their seats,' says Mary, and has exalted the humble and the meek." "1

The epoch, whose history I desire to retrace, is important in its bearing on the times in which we live. When oppressed by a consciousness of his weakness, man is generally led to seek help in the institutions by which he is surrounded, or in the bold inventions of his own imagination. We learn from the history of the Reformation that nothing new is made out of things that are old, and that if, according to our Saviour's saying, new vessels must be had for new wine, so must there be new wine for new vessels. It refers men to God as the universal agent in history; it points to that divine word which is ever old in respect of the eternity of the truths it contains, and ever new in the regenerating influence which it puts forth; that influence which purified society three centuries ago, which then restored faith in God to men's souls when enfeebled by superstition, and which is the fountain of salvation in all epochs of humanity.

It is strange to see many who are now tossed to and fro by a vague longing to find something fixed to believe in, addressing themselves to ancient Catholicism. This, indeed, in one sense, is a natural movement; for so little known is religion now-a-days, that no one dreams of finding it unless where advertised in large letters on some sign-post rendered respectable by its age. We say not that all Catholicism is incapable of bestowing on man the object that he longs for. We hold that Catholicism ought to be carefully distinguished from Popery. Popery, in our view, is an erroneous and destructive system, but we are far from confounding Catholicism with it. How many respectable men, how many true Christians has not the Catholic church contained? How vast have been the services rendered by Catholicism to the

1 Table Talk, or Colloquia.

nations now existing, at their first formation, at a time when it was still strongly impregnated with the gospel, and when the popedom was as yet but hovering over it like an uncertain shadow! But such times have long since passed away. Efforts are made in our days to re-attach Catholicism to the popedom, and when the Catholic and Christian verities are put forward, it is almost for the sole purpose of making them a bait to allure men into the nets of the hierarchy; so that there is no hope on that side. Has the papacy renounced any one of its practices, of its doctrines, of its pretensions? Can a religion, that was felt not to be endurable by other ages, fail to prove even less so now? What regeneration was ever found to emanate from Rome? Is it from the pontifical hierarchy, altogether replete with earthly passions, that there can come forth that spirit of faith, of charity, and of hope, which alone can save us? Can a worn-out system, which is everywhere struggling with death, and which subsists only by receiving help from extrinsic sources, impart to others the life it has not for itself, and animate Christian society with the celestial breath which itself requires.

That void in the heart and mind which begins to agitate many of our contemporaries, will send others perhaps to the new Protestantism which, in various places, has superseded the mighty doctrines of the times of the apostles and of the Reformers. In many of those reformed churches whose first fathers sealed with their blood the precise and living faith that animated them, a grievous vagueness of doctrine now predominates. Men remarkable for their intelligence, and who have a taste for all that this earth presents of the beautiful, in these churches find themselves hurried away into strange aberrations. The only standard of faith they would have, is a general credence in the divinity of the gospel. But what is this gospel? Here lies the essential question: yet here each holds his peace, or speaks after his own fashion. What boots it to know that there

is a vase placed by God among the nations for the cure of their maladies, if none care about its contents-if none endeavour to appropriate it to himself. Such a system cannot fill up the void that is now felt, and hence, at the very time that the faith of the apostles and the Reformers is everywhere displaying its active efficacy in converting the world, this vague system effects nothing, enlightens nothing, vivifies nothing.

But let us not despair. Does not Roman Catholicism confess the grand doctrines of Christianity, even that God-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-the Creator, Saviour, and Sanctifier, who is the truth? And does not vague Protestantism hold in its hand the Book of life, which is profitable for doctrine, for conviction, for instruction according to righteousness. And how many honest souls, noble in the eye of men, and lovely in the eye of God, are to be found among persons ranged under these two systems? Why not love them? Why not ardently desire their complete emancipation from human elements? Charity is vast in its scope; it stretches out its arms to the most remote opinions, that it may bring all to the feet of Jesus Christ.

We may even now observe symptoms of the approach of these two extreme opinions to Jesus Christ, as the centre of truth. Are there not some Roman Catholic churches where the reading of the bible is recommended and practised? and as for rationalistic Protestantism, what an advance has it not already made? It was no result of the Reformation, for the history of that great revolution will prove that it was an age remarkable for faith; but may we not hope that it is gradually approaching it? For such Protestantism shall not truth go forth from the word of God; and shall not that word at length exercise on it a transforming influence? Already religious feelings may often be perceived in it, insufficient no doubt in themselves, but indicating a movement towards sound doctrine, which encourages us to hope for definite results.

But the new Protestantism, and the old Catholicism, are alike in themselves out of the question, and out of the field. The men of our days must look to something else for saving power; something proceeding, not from man, but from God. "Give me," said Archimedes, "a point beyond the globe, and I will lift it from its poles." This point may be found in true Christianity, which takes off man's heart from the double pivot of selfishness and sensuality, and will one day displace the whole world from its evil course, and make it revolve on a new axis of righteousness and of peace.

Every time religion has been in question, men's regards have been directed to three objects: God, man, and the priest; and, indeed, there can be but three religions in the world, according as the originating and governing power belongs to God, to man, or to the priest. I call that the religion of the priest, which has been contrived by the priest, and for the priest, and which is governed by a sacerdotal caste. I call the religion of man those various systems and opinions which human reason invents for herself, and which, being created by man in his diseased state, are consequently destitute of all sanatory power. I call the religion of God the truth as it has come from God himself, and which for its object and issue, has God's glory and man's salvation.

Hierarchism or the priest's religion, Christianity or God's religion, Rationalism or man's religion; such are the three doctrinal systems that now divide Christendom. Now neither in hierarchism nor in rationalism, is there any salvation for man or for society. Christianity alone can give life to the world, and unhappily, of the three now prevailing systems, it is not the one that numbers most proselytes.

Still it has some. Christianity is now exerting its regenerating influence among many of the Catholics of Germany, and, no doubt, of other countries also. Its influence is purer and stronger still, in our opinion, among the Evangelical Christians of Swit

zerland, France, Great Britain, the United States, &c. Thank God, the instances of regeneration, whether in individuals or communities, which the gospel produces, are now no longer such rarities as we must go to seek in ancient annals. We have had occasion to witness the commencement of a powerful revival of Christianity, amid struggles and trials, in one small republic, whose citizens lead a calm and happy life, embosomed amid the wonders that creation has thrown around them. It is but the commencement, yet already from the plenitude of gospel blessings, that people is receiving grace to make a noble, a lofty, and a courageous profession of the great truths of God's religion; an extensive and substantial freedom; an enlightened and devoted government; a reciprocal affection in the magistrates for the people, and in the people for the magistrates, which is too seldom to be found elsewhere; a powerful impulse given to education and to general instruction, such as in that respect will make their territory a model country; a slow but sure improvement in morals; men of talent, all Christians, rivalling the first writers of our language. All this profusion, pouring itself forth between the gloomy Jura and the sublimities of the Alps, and along the magnificent borders of the lake of Geneva, ought to strike the tourist who has been attracted to the spot by the wondrous scenes presented by those mountains and those valleys, and ought to present to him one of the most eloquent pages that the providence of God has ever written in favour of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is the history of the Reformation in general, that I desire to write. I propose to follow its course among the different nations it visited, and to show that the same truths have always produced the same effects, without omitting to point out that diversity of aspect which naturally arose from the different character of those nations. Notwithstanding, it is in Germany that we shall best recognise, and chiefly study the history of

The canton of Vaud, in Switzerland.