days in the capi- 
 tal of France was required, ere a single copy of the word 
 of God could be found, though it was estimated at the 
 time there were from 30,000 to 40,000 nominal Protes- 
 tants in Pans ! How changed from the days of the early 
 Reformation, when the scriptures, newly translated, were 
 to be found in every family, and mechanics spent the in- 
 tei-vals of their work in their perusal ! In harmony with 
 the above sad statement, it may be mentioned, that when 
 the late R. Haldane, Esq., at the return of peace in 1816, 
 visited the Continent, only four or five pastors literally 
 
438 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 could be found in the Reformed Church of France (num- 
 bering at its lowest point of depression 250), who, in the 
 judgment of charity, could be regarded as gospel preach- 
 ers — nor were even the views of divine truth entertained 
 by this small number, so clear as not to need improve- 
 ment. What adds to the sadness of the picture, is the 
 recollection that there were at this time no other Protes- 
 tants save those of the Reformed Church. We are not 
 left to hope, that among different Christian communities, 
 when one sunk mto coldness and decay, others might 
 rejoice in spiritual sensibility. In the present case, the 
 Protestant body was but one, and the gloom therefore 
 was unbroken. It is otherwise noiu. 
 
 But let us not imao^ine that either durincr, or in the 
 midst of the wars consequent on the Revolution, the Lord 
 left himself without a witness. Blessed be God ! the 
 apostolic succession of gospel truth and ordinances does 
 not depend even upon pastors. From the earliest days 
 of the Reformation in France, the faithful did not scruple 
 about the services of godly laymen, when those of more 
 regular teachers could not be obtained. In some respects 
 this was a marked feature in the character of the French 
 Reformation, and betokened sincerity and earnestness. 
 Humble, but devoted men, such as Leclerc, the martyred 
 wool-carder, taught the truth with effect, when more pro- 
 minent teachers were driven into exile. Even Farel's or- 
 dination would be considered far from regular, judged of 
 by the standard of the present day. Following out this 
 spirit at the period of deepest religious depression, when 
 faith had well nigh abandoned the entire body of the 
 pastors, there were groupes of humble Christians who 
 sought to edify each other, and to keep alive the flame of 
 true religion— sometimes, in the absence of the persecuted 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 439 
 
 scriptures, by repeating passages, hymns, and prayers, 
 and thus in a traditionary form transmitting the sacred 
 light from father to son. Interesting cases of this kind 
 were met with even in the north of France, — shewing 
 how varied are the modes, and how easy it is for the 
 Lord, in all circumstances, even the most adverse, to pre- 
 serve alive the knowledge of His saving truth. 
 
 EVANGELICAL HISTORY FROM A.D. 1815 TO A.D. 1845. 
 NINTH PERIOD. 
 
 The next and the last period in the history of French 
 Protestantism is happily one of decided and extensive 
 revival. It would therefore demand enlarged space, 
 while our limits forbid more than the merest mention. 
 Decay and death need little room : their history is soon 
 told ; they are blanks. It is otherwise with life. The 
 revival of religion in France seems to have been contem- 
 poraneous with the peace of 1815. The religion of other 
 countries may have been stirred by the Revolution and its 
 wars. The Missionary and Bible Societies seem, under 
 God, to have been a reaction from the wide-spread in- 
 fidelity which threatened to swallow up every record of 
 Christianity. But they did not operate favourably upon 
 France ; at least we have no visible proof of sanctified 
 affliction. At the same time, we are not entitled to in- 
 fer from the miserably small number of ftiithful pastors, 
 that there was no preparatory process going forward 
 among the people at large. Dr Merle D'Aubigne, in 
 his " Discourse on the History of Christianity," has well 
 remarked, " Man does not pass in vain through such sea- 
 sons of change. Under the ruins, he was stamped with 
 
440 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 a new chai-acter. Baptized with blood, the present ge- 
 neration could no longer live in the same frivolous atmo- 
 sphere of thought with the last. The profane La Harpe, 
 in some respects the successor of Voltaire as president of 
 the A nti- Christian League, entered the dungeons of the 
 Revolution an unbeliever, and left them a Christian." 
 
 Whatever might be the secret operation of the Spirit 
 with the dispensations of Divine Providence in preparing 
 the way, the first visible agency for good was the open- 
 ing up of the Continent to the visits and labours of Bri- 
 tish Christians by the peace. The most conspicuously 
 useful of these Christian travellers was the late Robert 
 Haldane, Esq. of Edinburgh. With that sagacity for 
 which he was distinguished, he turned his labours to- 
 wards the young men intended for the ministry. At 
 first he had only six to hear his expositions of scripture ; 
 but they were looking forward to a sphere of duty which 
 rendered an evancrelical change wrouorht on them of far 
 greater value than the same change on six private Chris- 
 tians. It afi'ords a beautiful illustration of the power of 
 the simple word of God in the hands of the Spirit, that 
 though at first Mr Haldane was able very imperfectly 
 to communicate with his youthful friends, from unac- 
 quaintance with their language, and they with his, yet 
 the Spirit abundantly blessed the eff'ort to make known 
 the gospel ; and, all unfavourable as were the external 
 circumstances, carried through a spiritual change which 
 is missed by multitudes surrounded with every facility 
 and advantage. Mr Haldane's prayers and labours were 
 largely honoured by the Spirit : a revival of evangelical 
 religion was awoke and spread through the young men 
 who waited on his expositions ; and the fruits of it re- 
 main to this day. Several of the leading and most de- 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 441 
 
 voted pastors on the Continent acknowledge Mr Hal- 
 dane as their spiritual father ; and some, after a course 
 of great usefulness, have been called to the reward of the 
 faithful servant. 
 
 In the prevailing destitution of the scriptures, Mr 
 Haldane saw that an important instrument of imme- 
 diate and extensive good would be the formation of 
 a Bible Society at Montauban. Though, about 1810, 
 some 4000 copies of the French New Testament had 
 been sent to France from this country, yet this was 
 a most inadequate supply to a land where the most 
 active means had long been employed to exterminate 
 the word of God. Accordingly, the destitution was 
 fearful, and there were great difficulties in supplying 
 it. While the cost of a Bible was not less than sixty 
 francs, or fifty shillings of our money, it could only be 
 procured by writing to Geneva, and then there were 
 delays and custom-house charges, which discouraged ap- 
 plicants. Mr Haldane, with a generosity little known 
 in these days, put down his name for L.IOOO to print 
 and circulate Bibles in France itself. Since then, blessed 
 be the God of the Bible ! there has been a laro-e circu- 
 lation of the scriptures in French ; and it cannot be 
 doubted this has contributed much to the happy revival 
 which has deepened and enlarged since the days of Mr 
 Haldane, Indeed, some of the most interesting facts 
 in modern times of the power of the simple word of God, 
 as read by one's self or read by others, without human 
 comment, may be gathered from the present rehgious 
 history of France, particularly in connection with the 
 labours of Colportage. Not a few instances could be 
 quoted of men in most disadvantageous circumstances 
 coming to the knowledge of the truth bj the mere peru- 
 
442 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 sal of the scriptures ; yea, of Roman Catholics finding 
 out that they were Protestants without being aware of 
 the change. More than this, examples on a large scale 
 could be appealed to of entire families and parishes being 
 led to abandon the Church of Rome, and embrace the 
 Evangelical faith, who had never seen the face of a minis- 
 ter or a missionary. This shews how speedily an im- 
 mense work of good may appear in France. In these 
 times, too, when so many are anxious to magnify the 
 priest and the sacraments over Christ and the word, God 
 the Spirit, whose work the word is — whose office it is to 
 testify of Christ — seems resolved to lift up a testimony 
 on the other side, and proclaim, in a way not to be mis- 
 understood, the sufficiency of scripture and of the Saviour 
 whom it reveals. 
 
 Every Christian heart which is able to appreciate 
 the force of these remarks will rejoice to learn, that, 
 as nearly as can be ascertained, the present annual 
 circulation of Bibles and New Testaments by differ- 
 ent societies in France is little short of 200,000 copies, 
 almost all of which are sold — not given away gratui- 
 tously — and that they are yearly on the increase. Nor 
 will a lover of the scriptures fail to rejoice when informed, 
 without entering into details, that since 1815 there has 
 been a circulation of not less than 2,672,514 copies of 
 the Bible, in whole or in part, in the kingdom of France.* 
 What a blessed contrast to the commencement of the 
 century, when deputies from the London Missionary 
 Society searched for four days in the book-shops of the 
 capital ere they could find a single Bible ! No wonder 
 that, under the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit, 
 there is a growing revival. They who honour His word 
 
 * Foreign Evangelical Society, New York, 1842, Report of. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 443 
 
 He will honour. And the wonder is still less, when we 
 consider that one of the leading Bible societies the other 
 year employed 100 Colporteurs, of whom not less than 
 eighty were converted Roman Catholics (with one ex- 
 ception, all of them Frenchmen), for the sale of the 
 scriptures, — men many of whom can say, and do say, to 
 the infidel or the bigot, who would reject the volume 
 which they proffer, " Read the word of God for your- 
 self. I once rejected it as well as you, and sought for 
 happiness in human saviours ; but now I have found the 
 pearl of great price, and would have you to rejoice in 
 the same o-ift. Receive and read the word of life." * 
 
 o 
 
 In all, there are now 300 colporteurs at work in France. 
 Besides the wide diffusion of the scriptures, at once 
 the indication and the instrument of religious revival, 
 there are many others which I can only name. There 
 has been a considerable enlargement of the Protestant 
 body. Mens, de la Farelle, a member of the Chamber 
 of Deputies, lately stated that, including the Lutherans, 
 the whole Protestant pastors in 1815 amounted to 464 ; 
 they now exceed 700. Their churches are propor- 
 tionally increased, and yet there are still 111 places in 
 
 * It is not a new thing for France to deal largely in the circu- 
 lation of Bibles and tracts. Her Protestants were driven to this 
 course from the Reformation. So early as 1524, the leading re- 
 formers had printing-presses incessantly at work at Basel ; and 
 through Colporteurs poured the word of God and appropriate books 
 into France. One of the earliest was a translation of Luther's ex- 
 position of the Lord's Prayer. There was no other way, amid the 
 I)revailing hostility, of spreading the truth. Like their successors 
 in our day, early Colporteurs had much to suffer. Not unfre- 
 quently the prison was the punishment of the sale of a copy of the 
 scriptures. Hoav interesting to mark the identity of means for 
 good employed by faithful men in all ages ! 
 
444 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 which the French Protestants are obliged, from the 
 absence of accommodation, to worship in the open air. 
 What is far better, there is an increase of evangehcal 
 doctrine and spirit. At Montauban, where once no- 
 thing but Socinianism was known, several of the leading 
 professors are not only evangehcal, but eminently able 
 and accomplished advocates of gospel truth. At the 
 Evangelical Seminary of Geneva, which supplies many 
 pastors to France, all the theological professors, five in 
 number, are men of God, several of them men of high 
 talent and fame. It is not to be wondered at, that, under 
 the grace of the Spirit, there should be growing evan- 
 gelism among the pastors. Accordingly, I have been 
 informed, on good authority, that the faithful ministry 
 in France may be rated at 300. What a change from 
 the period not very distant, when four or five were all 
 that charity could reckon among the preachers of the 
 truth. Indeed, it is stated that mere orthodoxy is on 
 the ascendancy ; spiritual life is not always synonymous 
 with it, and cannot be rated so highly ; but what ground 
 of thanksgiving that its progress has been so decided, 
 and that there are no symptoms of interruption or weak- 
 ness. 
 
 Besides these happy proofs of progress, it is interest- 
 ing to remember, that in addition to the National Re- 
 formed Church of which I have been speaking, there are 
 now various Evangelical bodies in operation in France, 
 such as the Wesleyan Methodists and Congregationalists, 
 bodies which count a considerable number of adherents, 
 and all whose influence, whether throuo-h churches or 
 schools, is exerted undividedly on the side of evangelical 
 religion. Nor must the Evangelical societies, whether 
 labouring at home or abroad, be overlooked. They have 
 
EVAXGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 445 
 
 been from ten to twenty years in operation, and the fact 
 of their existence indicates gjrowth. Keho-ion must have 
 made some progress before even Christians have spirit 
 and courage enough to embark in such undertakings. 
 Besides the Bible societies, to which reference has been 
 already made, there are in France various important 
 associations, such as the Society for Promoting the Ge- 
 neral Interests of Protestantism — the Evangelical So- 
 ciety of France — the Society for Encouraging Primary 
 Instruction or Education — the Evangelical Society of 
 Bourdeaux — same of Lyons — the Beligious Tract So- 
 ciety — the Toulouse Society of Beligious Books — the 
 Society of Foreign Evangelical Missions, and various 
 others of more limited and local design. 
 
 I can only notice the Evangelical Society of France. 
 Its labours are devoted to France exclusively. It employs 
 above ninety agents, in one form or another, ministers, 
 missionaries, teachers, students for the ministry, &c. ; and 
 yet such is the advantage to which money may be applied 
 on the Continent, that the whole cost scarcely exceeds 
 L.4000 a year. Its progress has been very striking. 
 When it started, eleven years ago, it could command little 
 more than L.300. It is aided in its labours by the Evan- 
 gelical Society of Geneva, which devotes a large share of 
 its attention to France. Above fifty of the agents are 
 employed on the French territory. It were vain to at- 
 tempt to give any detailed description of the religious 
 operations of the society, or of the spiritual fruit. Suf- 
 fice it to say, that never were its labours more abun- 
 dant or more blessed ; never were as many minds 
 brought into contact with divine truth ; never was there 
 a greater thirst for the word of life ; never were 
 there such earnest calls for preachers of the gospel and 
 
446 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 teachers for children as at the present moment. It is 
 doubtful whether France, religiously considered, has 
 ever been more open to the truth, and more promising, 
 since the days of its glorious Reformation. Such is the 
 uniform testimony of the most intelligent friends of evan- 
 gelical religion in France. Nor is this all. After 
 guarding against exaggeration, and carefully sifting the 
 evidence, so far as man can judge in such cases, there 
 seems no reason to doubt, not only that many indivi- 
 duals have been savingly changed, some of them after- 
 wards becominoj ag-ents of the Societies ; but there are 
 entire communes or parishes which have broken off from 
 the Church of Rome, and which are groping their way 
 to the fuith and obedience of the gospel.* Affecting 
 cases of conversion to God are from time to time de- 
 tailed with all the signs of sincerity, while men of high 
 name and character, who are not likely to be imposed 
 on or misled, assure us that the people of fifty to sixty 
 parishes have either publicly revolted or are about to 
 revolt from Rome. Why should we be incredulous of 
 such tidings ? Is limited success in the past to be the 
 perpetual rule of the future ? Is the Spirit not all gra- 
 cious and powerful, as in the days of old ? And is He at 
 any season more likely to interpose with his mercy than 
 
 * From a letter received the other day from Haute Vienne, 
 the scene of the most general movement, it appears not only 
 that in various quarters the people are very accessible to reli- 
 gious instruction (there having been not more than three or four 
 priests to twenty-five parishes since the Revolution of 1792), but 
 there is a great thirst to hear the word of God. One proof of this 
 is to be found in the fact, that a humble husbandman had been 
 able to collect a congregation of from 400 to 500 Roman Catholics, 
 with no higher attraction than the proclamation of the simple 
 word of truth. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 447 
 
 just after there has been an ample and beheving sowing 
 of his word ? Are the expectations which prophecy holds 
 out never to be realized ? 
 
 It cannot be doubted that a great work is going for- 
 ward in France ; and if one had any suspicion of the 
 soundness or strength of the Evangelical spirit, to which 
 it is, under God, attributable, it would be dissipated by 
 the information that the same evangelism which labours 
 so zealously at home is not narrow and contracted in soul ; 
 but, like the spirit of truth, reaches to foreign shores, and 
 seeks to gather in the perishing heathen to the ark of 
 safety. The Evangelical Protestants of France have a 
 foreign mission to the Eastern coast of Africa, and sup- 
 port it with a liberality little inferior to that with which 
 they sustain the Evangelical society, which labours in their 
 own home provinces. When, comparatively speaking, so 
 small a body — so poor in outward resources — so recently 
 recovered from deadness and error — devote themselves 
 to such works of faith, and love, and courage, as their 
 African mission implies, it is not an unreasonable infer- 
 ence that the principle which is at the root of the whole 
 is vigorous, and is likely, with God's help, to achieve 
 spiritual results at home. At least, it indicates a cor- 
 rect appreciation of the nature and claims of the gospel 
 as a diffusive dispensation ; and it is a great law of God's 
 government, that if we would be watered, we must 
 water. It need scarcely be added, as a general proof of 
 the progress of evangelical principle in France, that the 
 contributions to all religious objects have greatly in- 
 creased of late years. In 1828, the whole sum did not 
 exceed L.2000. In 1838, or in ten years, it had risen 
 to between L. 14,000 and L. 15,000 ; and last year, six 
 societies alone — a small number of the whole — had 
 
 2i 
 
4.48 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 reached that sum. This year the rehgious societies re- 
 ported L.20,000. 
 
 Having thus given a hurried and very imperfect 
 sketch of evanoehcal religion in France in former and in 
 present times, I conclude by pointing out a few great 
 practical lessons to be drawn from the whole. The 
 theme would have required a volume rather than a 
 single lecture ; but it is well to have thoughts suggested 
 even where there is not space to follow them out into 
 exposition or detail. 
 
 1. We are taught the power, faithfulness, and love of 
 the great Head of the Church to his people. He has 
 given many promises to them in his word, and the his- 
 tory of the truth in France supplies proofs of the fulfil- 
 ment of them all. No where have enemies raged for a 
 longer time, or more fiercely or in more varied forms, 
 against living Christianity than in France. It has been 
 eminently the country of martyrs. There is nothing in 
 apostolic or primitive times which in point of cruelty can 
 surpass what has been transacted in the French territory. 
 The sufferingrs of Britain and Belsfium, in connection 
 with the Reformation, and subsequently even the multi- 
 plied and long-continued woes of the Waldenses proper — 
 of the church of Piedmont, — cannot be compared in num- 
 ber, extent, and awfulness, with the massacres of the 
 French Protestants. Their country has been a very Acel- 
 dama, a field of religious blood. However it may be ex- 
 plained, the French throughout their history have shewn 
 a peculiar appetite for blood — an utter disregard of hu- 
 man life. Oftentimes would one have imagined the pro- 
 fessors of the truth must surely noiv be exterminated. 
 Who can stand before such long;-continued cunnino; and 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 449 
 
 grinding cruelty ? But the promise is faithful. Christ 
 has never been without a people in France. His power 
 has been exerted in preserving — his wisdom in deliver- 
 ing — his love in cheering and consoling, in the darkest 
 and most hopeless hour. The bush has burnt long and 
 fiercely, but He has not suffered it to be consumed. Had 
 it been left to the mercy of man, or even the resources 
 of the faithful themselves, such must have been its fate 
 long ago. Mark then the fidelity of Christ to his pro- 
 mises — his all-sufficiency to his people. And consider 
 whether He who has manifested his might and his grace 
 in the past is likely to forsake them in the present or the 
 future, — whether He who has proved a steady friend to 
 France at the worst, is likely to fail when comparative 
 peace returns ; yea, whether we have not a pledge of 
 his power should the future, instead of being arrayed in 
 sunshine, be shrouded in a more terrible tempest than 
 has yet burst upon that devoted land. I need not add, 
 that what Christ is to his people in France, he is — he 
 must be — to them every where. I would only suggest, 
 that surely a country which has been so signalized by 
 Christ's faithfulness has peculiar claims upon our Chris- 
 tian regards, — that in all likelihood the Saviour has much 
 yet to do with it and for it. Meanwhile, surely we may 
 learn lessons of wisdom, fidelity, and fortitude, from the 
 experience of the French martyrs whom He sustained. 
 It is no small thing to be animated and encouraged by 
 their example for what is before us. 
 
 2. We are reminded of the righteous moral govern- 
 ment of Christ the mediator. If the history of religion 
 in France awakens pleasing thoughts of Christ's faith- 
 fulness, power, and love, it not less truly awakens so- 
 lemn recollections of just retribution. If France has 
 
450 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 been pre-eminent for religious bloodshed, she has also 
 been pre-eminent for social disorder, suffering, and woe. 
 Nay, it has been generally possible to trace a connection 
 between the one and the other. What France endured 
 as a nation for twenty years, at the close of the last and the 
 beginning of the present century, is indescribable. No 
 wonder that many commentators on prophetic scripture 
 have found France prominent in the book of Revelation, 
 and have applied five of the vials of wrath to her revolu- 
 tionary woes. It is only the pen of inspiration which can 
 tell the horrors, and it does so in a few terrible verses. 
 The simple fact that between eight and nine millions of 
 human lives were lost in the heart of the most civihzed part 
 of Europe in the beginning of the 19th century, in the 
 course of twenty years, all directly or indirectly the fruit 
 of the infidel revolution of France, speaks volumes as to 
 the magnitude and awfulness of the retribution. Com- 
 pared with this the loss of property, the oppression of 
 permanent debt to the nations of Europe, though vast, is 
 as nothing. Numbers equal to the population of entire 
 countries cut down in a few years in the flower of man- 
 hood ! Ah ! sure there was here some moral recompense 
 for the slaughter of the Albigenses, and the massacre of 
 St Bartholomew, and the recall of the edict of Nantes. 
 Every enlightened conscience must have felt the connec- 
 tive Reasoning on the same great moral principle ; who 
 can tell what yet may await France ? It is no want of 
 charity to say that much Protestant blood has yet to be 
 answered for. " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the 
 death of his saints." He will not allow the blood of so 
 much as one of them to remain unvindicated, and how 
 solemn, then, are the prospects of this bloodstained and 
 withal impenitent land ! 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN PRANCE. 451 
 
 Interpreters of prophecy, when compelled to look for the 
 scene and the instrument of something vast and awful in 
 the future fulfilment of the apocalypse, naturally took to 
 France ; and certainly, her growing power — the unsub- 
 dued and warlike temper of her people — her subjection to 
 Popery, or rather her eager adoption of its persecuting 
 spirit, and her anxiety to signalize herself in missionary 
 zeal, do not discountenance the intimations of scripture. 
 But whatever may be the events of the future, enough 
 has appeared in the past to assure us that " verily there 
 is a judge in the earthj'^ — that Christ renders his provi- 
 dential and moral rule subservient to the defence and 
 propagation of his kingdom — and that, let hand join in 
 hand, the wicked shall not even here pass unpunished. 
 How impressively does the history of France proclaim all 
 this ! Let us rejoice that there is a moral government in 
 the earth — that sin and aggravated sin is not allowed to 
 run on unrestrained. Let us not think it uncharitable 
 to mark the retribution. Let us remember that God 
 has recorded the rule and illustrative example in his 
 word, for the express purpose of regulating our judgment 
 in the cases of moral administration which are happen- 
 ing around us from day to day. Let us trace, then, the 
 Mediator's moral rule through the history of France. 
 Severe as may be some of its aspects, let us acknowledge 
 its rectitude — let us be well awake that there is no other 
 key to history as a whole — and never forget that the 
 same principle of divine government, all unseen as some- 
 times it may be, reaches to Britain and every country 
 under heaven, as well as to France. Let us remember 
 that it is the sins of Christians as well as of the ungodly, — 
 their unfaithfulness and degeneracy, as well as popish or 
 infidel persecution of saints, which provoke the displeasure 
 of the Bighteous One, and let us stand in awe and sin not. 
 
452 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 3. We are taudit the great duties which, as British 
 Christians, we owe to France. The lessons of the his- 
 tory which we have been contemplating, speak of our 
 fellow-men and fellow-Christians, as well as of the 
 Church's Head ; and what, then, are these duties ? It 
 is to aid them in their evangelical labours by all the 
 means within our reach — by prayer and contribution, the 
 expression of sympathy, personal effort and protection — 
 and why should we do so ? Not only from the general 
 claims of Christianity, from love to souls and love to fel- 
 low-believers — in which respect the French stand on the 
 same footing with others ; but from the peculiarities of 
 THEIR position AND PROSPECTS. In the providence of 
 God, by his blessing on science and art, France is brought 
 to our very doors. It is far more accessible than many 
 districts of our own land. Soon the French capital will 
 be within a few hours' travel of the British — an immense 
 and growing intercourse is rising up between the two 
 countries — many thousands of British permanently so- 
 journ in France, and many more sojourn there for a sea- 
 son. France, from her position in Europe and the na- 
 tional character of her people, and their numbers and 
 resources, is very powerful. In former lectures your at- 
 tention was directed, and justly, to such limited countries 
 as Belgium and Switzerland and Piedmont, all combined 
 probably not exceeding, in point of population, six rail- 
 lions of inhabitants. What a contrast to France, with 
 between thirty and forty millions, independent of her 
 foreign possessions ! Her natural power is greatly in- 
 creased by her language being the language of the courts 
 and higher classes of Europe, by her reputation for man- 
 ners and fashion, her advancement in art and science, in 
 short, her general civilization. Then the spread of edu- 
 cation on a great national scale, and, above all, the rapid 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 453 
 
 rise and astounding progress of Popery within her bor- 
 ders, and her being now constituted the very centre of 
 Popish unity and source of Popish power for the world, 
 invest her nation with an influence and importance which 
 can scarcely be exaggerated. 
 
 At the risk of repeating thoughts and facts, with 
 which I rejoice to think not a few are becoming familiar, 
 I must advert to this last particular feature in connec- 
 tion with France for a few moments. However difficult, 
 if not impossible, to explain it on any known principle,, 
 it is unquestionable that Popery, of late years and at 
 present, is making great and successful efforts after ad- 
 vancement throughout the world.* Evangelical Chris- 
 tians are everywhere taken by surprise, and men wonder 
 at the change which has come over the spirit of the age, 
 without being able to trace out the cause. It is not in 
 one country alone there is movement, with few excep- 
 tions the advance is universal. There are Foreign mis- 
 sions as well as Home operations. There are 140 Po- 
 pish bishoprics, 5000 missionary priests. A million ster- 
 ling of annual missionary expenditure. More than double 
 what is raised by all the Protestant missionary societies of 
 the world. Of course Rome does not trouble herself with 
 Bible Societies. In the De Propaganda College at Home, 
 
 * The strong proselytizing spirit of Popery at present may seem 
 somewhat strange. Diffusion is rather the character of true, than 
 of false religion. Bhuddism and Muhammadanism make no at- 
 tempts to proselytize. Perhaps the peculiarities of Popery do not 
 admit of explanation without bearing in remembrance that " the 
 coming of the Man of Sin is after the working of Satan" It is' 
 certain that the prophecy respecting Antichrist in his last days, 
 would lead us to anticipate great efforts after converts. The evil 
 spirits are to go forth and gather together all the kings of tlw 
 earth to the battle of Armageddon. 
 
454 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 forty-eight languages are taught, while the immense Jesuit 
 army, now every where, not only tolerated, but revived 
 and strengthened, if not welcomed, waits the orders of 
 the Pope.* Every station of importance abroad, seems 
 to be chosen with far-seeing wisdom as a Popish centre. 
 Every plan resorted to which is fitted to draw forth the 
 sympathies and secure the obedience of different classes 
 of the population. No sooner are there new openings to 
 European enterprize, as recently in China, but Romish 
 priests, in bands of forty, are ready to seize the opportu- 
 nity. No country is too distant or inconsiderable to escape 
 their eagle eye — no device too low to be beneath their 
 subtility and cunning. The churches of the East, long 
 independent — they are straining every nerve to bring into 
 subjection. f Asia is made as patent to their travels as 
 
 * It is remarkable that though France has always boasted of her 
 freedom as compared with other Roman Catholic countries, it was 
 within her borders that the Jesuits had their great victory over 
 the Jansenists ; and that she was the last, sare Spain and Rome, to 
 suppress that terrible order. Yenice itself suppressed them in 1606, 
 but it was not till 1764, that France followed this course, only nine 
 years before Rome was compelled to take the same step. These 
 facts, taken in connection with the present unexampled rise in th.e 
 Jesuitism of France, seem to indicate that there is nothing in the 
 French character or liberties inconsistent with the spirit and 
 power of Antichrist in their worst forms — rather that there is 
 congeniality between them — a serious prospect for this as well as 
 other countries. The increased number of Jesuits in France is 
 most remarkable. The Universe, Roman Catholic Newspaper, 
 state s that this year there are a thousand more than last year. 
 
 t Hence the efforts of late years, with the increased facilities of 
 communication with the East, to plant missions in Egypt, Syria, 
 Persia, Khoordistan, and even Abyssinia. French Jesuits l:ave a 
 rising college at Beyroot in Syria, and the French government have 
 recently purchased ground for the operations of male and female 
 religious orders at Alexandria. In 1838, the Jesuits began their 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 455 
 
 Europe, while they lay the foundation of an immense em- 
 pire in repubhcan America.* The whole movement is 
 the more remarkable that, politically, in point of national 
 resources and political power, — not a few Popish countries 
 are on the wane. It seems as if it were the spiritual 
 part of Popery, and the delusions of the False prophet 
 which were destined to triumph amid the external weak- 
 ness of the Beast. 
 
 But it is not of the progress of Popery in general that 
 we must speak : however strange and solemn, it is of 
 Popery in connection with France. Do any ima- 
 gine it is a matter of no moment where the apostacy ad- 
 vances, if it advances at all ? History as well as reason 
 point to another conclusion. While Popery is a curse 
 wherever it exists, there are particular national relations 
 which render this insidious system doubly injurious. 
 What could Spain, or Portugal, or Italy at present do 
 
 efforts to seduce the Nestorian Christians from their ancient faith 
 and independence. The dreadful Muhammadan massacre in 1843, 
 was the result of their interference. Now that these primitive 
 witnesses, through the kind intervention of a British ambassador, 
 Sir Stratford Canning, are again gathering together under legal 
 protection, the French Jesuits are at their former work. So 
 daring have been their proceedings, and withal so illegal, that at 
 the instance of Russia, they have been seized the other day and 
 sent out of the country. 
 
 * Let not our American friends trust, as some of them are al- 
 leged to do, to the fact that the territory of the United States 
 forms no part of the old Roman earth. Their country may not 
 be overtaken with the same judgments as the European kingdom 
 of the Beast, still their calamities in connection with Antichrist 
 may be terrible indeed. They have a large and growing Popish 
 population within their borders, and it is worthy of note, that the 
 three unclean spirits, like frogs, go forth to the kings of " the whok 
 ivorld" as well as of " the earth," to assemble them to the battle 
 of Armageddon. 
 
466 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 for Popery compared with France ? Nothing. They 
 have no army or navy — no spirit or energy — no influence. 
 The Church of Rome rather helps them than they the 
 Church. Very different are the circumstances of France. 
 The sagacious men of the Papacy see this, and hence 
 their chief care is directed to that country. They are 
 anxious there to raise up a popish spirit and force, which 
 through a thousand channels may influence Europe, and 
 through Europe may influence Asia, and Africa, and 
 America ; and they are wise in their generation. Their 
 success in France is already prodigious — almost incre- 
 dible, shewing the wisdom of their measures. A country 
 which seemed to be hopelessly given over to infidelity — 
 where Popery had been more humbled than in any 
 other — the Pope for years a poor prisoner within its 
 borders — suddenly resuscitates, and stands forth from 
 head to foot the very champion of the Church of Rome. 
 The change which a few years have brought round in 
 the popular estimate and treatment of the priesthood — 
 in the attendance on Popish worship — in the prevailing 
 influence at work upon education — in the votes of muni- 
 cipal corporations — in short, on every thing which may 
 be supposed to furnish a standard of comparison, is ad- 
 mitted by the most intelligent men to be as unexpected 
 as it is formidable.* 
 
 * The Rev. M. Marzials of Lille, -when recently on a visit to this 
 country, stated some facts illustrative of the spread of French Po- 
 pery, which are altogether astounding, such as it is believed few 
 were prepared for. They are so important as to merit record. 
 Poor Spain and Portugal contribute funds for the spread of Popery 
 in France ! Last year the former sent a sum of £10,000 for the 
 purpose, a plain proof of the importance which is attached to 
 France as a centre. In 1834, Mr M. heard a leading preacher of 
 the Romish Church preach in Notre Dame in Paris. The congre- 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 457 
 
 And tlie energy of French Popery is not exhausted 
 at home. It has its missionary societies. Lyons, the 
 city of ancient and modern martyrs, is the head- quarters 
 of a new De Propaganda, which the other year sent forth 
 130 missionaries to the four winds of heaven. Sisters 
 of charity and Jesuits of every name (and doubtless often 
 without a name) lend their eager assistance. All the 
 acts and appHances of the past, with unbounded self-de- 
 nial and zeal, are called into play. The only thing, it 
 has been justly remarked, which is wanted to complete 
 
 gation did not exceed 200, and there were very few of the male sex 
 in the number. He heard the same preacher in the same place, 
 last year on a week day ; the audience could not be under 5000, and 
 men greatly predominated. Such is the change of the last ten years. 
 
 The Freres Ignorantain, an order of Jesuits devoted to educa- 
 tion, could boast in 1834 of the countenance only of 283 towns ; 
 now their empire is all but universal. They are at the head of 
 the national education, and their efforts in every way are as vast 
 as they are wide spread. 
 
 In 1830 there were only between 200 and 300 of the municipal 
 corporations of France which were under Popish influence. Last 
 year, 36,000 out of 40,000 were on the side of the apostacy. 
 
 Paris is becoming every day more Popish, and it is well known 
 (apart from every thing else) that this is a source of great Popish 
 advancement. In France, the capital rules the provinces. 
 
 Similar are the tidings in regard to Belgium. An intelligent 
 friend resident in Brussels enumerates, among the indications of 
 Popish progress in that country, the number of new convents and 
 churches — the publication of works on literature, science, art, — 
 first expurgated to the taste of the Church of Rome, and then 
 sold so cheap by societies which contribute money for the purpose, 
 that no private publisher or bookseller is able to compete with 
 them. 
 
 And lastly, the gradual but sure absorption of the children at- 
 tending private into public schools, under the power of the Jesuits ; 
 the bribe being a gratuitous education. A college in Brussels 
 maintained by the voluntary contribvitions of all parties, has the 
 greatest difficulty in sustaining itself. 
 
458 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 the Papal restoration, is the establishment of religious 
 orders and the warrioi^s of the Middle Ages ; and al- 
 ready General Duvivier, one of the officers of the Afri- 
 can army, is exclaiming, " If we had the strong burning 
 faith of the Godfreys and the Bayards, we should form 
 military and religious orders, who would be the heads of 
 columns and the military conductors of our invasion. If 
 we had bold, vigorous, sober, believing men like the 
 companions of Ferdinand Cortes, they would rush on to 
 conquest and civilization in the footsteps of these reli- 
 gious orders. If we had Christian charity, rich societies 
 would be formed, which would raise the funds necessary 
 to transport new crusaders. Then one may be assured 
 they would succeed. Certainly they would impose their 
 faith pitilessly on the natives ; but this would be one 
 cause more of rapid success ; for, notwithstanding the 
 progress of ideas, we must not deceive ourselves. A 
 nation which would be powerful must have a severe dis- 
 cipline ; and its first rule must be, not to admit of diver- 
 sity of faith." '^ Here there is a call for the revival of 
 the horrible crusades of South American history ! Let 
 it not be thought that these are the mere idle aspira- 
 tions of a vain-glorious soldier. There are multitudes 
 of such soldiers in France. In nothing would Popery 
 more rejoice than if she were able to divert the strong 
 naval spirit of the French into a religious channel. 
 The affecting case of Tahiti strikingly shews how the 
 military and religious fanaticism may be made to blend. 
 No one can tell how soon, with the present and prospec- 
 tive temper of France, there may not be other scenes 
 of treachery and persecution, to which those of the 
 
 * L'Esperance, Dec. 1842. 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 459 
 
 South Seas may prove to have been but a faint pre- 
 lude* 
 
 Such are the pecuharities of the present position and 
 prospects of France. Surely they furnish the strongest 
 argument for diligence, zeal, liberality, and persever- 
 ance on the part of British Christians in behalf of the 
 evangelization of that great country. Had rising Po- 
 pery not such a hold of France, or had it not been so 
 active in directing all the resources of the kingdom to 
 its own advancement, some might ask what was the 
 use of the protracted historical detail in which I have 
 been indulging? They might have looked upon the 
 whole as matter of curiosity or antiquarianism, and re- 
 garded Popery as an obsolete thing ; but when we find 
 the same Popery, which perpetrated such atrocities from 
 age to age, is not dead nor even asleep — is living,, rising, 
 swelling in power all around us, and that France is the 
 chosen theatre of its manifestation, not only is there no- 
 thing irrelevant in the history which I have been relat- 
 ing, but the events of the past furnish Christians with the 
 best means of understanding the true character of the 
 foe with whom they are called to contend in these latter 
 days. Let us then, by every consideration of reason, 
 wisdom, humanity, — in short, of Christianity, which em- 
 braces the whole and many more, — arouse ourselves, and 
 seek to arouse others, to some worthy effort for the evan- 
 gelization of France. Let us think of the past — of 
 France's eventful history — of what Christ has already 
 done for that land. Let us remember that it is the seat 
 of an ancient and honoured church, — that the testimony 
 which we are called to lift up on its territory is no novel 
 
 * See the striking pamphlet " Tahiti," br Mark Wilks of Paris.- 
 
460 THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OP 
 
 upstart fancy — that it is an old testimony, the same tes- 
 timony which was Hfted up by Calvin, and Farel, and 
 Viret, and Colligny, and thousands of the great and 
 the good, — that in labouring against French Popery and 
 in behalf of French evangelism, we are not only helping 
 others but helping ourselves, — not only keeping up an 
 old and uninterrupted testimony, but defending our own 
 borders against present enemies ; above all, that we 
 fight against the foe of a common Master under a com- 
 mon standard. Let us remember, that as France has 
 been the scene of wonders in the past, and is the source 
 of deep interest at present, so that, in all probability, it 
 is destined to be the scene of anxious and interesting 
 events in the future. Let us not, then, hesitate. On 
 the contrary, let us be well assured that, under God, 
 with the evangelization of France, many evils will be 
 overcome, — it may be, worse mischiefs prevented ; bet- 
 ter still, that blessings will be secured for France — 
 for Christendom — for the world — of inestimable value. 
 If, in the days which are past, she has been so formidable 
 as the partizan of popery or infidelity, — if she has been 
 the dread and the scourge of Europe, sometimes, single- 
 handed, defying its combined armies, — if even now her 
 influence for the diffusion of a frivolous and corrupting 
 literature, and hazardous principles of revolutionary 
 liberty, be so vast, who can calculate the magnitude of 
 the good were all the energy and vivacity of the French 
 character, and all the resources of the French kingdom, 
 hallowed by the Spirit of the gospel of Jesus ? Humanly 
 speaking, the combination of the Christian resources of 
 Britain and France would be like the union of their flags, 
 more than a match for the rest of the world. 
 
 The object is noble, and deserving of a great effort. It 
 
EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN FRANCE. 461 
 
 is not merely to redeem the past — to raise up a genera- 
 tion stamped with the impress of martyred sires — it is to 
 bless the present. On whichever side France is ranged 
 in the fast- coming contest between Christ and Anti- 
 christ, the force will be a formidable one. Plainly, she 
 is not designed to fill a secondary place. Let us, then, 
 seek to win all her influence to the side of truth, and of 
 righteousness, and of salvation. If her former history 
 has been deeply stained with the blood of God's saints, let 
 that be but a reason with us why her garments should 
 be stained with it no more. If she has long carried the 
 blended ensign of scepticism and superstition, let that 
 just be the stronger reason why she should now be the 
 bearer of the cross. Nor is it presumptuous to be che- 
 rishing such hopes. We know not yef how the parties 
 will be ranged in the final struggle. We have every rea- 
 son from prophecy to conclude, that as events approach 
 the crisis, and during the very outpouring of the vials 
 of woe, there will be revivals of religion — it may be, ex- 
 tensive ; and who shall say that long-oppressed and suf- 
 ferinoj France shall not share in the blessino- — that the 
 prayers of innumerable martyrs of noblest faith shall not 
 be heard in her behalf? How delightful if the rivalry 
 between her and our own land should henceforth be a 
 rivalry, not in commerce or in arms, but in faith, and 
 love, and good works, — in the gifts and graces of the 
 Spirit. How delightful if France, which, half a century 
 ago, was the great humbler of the temporal power of 
 Popery, should, with the gospel in her hand and in her 
 heart, one day become the grand destroyer of her spi- 
 ritual ascendancy. How dehghtful if the triumphs of 
 her political revolution should prove the emblem of a far 
 more glorious change, — not a revolution of profligacy 
 
462 STATE OF EVAXGELICAL RELIGION JX FRANCE. 
 
 and blood, destined to be quickly suppknted by a new 
 despotism, — but a moral and spiritual revolution — tbe 
 breaker of every yoke — the emancipator of nations — the 
 herald to herself and to others of blessings destined 
 never to pass away. How delightful if France, instead 
 of going forth on the red horse of war " to take peace 
 from the earth," should be found in the great armies 
 which are seen in heaven upon white horses, clothed in 
 fine linen, white and clean, following Him who is called 
 Faithful and True, and who hath upon his vesture and 
 his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of 
 Lords. Surely the mere possibility of such a result, 
 and of bearing a part in bringing it about, should ani- 
 mate the faith, and hope, and zeal — the liberalities and 
 prayers of British, above all of Scottish Christians — and 
 lead them to rejoice in every effort for the evangeliza- 
 tion of so interesting and so powerful a land. 
 
 "C> 
 
Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 A>'2S'40 
 
 
 
 
 M:, ,. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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BW911.F85V.1 
 
 Lectures on foreign churches delivered 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00080 3116 
 
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