CHRISTENDOM FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ITALY. A. CHILVER, 6. SNOW HILL, LONDON. E.C. ffm CHRISTENDOM FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ITALY. PROCEEDINGS OF THE Jlmtljr (general Conference of tfjc (Btrangefteal Alliance, HELD IN FLORENCE, 1891. PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE BRITISH ORGANIZATION OF THE ALLIANCE. EDITED BY THE REV. R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LL.B., (Prof. Emerit. New College, London^. Bonbon : OFFICE OF THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE, 7, ADAM STREET, ADELPHI, ANT> T. G. JOHNSON, 121, FLEET STREET. 1891. I7o4ll Stack Annex IN sending forth this volume, the Editor desires to explain the method which he has followed. Space would not permit of the entire insertion of all the Addresses delivered during the Conference at Florence. They have, however, been but little abbreviated wher- ever the whole Address has been forwarded by the Author. In some instances, the original not being forwarded, the Editor has been reluctantly compelled to avail himself of the report inserted in the pages of the monthly organ of the Alliance, Evangelical Christendom, Where abridgement has been deemed necessary, care has been taken not to omit anything that would seem to affect the substance of the paper, or injure by its abbreviation the general character of it. An Appendix has been added, in which interesting information is given with respect to the Addresses and their Authors, and the Resolutions of the International Committee of the Alliance, which held its sittings during the Conference, are published, together with other Memoranda. R. A. REDFORD. Putney, October isf, 1891. . TABLE OF CONTENTS. -j- " PAGE PREFACE ... ... ... ... ... ... v. INTRODUCTION i RECEPTION IN THE SALVINI THEATRE, VIA DE' NERI Address of Welcome by the Rev. Dr. Geymonat... ... 13 Description of the Meeting by the Rev. W. Sandford ... 17 OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE, MONDAY, APRIL 6 Address by the President, the Hon. and Rev. E. V. Bligh... 20 THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION By the Rev. Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., of New York ... 24 RENAISSANCE AND REGENERATION- By Pastor Baumann, of Berlin ... ... ... 37 FLORENCE AND THE ITALIAN REFORMATION By the Rev. John Stoughton, D.D., of London ... ... 40 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ITALY Addresses by Professor Dr. Mariano, of Naples ... ... 51 and the Rev. Professor Geymonat, D.D., of Florence 58 & 330 THE OBSTACLES TO REFORMATION IN ITALY By Professor Comba, of Florence ... ... ... 60 THE OBSTACLES WHICH THE REFORMATION EN- COUNTERS IN SPAIN Address by M. A. Martinez de Castilla, of Spain ... ... 66 PRESENT SALVATION Addresses by Pastor Theo. Monod, of Paris ... ... 68 and Rev. Principal Culross, M.A., D.D.. Bristol ... 71 VJii. CONTENTS. SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL- PAGE Address by Rev. W. Park, of Belfast ... ... ... 76 .. Pastor Edouard Monod, of Marseilles ... 78 THE BEST METHODS OF EVANGELIZATION Paper by the Rev. M. Bowen, of Constantinople... ... 82 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY- Address by Rev. Cav. Procbet, D.D., of Rome ... ... 95 Rev. D. Borgia, of Milan ... ... ... 99 Rev. T. W. S. Jones, of Naples ... .. 106 Rev. G: B. Taylor, D.D., of Rome ... ... 108 Rev. James Wall, of Rome ... ... 112 Rev. William Burt. D.D., of Rome ... ... 115 ,, ,, Signor Varnier, of Messina ... ... 118 ,, Rev. Gordon Gray, D.D., of Rome ... ... 123 Count Campello's Catholic Reform Movement, by the Rev. Alexander Robertson ... ... ... 125 THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE By the Rev. Professor R. A. Redford, M.A., LL.B., of London 131 THE WORD OF GOD THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE By the Venerable Archdeacon Richardson, M.A., D.D., London 145 THE POSITION OF THE BIBLE WITH REFERENCE TO SCIENCE By Principal Sir J. W. Dawson, K.C.M.G.. F.R.S.. of Montreal 149 CHRIST, THE FOUNDATION OF THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE Address by the Rev. Professor G. Godet, of Neuchatel ... 160 THE WALDENSIAN BIBLE IN GhKMAXY BEFORE LUTHER By Pastor Baumann, of Berlin ... ... ... 164 CONTENTS. IX. POVERTY AND RICHES FROM THE GOSPEL POINT OF VIEW- PAGE Addresses by the Rev. Dr. Stocker, Court Preacher, of Berlin 169 Pastor Babut, of Nismes ... ... 173 the Rev. William Nicholas, M.A., D.D., of Dublin 176 and the Rev. Dr. C. C. Tiffany, of New York ... 186 CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY IN PRESENCE OF THE WANTS OF THE DAY By Pastor A. de Loes, of Lausanne ... ... ... 194 THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL NECESSITY OF THE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S DAY Addresses by Pastor T. Ehni, of Geneva ... ... 198 and M. E. Deluz, of Geneva... ... ... 201 ON THE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S DAY Addresses by M. W. Meille, of Turin... ... ... 225 Rev. A. F. Buscarlet, of Lausanne ... 226 and Rev. Signer Sciarelli, of Naples ... ... 227 CHRISTIANITY, A FAITH FOR ALL NATIONS By the Rev. Donald Fraser, M.A., D.D., of London ... 204 THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO MODERN SOCIETY By the Rev. G. Stringer Rowe, of Leeds ... ... 213 A NEW DEPARTURE IN EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE WORK By the Rev. F. Russell, of the United States ... ... 219 FOREIGN MISSIONS Addresses by the Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, M. A., LL.D., of Nice 230 and the Rev. Dean Vahl, of Copenhagen ... 233 EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN EGYPT By the Rev. J. K. Giffen ... ... ... ... 237 INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CO-OPERATION By the Rev. Dr. G. D. Boardman, of Philadelphia ... 240 X. CONTENTS. BIBLE SOCIETY'S WORK AND TRACT DISTRIBUTION IN ITALY- PACK By the Rev. Signer A. Meille ... ... ... 246 and Rev. O. Jalla ... ... ... ... 248 THE DUTY OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN REGARD TO THE SLAVERY QUESTION By Professor Ruffet, of Geneva ... ... ... 249 OUR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN By the Rev. Professor Charteris, M.A., D.D.. of Edinburgh... 254 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS IN SWITZERLAND By M. Tophel, Pastor at Geneva ... ... ... 260 SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK Addresses by Bishop Walden, D.D.. of the United States ... 262 Mr. Thomas Edwards, of the Sunday School Union, London ... ... ... 265 and Rev. Edward Clarke, of Spezia ... ... 272 CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG SOLDIERS AND SAILORS By the Rev. Cav. Capellini, of Rome... ... ... 275 and Rev. Donald Miller, of Genoa... ... ... 280 HOW THE POWER OF FAITH IS PERFECTED IN LOVE By Professor Dr. Fabri, of Bonn ... ... ... 286 THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CHRISTIAN LIFE Addresses by the Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe, M.A., of London 290 and Professor Barth, of Berne ... ... 292 THE TRUE UNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH Addresses by the Rev. Dr. Gerth Van Wyk, of Holland ... 294 the Rev. Dr. L. T. Chamberlain, of Philadelphia 297 and L. Monod, Pastor of Lyons ... ... 303 CLOSING ADDRESS By the Rev. Cav. Prochet. D D., of Rome ... ... 305 APPENDIX ... ... 311 INTRODUCTION. THE Ninth International Conference of the Evangelical Alliance, held in the City of Florence, April 4th to the i2th, 1891, will be long remembered as one of the most delightful and successful gatherings of Christian brethren ever held. It has been frequently remarked that a meeting of such a kind in the very heart of Italy, in the midst of a Roman Catholic population, and with the outspoken approval of the liberal monarch of the new Italian Kingdom, is full of significance, both as marking a very decided change in the spirit of the times, and as pointing to an opening future of far greater scope for evangelical religion in a country long oppressed by superstition. When the announcement was first made that the Council of the British Branch of the Alliance, and of several other branches, suggested Florence as the place of meeting, many voices were heard expressing decided approval, and a thrill of interest and expectation seemed to run through all the various countries where brethren are associated to promote the objects of such united conferences. Copenhagen, Basle, and New York, where great gatherings had been held in 1884, 1879, an d 1873, all sent communications expressing very cordial concurrence in the suggestion, and prayers for the success of the meetings. The Committee were warmly supported throughout their arrangements with the very hearty sympathy of large numbers of earnest Christian brethren in all parts of Christendom. Many fervent prayers were offered that the Conference might bring a very abundant blessing to Italy and to the Continent generally, and contributions were never more freely and largely forwarded to enable those wljo made preparations for the attendance of delegates to do so without 2 INTRODUCTION. difficulty, and so as to secure a very representative gathering of brethren from all parts of the Peninsula. Without disparaging any previous Conference, it may be said that there has never been held a more remarkable and influential series of meetings in connection with the Evangelical Alliance than those of which the following pages are the record. (Ecumenical, in the best sense of the word, the Conference certainly was, though it made no claim to be a Council. If all Churches were not represented, still the whole extent of Evangelical Christendom seemed to be brought into mutual touch and fellowship. Great Britain, France, Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States, Canada, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Australia, and other lands, all were present through those who came together in the spirit of faith and love to declare publicly their common allegiance to the one Lord and Saviour, and to take counsel with one another for the glory of His Name. And while such a gathering from all parts of the world would be of great interest at any time, and in any place, it was especially influential in Italy at the present juncture. The changes which have been brought about in the relations between the Monarchy and Papacy, and the entirely new aspect of the Roman Catholic religion since the loss of the temporal power and the establish- ment of religious liberty, opened the opportunity for such a Conference to be held, and to draw a very considerable amount of public attention. But the effect produced upon the world in general was not the only result which it was hoped the meetings in Florence would bring about. The Evangelical Churches of Italy are at present but a feeble folk so far as numbers and appearance are concerned. They require to be aided by the sympathy and substantial help of brethren in other countries. And they would be likely in such gatherings to feel their own hearts lifted up with the inspiration of a common faith and love and brought into closer union with one another. " It was the con- fident hope of the Council," says the Rev. W. Sandford, Rector of Edlaston, in his paper on the Conference, " that if the very widely- dispersed Evangelical Christians of Italy could be brought face to face for even a few golden days of brotherly intercourse, and thus enabled to- make personal acquaintance with each other as fellow servants in the 'household of faith,' they would go back to their INTRODUCTION. 3 several localities with increased power to promote the spiritual welfare of their common country. Such a result, even if no other should follow, seemed an adequate reward for the expenditure of time and toil and funds, which the preparation for a General Conference demands." Such a result has certainly been attained. Not less than one hundred and fifty Pastors and Evangelists from all parts of Italy joined in the meetings, and found in them such an opportunity of personal stimulus and fraternal fellowship as they never enjoyed before. It is also well to point out that the subjects which came before the Conference were of the greatest interest, and the papers read and addresses delivered were frequently of special value, as the readers of this volume will be able to judge. History was well represented by such men as Drs. Schaff and Stoughton, Pastor Baumann of Berlin, Professors Comba of Florence and Mariano of Naples, and Dr. Gey- monat, President of the Florence Branch of the Alliance. The Spread of the Gospel and the best methods of Evangelization, The Authority of Holy Scripture, The Assaults of Modern Infidelity, The Circulation of the Bible, Christianity in its relation to great Social Questions, Home and Foreign Missions, Christian Faith and Christian Testimony ; not only were these subjects ably dealt with, but large assemblies of Italians were gathered to listen to earnest, practical addresses, and brethren of all nations united daily in most fervent prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. How is it possible to doubt that blessed results must follow from such meetings ? We may think their influence is merely temporary and limited, but " God's thoughts are not as our thoughts " upon such matters. We cannot know what impetus has been given to the spread of evangelical truth in Italy. The fact that a magnificent theatre was filled to overflowing night after night with townspeople of the Roman Catholic city of Florence to listen to Gospel addresses, and that the same scene was witnessed for many weeks after the Conference was concluded and will probably be witnessed again shortly, surely speaks volumes. Earnest evangelical preaching has been carried on for a considerable time under the superintendence of the Florence Committee, but it may be well believed that such meetings as were held in April will do much to awaken the minds of the people and prepare them for the 4 INTRODUCTION. more continuous labours of Evangelists. The accounts received since the Conference was held of the eager and widespread interest in the services continued in the Salvini theatre are full of encouragement and may be regarded as a token of the blessing of God upon the work of the Alliance. There was one incident at the commencement of the meetings which has had no little effect in drawing the attention of the world to them. In a Roman Catholic country it was not to be expected that any member of the Royal family should be present at any of the meetings. In Copenhagen not only did the King of Denmark ex- press interest in the Conference which was being held in his country, but he and his family were present, and attentive listeners to the proceedings. This could not be the case in Italy. But it was well known that Cav. Prochet of Rome had had a very interesting inter- view with King Umberto, in which his Majesty had inquired fully into the nature and objects of the Conference, and expressed his good wishes for it. Indeed he had gone so far as to regret that it was not to be held in Rome itself. This, however, he saw to be undesirable, when it was explained by Cav. Prochet that it might cause unnecessary excitement and offence at the Vatican. His Majesty observed that such consideration for the feelings of others was much to be commended, but would not have been extended to the Protestants by the Papal party. Knowing the kindly feeling of the liberal monarch, it was a very suitable recognition of the peaceful and propitious atmosphere in which the Conference opened its meetings when Lord Kinnaird, representing the British Branch of the Alliance, proposed that a telegram containing the respectful salutations of the Conference should be forwarded to the King of Italy a proposition which was at once and enthusiastically accepted. The telegram was worded as follows : "The Evangelical Alliance assembled from twenty different countries in its Ninth International Conference, and for the first time in Italy, sends respectful salutations to his Majesty King Umberto. The members of the Alliance praise God for the civil and religious liberty now enjoyed throughout this fair land, remembering that forty years ago they were pleading the cause of persecuted Christians in this city of Florence. They pray for peace and prosperity; for INTRODUCTION. 5 Heaven's richest blessings to rest upon the Italian people and their beloved Sovereign." This telegram when it was received by the King was handed over to a high official to draw out a reply for his approval. It was laid upon his table, but when he read it he tore it up as not cordial enough to please him, and with the help of his secretary drew out the following : " His Majesty the King has received, with great satisfaction, the wishes and homage of the representatives of a religion which is professed by a Piedmontese region, so dear to his soul and so loyal and true to his House. He thanks especially the foreigners gathered in Florence for the prayers they lift up to God for Italy, and is hoping that, on returning to their homes, they may take back feelings of sympathy for this country." This interchange of kindly sentiment between the Conference and the Throne gave a delightful tone of pleasant confidence to all the meetings. It was felt that such a commencement assured the suc- cess of the Conference, and would procure for it a large amount of popularity. It would draw public attention to it both in Italy and in all other parts of the world, and it augured well for the cause of Evangelical Truth and Freedom on the Continent. Before concluding this introduction it may be useful to place before the reader what have been some of the impressions of those who attended the Conference so far as they can be gathered from the testimonies of Christian brethren. First and foremost should be placed the conviction which is deepened by such a Conference, that whatever may be the differences which separate Evangelical Christians from one another in ecclesiastical forms and denominational distinctions, there is an ever-increasing desire to subordinate all other considerations to that which is supreme in the heart of every sincere Christian, faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. In almost every address, and in some with very special emphasis, this was set forth as the uppermost feeling of our times. We must not suffer anything to hide from us the great fact that what the nations want is not our systems of theology, our forms of Church government, our rites and ceremonies, but the Spirit of Christ. The Gospel is Christ. It was delightful to hear the representatives of Italy proclaiming this 6 INTRODUCTION. supremacy of the Saviour in a country where a corrupt ecclesiasticism has done so much to rob Him of His glory, and hide His free grace from the people by exalting the power of the priesthood. " It is impossible," said one of the Italian deputies, who was once himself a Roman Catholic priest, but is now a devoted Evangelical preacher, "it is impossible to" foretell what shape the Church of the future will take in this land ; it is in vain to expect that Protestantism as Protestantism will obtain a hearing, but we may be sure that nothing will satisfy Italy but a gospel which preaches Christ as its essence." Professor Mariano, of Naples, dealt very ably with this subject " We must not think," he said, "that the Papacy is soon to disappear, but it can never give redemption and holiness to the people. Nothing can do that but the grace of God by faith in Christ and in His Gospel. The Evangelicals alone have rightly unojsrstood the religious problem of Italy, and have set themselves to solve it." There are many elements of good mixed up with the corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church. No one can visit Italy without being impressed with the wonderful possibilities of the future, which lie there still shut up in the bondage of superstition ; but that bondage can be broken, and the free spirit of faith called forth to a new religious life. As Dr. Schaff observed in his noble paper on Renaissance and Reformation, "God has great surprises in store for us," and one of those surprises may be the rapid spread of evangelical truth in the place of the dead formalism and heartless infidelity which at present hold the masses of Italy in the deep sleep of indifference. Another prominent impression left by the Conference was the very decided growth of the spirit of charity and brotherly love, and its fervent expression in all assemblies of Christians. No doubt, at all such meetings of evangelical believers sentiments of brotherhood prevail, but there is an unmistakeable increase of warmth in such expressions. Whenever they were introduced into the Addresses at Florence there was a thrill of response through the audience which was very striking. The people seem to be longing to be lifted above their own prejudices into a higher atmosphere of spiritual fellowship. Unity in Christ is uppermost in their thoughts. They are ashamed of the divisions and dissensions which have disgraced the Christian INTRODUCTION. 7 Church for so many centuries. They are feeling keenly the reproaches of unbelievers. They are longing to be able to manifest to the world that whatever appearances there may be, all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity are one in Him. This realization of unity was very specially seen when the daily meetings for prayer bowed all heads before the One Throne of Grace. It was very delightful and very impressive to listen to the yoice of the Spirit, as on the Day of Pentecost, uttering the various languages of men before Him to Whom they were all the same speech of the heart. The out-pouring of the spirit of prayer upon the churches will settle many a problem and overcome many a difficulty. The heat of Divine Love will melt down the Alps of division. We shall know and feel that we are "one body in Christ" when one Spirit pervades all our assemblies and absorbs all differences in a common devotion. Reference has already been made to the state of the Protestant Churches in Italy. Professor Mariano spoke out very plainly mourn- ing the want of union among the different evangelical denominations. The Council of the Evangelical Alliance wrought a good work when they set themselves to overcome, which they did most successfully, the obstacles which appeared in the way of hearty co-operation. There were many forebodings before the Conference which might have cast a cloud over it, but courageous faith and simple depend- ence on the Divine promise of spiritual guidance and blessing put such forebodings to shame. The brethren who came to the meetings wondering whether they would be drawn nearer to their fellow believers, or driven farther apart from them, went home with but one feeling in their hearts that of devout thankfulness to God for a most inspiring and uplifting season of joyful brotherly intercourse. The atmosphere was not favourable to the germs of division. They were largely destroyed, and a healthier spirit, we may confidently hope, will prevail among the Protestant Churches of Italy. And what, we may ask, is the outlook, the prospect of Evangelical truth on the Continent generally ? Is it more favourable than it was when the Conference of the Alliance was held in 1884 at Copen- hagen ? No doubt when we endeavour to forecast the future we are 8 INTRODUCTION. very apt to think as our hearts prompt us. At the same time, it is better to be optimists than to be pessimists. The promises of the Gospel encourage us to search out the signs of hope, and not to dwell on the dark side. The progress of the world is not by the path of smooth things, but by the rough road of contradiction and conflict. The good overcomes the evil. The evil is destroyed by the manifes- tation of the good, which can only be by the positive and energetic development of holy principles in opposition to the falsehood and corruption of the world. Moreover, we were powerfully reminded in the city of Florence that the making of the soil in which Gospel Truth has to grow is not the work of God's people, but very largely of the forces which are arrayed against one another in the world. It was the fearful collision of 1870, the awful desolating conflict between two great nations which brought about the political and ecclesiastical changes in Italy twenty years ago. Those changes have made the new soil into which the seed of the Gospel is now being cast far and wide throughout the Peninsula. How can we doubt that all such changes are preparing the way for the greater triumphs of the Truth? The testimony of many brethren from different countries was to the wonderful openings now given to the people of God for preaching and spreading the knowledge of the Scriptures. There are crowded congregations listening to the Gospel in many of the towns of Italy, and the Rev. Dr. Kalopothakes of Athens spoke of the circulation of the Scriptures, in Greece, and of religious tracts and pamphlets, as most encouraging. There are many signs of revival among the Protestant Churches of Scandinavia. Rationalism is losing ground among the clergy, and Sunday Schools are rapidly developing something like a new life among the people. There are portions of the Continent, no doubt, where little encouragement is at present to be found ; where a corrupt Church or a dead Protes- tantism still keeps the people in a state of spiritual slumber ; but when evangelical Christians meet together from all parts of the world as they did at Florence, their feeling is not one of despondency but rather of glowing hope. Never let us forget that man is not alone in this warfare. The Lord of all power and might is working with His people. "Who hath despised the day of small things?" Why should we despair because there is a great display of worldly power INTRODUCTION. 9 and wealth on the side of those who hate the Gospel ? What are these "great mountains" before the Lord of the whole earth? How easily He can shake them to dust as He did in the United States, when the time came for the destruction of slavery, as He did in Italy and France, when He had determined to bring to an end the tem- poral power of the Papacy. "The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge." " Now, Christians, hold your own the land before you Is open win your way, and take your rest." PART I. ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE CONFERENCE. 13 i SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 1891. in tf)e Salbini Cfjeatre. THE following Address of Welcome was delivered by the Rev. Dr. PAOLO GEYMONAT, who presided : HONOURED AND DEAR BRETHREN It is an event, a benediction, a festa for the Evangelical of Italy, this solemn reunion of distinguished co-religionists from every land, from Greece, Turkey, Egypt, India, Australia, Austria, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Spain, Britain, North America and Canada. Oi airo ri]: Ira\a; aoiratovrat tr/idg Those of Italy salute you and heartily bid you all welcome. Languages distinguish us, but they do not divide us ; rather they unite us, forming special groups. Permit us to place together the delegates of countries where the same language is spoken, and to address to each group a few words : Honoured and dear Brethren of the French tongue, in you we salute, on the one hand, the descendants of the heroes of the Reformation, who with unheard-of constancy have fought and suffered for the cause of the Gospel ; and, on the other hand, the sons of generous Switzerland, refuge of the persecuted and bulwark of liberty, who received with equal affection the emigrants of France and of Italy. The Reformation did not become national in France, but its 14 RECEPTION IN THE SALVINI THEATRE. effect has been universal. It founded the rights of man with respect to his fellow-man and to the State on the Sovereignty of God. That principle, still worthily represented by you, is essential to Protestantism, and necessary to the Alliance. In the rainbow of various tints harmoniously blended, which the Alliance forms as a sign of peace, the brilliant French colours should not be lacking. The presence of a goodly number of brethren from France and Switzerland was desired, and your attendance is a good omen for our meeting. Honoured and dear Brethren of Holland, which was also, and in fact pre-eminently, a refuge of the Reformation, with whom could we group you ? In everything you are yourselves, only yourselves. Therefore we specially salute you. The absolute tenacity of the ancient faith is still seen in your Protestantism, while at the same time we behold the extreme daring of modern thought. You bring to the Alliance the benefit of two extremes, namely, constancy of faith and freedom of thought, both so dear to us all, and so needful for the times. Honoured and dear Brethren of the German tongue, one of the richest of languages, in which the Gospel resounds with such force, and yet with such sweetness, in consequence of the Reformation of your Luther, who by the power of his speech was a true king without a crown, you form a vast group comprehending in language and doctrine brethren of various countries to the South, to the North, and to the West of Germany. Your thought is as rich and complex as your language, and your immense periods. In your books and your Universities we all drink at the fountain of your profound knowledge. Religion among you blossoms and abounds not less in erudite theology than in poetry and music, which proceed from the heart, and rise sublime. Your good part, which shall not be taken from you, consists in heart, in sentiment, im Gemitthe, and it is this that brings a blessing and is your most precious gift to our Alliance. Honoured and dear Brethren of the English language, you come from all parts of the world ; your group comprises the Globe, now made small by your active enterprise. You cover the earth with ADDRESS BY REV. DR. PAOLO GEYMONAT. 15 Bibles, translated and printed in all languages, and sow the seed of the Kingdom of God among all nations. You have multiplied denominations, pushed individualism to extremes, and shown a divided Protestantism ; yet, on the other hand, you seek after and manifest unity through the Evangelical Alliance, of which you are the strenuous and constant promoters. Unity through liberty, this is God's way, and it is also the way of the Alliance, of which you are the advance guard. And those of us who are but small minorities in the midst of catholics, both Roman and Greek, and likewise in the midst of Turks and heathen, brethren of Italy and Spain, of Belgium, of Greece, of Turkey, and of other countries, we are all borne in the arms of the Alliance ; we too are welcomed here, so much so that on this occasion we the last have become the first. Honoured and dear Brethren, we have not yet in Florence a temple large enough to enable us to receive you in a consecrated place. Not unfrequently a temple is transformed into a theatre ; for a few days let us prove that a theatre may become a temple. Let us begin by reading from the Word of God, the first five verses of Matt. xvii. : " And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart. And He was transfigured before them ; and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus : Lord, it is good for us to be here ; if Thou wilt, let us make here three taber- nacles : one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said : This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him." Our earnest desire and prayer, beloved brethren, is that by the presence of the Lord, by the Spirit of grace, by the joy of fraternal communion, you may feel that it is indeed good to be here, that you l6 RECEPTION IN THE SALVINI THEATRE. would even pitch your tents and abide with us, that no one will regret having come. Is there less of blessing here than upon the Mount, whence the disciples were loth to descend ? Nay, there is even more and better. Lifted up on high infinitely above all, behold the Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, in His present glory, His eternal glory, of which that which shone forth on the Mount was but a symbol, a momentary sign. On the right, and on the left, behold Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, which testify of Him, and remind us of the golden Rule, to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us. Below, the disciples looking up humble, attentive, ecstatic, represent the attitude that becomes us in the presence of our Lord and of His Holy Word. The souls of the three disciples exulted at the sight of the glorious spectacle. Here we are hundreds of disciples, representatives of thousands and millions, who, from all parts of the world, look up with us to Jesus Christ. Joyful day ! Glorious spectacle 1 Should not our souls rejoice ? In the Transfiguration beheld by the first disciples, we see the ideal, into which the sad reality ought to be transformed, into which it has already in part been transformed ; the ideal which is gradually being realized by the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets, by the Gospel of Christ, Who with righteousness as white as the light clothes every soul that calls upon Him. The Evangelical Alliance in its solemn assemblies represents that ideal, and by its labours is seeking for its realization. The Alliance has principles which it must maintain, and ends which it must strive to attain. But these principles of Evangelical Pro- testantism, and these only, are universal, truly Catholic, common to Christianity, which holds the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Master, Mediator and Saviour ; and these ends are all included in the universal application of that supreme precept of the Law and the Prophets, which suffices to establish and maintain the best relations between man and man, between family and family, between Church and Church, between nation and nation : " Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do you even so unto them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." ADDRESS BY REV. DR. PAOLO GEYMONAT. 17 Protestantism, founded upon the Holy Scriptures, rule of faith and life, has various forms, among which each one may find freedom and a suitable sphere of action, and it has no need to be transformed or reformed ; it needs only to be transfigured, so that the glory of Christ may shine through all these various forms in justice, truth and holiness. Thus unity is manifested in diversity. Thus the ideal is realized. Thus the Kingdom of Heaven is advanced on earth. May these re-unions strengthen our ties, leave among us blessed traces, and give fresh power to the Gospel everywhere, among all the churches, and in all lands. Is it really in Italy, in Florence, only a few steps from Savonarola's wood-pile and the Bargello, that we are assembled for this work of liberty and faith ? Is it really in Florence, where the Madiai for the sake of the Gospel in August of the year 1851 were arrested, and in June of 1852 condemned for years to the galleys, where an honoured deputation of the Evangelical Alliance came to implore from the Grand Duke their liberation, and could not obtain an official hearing, is it on this very spot that we open this free Conference of Evangelicals of all nations ? Scarcely can we believe our eyes. Never did Italy in the times of her republics, never did this classic land, never did Florence, the most liberal and the most cultured city of Italy, ever enjoy religious liberty, the highest and the holiest form of liberty, until the entire nation rallied round the house of Savoy, which with firm hands holds the sceptre of justice. Hence we could not inaugurate the present Congress, which to the eyes of all is a great event in the cause of liberty, and to our eyes greater still for the .Gospel, without heartily exclaiming : BLESSINGS FOR EVER REST UPON THE HOUSE OF SAVOY AS IT NOW REIGNS AT ROME ! ! " This admirable Address," says the Rev. W. SANDFORD, in his paper on the Conference, which appeared in the May number of Evangelical Christendom, "delivered with exceeding gracefulness, from time to time evoked hearty applause as the successive points of it l8 RECEPTION IN THE SALVINI THEATRE. caught the notice of the deeply-attentive audience. It had been previously suggested that, at its close, a telegram should be forwarded to the King of Italy, respectfully saluting him, expressing thanks to God for the liberty now enjoyed in Italy ; also the best wishes of the Conference for the welfare of the King and the Royal Family. Any individual of the large assemblage of distinguished men of various nationalities might well have valued the privilege of proposing the sending of this telegram. It was, however, to Lord Kinnaird, who responded to the Welcome in the name of the British Organization, that the privilege fell, and in appropriate and hearty terms he accomplished his pleasant task. A few words of like character from Bishop Walden, one of the American delegates, followed, and then the resolution was carried by the whole assembly rising. Then followed the acknowledgments, by various national repre- sentatives, of the touching and gratifying allusions to their several countries in the President's Address. As these spoke in their own native languages, with one or two exceptions, the audience could not fail to mark with interest the earnestness and gracefulness of these responses to an Address of Welcome which had touched all present. An event which occurred later raised the enthusiasm of the already enthusiastic meeting to a yet higher and, it may be added, a yet holier point. This was the arrival of a message from far distant China, informing the assembly how earnestly the Christians there had been for some time praying, and would continue to pray, for a great blessing on this deeply interesting and important Conference. Such a message could not but strengthen the confidence of the older members of the Alliance in the prospect of seeing large and golden fruits in due time from the present Conference. And it was under such impressions that this very happy preliminary meeting came to a close. Sunday morning witnessed a short English-speaking prayer meeting in the Scotch Church, which proved from beginning to end a fitting continuation of the prayerful frame in which the Saturday evening meeting closed. The brief address by Lord Radstock gave the right tone to the meeting, and the simple prayers which in quick succession followed, showed that the Spirit of adoption prompted them, and that those who offered them had a hold upon the ' exceeding great and precious promises.' ADDRESS BY REV. DR. PAOLO GEYMONAT. 19 The next incident which calls for mention was somewhat remark- able. Circumstances, into which it is needless to enter, opened the pulpit of Trinity Church to the Rev. H. VV. Webb-Peploe. And it came to pass that in a place where high-churchism has a home, many evangelical Christians had the privilege of hearing a powerful scriptural sermon, which, without containing aught to give offence, showed that nothing short of a man's finding out his own absolute need of a divine release from guilt and sin, and his learning to come himself to Christ as the Giver of this, can avail to save him from everlasting ruin. Mr. Peploe's thesis was that death is the way to life in the Christian's case just as Christ's death and resurrection were linked together when He performed His part as our Redeemer. It is hard to say which most distinguished the address the logical power which pervaded it, or the deep affectionateness of its appeals to the heart and conscience." 20 MONDAY, APRIL 6, 1891. THE HON. AND REV. E. V. BLIGH PRESIDED. ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN. DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, AND MEMBERS OF THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE Owing to the absence of Count Bernstorff from circumstances beyond his control at Berlin, I find myself in the honoured position of presiding over the proceedings of the first Session of this Inter- national Conference of the Evangelical Alliance, held at Florence, in the Year of our Lord, 1891. I could have wished, indeed, that Count Bernstorff could have filled the position for which he was first, and most fitly, indicated. He is well known to most present as an able and distinguished member of the Alliance ; but I have had the good fortune to be associated with him more particularly during the two Conferences of the International Committee held at Geneva in 1886, and at Berlin in 1888 ; and it gives me a peculiar pleasure, therefore, to have an opportunity of testifying to the loving spirit, and temper, and tact, which this dear Christian brother has continuously brought to bear upon the discussions of that Committee, and to which spirit indeed any success which has been obtained by it, has been, I venture to say, in a large measure due. I heartily regret Count Bernstorffs enforced absence, and I feel I may say, " So do we all" and we wish him heartily " God-speed." But being where I am by stress of circumstances, I may, perhaps, find an apology in certain facts which should considerably counter- balance the diffidence which I, a foreigner, must naturally experience ADDRESS BY THE HON. AND REV. E. V. BLIGH. 21 in presiding over the deliberations of so distinguished an assembly in an Italian city. It so happened that my first experience of Florence was, as an Attache to the British Legation to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in that memorable year, 1851, when Francesco and Rosa Madiai were imprisoned in the Bargello of this city. I was not immediately concerned with them ; but I was so with an English gentleman (now a physician in Londy) who was detected in the act Hear it ! ye Evangelical and Protestant Christians assembled at Florence in 1891 " en flagrant delit " I remember the expression of reading the Holy Scriptures; hardly even that, for if my memory serves me rightly, this English gentleman was found lying on a sofa with a favourite Bible in his pocket, doing nothing at the moment, but merely awaiting the arrival of the Madiai (in their house, I think) to commence a Bible reading. The gendarmes were, in fact, a little too soon, and in rather too great a hurry. The Englishman was, however, searched and seized by them, and with the undeniable evidence of the Bible found upon him, he was marched off like a felon through the streets of this city of Florence, and imprisoned in the common gaol. I went to see him there the next day in the exercise of my official duty, and owing to the strenuous exertions of her Britannic Majesty's Legation this gentleman was released some twenty-four hours afterwards. The Madiai were not so fortunate, and lingered in imprisonment several months before the then mis- guided rulers of this country bent before the growing force of public opinion, which was aided not a little (we are thankful to be able now to say) by the prayers and efforts of the friends and founders of this great Evangelical Alliance. " One sows, another reaps ! " After forty years' interval, " their works do follow them ! " These noble pioneers of Christian love and union who founded the Alliance have now their reward. A marvellous change indeed ! Then, a hostile ruler ; a foreign domination, a dark intolerance. Now, a benevolent and beneficent king : Italy free, and a great Power of Europe ; Religious Liberty supreme ! I have thought I might be pardoned for dwelling thus briefly upon so remarkable a contrast 1851 and 1891 ! May I refer for one moment to the year 1877, which was the occasion of my next visit to this beautiful city in conjunction with my friends, the Rev. William Arthur a name illustrious and 22 RECEPTION IN THE SALVINI THEATRE. beloved among the Wesleyans and the Rev. Dr. Donald Eraser, a much honoured leader among the Presbyterians. As a miniature representation of the working of the Evangelical Alliance, we three quasi three " reconciled irreconcileables " of Church, Kirk, and Chapel had then the high honour of being entrusted with a fraternal mission to our dear Italian friends and brethren, who were then struggling manfully out of the toils and difficulties of the former dark period. If our visit, perhaps, savoured somewhat of the loving presumption of an elder sister, and if some of the fair daughters of your native Protestantism in Italy might have been inclined to question its expediency or its utility, we at least were free to admit that we found much to rejoice our own souls in what we saw, and that we learned a great deal which we could ill afford to lose. If we were "physicians " of an at all doubtful character, we at least " healed ourselves ! " We went back to our own country fully persuaded that it was fully likely that in some ten or a dozen years Italy would be able to teach us another noble lesson. Fourteen years have not yet elapsed, and what do we see ? What do we know ? What may we not expect ? We have seen you in Italy gradually growing into the fuller appre- ciation of brotherly love and unity. We have watched your develop- ment both particular and general as component parts, and as a whole body. Our souls yearned with yours when leaders of the Waldensians held out the hand to the Chiesa Libera, when the revered and patriarchal Gavazzi threw even all his energy into schemes for closer union with the heroic Church of the Valleys. Speaking now as an Englishman, and bearing in mind our own unhappy divisions those sectional differences which have grown out of the very plethora of our religious liberty I unaffectedly declare that we are quite ready to be taught by you. You, Italians, are now holding out the right hand of fellowship in a way which cannot be mistaken. It was no slight thing we know well to attempt to hold this Conference. We know the modesty and diffidence with which you continually regarded the possibility of assembling, even on your own classic ground, the various representatives of European and American Christendom. We trust you will be amply rewarded for the efforts which you have made, upon which the crown of success seems to be already settling. ADDRESS BY THE HON. AND REV. E. V. BLIGH. 23 Speaking now in the name of the whole Evangelical Alliance and for all countries, I should ill-discharge my pleasant duty as the president on this occasion, if I did not congratulate you upon having added Florence to that distinguished roll of names London, Paris, Berlin, Geneva, New York, Amsterdam, Basle, Copenhagen cities which have already received high rank I may say true Christian nobility as centres for our great International Conferences. May it please God that all who have taken part in previous Conferences shall more than ever realize, in our present sessions, that spiritual unity of heart and soul in Jesus Christ our Lord which is the raison d'etre of the Evangelical Alliance, and which is expressed in its motto : Unum corpus sumus in Christo ! May all our friends the faithful ministers and labourers in the Gospel, and particularly those who have assembled here from the various parts of Italy be enabled to take back with them into the midst of their seclusion, or of their bustle, as the case may be, into the busy town or into the isolated village, agreeable and profitable reminiscences of what they have seen and heard, and experienced here ! May the result be a mighty awakening of the dry bones which have slumbered through centuries of darkness and superstition in Italy. May each pastor and each labourer, as he moves in his several orbit, spread light and radiance among his flock and people when he returns home again ! reflecting the brightness of love and union and that care for our perishing brothers' souls, which we trust exists among ourselves, and will characterize this International Conference ; reflecting, however humbly, some of the rays of the Sun of Righteousness Himself even thus may we each and every one of us receive a blessing ! iSrnaissanrr ano tijc information. BY THE REV. PHILIP 8CHAFF, D.D., LL D ., NEW YORK, Honorary Foreign Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance for the United States of America. RENAISSANCE and Reformation are significant words for two kindred, yet distinct movements of history : the one closes the Middle Ages, the other opens the Modern Age. Both are not simply past events, but living forces which control our civilization, and have not yet finished their mission. Renaissance, Reformation, Re-action, Revol- ution, Re-construction are the links in the chain of modern history. The Renaissance was a revival of classical culture ; the Reforma- tion, a revival of primitive Christianity. The former was an intellectual and aesthetic movement ; the latter, a moral and religious movement. The Renaissance drew its inspiration from the poets and philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome ; the Reformation, from the Apostles and Evangelists. The Renaissance aimed at the development of the natural man ; the Reformation, at the renewal of the spiritual man. The Renaissance looked down upon earth, the Reformation looked up to heaven. The Renaissance is the work of Italy, the Reformation is the work of Germany and Switzerland. The Renaissance prepared the way for the Reformation, and furnished the necessary intellectual equipment for it. Erasmus and Reuchlin, Melanchthon and Zwingli are the connecting links of the two move- ments. Without the Renaissance there could have been no Re- formation, and the Renaissance is incomplete without a Reformation. For man is a unit, and his intellectual culture and moral character must be developed and perfected in harmony. I. THE RENAISSANCE. The Renaissance was born in Florence, the City of Flowers and the Flower of Cities, "the brightest star in star-bright Italy." From Florence it passed to Rome, and from Rome it spread all over Italy and beyond the Alps. Cosimo de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent were the chief among the Maecenases of literature and ADDRESS BY THE REV. PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D. 25 art. Pope Nicolas V. and several of his successors down to Leo X. followed their example. Florence gave birth to a brilliant galaxy of poets, statesmen, historians, scientists, architects, sculptors and painters, and yields to no city in the world, except Rome, in wealth of historic reminiscences and treasures of art. The Renaissance began with Dante, the greatest son of Florence, and the greatest Italian poet. His power extends over the civilized world, and is growing with the advancing years. A poor exile, he could not eat his own bread, nor ascend or descend his own stairs ; but how large is the number of those whom he has fed and taught to descend the steps of his Inferno, and to ascend the mountain of his Purgatorio ! His Divina Commedia, conceived in the year 1300 noted for the first papal jubilee is a mirror of the moral universe viewed from the standpoint of eternity, a cathedral of immortal spirits, a glorification of the Christian religion, and a judgment on the cor- ruptions of the secularized Church and papacy of his age. It is at once autobiographical, national, and cosmopolitan, a song of the Middle Ages, and of all ages, a spiritual biography of man as a sinner, a penitent, and a saint. It is a pilgrimage of the soul from the dark forest of temptation, through the depths of despair, up the terraces of purification, to the realms of bliss, under the guidance of natural reason (Virgil) and divine revelation (Beatrice). Dante was and still is a prophet rebuking tyranny and injustice, avarice and pride in high and low places of Church and State, without fear or favour, and pointing to the eternal issues of man's actions. He stands on the transition between the Middle Ages and Modern times. He broke the monopoly of the clergy for learning, and of Latin as the organ of scholarship. He proved that a layman may be a philosopher and theologian, as well as a statesman and poet, and that the lingua toscana may give expression to the deepest thoughts and emotions, as well as the language of Virgil and Cicero. He proved that one may be a good Catholic Christian, and yet call for a thorough Reformation. If he had lived in the fifteenth century, he would have sympathized with Savonarola ; in the sixteenth he would have gone half way with Luther and Calvin ; in the nineteenth he would advocate the unity of Italy and the separation of religion and politics, of Church and State, on the basis of equal freedom and independence for both 26 THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION. in their different spheres. Such is the power and bearing of his " Sacred poem To which both heaven and earth have set their hands." Petrarca and Boccaccio are far below Dante for depth of genius and extent of influence, but they share with him the honour of being the fathers of Italian literature and promoters of liberal learning. Petrarca, "the poet of love," was also an enthusiast for classical literature, and the pioneer of humanism in the technical sense of the term. He spared no pains and money for the recovery of old manuscripts from the dust of convents. He was the first collector of private libraries of classical authors, and studied them as a means for intellectual and aesthetical culture. Cicero and St. Augustine were his patron saints. His friend Boccaccio followed his example in the search for manu- scripts, though he is better known as the master of Italian prose, the author of the Decamtront and the first biographer and commentator of Dante. In the fifteenth century, the enthusiasm for classical literature and humanistic culture spread with irresistible force through all the cities of Italy, and even crossed the Alps as far north as Poland, and as far west as England and Scotland. The discovery of the classics was the revelation of a long-forgotten civilization, and created as much sensation in the fifteenth century as the discovery of the hieroglyphics and cunei- form inscriptions and the excavations of Troy and Mycenae in our age. Italian scholars travelled to Greece and Constantinople in search of Greek manuscripts, and translated them into Latin. Greek scholars who left their native land before and after the fall of Constantinople, brought with them the literary treasures of the East. The discovery and reproduction of classical literature was followed by the discovery and reproduction of classical art, which revealed the beauty of the human body, as the former had revealed the strength of the human mind. At the end of the fifteenth, and the beginning of the sixteenth century, the masterpieces of Greek sculpture, such as the Laocoon group, the Apollo of the Belvidere, the torso of Hercules, were dug from the ruins of palaces and villas of old Rome, and kindled an enthusiasm for similar achievements. ADDRESS BY THE REV. PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D. 2^ What do we owe to the Renaissance of letters and arts ? What is its permanent contribution to the civilization and happiness of man- kind ? The Renaissance raised Greece and Rome from the dead, recovered and collected the ancient classics, created a taste for the humanities, for literary and artistic culture, produced the national literature of Italy, and the greatest works of art, adorned churches, and filled museums and picture galleries, which will attract admiring visitors from every land to the end of time. The Renaissance destroyed the clerical monopoly of learning, and made it accessible to the laity ; it emancipated the mind from the bondage of tradition, and introduced the era of intellectual freedom. It substituted for the monastic seclusion from the world, the social duty of transforming the world and the institutions which God has founded. It taught the value of man as man ; and showed the finger of God in reason, in nature, and art. Humanism made the literature of Greece and Rome repeat the preparatory service which they had. accomplished at the first introduction of Christianity by furnishing the language and the framework for its divine contents. But man is a moral and spiritual as well as an intellectual and aesthetic being. And here we must not be blind to the defects of the Renaissance. Some of the first humanists and artists of Italy were sincere and devout Christians. But many of them were indifferent or secretly hostile to religion, while outwardly conforming to its ritual. Not a few were pagans at heart, and disciples of Zeno and Epicurus rather than of Peter and Paul. They substituted the worship of beauty for the worship of holiness. The revival of pagan art was to a large extent also the revival of pagan immorality. Savonarola, undazzled by the splendour of Lorenzo's reign, preached with pro- phetic zeal from the pulpit of San Marco the necessity of a moral reformation, but was publicly burned on the Piazza della Signoria. The corruption centered at the metropolis of Christendom, and culminated in the highest dignitaries of the Church. Alexander Borgia practiced vice as an art, and turned the Vatican into a den of prostitution and murder. Julius II. was a warrior rather than a Churchman. Leo X. delighted in the chase and in comedies more than in the duties of his high office, and although his saying about 28 THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION. " the profitable fable of Christ " is probably a myth, it characterizes the sceptical atmosphere of the Vatican at that time. When Erasmus, as the literary monarch of his age, visited Rome in 1506, he was charmed with her culture and refinement, her freedom of discourse, the honeyed conversation of her scholars, and the magnificence of her arts, but at the same time shocked by "the abominable blasphemies," uttered by priestly lips at the papal court. And when Luther, four years later, went to Rome as an humble monk and pilgrim, he visited the tombs of the apostles and martyrs, and climbed up the Scala Santa on his knees, but was horrified by the sight of the prevailing worldliness, frivolity, and ill-disguised infidelity of priests who hurried through the mass, and were heard to say over the consecrated elements : " Pants es, flam's manefa's; rinum ts, rinnm manebis" Machiavelli, the great statesman and historian of Florence, asserts from his own observation that " in proportion as we approach nearer the Roman Church, we find less piety," and that, " owing to the bad example of the papal court, Italy has lost all piety and religion, whence follow infinite troubles and disorders." Guicciardini, another distinguished historian of Florence, who was secretary and viceregent of the Medicean popes, makes in his "Aphorisms" (1529) the startling confession : " My position at the court of several popes has compelled me to desire their aggrandizement for the sake of my own profit. Otherwise I would have loved Martin Luther myself not that I might break loose from the laws which Christianity, as it is usually understood and explained, lays upon us, but that I might see that horde of villains (quesla catema di scellerati) reduced within due limits, and forced to live either without vices or without power." We have even the contemporary testimony of a pope, Adrian VI., a Dutchman, who was elected after Leo X. as a reforming pope, but reigned less than two years (from Jan. gth, 1522, to Sept. i4th, 1523). He admitted through his legate, Francesco Chieregati, at the Diet of Niirnberg, March, 1522, "that for some time many abominations, abuses, and violation of rights, have taken place in the Holy See ; and that all things have been perverted into bad. From the head the corruption has passed to the limbs, from the pope to the prelates : we have all gone astray, there is none that doeth good, no, not one." The Council of Trent, so loudly called for, and so long ADDRESS BY THE REV. PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL D. 2Q delayed by the policy of the curia, was confessedly convened for the reformation of morals as well as for the settlement of dogmas. Who can doubt, in view of these contemporary testimonies of the most competent observers and judges, the necessity of a Reformation? II. THE REFORMATION. The Reformation began during the pontificate of the last pope of the Renaissance, who was a cultivated pagan, and fairly represented the secularization of the Church, which from a kingdom of Heaven had become a kingdom of this world. It was at first an indignant protest against the sale of indulgences, which degraded religion to an article of merchandise ; as had been done by the profane traffickers in the temple at Jerusalem, whom the Saviour expelled at the beginning of His public ministry. Leo X. condemned Luther, and the monk answered by burning the pope's bull. This was the fiery signal of separation. Since that time Western Christendom has been divided into two hostile armies. The Reformation was neither a revolution which destroys but cannot build up, nor a reaction which restores a former state of things without vitality and permanency. It had a positive and a negative side. It was constructive as well as destructive, conservative as well as progressive. It emancipated the half of Europe from the spiritual tyranny of the papacy, and cleared away the rubbish of mediaeval traditions, which obscured and " made void the Word of God," like the rabbinical traditions of old (Matt. xv. 6), and which obstructed the access to Christ, the only Mediator between God and man. It brought every believer into direct communion with Christ and His Word. This of itself is an inestimable blessing, which can never be surrendered. The Reformation kindled an unbounded enthusiasm for primitive Christianity ; it produced the most faithful and idiomatic versions of the Scriptures, German, Dutch, and English, which occupy the position of first classics in modern literature ; it enriched worship with a treasury of hymns of faith and praise which are a perennial fountain of edification and comfort. It taught the supremacy of the Bible in matters of faith and practice, justification by a living and ever-active faith, and the general priesthood of believers. It secured liberty of 30 THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION. conscience and private judgment, which in legitimate development led gradually to full liberty of conscience and public worship within the limits of public order and peace. Protestantism has been a propelling force in modern history, and a stimulus to every progress in theology, philosophy, science, and politics. The Reformation was so deeply rooted in the necessities of the Church, and was so thoroughly prepared, that it broke out almost simultaneously in different countries, and marched with irresistible force through Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, Scandinavia, England and Scotland. It was making progress even in Italy and Spain till the middle of the sixteenth century. Pope Paul IV. is reported by Onuphrius to have declared that the only firm support of the papacy in Italy was the Inquisition with its prisons and funeral piles. Some distinguished scholars and orators of Italy, as Bernardino, Occhino of Siena, Pietro Martire Vermigli of Florence, and Pierpaolo Vergerio, bishop of Capo d'Istriaand nuncio of two popes, renounced Romanism, and had to flee from the Inquisition. Others who occu- pied the highest positions, like Cardinals Sadoleto, Contarini, Morone, Reginald Pole, favoured at least a moral reform, and came very near the fundamental evangelical doctrines of the supremacy of the Bible and justification by faith. Vittoria Colonna, the most cultivated lady in Italy, and her greatest poetess, equally illustrious for genius, virtue, and piety, together with her friends Michelangelo, the Duchess of Gonzaga, and the Duchess Renata of Ferrara, were in sympathetic contact with the semi-Protestant reform movement. This distinguished group forms a connecting link between the Renaissance in its best type, and the Reformation in its evangelical character. That remark- able little Trattato ntilissimo del beneficio di Giesit Christo the work of a monk of Naples, Don Benedetto of Mantova (a pupil of the Spanish nobleman, Valde"s), and the poet Flaminio of Imola teaches the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith, and the union of the soul with Christ, as clearly and strongly as the writings of Luther, and was spread in many thousands of copies throughout Italy. It was first printed at Venice, 1 5 40, and publicly burned at Naples in 1553. The Counter-Reformation and the Inquisition extinguished the rising flame of the Reformation in Italy, and at the same time sounded the death-knell of the Renaissance by charging it with immorality and ADDRESS BY THE REV. PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D. 31 irreligion. The last representative of the philosophical Renaissance was condemned as a heretic and burnt on the Campo de Fiore at Rome, but on the same spot the friends of liberty of thought and speech erected a statue to Giordano Bruno in 1889, three hundred years after his death. What a change ! The Renaissance has risen from the dead, and is as strong in Italy now as it was four centuries ago. Yea, it is stronger and more widely spread among educated men and women who will not go back from the light and liberty of the nineteenth century to the ignorance and superstition of the dark ages. III. ITALY AND THE FUTURE. By repudiating the Renaissance and burning the Reformation, Italy and Spain lost their front rank among the nations of Europe, and reaped the Revolution as a chronic disease. In the sixteenth century, Italy was the most civilized country, and Spain the most powerful monarchy in Europe ; while Prussia and England were far behind them and just emerging from the semi-barbarism of the Dark Ages. Now the case is reversed. The same change has taken place in America ; the United States and Canada, which are Protestant to the back-bone, have far outstripped the older Catholic settlements of Central and South America. But in our age, Italy has made vast progress and undergone a political and social regeneration. She has achieved the incalculable temporal blessing of national unity and independence, in spite of the protest and obstruction of the papal hierarchy which finds it more easy to rule Italy divided than Italy united, according to the maxim, Divide el impera. The unification and emancipation of Italy and Germany from the selfish misgovernment of petty tyrants, are among the greatest events in the nineteenth century. Many of us remember the time when none but Roman churches were allowed within the walls of Rome, when Protestant Bibles were confiscated at the Custom House, and when the Madiai family was put in prison at Florence for the innocent crime of holding meetings for prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures! Now religious liberty is established throughout the kingdom of Italy as fully and firmly, we may say, as in England and North America. 32 THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION. It was the great Italian statesman, Cavour, who spoke the winged word " A free Church in a free State," as the key to the solution of the vexed question of the relation between the ecclesiastical and civil powers. It is true, the Statute fondamentalt of March, 1848, which has since 1870 become the law of all Italy, still recognizes the Roman Catholic Church as the sole religion of the State (la tola reli&ione del stato), and gives only toleration to other existing modes of worship (g/i altri culti ora existenti sono tolerati conformamcntc alle Uggi); but in point of fact, toleration has become liberty, which is an inalienable right, and cannot be taken away. A return to the ages of persecution for conscience sake is impossible. The papal Syllabus of 1864, which declares war against civil and religious liberty, is an anachronism, and about as effective as a bull against the motion of the earth, which " still moves." Every Italian may now proudly say, I am no more a Sicilian, or a Neapolitan, or a Lombard, but an Italian citizen, and am free to worship God according to my honest convictions. What will be the next chapter in the history of Italy? Will she complete her political reform by a religious revival and ecclesiastical reconstruction ? No mortal eye can penetrate the future, but one thing is certain, revolutions never go backwards. The past cannot be undone. History, although it does not move in a straight line, is yet moving forward, like a sailing vessel, now turning to the right, now to the left, according to the wind, and is steadily advancing towards the destined harbour. For God is the unerring Captain of the ship, and makes winds and waves the servants of His omnipotent will. We cannot expect or wish Italy to become Protestant, but we do hope and pray that she may become evangelical and Christian in the best sense of the term. She will not and ought not to turn the back on her glorious past, to disown the immortal works of her literature and art, to break with her Catholic traditions, and to import a foreign religion which is not congenial to her genius and taste. She wants a religion that will in some way combine the best elements of the Renaissance and the Reformation with the best features of Catholicism. The liberals of Italy are dissatisfied with the Church of their ancestors, and have no leaning to the sects of foreigners, but they are not on that account destitute of religion ; they have a religion of ADDRESS BY THE REV. PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D. 33 their own, which will kindle into a flame of enthusiasm when the Spirit of God, through some inspired prophets, shall blow the breath of life into the dry bones and clothe them with flesh and blood. There must be a possibility of harmonizing the highest civilization with the highest virtue and piety. There must be a way of reconciling the Protestant, the Catholic, and the Rationalistic rules of authority. The Bible, the Church, and enlightened reason are not necessarily antagonistic. The Bible, as containing the Word of God, is and must remain the supreme rule of faith ; the Church of God is and will remain the guardian, propagator and expounder of the Bible ; reason, the greatest natural gift of God to man, is the organ by which alone we can understand and appropriate the teaching of the Bible and the Church. These are the ways which lead us to God, Who is the source of truth. In this threefold light every man must decide for himself what to believe and how to live according to his con- scientious conviction and personal experience. This is the awful responsibility which God has laid upon every rational being made in His image. " Let each man be fully assured in his own mind." (Rom. xiv. 5.) " Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." (i Thess. v. 21.) IV. CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM. The Catholic Church has been greatly benefited by the Protestant Reformation and forced to an abolition of many abuses. She shows to her best advantage in Protestant countries where she is put on her defence and feels the impulse of modern life and progress. She is still the largest body of Christendom, and nearly equals, numerically, the Greek and Evangelical communions combined. She is the best organized body in the world, and "the prisoner of the Vatican" commands with infallible authority an army of priests and monks in five continents. She is backed by inspiring memories as the Alma Mater of the Middle Ages, the christianizer and civilizer of the Northern and Western barbarians, the Church of the Fathers, the Schoolmen, and the Mystics, the Church of St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, of St. Benedict and St. Francis, of St. Bernard and St. Thomas Aquinas, of Tauler and Thomas a Kempis, of Pascal and Fenelon. She is still full of missionary zeal and devotion, and c 34 THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION. abounds in works of charity. She embraces millions of true worshippers and followers of Christ, and has the capacity for un- bounded usefulness. We honour her for all she has done in the past, and wish her God's blessing for all the good she may do in the future. We do not pray for her destruction God forbid ! but for her reformation. On the other hand, Protestantism is by no means perfect in any of its forms. With the great merits which we have set forth in the previous section, it has also its defects, and is liable by the abuse of individualism to run into sectarian division, rationalism, scepticism and agnosticism. It has, fortunately, never claimed infallibility in any of its numerous confessions of faith, and hence admits of constant progress, rectification and improvement. It ceases to be Protestant if it ceases to move. Its mission is far from being completed. It has to grapple with problems which lay beyond the horizon of the Reformers, but press themselves upon the attention of the present generation. Protestantism is bound to investigate and re-investigate every theological and philosophical problem ; to search and re-search the Scriptures in the light of modern discoveries and advances in philology, archaeology and science ; to harmonize faith and reason ; to grapple with social problems ; to improve the condition of the working classes ; to preach the gospel to every creature, and to bring the Word of God as a lamp of life into every household. V. THE DUTY OF PROTESTANTS IN ITALY. Evangelical religion has now fair play in Italy, and numbers in a population of 30 millions about 60,000 professors, including the foreign residents. In Rome and in Florence alone, there are about a dozen Protestant congregations, representing nearly as many denominations. Two of these denominations are of native growth (the Waldensian, which is by far the strongest of all, and the Chiesa Libera) ; the others are of foreign importation, and chiefly supported by friends in England and the United States. They all do good in their respective fields of labour, and far be it from us to underrate their usefulness on account of their numerical weakness. The Kingdom of Heaven itself began as small as a mustard seed, and Paul, when a prisoner in Rome, was mightier than Nero on the throne. ADDRESS BY THE REV. PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D. 35 At the same time we should not be blind to the danger of the centrifugal tendency of Protestantism to excessive individualism and division, which hinders its progress among Catholics brought up in the tradition of a centralized church organization, and unable to discern the essential spiritual unity which underlies the variety of external forms. There must be liberty in non-essentials, but there ought to be unity in essentials and charity in all things.* Liberty we have as much as we desire, and divisions only too many. Unity and charity are the greatest needs, and necessary conditions of success for evangelical missions in any country. First unity. It is the burden of our Lord's sacerdotal prayer. It is enjoined over and over again in the Epistles. " A house divided against itself cannot stand," says the highest authority. Let the Protestant pastors in Italy, let all evangelical churches on the Con- tinent, in England and North America, unite on the immoveable rock which is Christ, and emphasize above all minor differences their common faith by which we all hope to be saved. The deepest and strongest tendencies of our age, which by its wonderful inventions almost obliterates the distances of time and space and brings the ends of the earth into instantaneous connection, is not towards division but towards re-union. A task as great as the conversion of the world, and apparently as impossible. But all things are possible with God Almighty. He has great surprises for us in store reformations purer, deeper, broader, than that of Luther and Calvin ; yea, pentecosts with more flaming tongues than that of Jerusalem. His wisdom and love will bind together what the folly of men has put asunder. He will heal the wounds of Christendom, and melt the hearts of the Churches in the sorrow of a common repentance and in the joy of a common forgiveness, and bring once more a beautiful cosmos out of chaos, as in the days of creation. The Creeds of the Militant Churches will be merged into the one Creed of Christ, Who is the prince of peace and the divine concord of all human discords. There must and will be one flock and one * " In necessariif unitas, in dubiis (or non-necestariisj libertas, in omnibus caritat." A famous motto of irenics, usually ascribed to St. Augustine, but dating from a Protestant divine in the seventeenth century. 36 THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION. Shepherd, as sure as Christ, Who promised it, is the truth. The sacerdotal prayer must and will be fulfilled. " 1 in them and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one ; that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and lovedst them even as Thou lovedst Me." 37 Renaissance antr Regeneration. BY PASTOR BAUMANN, OF BERLIN. RENAISSANCE and Regeneration are two synonyms, and at the same time they are opposed to one another and can never be identified. Their contrast is as old as the world. It is prefigured in the people of Shinar building the tower of Babel, while Abraham called upon the name of the Lord ; and in Solomon building the temple, while David prayed for a new heart. Renaissance finds its representative in the time of our Lord in Herod the Great, who is rebuilding the temple for the glorification of his name, while Nicodemus learns from the Saviour the meaning of Regeneration. Renaissance is the classical expression for earthly rejuvenescence. Regeneration : the exact designation for renewing of the heart by the Spirit of God. Re- naissance celebrates its highest triumphs in Italy. Regeneration seeks its energetic formation in the Reformation works of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, which complete each other. The former is received forthwith with enthusiasm by the Church of Rome, although it is but a repetition of Paganism, and contrasts, by reason of its nature, with the holy life in God. In it, God is treated as Sommo Giove, and the Pope as Mercurius. Outward splendour, immorality, vice, complete religious degeneration, go hand-in-hand with Re- naissance as well as with the Church of Rome. She, blinded by its worldly splendour, by her fatal alliance with it, dies inwardly. To this day she suffers under its ban, and Italy is choked with the rubbish of this unchristian and, therefore, immoral blending. Reformatory attempts in Italy to bring about Regeneration by the Holy Ghost have been in vain. Savonarola was near the goal, but he lacked the indispensable force of evangelical regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Giordano Bruno was altogether an alien from the Spirit of Christ. Philosophical axioms and lascivious derision against Rome do not help to regenerate the national soul lying in mortal disease, nor does it accomplish a healthy reformation of decaying times. Let us not laugh at Rome, let us rather pray that God may give her the spirit of true regeneration. 38 RENAISSANCE AND REGENERATION. Wherever the Reformation has triumphed it has brought with it the regenerating energy of the Divine Spirit ; wherever it has reached the heart and conscience there it has transformed and blessed peoples and states. Luther, the man of mind ; Zwingli, the herald of the believing intellect ; Calvin, the hero of the force of will, represent through the continent of Europe the thought of Regeneration. " Faith alone " was their watchword, and hence it was that at first they showed themselves indifferent and passive, and subsequently hard, cold, and repellent to the Renaissance. They did not despise the good gifts of God in art and in science, but they made it their object to permeate them with the fear of God, with morality, and the sound sense of spiritual regeneration. " Ye are Christ's" therefore " all things are yours" First Regeneration, then Renaissance. The former the bread of life, the latter that which is eaten with it as a relish. As a Christian I can live without Renaissance, but not without Regeneration. As the Reformers have had little time to devote to matters of Renaissance, the Evangelical Church has always maintained towards such matters a cautious and critical reserve, and rightly so, for the Renaissance has gone aside from religion, and carried with it the modern life of the people. It has adopted methods which deviate continually from spiritual Regeneration. Science, industry, politics, society, have all fallen under the dominion of naturalism and irreligion the upper classes have neither faith nor reverence, and the working classes despise and neglect religion. Socialism boldly scorns both religion and morality, and takes no account of anything but worldly possessions, enjoyments, and the rights of man it thinks care for eternity a useless trouble because there is no such thing. Where shall we find salvation ? The Christian Church, is it in a position to save and bless humanity ? But, alas 1 it is not as it should be. It is full of division and dis- cord. Well might Victor Emmanuel, looking at such divisions in the Church, exclaim in Naples, " Quante tinte ! " What a variety of colours ! Which of all these Churches has the Holy Spirit ? Which exercises the greatest influence upon its own members ? Rome boldly claims to be the only Church which is able to Christianize the people, and unite them under one bishop. But however brilliant the influence which she exercises in Germany, she is losing power in Roman ADDRESS BY PASTOR BAUMANN. 39 Catholic countries themselves, in Italy, in Spain, in Brazil, and in Peru. Externally there is still the same splendour and earthly wealth, but in the heart there is indifference. Can the Evangelical Churches renovate the heart of humanity with pious faith ? Certainly in Evangelical Christendom there is a power- ful movement of culture, of morals, a renovation of the laws, and yet, even there, religious matters are relegated to the second line. The real power of religion is hindered by the State, and the people are not regenerated. There is no Church which we have yet seen which can bring back what has been lost simply by its own power. Help can alone come from above, by the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon all flesh. And we can only pray for His coming. If the Evangelical Churches were ever to be the bearers of the religious regeneration of the nations, the Evangelical Alliance would have to accomplish a great stroke of work before then. The Alliance has been called the grandest thought of the nineteenth century. Very well ! but that thought would need the gravest realization, and the most energetic extension in all evangelical spheres. Florence then a new step in its working out ! Florence the first attempt to influence a Catholic population ! What will be the result ? If the concentration of all evangelical parties for united action becomes a fact, then its influence will be irresistible, and not only Italy, but the Christian world will recognize the power of the watch- word : Not Renaissance, but Regeneration by the Spirit of God. ano ttjc Italian information. BY THE REV. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D.. OF LONDON. "On all the fairest cities of the earth. None is so fair as Florence." Those who are here assembled feel the truth and beauty of these words. No one can look down from the Bridges on the Arno, with its lines of time-stained buildings, and its banks in the distance covered with lofty trees, or upon the wide surroundings of the ancient capital of Tuscany as the eye sweeps round prospects, seen from the porch of the Miniato and other elevations upon the spurs of the Apennines, prospects marked by fields and pastures " Where the dove-coloured steer Is plowing up and down among the vines" without being charmed, beyond expression, with this land of corn and wine, flowing with milk and honey, like Canaan of old, the garden of the Lord. We think of the palmy days of Florence at peaceful intervals when the city flock lay down at noon to rest, and when at eventide each Florentine could sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, none daring to make him afraid. Now, whilst we are all touched by these sights and associations, when we come to think of certain objects close by, and to connect with them histories of the past, we are struck to find how they furnish a number of standpoints from which we may study the subject before us. No part of this rich country could have been selected for our meeting more germane to our purpose, more helpful for illustrations of our theme. I purpose con- ducting you to certain local points round which we may gather persons and incidents bearing on the Italian Reformation. r. Let us begin with the necessity there was for reformation towards the close of the Middle Ages. There are two centres in the city whence we may look at this striking fact : the first includes the home and haunts of Italy's " Altissimo Poeta," Dante ; the second, that magnificent duomo ADDRESS BY THE REV. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. 41 where the Council of Florence assembled in the middle of the fifteenth century. In the middle of the preceding one Dante lived in Florence. Go to the street which bears his name, and look at an old doorway belonging to the house in which he was born ; then enter the Church of St. Martin a small dark building where he worshipped as a child ; and next visit the Palazzo Salviato, occupying the site of his beloved Beatrice's home ; afterwards repair to the Duomo Piazza, where a stone is seen identifying the spot where the poet sat and gazed on Giotto's bell-tower rising into the blue sky. Then, when you have realized the personality of the bard, as depicted in the fading lines on the Bargello Wall, open the " Divine Commedia " and see what he said about the state of Italy in his days ; mark how he indi- cates the state of the Church, how he paints the Popes, and exposes the existing scandals of Christendom. On this subject study what he says in book after book, canto after canto, line after line. " Rogues and traitors," he declares, "are not so numerous in Florence as are fables repeated every year in pulpits, so that the flocks who know no better come back famished, only fed upon the wind. Men go forth with jests and drolleries to make people laugh. He exclaims : " The Church of Rome, Mixing two governments that ill report, Hath missed her footing, fallen into the mire, And there herself a burden much defiled." Purg. Canto xvi. 127-9. "Of gold and silver ye have made you god, Differing wherein from the idolater, But that he worships one, a hundred ye?" Inferno xix. 112-114. This is not the language of a modern Protestant but of a mediaeval Catholic, sincere in faith, a reformer full of ideas bearing on the political, moral, and religious condition of his country, with nothing like what we should call a sectarian bias. One idea, as a patriotic Italian, he brings out again and again, is that Rome at the time was "a sink of evils." He exposes corruption with a view to its removal, and points out the cure, " through Moses, the rapt Prophets and the 42 FLORENCE AND THE ITALIAN REFORMATION. Psalms, the Gospel written by those gifted of the Holy Ghost." Dante read his Bible. His wonderful poems afford ample proofs of it. At that period, with all its sins and miseries, there were those who repaired to Holy Writ for wisdom and instruction. Dante was one of them. He was a politician, no doubt, mixed up with city quarrels, a man of impassioned nature, not free from prejudices, full of absorbing love and burning hate, but a Christian notwithstanding up to the light he had ; studying nature, science, history, the fathers, the schoolmen, and bringing all to bear on men and things. He paints them with amazing vividness. As we read his pages we are transported to the Italy and the Florence of the fourteenth century, and we see plainly enough how they needed a thorough reformation. A second proof of that necessity we discover in the history of the Florentine Duomo, a hundred years later. Within its walls a Council assembled at the beginning of the year 1439. Then came the Pope and Cardinals from Ferrara, where they had been similarly employed amidst inextricable confusion. For some years disorder had prevailed. Pontiff was against Council, Council was against Pontiff, more Holy Fathers than one appeared at the same time. A Pope was deposed by an assembly of this kind, and such an assembly was pontifically dissolved. The Duomo, as you see, is a magnificent structure embodying an idea which led to its erection namely, that the highest and the best of what the city had should be devoted to divine worship. The Florentine Republic was never infidel. It did not resemble the Republic of the French Revolution. It never had a pantheon, never worshipped the Goddess of Reason. The Council here opened with state and splendour. The Latin and Greek Churches were represented with a view to re-union after centuries of strife. The city kept holiday, people crowded the pave- ment of the temple to gaze on gorgeous vestments worn by Pope and Cardinals, and on the quaint ancient attire of Greeks from Constanti- nople. During the sittings of the reverend fathers, discussions arose on points of doctrine with a view to settling the old feud between east and west ; suffice it to say, after a too hasty supposition, that union was established, the old rent remained, only made worse. Points in dispute I have not space to discuss. I can only say, Rome had long hated Constantinople, and Constantinople had responded ADDRESS BY THE REV. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. 43 to Rome in like manner. The mutual hatred continued till Con- stantinople was taken by the Turks. Rome, after the Council, acted towards Italy and Eur6pe has it had done before. The disposal of crowns, the accumulation of wealth these were its main objects. Supremacy over France and Germany, as well as over the kingdoms and states of the Peninsula, was the coveted prize of those who wore the tiara ; and, while the order of Friars regarded poverty as the holiest of earthly conditions, many thought, that if it were so, the Father of Christendom would do well to get rid of his enormous wealth. He himself thought other- wise, and continued to fill his coffers to the brim. It is said at such a time hatred of the clergy was a common thing. No wonder. Hence necessity for reformation at that crisis is sufficiently apparent. 2. We proceed to glance at certain intellectual and literary pre- parations made for an ensuing reform of theology and religion. Think of the movement which went on in this way in the middle of the fifteenth century. " In a villa," says Mr. Hallam, " over- hanging the towers of Florence, on the steep slope of that lofty hill crowned by the mother city, the ancient Fiesole, in gardens which Tully might have envied, with Ticino Landino and Politian at his side (the author is speaking of Lorenzo de Medici), he delighted his hours of leisure with the beautiful visions of platonic philosophy, for which the summer stillness of an Italian sky appears the most con- genial accompaniment." That villa of Carreggi, on the way to Fiesole, was a cradle for nursing a study of that language, in which the New Testament is written. It had, in Europe, been long neglected. There was a dark spell of ignorance in this respect over our part of the world for many centuries. The fall of Constantinople, the con- sequent scattering of Greek MSS., served to break the spell. First came the study of Greek classics : in this study Lorenzo and his friends became absorbed. In the first instance, many literary enthu- siasts turned away from Christianity to Platonism ; but to devout minds, the restoration of Greek knowledge became a priceless aid in studying the original Gospel of our Salvation. The learned came to listen to Apostles and Evangelists in the tongue they used. Such studies, carried on in this neighbourhood and elsewhere, helped many to understand the records of our faith as they never did before. 44 FLORENCE AND THE ITALIAN REFORMATION. These workers prepared the way for Erasmus, Melancthon, and others to whom you and I are indebted when we read our Bibles far beyond what we are accustomed to remember. One of these pioneers often overlooked was Berni, who died in Florence, 1536, author of the famous " Orlando Innamorato " a poetical work of genius, but spotted with licentious stains too common in those days. By the grace of God, this poet underwent a spiritual change. He embraced evangelical truth ; and wrote religious verses, expressing the doctrine of Christ, as distinguished from prevalent dogmas in that age, and teaching the reader to place himself in Divine hands for salvation, acknowledging God's Word and not fearing the denials of men. A tract was printed by Signor Panizzi, of the British Museum, containing the verses now referred to and he remarks : "The more we reflect on the state of Italy at that time, the more we have reason to suspect that the reformed tenets were as popular among the higher classes in Italy in those days as liberal notions in ours." Let me add, however that may be, and perhaps the deduction goes too far, certainly enough was published to shake faith in the existing state of things. Petrarch followed Dante in exposing ecclesiastical scandals. " I am at present," he writes, " in the western Babylon, than which the sun never beheld anything more hideous, and beside the fierce Rhone, where the successors of the poor fishermen now live as kings." The Papal Court then resided at Avignon. Boccacio, with characteristic humour, dwelt on the worldly and unpriest-like life which went on there and elsewhere. Bracciolini joined in describing ecclesiastical vices, at the same time pathetically alluding to the recent martyrdom of Jerome, of Prague, which he had witnessed with his own eyes. Laurentius Valla also condemned Papal abuses, and effectively prepared for a coming age by his " Scholia on the New Testament " and his Correction of the Vulgate, founded on a comparison of it with the Greek original. 3. I must now call attention to a typical prelude of what was near at hand. I refer to Savonarola, of whom you have so many mementos, his cell in the monastery of San Marco, the Duomo itself where he preached to crowds standing, in the early morn, on the cold marble pavement to await his sermon ; also the spot where, under the spell of his eloquence, people burned to ashes " the pyramid of vanities." ADDRESS BY THE REV. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. 45 For awhile he was the spiritual lord and master of Florence, which, in the name of Christ, he claimed as a Divinelcingdom, to be governed by His Divine law. He was not a Protestant in our sense of the term ; he held no such conceptions of the Gospel as did Martin Luther. He condemned the action and policy of the Pope, but he adhered, on the whole, to the dogmas and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. There was, however, a spiritual power in his ministry which laid strong hold on devout hearers. They were convinced he was one who brought to them a Divine message. Even Lorenzo de Medici said, "he was a true monk, the only one he knew who acted up to his profession." I have seen and read, in part, a translation of some of his MS. sermons; they were mystical expositions of prophecy, full of fervid eloquence and nothing in the Magliavecchian Library has interested me so much as the Bible he used to carry under his arm, containing copious notes in his own hand. He was infamously tried and condemned to be burnt ; and, in the Chapel of San Bernardo, under the roof of the Palazzo Vecchio, at his last sacrament, he uttered this prayer : "Lord, I know that Thou art that perfect Trinity invisible, distinct in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I know that Thou art the Eternal Word, that Thou didst descend into the bosom of Mary, that Thou didst ascend upon the Cross to shed blood for our sins. I pray Thee, that by that blood I may have remission of my sins, for which I implore Thy for- giveness for every other offence or injury done to this city, and for every other sin for which I may unconsciously have been guilty." He was burnt to ashes, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, and we are told that two brethren from Bohemia, sent on a visit to the Waldensian valleys, travelled to Florence, where their faith and courage were strengthened by Savonarola's memorable martyrdom. 4. The extent to which the Reformation advanced in Florence and other parts of Italy. The names of three native Florentines occur in the list of Italian reformers Peter Martyr Vermiglio, Carnesecchi,and Antonio Brucioli. Peter Martyr's father is said to have attended the sermons of Savonarola, to have seen into the corruptions of the Church, and to have disapproved of the superstitions attendant on Monarchism ; but, notwithstanding, the boy determined to follow a monastic life. There still exists an Augustine monastery on the descent from Fiesole, which 46 FLORENCE AND THE ITALIAN REFORMATION. I remember visiting some years since, when the building was used as a college for art students. There Peter Martyr entered, and spent three years within the walls, when he left the place to study in the monastery of St. John, near Padua. There he became a Doctor of Divinity, a popular preacher, and a student of the Holy Scriptures. Preferment in the Church followed, but, as he embraced, through careful ponderings of St. Paul's Epistles, the Gospel doctrine of Justification by Faith, he was silenced by the superiors of his Order. Protestantism became more and more apparent in his opinions and habits ; enemies laid snares for him, but ultimately he came out an avowed Protestant. He returned to Florence, where he had " steady friends ; " subsequently we meet with him as a distinguished advocate of the reformed faith. After zealous service in Italy, he came over to England, and accepted the Regius Professorship of Divinity in the reformed University of Oxford. Carnesecchi, who had been attached to the interests of the Medici family, had been protonotary to Pope Clement VII., became con- nected with some Italian Protestants in different parts of the country, was accused of heresy and consequently fell underthe ban of the Church. At last he suffered martyrdom at Rome, having been basely delivered up into the hands of the Papal Inquisitors as he was dining at the table of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who then occupied the Palazzo Riccardi, at the corner of what is now the Via Cavour. Antonio Brucioli was a republican, opposed to the Medicean policy and rule, and, being involved in a conspiracy against them, had to escape for his life to Venice, whence he went to reside in France and Germany. He was a brave man, saying, " If I speak truth I cannot be wrong." He was denounced from the Dominican pulpit of St. Mark's, by a preacher, who playing on the Italian name Brucioli (which means twigs or shavings) exclaimed " Brucioli is only fit to be burned." This reformer, in a preface he wrote to the New Testa- ment, maintained it would be praiseworthy if the peasant learned to sing psalms in his native tongue, as he guided the plough, the weaver as he worked at his loom, and the boatman as he steered his rudder. But these reformers do not appear to have been successful in their native city, as the tide of thought and feeling, on the part of the authorities, ran decidedly in the opposite way. The Inquisition sat ADDRESS BY THE REV. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. 47 at Santa Maria Novella, and, in December, 1551, twenty-two penitents, wearing cloaks painted with crosses and devils, were marched to the Duomo, where, in the piazza, heretical books in the possession of those thus disfigured were publicly burnt. In 1559 there was a similar book burning before the doors of the Santa Croce. 5. We must now leave Florence to see how reformatory work went on in other parts of Italy. There is room only for a hasty glance at its centres of activity, its means of operation, and at the suppression of the cause. 1. The following were principal centres, not far from the Vaudois Valleys, where the reformed faith in simplicity had long existed Milan, on the western sweep of the Lombard plain stretching from the foot of the magnificent Gothard Pass ; Venice, in the eastern and opposite side of the Peninsula, amongst the lagoons of the Adriatic Gulf ; Ferrara, on the road to Florence across the edge of the picturesque Apennines ; Bologna and Modena, which lie on the way between ; Lucca, on the south side of the range just named ; Siena, romantically perched on a high hill in the heart of Tuscany ; and, last, Naples, situated far to the south near to Vesuvius, more than 150 miles away from Siena. Together with Naples we may mention a Vaudois settlement in Calabria. I mention these positions and distances to show how scattered were these centres of reforming influence, and how far removed from one another. Then you sail round the south point of Italy, and all round the gulf of Saranto, and up the shores of the Adriatic till you reach Venice again, without identifying one port or place connected with the history of the Reformation. Protestant work was limited to a few spots far asunder. 2. But the means employed were considerable, and in several instances efficient. I can only name some of them. Already notice has been taken of the impetus given to Greek Testament study by the literary movement on the part of Lorenzo Medici and his friends. The printing press at Venice followed up this kind of preparation by the issue of numerous religious works, favourable to reform. A Franciscan friar living in Padua wrote an apologia, dedicated to the Venetian Senate, and vindicated the Lutheran standpoint of Justification by Faith, explaining faith to be 48 FLORENCE AND THE ITALIAN REFORMATION. the living roots of salvation, implanted in the soul by the Holy Spirit Books by German and Swiss Protestants were consigned to merchants, who transported them to various parts. Attractive Scripture readings were carried on by Juan Valdes, in his villa on the shore of the Mediterranean, "set in verdure," with an open view of the Neapolitan Bay. Such meetings were held morning and afternoon, and the host, who presided, spoke to his friends in addresses as instructive as they were eloquent. Some of them are printed in his well-known " CX. Considerations." That book was originally composed in Spanish, but has been of late translated into English. Another book written in Italian, and entitled " II Beneficio di Christo," had an immense circulation, and was the means of doing much spiritual good. The authorship has been matter of controversy ; perhaps Valdes had some share in it, and I think another Italian Reformer, Aonio Paleario, an eloquent orator residing in Siena, had a share much larger. Preaching was a powerful instrument in evangelizing the people, wherever it might be possible ; and Bernardino Ochino stood chief amongst his brethren in this respect Charles V., Emperor of Germany, said " Ochino preaches with a power that can draw tears from stones." Bembo, writing from Venice to a friend, said, " Our Fra Bernardino is literally adored here : there is no one who does not praise him to the skies." Epistolary correspondence and social intercourse were further means of promoting the cause. Letters were not then, as they are now, comprised in a few words they were often long homilies. Of the effect of social influence I must give an example. In the quaint old city of Ferrara there still stands a fortress-like palace, which, in the age of the Reformation, was inhabited by the Duchess Rene", daughter of a former French king, sister to the reign- ing one. To the characteristic qualities of her race intellectual and emotional, eminently gifted, and of determined will she added superior culture, indeed extensive learning, also a charitable dis- positon, and much social sympathy. Educated in the faith of Rome, without imbibing its intolerant spirit, she became acquainted with Protestant opinions, and decidedly shared in some of them. More- over, she had a strong dislike to the reigning Pontiff, Julius II. Her household for a time included the French hymnologist, Marot, and Olympia Morata, one of the most accomplished women of her age : ADDRESS BY THE REV. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. 49 both on the side of reformation, the lady especially so. Amongst the guests of the Duchess were Peter Martyr and Ochino, already particularly noticed, and other leading reformers. Chief amongst such visitors was John Calvin, a confidential correspondent and adviser, who conducted worship within the palace. A room with an altar in it, where he is said to have ministered, I saw a few years ago. Rome regarded with stern displeasure the approaches to Protestantism made by the noble lady of Ferrara. Threats modified her zeal in that direction, without extinguishing the flame. How many people in the city adopted her views I cannot say ; but mention is made of several preachers in 1528 sympathizing with her. I find no evidence of an organized Reformed Church in the place ; but the history of a man named Fanino, a native of Faenza, is preserved, who laboured for the conversion of his neighbours, and for so doing was seized by the fangs of ecclesiastical power, and committed to a dungeon under the Duchess' castle. She would have no power to prevent this under the constituted government of that period ; but Olympia Morata and another lady visited the prisoner; and whilst they sympathized in his sufferings, were strengthened by his heroic constancy. Intercessions were made at Rome on his behalf, but all in vain. He was first hanged, and then burnt. To the last he conversed with those permitted to visit him, insisting upon salvation by faith. 3. One word touching the suppression of Protestantism in Italy, and I have done. The division of the country into so many sovereignties and republics was unfriendly to any national reform, such as obtained in England, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. The reformatory movement in the Peninsula made way more with the upper and highly-educated classes than amongst the mass of the people. A fact not to be over- looked, but deeply to be regretted, is that unevangelical opinions arose in the Northern States, amidst opponents of Rome, much to the detriment of Protestantism. Also the departure from Italy of some leading advocates on that side is much to be lamented ; and to this we may add, that from the beginning there was a want of mutual understanding and social consolidation amongst the reformers. Each worker was too much " like a star, and dwelt apart." The ultimate suppression of the good work, however, was owing D 50 FLORENCE AND THE ITALIAN REFORMATION. to the institution of the holy office at Rome, in 1542. Inquisitors were invested with a right to delegate power to other ecclesiastics, to decide all cases without appeal, to imprison the suspected, to punish the convicted in short, their authority had only one restriction, they were not to pardon. His Holiness alone can do that. The result was as might be expected. Heretics were burnt at the stake, or sentenced to imprisonment and penance. Such cruel tyrannical acts caused numerous families to leave the country, and a minute account of these religious emigrants is given by Dr. Galiffe in his interesting book, entitled " Le refuge Italien de Geneve." 5 1 i&eligtous i)Qucjf)t in BY PROFESSOR DR. MARIANO, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAPLES. FOR two reasons I have accepted the invitation to speak at the Conference ; first of all in order to show that I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, and in the second place because I have thought it desirable that an independent and objective voice should be heard on this occasion. Born in the Roman Catholic Church, and a fervent Catholic from infancy, I have been convinced by the study of Hegel's philosophy that the Pope and his Church are incapable of giving redemption and holiness, and that these can only be obtained through a mystical transformation of the heart, under the influence of the grace of God, and by faith in Christ and in His Gospel. I have not joined any particular evangelical denomination, because I have felt called to urge my country to reform itself religiously, not in the name of some Church, but in the name of the Gospel only. [i. Having explained thus his personal position, Professor Mariano goes on to define the question he is to treat of. He speaks of the paramount importance for every nation of the religious question. Everything must be governed by religion in the life of human beings. His conclusion is that " the religious problem, which is in reality the eternal problem of the world, is the vital problem of Italy. Upon it depends the present and the future of the country. All the difficulties that besiege us at the present moment can all be traced to the religious question."] 2. Italy is not an irreligious country. Erasmus was wrong in saying, " Itali omnes Athei." The Italians, to the outward observer, may appear to have retained much of Paganism, but their inward social organization is moulded on Christianity. In the Christian firmament Italy can boast of stars of the first magnitude : Cassiodorus and Benedict of Norcia, the Abbot Joachim and Francis of Assisi, Anselm of Aosta (or of Canterbury), and Thomas of Aquino, Dante and Savonarola, Beato Angelicus and Michael Angelo. These men of 5 a RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ITALY. faith, full of spiritual ideals, have given the world sublime examples of divine religiousness. Unhappily, religious thought in Italy is Catholic-Popish thought ; indeed, emulating Spain, Italy has fallen asleep religiously in the Roman Catholic doctrine. Now Catholicism is of all historical incarnations of the Christian idea the most immediate, the one which, subordinating the internal and intelligible to the outward and sensible, leaves no entrance, in the apprehending of Christian truth, to the true and direct action of the Spirit. True it is that Catholicism is much improved since Reformation times. Still its distinguishing feature is that it teaches Christian truth as a letter, not as spirit ; as a precept from outside, as a formal law which obliges from without. With the sacraments reduced to mechanical acts, with purgatory and pecuniary offerings to be free from it, with festivals, indulgences, jubilees, pilgrimages, relics, miracles, adoration of saints and madonnas, Romanism has inoculated in the Christian religion the forms of a magical and idolatrous naturalism. On the other hand, it makes salvation of the soul to depend upon outward practices and works more than from internal conversion of the will. And the worst of all is that Romanism makes the sacer- dotal hierarchy the only and indispensable mediator of the religious and moral life. The atonement of Christ and the repentance of the sinner become a monopoly of the priests. It is the priest who must procure merit and justification to the people without the people even thinking about it. He reconciles with God. Without him no mercy, no grace can come from God to mankind. In this way faith is destroyed. The fides generans intellectum of Anselm becomes the credo quia absurdum, and well might a witty, though devout French lawyer say : "Si je suis dans femur c'est VEglise qui portera la rcsponsabilite" From all this we must conclude that Romanism is the very opposite of that duty which distinguishes the human soul, and in obedience to which every man must seek his own salvation, and conquer it him- self, in the intimacy of his own will, trusting of course to divine grace, but through the free activity of his own mind. 3. This religion may have had its days of glory and usefulness, but it has now become a pure formalism ; it has no power over the ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR DR. MARIANO. 53 morals of the people ; it does not attract, or educate, or edify the masses ; but simply holds them under its sway by force of habit, by inert traditionalism, and its ultimate result can only be ignorant credulity in the midst of ignorant incredulity. True it is that even superstition is better than incredulity. " With superstition," says Vico, " nations have become great ; not one was ever founded with atheism." But what a difference between the nations that have conceived Christianity in its true spirit, and those who have reduced it to something very akin to idolatry and fetish worship. 4. And yet we must not be too severe on this miserable religious conscience of the Italian people, for when did the leading classes take the trouble of illuminating and raising it up ? It pains me to have to confess it : the religious condition of the upper classes is in Italy much more troubled than those of the common people. With a few honourable exceptions, they present to us a large army of minds whose existence is a perpetual moral somnolence ; unable to believe, they have not moral strength enough to disbelieve anything seriously. They are Catholics for social convenience or opportunism. They boast that they have minds strong and free ; but whilst they attack religion, they send their children to Jesuit schools. They have no convictions, and laugh at everything; but you see them on every occasion ordering masses and priestly funerals. They deride the priest, but in the solemn moments of life they throw themselves, body and soul, into the clergy's arms. To this class our politicians mostly belong. These men think that the contest between Italy and the Papacy is simply a political one, and is now settled by our going to Rome. As to the religious question they either deny its existence or maintain that the State cannot do much to solve it, except perhaps by the formula : a free Church in a free State. In reality their aim is a conciliation with Papacy, whose political power they would like to enlist on their side ; a clever calculation, but a very aerial one ! A Pope that places himself at the service of Italy, helping to make it great, would be a suicidal Pope, and that phenomenon is yet to be seen. As to the political problem, what an illusion to think it solved by our going to Rome ! Let us rather say that the problem has been formulated on the very day we entered Rome, for Europe, which recognizes at 54 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ITALY. present our right to stay there, might deny it to-morrow. Rome is not a town to be stormed with artillery. It is a system, a faith, a religion. Against the dangers of a religion we can only be insured by religion. Will the Italians have the wisdom and the courage to turn their backs on the spiritual authority of the Pope ? That is the important point Then, and only then, our right to Rome will be respected. 5. It is a cause of immense surprise that Italy's best thinkers, even Bonghi, Spaventa, and such-like minds, have no higher conception of religion. Anything in their writings that still retains some reminiscence or sentiment of religion bears the stamp of Romanism, whilst they totally misunderstand and despise Protestantism. But where would their freedom of thinking and writing be if the Reformation had not been ? As for the religious problem some of them hoisting the obsolete banner, Intus ut libetjoris ut moris es/, pretend that since we have the Pope, we must keep him ; others say that nothing is to be done, that no reform is needed, that we must not divide the people for questions of faith, that Inertia, Sapicnlia must be the motto of the Italian nation, for so there will be peace amongst the people, and liberty to the Church. This is fatalism and indifference ; worse still, it is scepticism regarding the moral world. It is easier, of course, to shake from us all that requires an effort, in order to live quietly ; but that is Propter vitam, vivendi perdere causas. In the religious sphere a nation must not aim at impossible things, but it must have the courage to face living and present problems, and do something towards solving them. 6. And what of the clergy ? Here, indeed, Romanism has worked the greatest destruction. Under the whip of the Papal system our clergy lies now prostrated in a senile and servile lethargy, which deadens mind and soul. It is enough to enter a Roman Catholic Church to perceive that the faith and the religiosity of the priests themselves have become deadened and mummified in formalism and outward rites. The ignorance and -the haziness in which they rejoice it is easier to deplore than to measure. With a few remarkable exceptions, their studies are such a mean, sterile, and decrepit thing, that we can quite understand the saying of a Bavarian ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR DR. MARIANO. 55 schoolmaster : " A drop of holy water is better than all philosophy." The despotic power of the hierarchy, centred in the Pope, has caused the priesthood to become morally apathetic, and to turn their eyes from heavenly to earthly things. Enforced celibacy is the reason why immorality and hypocrisy have become the dominant traits of their lives. And strange to say, as if the Pope was not powerful enough, the Italian State, by renouncing almost every jurisdiction, such as might have been a protection for the lower clergy, has made the bishops and the Pope himself more powerful than ever over the inferior priesthood. 7. It will be easy to understand now that the Evangelicals are the only ones who have rightly understood the religious problem of Italy, and have set themselves to solve it. They are few, but their small nucleus is the column of fire in the wilderness. They alone have secured peace to their consciences, in which the truths of Christianity are united with the rights of morality and culture, with respect for freedom and patriotic duties. They are the same in private as in public ; as believers and as citizens they feel the same men. What they think they say ; they speak as they believe ; and they act in accordance with what they believe, think, and say. They have freed themselves of that machiavelism and liberal scepticism which pro- claim that the country must be preferred to the soul. They love their soul not less than their country, and prove that the love of the soul is the root of strong and fertile patriotism. No enterprise is more worthy of praise than that of the evangelical missions. Their followers are few, but each one of them is a conscience freed from the tyranny and the terror of Romanism, and restored to the liberty of the Christian soul. 8. But have we no fault to find with them ? Allow me to speak with all frankness. The Evangelicals are wrong to break up into so many different denominations. I know that these divisions are an intrinsic conse- quence of personal sincere religious convictions ; I understand, also, that in spite of these divisions faith may be fervid, and the Church really united. But all that must be taken cum grano salts. Let the Italian denominations remember that each of them is only a part of the one Church, that what makes them Christian Churches is not the 5<5 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ITALY. things in which they differ as to rites and forms, but rather the great principles which are found in all their creeds. In a purely Protestant country the movement and the working of different sects is inevitable, and may be useful. But in Italy all these denominations appear to us like a chaotic vortex of individual atoms. And that is to be avoided. One would almost think that the evangelizers of Italy have not rightly understood that they have to confront Papacy. Against a power so formidably compact, your ranks could never be too firmly knit together. May the time soon come when the Evangelicals will no more say : " I am of Peter, or of Paul, or of Apollos ; " nor even content themselves with the motto : " Unum corpus sumus in Christo ; " but will, through Christ, form one single Church the Church of God. This meeting is a good omen for it. Another thing I must say. The evangelical churches so cold, so bare, look like places of business rather than churches. The excess of outward symbolism in Romish churches must not lead us too far. The Anglican and Lutheran churches have retained symbolism in just proportions, giving thus satisfaction to an invincible want of the human heart. 9. And now shall the evangelical missions be the leaven which leavens the whole lump ? or must we desire in Italy a more intrinsic, more historical, more organic religious revival ? It would be an illusion to think that Papacy is soon to disappear. Its political character, its supreme ability in the diplomatical sphere, the mass of traditions it represents, the strength and help it gives European conservatism, and, lastly, the divisions of Protestants these will make Romanism last much longer than we think. The world is full of people who do not want the trouble of thinking for themselves ; and, more than all, there will always be many minds willing to accept a religion of traditions, of legalism and of outward forms. For such minds, the proclamation of the infallibility of the Pope, outrageous as it may appear to us, has rather strengthened than otherwise the edifice of the Romish Church ; whilst the liberty of criticism in the Protestant world makes them afraid. Another thing, also, must be considered. The great contest is now no more between Romanism and Protestantism. Christianity, ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR DR. MARIANO. 57 as a whole, is now attacked on every side. Positivism, naturalism, materialism, united in a common league, assail the treasure of divine truth. Is this a moment to despise the moral authority of Catholicism, and throw away the help it can give? We must not desire the death of the sinner, but rather his improvement. Purified from its defects and its sores, Catholicism may still be of great value to defend the Christian principle, and to maintain the moral basis of society. Let us remember, also, that the ills of Romanism are due principally to its ambition to be the only master of souls and consciences. Where it has had to fight against Protestantism in Germany and England it has undergone a remarkable change. The words of Luther to the priests of his day: "My name will trouble your peace for ever, until you are either gone to ruin, or have become better men," has to a great extent become true in his own country. German Catholicism is not, as with us, a mixture of credulity and incredulity, a mass of outward and magical forms, but an inner and spiritual life. Unity is servitude, languor, indifference, corruption ; religion is life, spirit, movement, fight. What we need is a contest which will revive things and men. What we suffer from is the heavy, leaden atmosphere which the uncontrasted empire of Romanism has generated in Italy. This it is which prevents any movement of thought in the laity as well as in the clergy, and this can only be remedied from within. It is in the religious conscience of the nation that must arise, by its own inner power and initiative, the movement of reform, rather than by foreign importation. If such a movement was to be produced, some would be drawn in its current, others would resist it ; hence a contest that would wake us all to action, from the Pope downwards. The Pope himself might be led to see that the syllabus, the Vatican decrees, the infallibility, the intolerance, the superstitions of the Romish Church, are simply a negation of Christianity ; and the clergy would again acquire that religious culture, and those graces of the Spirit of which they are now wanting. So it has always been. Moral and religious controversies are an element of life. That has been the great power of Reformation. The discussions between Calvin and Luther, and between the different Protestant Churches have made them living and vigorous. 58 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ITALY. Christ Himself has inaugurated in the world the greatest contest the world ever saw the everlasting contest between the mind and matter, the human and the divine. ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROFESSOR QEYMONAT, D.D., OF FLORENCE. WE have preferred that the aspect of religious thought in Italy, the very seat of the Papacy, should be stated by the learned Professor of the University of Naples a fervent Catholic prior to his enlighten- ment, and at the present moment unattached to any communion. We have reserved for ourselves the part of putting before you official Roman Catholic thought, if we may so call it, and contrast the same with Evangelical thought. We have no intention of entering upon the various phases and changes which have passed upon it, and which may be traced in history, but we shall confine ourselves to showing what are the note- worthy changes of phases as set forth by one Pope and another. To take Pius IX. and Leo XIII. These two appear to be opposed to each other ; nevertheless the thought and opinion of the latter is a logical continuation of that of the former. The one proclaimed the dogma of Infallibility, and exhibited the negative side of it by continual anathemas against all liberty ; the other puts the dogma in practice, showing its positive side, and endeavours to do this by making use of philosophy, history, and a persistent issue of encyclicals, and thus to influence and control the minds and souls of all. The inevitable consequence of the proclamation of the dogma of Infallibility is that truth is not to be sought for and found in dogma, nor in the faith which demands unity and uniformity, but only in the thought and mind of the Pope. By reason of the Pope continually harping upon the subject of the temporal power, he is in perpetual collision with the national aspira- tions. And it is for this reason, perhaps, that he has less influence in Italy than elsewhere. We are free to propound Evangelical thought, which is the positive antithesis of Papal thought An ideal drawn from the Middle Ages, and worked out by the Jesuits, such is the programme adopted by the Vatican. To this ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROFESSOR GEYMONAT, D.D. 59 imaginary ideal, there must be opposed the true ideal the ideal of the truth. Reality must be substituted for these fictions and illusions. Let us ask ourselves " What is this Church one, holy and in- divisible, directed and governed by one head alone?" It is an imaginary ideal, accredited by ancient tradition and by wonderful monuments, by an imposing order, but disfigured by errors and arbitrary conditions, by dissensions and hatred, by political and perfidious subterfuge, a theocracy based upon texts wrongly interpreted, and which sustain nothing more than false and vain pretentions. To all such fictions and inventions, Protestantism has placed the true and the real in juxtaposition. To an imaginary ideal there should be shown another ideal in opposition, a true ideal ; an ideal which is not the outcome of the imagination, but one which has been revealed by Jesus Christ, and which by Him, both in His person and His work, has been already realized, but which has, as yet, to be universally accepted and carried out. The ideal realized in the person and work of Christ, is the living and life-giving substance of the faith, and also the object of religious thought and of dogmatic investigation. By means of the latter, it is reduced to precise formulae. There is also the study of the aesthetic involved therein, with its conditions of beauty and its results. The realization of this ideal is the aim and end of religious investigation and study. It should determine the line to be carried out practically first in morals, and then for the general welfare of mankind. But whether it be science or the arts, whatever may be proved to be the foundation, the forces, and the laws which affect the welfare of man- kind, they must all bear upon and tend to the glory of God, and the making of His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Religious thought ought not to be exclusively theological or ecclesiastical. The ideal should merge into the real, or rather the ideal and the real should be one and the same thing ; like truth, that truth which religious thought seeks for, and must find. This ideal, we say, should be applied to everything. Perfection should be sought after in all directions, and above all in seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Such is religious thought as in opposition to the theocracy of the Vatican. 6o STije de Vargas, dc Leon, zntifuliamillo, the faithful, clever and indefatigable colporteur, who carried the Word of God even into the convents, and whom the very exciseman helped in passing his heretical goods. The monarchy, the clergy, the Inquisition, and the people were all against the new doctrines, and by means of their terrible persecutions succeeded in suppressing the work of the Reformation in Spain until 1868, when to our great joy it was opened to the preaching of the Gospel. We have enjoyed liberty of conscience and of worship up to the time of the restoration of the Bourbons. At present our position is that of half-toleration. We have to struggle against indifference, spiritualism, want of union among the different churches and committees, and the terrible opposition of the Church of Rome, still very powerful, and giving no quarter to Evangelical Christians. Ten years ago I was called to go and preach in a village' of my province, and speak to more than two hundred and fifty people. I was arrested, tried and condemned to two months' imprisonment, and a fine of 250 fr. and the costs of the trial. But, thank God, during the time of my imprisonment I was able to make the Gospel known to the prisoners in prison with me, and thus found access to many villages where I can preach the Gospel frequently, and had I the means at my disposal, by the help of a colporteur I could evangelize ten villages a month. The villages are well disposed to the Gospel, and could we evangelize them we should see a great advancement of the kingdom of God in our dear country. There are more than a hundred Churches and as many Evangelical Stations, at least two hundred Evangelical Schools, and as many Sunday Schools. There is a Bible Depot and five Evangelical Journals. We have two, or rather three, Protestant hospitals at Barcelona, Madrid, and Figueras, and an Educational Institute for pastors and teachers. At San Sebastian there is a Governesses' Institution. We should be ungrate- ful not to recognize all these advantages. May the Lord bless the Alliance and all its represented Churches, missions and families. 68 PUBLIC MEETING IN THE EVENING. LORD RADSTOCK PRESIDED. present albatiou. ADDRESS BY PASTOR TH. MONOD, OF PARIS. SUPPOSE I should inform you that it has been my privilege this afternoon to save a man, you would at once inquire from what great peril I have saved him. The very fact of my using the expression, he is saved, would imply that if not saved he would have been lost. Likewise, when we speak of the salvation of men, we point to their perdition. To say that God has given His Son that we " should be saved," or that we " should not perish," is to express the same fact in different words. The work of our salvation may be considered in the past, in the present, and in the future. We may speak of our having been saved (Titus iii. 5), and of our being saved (Eph. ii. 8), and also of our salvation as yet to come (Acts xv. n). Just so, a drowning man might be told of the lifeboat ready long ago for his salvation ; or of the happiness he will enjoy when restored to his home ; or, lastly, of his being saved at the very moment. And I dare say that the latter point, his present salvation, is to him by far the most interesting. It is with our present salvation that we have to do this evening. Of this salvation the Apostle speaks in these words : " If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." (Rom. v. 10.) Or we might quote the words of the Lord Himself: "Because I live, ye shall live also." (John xiv. 19.) A present salvation means a present Saviour. To speak of an absent Saviour and a present salvation would have no meaning. Present salvation alone can bring to us Christ Himself, and with His real presence (for we also believe in the real, though not in the material presence of Christ) all strength and victory, all peace and joy, are ours. This ADDRESS BY PASTOR TH. MONOD. 69 is not always understood. A Christian will look back and say : " I have been saved by Christ ;" or he will look forward and say : " I shall be saved !" and yet he dare not, will not, does not say: "Christ is saving me now." Had we to give advice to an anxious soul, we would point it to Christ, and say : " Believe in Him, and thou shall be saved." Had we to administer comfort to a dying saint, we would speak the very same words. But between conversion and death that is to say, during the whole course of the race that is set before us we often forget that the one thing to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. We take Him to be "the first and the last, the beginning and the end : " but does He not fill the whole interval ? We call him " the Alpha and Omega," but do not these very names teach us that He is, so to speak, every letter in the alphabet of salvation ? Suppose you had to go across a wide and deep river, and could not do so except by a bridge ; and suppose one of the arches of that bridge reached to the shore where you stand, while another arch touched the further shore where you intend to go ; but suppose, finally, that between those two arches the middle arch was wanting, so that your way should be suddenly interrupted by empty space, letting you look down upon the mighty river rushing at your feet, of what use would such a bridge be to you ? And yet that bridge fairly represents salvation, such as it is under- stood by many ; they believe that they have been saved, that they shall be saved, but not that they are being saved. They believe in con- verting grace ; they believe in dying grace ; but between this and that they have merely to gather as best they can the fruits of converting grace, and get ready for dying grace. Even on their own ground they should believe in present salvation, for who can tell but that they may need dying grace to-day ? When the Apostle writes : " Whom He justified, them He also glorified" does not the very omission of the word sanctified imply that sanctification is included, as a matter of course, between justification and glory ? What the Saviour gives us when He forgives our sins is not merely a title I had almost said a ticket to Heaven, but Himself, the Living Guide. We cannot afford to leave any part of our salvation out of sight. To forget that it has been accomplished in the past is to lack the very foundation of our 70 PRESENT SALVATION. hope ; to forget that it is yet to be accomplished in the future will easily lead to blind presumption, if not to fatal delusion ; to overlook present salvation is to cut ourselves off from the main spring of power, of victory, of happiness. The men of our generation are being, with increasing rapidity, driven to the conclusion that the only possible basis of every social progress lies in the moral renovation of the individual. Men will not believe in a salvation for the future that gives no evidence of its present power to save. A man of the world once said to me : " I am acquainted with some persons who profess to be saved, but I am tempted to put the question to them, What are you saved from ? " We need to be saved from selfishness, from pride, from hardness of heart, from the lusts of the flesh, otherwise the world will not believe in the saving power of the Gospel. One of the most remarkable religious movements of the age, the Salvation Army, owes the greatest part of its power to the fact that it proclaims, manifests, and offers to all, a present salvation. Such a salvation is necessary as an example to the world, and also as the only power that can act upon the world. A man thus saved has, in the words of an American evangelist (Mr. Inskip, I believe), both hands free to work for God. Or to mention another example, that of a saint of God, belonging to the ancient Church, prior to the Reformation (Catherine, of Siena), whose memory I rejoice to honour in her own land : The Lord, she said, commanded her to banish from her heart all anxiety in reference to her own salvation, so that she might be able to labour for the salvation of others. The dying words of that faithful servant of God in the fourteenth century show how fully she had received salvation as the gift of God : " O Lord, Thou callest me and I come to Thee, not because of my merits, but because of Thy mercy ; and to that mercy I have appealed, O Jesus ! in the name of Thy precious blood." In truth, to proclaim salvation as past, present, and future, is the same as to bear witness to " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." ADDRESS BY REV. PRINCIPAL CULROSS, M.A., D.D. 71 ADDRESS BY REV. PRINCIPAL CULROSS, M.A., D.D., OF BRISTOL. IT is one of the painful things to which no Christian man can shut his eyes, that so many immortal beings around us are living only for the present world. The things that they believe in and seek after are things that they can see and touch. Invisible realities surround them, unperceived. God is not in all their thoughts, except when they cannot help it, and then He seems an intruder. At best they treat Him with a kind of reverent neglect. And yet a dull, uneasy feeling haunts them of something wrong in their condition they scarcely know what. They do not like to speak about this feeling. A stranger might never suspect its existence. They themselves at times forget it in the hurry of business, the excitement of pleasure, the delights of social intercourse; but it comes back upon them at the most unexpected moments in the very midst of their gaiety, or when they wake at midnight and the darkness is full of God. What does this haunting uneasiness mean? It is the Saviour saying : " Awake, thou that sleepest, awake from the stupor of carnal security." You are dowered with the awful capacity of saying " yes " or "no" to the living God. You have said "no" to Him. Your life has been a prolonged " no." You have not loved Him. You have set up your own will against the holy and blessed will. In this way you have broken the first law of your being. Here is the deepest thing wrong with you the very root of evil living and misery. When Jesus began to preach in Galilee, His first word was : "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It is the word He speaks by His Spirit to-day. It is one of the profoundest words in human speech. It marks no mere superficial and temporary pain, such as many reduce it to. It marks no mere resolution formed in the glow and flush of excited feeling to live another life. In its deep Bible sense repentance is the heart's sincere acknowledgement of having been sinfully in the wrong, and its turning trustfully to the God of Grace for pardon and renewing. It is the man taking God's side against his own sin. It is the man humbling himself before God 7 a PRESENT SALVATION. on that kneeling place which mercy has provided. It is the prodigal saying to God: "Father, I have sinned." Without repentance pardon would be no blessing to us. Without repentance no life can be right, but must go on from bad to worse. Without repentance Heaven itself would only be a place of misery to us. Do not shrink, then, when the Lord carries His candle into the secret places of the heart and shows you what you are in the light of His purity. If there is pain in His dealing bitter pain and shame and humilia- tion there is also love in it and hope. It shows that He has not given you up, or said the awful words, " Let him alone." Then, further, He who deals with you that you may repent brings to you the gift of a free pardon. You look back over your past life. There may have been no shameful hour in it over which you pray : "Let darkness and the shadow of death cover it." -It may have seemed blameless, even virtuous, in the eyes of men, as well as in your own. But now, in the light of eternal purity, how black and stained it appears ! And there are black spots in it that all the water of the ocean could not wash out. As you look, and your brow grows crimson with secret shame, a voice cries out, or whispers awfully within your breast, awaking a dull agony, " It is done, and can never be recalled." And God answers, " Even so ; it is done and cannot be recalled." No tears, even of blood, can wash it out ; but ii may be forgiven, at once, frankly, freely, righteously, eternally forgiven. "For He hath made Him Who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but through the ever-availing sacrifice of Calvary, there is pardon for the very chief of sinners. That is how God puts sin out of the way. He forgives it, blots it out, and sheds abroad the blessed assurance of pardon in the heart ; and so we learn to say, " Abba Father," and to live in the joy of His love. " I the chief of sinners am. But Jesus died for me." Now, this forgiveness is not a blessing deferred and held back until the Day of Judgment. It is given now and here. Just recall what Scripture says. In Psalm xxxii. David tells how for long he kept silence before God about his sin. Silence brought him no peace ADDRESS BY REV. PRINCIPAL CULROSS, M.A., D.D. 73 only misery. At length he humbled himself before God, and made a clean breast of it. This is what followed : " I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord" I had got no farther, I had only said it "and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin" so swiftly did pardon follow. Again, our Lord tells how a certain publican, a man whose sin could not be denied, went up to the temple to pray. He stood afar off; would not lift up his eyes to Heaven ; smote upon his breast, while one short, sharp, broken cry rang out, " God be merci- ful " (God be propitious) " to me the sinnner ! " How did he fare ? " I tell you," the Lord Jesus says, and He knew, " this man went down to his house justified." He had gone up with a black, shadowy burden on his shoulders, which he could not get rid of; he went down to his house "justified" in God's meaning of the word cleared, acquitted, accepted, clothed in a righteousness not his own, able to say with the calm assurance of faith : " There is, therefore, now no condemnation " to me. This is the grace which the Lord Jesus invites you to share. " Behold," He says, " I bring near My righteousness." He asks no price either beforehand or afterwards. He does it all freely, for His name's sake. The grace is yours for the taking. You break in : Ah, if you knew what a sinner I am, you would not speak as you do. I do not know what a sinner you are. The person sitting at your elbow does not know. You do not yourself know. But God knows ; knows the very worst about you, all the sin you have done, all the sin you have imagined, and desired to do, and would have done if He had not held you back ; and He Who knows the very worst about you says : " Come, now, and let us reason together ; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." There is another thing the craving of the heart for something unattained. Just listen to the wail, " Who will show us any good ? " It comes up in all lands, in all ages, in all ranks of society, in all forms of speech, in articulate groanings, or the dumb misery of despair. Not from the poor only, the friendless and forlorn, the men beaten down in the struggle of life ; but from the most fortunate and envied. Even in the hour of success, when the hand closes on the coveted prize, the disappointed heart will exclaim, "Is this alii" and the unquenched longing burns as fierce as ever. The stir and 74 PRESENT SALVATION. tumult around us, the restlessness and agitation of society, the eager rushing after excitement, and pleasure, and change what is it all but just the world's exceeding great and bitter cry, " Who will show us any good ? " Things cannot satisfy. The heart must have God. And God suffices. The proof lies in experience. They who can look up, though it be from the depths of poverty or pain, and say : "But God is my Father; He has cast all my sins behind His back ; He loves me ; He has won my heart ; I belong to Him " these men find the heart's need met. It is not that desire is quenched ; but in God all good is found. " O taste," the Gospel calls aloud to the weary and heavy-laden, " O taste and see that the Lord is good ; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him " blessed, indeed, in God's great meaning of the word, and blessed already. Think just of one thing more prevailing sinfulness. We all know something about it. We have seen the wrong, and resolved against it, and then committed it. Reason has pointed one way, and desire has drawn us the opposite. Conscience has said, "Thou shalt not," and passion has answered, " But I will." The heart needs God, and cannot do without Him, and yet turns from Him. " The good that I would I do not ; and the evil which I would not, that I do." Ah, there is no room for human pride. Flattery of human nature has a bitter and terrible irony in it Man can subdue the earth and have dominion over it ; can rule the elements ; can tame and control the fiercest natures ; but he cannot subdue the lawlessness, or tame the lusts, or curb the passions that rage within his own breast. Now, Christ is Saviour because He delivers those who trust Him from the law of sin and death, subdues our iniquities, and introduces us into the liberty of the children of God. His redemption is no mere breaking of bonds and delivering from death. It is not as when one comes on some wild animal caught in a snare, and undoes the snare, and lets the panting, struggling thing return to its wild freedom again ; but, as if he tamed it, and made it love him, and follow him, and do his will. So Christ does with us. We are the glad captives of His love, and our will learns to stand and wait on the Blessed Will, like an angel continually beholding the face of God. I cannot explain how, because I cannot explain the secret working of the Holy Spirit, but, as a matter of experience, whosoever surrenders to Divine ADDRESS BY REV. PRINCIPAL CULROSS, M.A., D.D. 75 grace finds a living power within his breast, delivering him from the old thraldom, and moulding him to a new and heavenly life, so that he can say with triumphant joy, " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." There is much more to be said, but time forbids. I sum up by saying, " There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." There is no guilt so great and shameful but it may be forgiven ; no soul so sin-stained but it may be restored to purity ; no breast so demon-haunted but it may become a temple for the Holy One ; no man so deeply lost but he may be saved by the omnipotence of grace, and made "an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ." To you is the word of this salvation sent. The Gospel points to the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world, and calls aloud to sinful men, in tones of tenderest pity, of holiest love, of most solemn urgency : " Come straight back to God I" May every soul here answer to the call by consenting ; "And I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you ; and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.'' Amen ! TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1891. PASTOR BAUMANN, OF BERLIN, PRESIDED. ADDRESS BY THE REV. W. PARK, OF BELFAST. A SPEAKER from Ireland may be reminded that his own country seems to need missionaries, instead of proposing to send them to other lands ; and this is true in part. Much mission work is being done in Ireland by the circulation of good literature and of the Word of God by colportage and other ways, and there is much ground for encouragement and hope at this moment as to results. The lyth of March has for some years past been set apart by the Alliance as a day of prayer for Ireland, and the speaker mentioned some facts which show these prayers are being answered. Speaking in Italy about Missions, one is surrounded with scenes which awaken happy memories. The great Apostle of the Gentiles laboured here, and his Epistle to the Romans occupies in more ways than one a central place in New Testament Scripture. We are in the footsteps of Paul the Apostle here, the great missionary ; but how changed is the world since his day ! This gathering from all the Churches of Christendom in one of the great cities of Italy, to discuss, among other subjects, the spread of the Gospel in the world, is proof enough of the change, and may well fill us all with hope and courage. The mention of the Apostle Paul and of his Epistle to the Romans reminds us how much there is in the Word of God about Missions (on this the speaker lingered a little, tracing the golden thread of prophecy and promise from the da>s of ADDRESS BY THE REV. W. PARK. 77 Abraham to the glorious scenes pictured in the Book of Revelation). No subject is more appropriate on an Alliance platform. For, first, the necessity of alliance is most felt by our Evangelical Churches, as we study the map of the world, and see how vast is the work remain- ing to be done before Christ's last command is obeyed. Only earnest and united effort can overtake it at all, and it is a shame to let this, our chief work, wait till every little point of difference between us at home be settled. And, secondly, it is, I think, through foreign missions that the object of the Evangelical Alliance is likely to be attained. The problem of how to secure brotherly recognition and even corporate unity is solving itself in the foreign field in the happiest way. (The speaker referred to some cases Japan in particular.) The Home Churches must soon feel the effects of these movements abroad ; seeing that God's blessing seems to rest about equally on all the Churches of Christ in mission work abroad, and that union is so easy and necessary in presence of the Heathen, the question will be soon felt pressing, " Why not more unity at home ? " The Gospel is spreading. Note some facts : The great missionary work of the nineteenth century has been foundation work the translation of the Bible into the tongues of earth; one Bible Society (the British and Foreign) advertises close on 300 versions, and has added 53 in the last ten years. There are few countries and provinces not now attacked by the missionary army, God's providence, in our own day, having opened doors on every side, and His grace having roused and prepared the Churches to enter in. In some countries the success has been so great as to make us feel that the age of miracles is not over. (The speaker here referred to the Fiji Islands, Madagascar, Uganda, &c.) The missionary move- ment gathers force continually ; our workers do not rely on one plan, but try every plan to reach and move all classes in Heathen lands ; not preaching only, but teaching, the press, medical missions, and Zenana work all focussed on one point, the winning of hearts and homes and lands for Christ. (The speaker after saying something of these various plans, went on to speak of native agency, especially of the establishment of a native pastorate, and gave instances in which the work is being more and more entrusted to qualified and trained natives to carry on ; the development of 78 THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. a self-sustaining, self-governing native church, full of missionary real, being the chief end of all missionary enterprise everywhere.) He concluded by showing the need of the Churches rising to new conceptions about giving to Christ's cause, expressing the hope that this Evangelical Alliance would soon be an alliance not only of those who hold the great fundamental truths, but of men and women who are prepared to sacrifice much to spread the knowledge of them the wide world over. ADDRESS BY M. EDOUARD MONOD, PASTOR AT MARSEILLES. I. THE present moment appears to me to demand the most strenuous efforts of a public character, with a view to the propagation of all evangelical thought and principle. The press must be made use of, and in every way it should be rendered conducive to the putting forth of articles and notices in favour of the truth. Protestantism is somewhat in fault in this respect it is too diffident, it is too apprehensive (in France at least), too much afraid to speak out, to lift up its voice in high places, and to call public attention to itself. We are too scrupulous. Let us have the courage of our convictions, and lay hold of the resources of publicity, and place them at the service of the Gospel. Let us not hide our light under a bushel on any pretext whatever. Let us sow our own newspapers and publica- tions broadcast, and invade those of others. The shop windows of booksellers, the kiosks, railway stations, placards, advertisements, conferences all should be pressed into the service in such a way as shall be best suited to the end in view. Then, let us put the Cross of Christ as the first and foremost object. Let us put it over the frontal of our churches. It is a visible emblem, another form of publicity, and not the least eloquent or the least striking either in a Catholic country, where we are accused of not being Christian men and women we, forsooth, who are determined not to know anything save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. II. I think there should be a more popular style adopted by speakers and writers among tiie Evangelicals. I do not mean by that that ADDRESS BY M. EDOUARD MONOD. 79 there should be clearness in exposition, simplicity of language only perhaps Protestants are somewhat too simple in their style, almost hard and bare so to speak ; their meaning is presented baldly, and there is little consideration for the taste and culture of the educated classes. By popularity, I mean, principally, the beauty of form and elegance of style suited to the taste of the times; a taste which has been nursed and fed by writers, who have, so to speak, pushed their anxiety regarding the colour and richness of language almost to excess. Let us become all things to all men. It may be objected that such was not the method of St. Paul, who declared to the Corinthians that his speech and preaching " was not with enticing words of man's wisdom," as though he dispised the resources of human eloquence. But it should be remembered that St. Paul was not alone among the great teachers of the Church. There was Apollos, and, after him, Clement (of Alexandria), St. Basil, Gregory (of Nazianzus), St. John Chrysostom and others, who all placed the fruit of their Greek culture and their beautiful language at the service of their Saviour and ours. See what an influence Bersier the most classical and themost gifted of our contemporary Protestant preachers has exerted on his times. Oh, that men would take as much pains and trouble about the glory of God and the salvation of souls as they do about their own honour ! Oh, that we could show Christian poets, Christian novelists, Christian literary men, Christian journalists, Christian members of the academy ! We can, indeed, boast of a few such, but not enough ; and those few even are not so well known as they ought to be, and are scarcely able to compete with our secular writers. By popularity, likewise I mean actuality. Our publications, issued on the lines for evangelizing the people, take too little notice of passing events, of what is said, of what is written. There is no Christian comment on these matters, and no consequences drawn from them, which might affect the cause of religion. We live too much in the past or in the coming eternity, not enough in the present ; the present, however, will tint and colour the future. Let us be men of our own times ; men of the present day, to the end that we may the better serve Him, Who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 80 THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. III. Finally, let us have wider sympathies. We must do so, if we wish to take in more fully the multitudes who are perishing around us. Our compassion roust not be circumscribed. My ideal would be to extend the Kvangelical Alliance to pious Catholics, who, like us, " love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." I hear someone saying, " That is a dream, a thing which can never be realized." It may be so, but at least we might aim at it see whether it could be effected or not. It is possible that that which our Roman Catholic brethren theoretically assert to be impossible might little by little be realized in practice. Do not let us ever neglect an opportunity of showing our fraternal sympathy to any who represent any of the various communions throughout the whole world anyone who represents the true Catholic Church in the widest sense of the word. Why is it that we do not recognize and even salute each other in the streets and highways, pastors and priests, deaconesses and sisters of charity? .... Why not create an immense freemasonry of faith and piety in spite of the innumerable divergencies both intellectual and ecclesiastical? Why not found a grand Evangelical Alliance newspaper, or a grand enlarged Christendom in which should be inserted all that is done for the defence of the faith, for the salvation of souls, and for the struggle against sin ? Again we are dreaming do you say? May be we are, but if a dream is a noble one, let us accept it believe in it for surely that is the way to merge it into a reality ! It may be objected that faithfulness to truth and conviction is opposed to certain ecclesiastical concessions. Any concessions of this kind ought to be regarded in the light of a compromise. Take care, under pretext of fidelity to your especial church, you may possibly become unfaithful to Jesus Christ ! you may end by being faithful only to yourself! Had we not better lay aside our rivalries, in order that we may strangle the materialism of to-day ? Materialism is our common foe ! Let us avoid public controversy, save in exceptional cases, let us confine our discussion to private conversation. Controversy always irritates and is seldom helpful. It is the proclamation of the Gospel pure and simple (and that in itself refutes all that is opposed to it) ADDRESS BY M. EDOUARD MONOD. 8 1 which edifies. The Me All Mission in France has adopted this principle and mode of action, and it would seem that, up to the present time, it has had no occasion to repent of it. To sum up in three words : publicity, bolder and more aggressive ; popularity with regard to form and actuality in the subjects treated of; larger-heartedness and expansion of views. These appear to me the principal desiderata demanded for evangelization among our beloved fellow countrymen, and these, I believe, will prove the best condition of victory and success. UTM jBntiotiM of ISuangelijauon. BY THE REV. M BOWEN, OF CONSTANTINOPLE. EVANGELISTIC effort in Turkey is of necessity confined to non- Moslems. It includes the Jews, but is especially active among the nominal Christians, mainly Armenians, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Syrians. This puts the work at once, in the minds of many, under the ban as a system of proselytism in its bad sense. This prejudice is not confined to the people aimed at. Probably its most intense form is among certain classes of resident foreigners, who are known as Protestants. It is to some extent shared in by good people in England and America, who in general are friendly to missionary enterprises. The prejudice as we meet it in Turkey, often asserts the opinion with extravagant emphasis, that men should always remain in the faith in which they were born, and that any influence to the contrary is an outrage. This prejudice it is difficult to over- come. It grows out of a misconception of the objects of the work. A great advantage would be gained if these people could be con- vinced, that mere numerical results are not aimed at; that evangelism abhors a mere nominal change ; that the spiritual power of Christianity in the land of its birth has decayed and ought to be rekindled ; and that however imperfect the human agents may appear, the inspiring motive of evangelistic effort in the East, as everywhere, is divine, and that its chief concern is not with names or with systems or creeds, but with human hearts, and the loftiest ideals of character. It were to be desired that these people, at least so far as they are sincere, might acquaint themselves with the history of the evangelical movement in Turkey. They might, if they would, easily ascertain the facts, as to the early policy of the missionaries ; that no pains were spared to avoid the slightest appearance of a sectarian propagandism; that every energy was put forth for the development of the evangelical spirit and life within these Eastern Churches ; that if that effort failed, the responsibility does not lie with Christian missions ; and that the native Evangelical Church of Turkey to-day is due to Providential ADDRESS BY THE REV. M. BOWEN. 83 orderings, which missionaries could not resist and still be true to their Master. The cry of proselytism is strengthened by the antagonism of the people aimed at, an antagonism which owes its chief bitter- ness to the intense nationalism so prevalent. The religious system is simply another expression of the national life. A Greek is not a man of Greek parentage, but an adherent of the orthodox Greek Church. Inquire of a Greek or an Armenian papist his nationality, and he informs you he is a Catholic ! Protestants have insisted upon the distinction between nationality and faith. Fortunately they have had some opportunities of proving the genuine- ness of their race loyalty. The fact is becoming patent, that the Greek and Armenian nationalities have no better patriots, and the Sultan no more law-abiding subjects than are found among the men of evangelistical sentiments. It is noteworthy that this nationalism does net assert itself with equal emphasis against Romanizing influences. Antagonism is less. Denunciation is more under control. Is not the reason obvious ? An Armenian Bishop in Conia (the ancient Iconium where St. Paul did good missionary work) does not hesitate to say to his people from the pulpit of the Armenian Church, " You may love the Greeks, you may love the Catholics, but you must hate the Protestants." It is the common sentiment of the three. They are bound together by the instinct of self-defence, all standing in equal dread of the enlightening power of Evangelism. Not all ecclesiastics in these old Churches, it is true, antagonize gospel influences. On the contrary, many openly welcome them. But the prevailing influence of the clergy is anti-evangelistic. It would not be difficult, but it is unnecessary to uncover the selfishness of this antagonism. Whatever its motive, its quality is bitter; and its strength lies in fostering the prejudices of nationalism. Another singular manifestation of the prevalent nationalism is this, that a man may be an avowed infidel, and yet retain good standing as a Greek or an Armenian. But the moment he shows evidences of moral and spiritual life, he is suspected of Protestantism and disloyalty. Rationalism is developing rapidly, under nominal adherence to the old churches. It is often of the most ignorant kind, but it is not without support in educated quarters. Singularly enough while 84 THE BEST METHODS OF EVANGELIZATION. recognizing the intellectual superiority of Protestantism, it easily joins the coalition against truth, of bigotry, and mistaken nationalism. Are we to expect that the Churches of the East will ultimately be Protestantized ? If by this we mean a formal turning en- masse from those Churches to another Church, no. But if we mean the develop- ment of a truly evangelistic power, emphasizing loyalty to Christian life as well as to the Christian name, yes ! Much has already been accomplished in the line of such a development. It would be a shock to faith, if three-quarters of a century's toil exhibited no fruits. We expect fruit and we find it. There has been an immense change in the attitude of the people towards evangelical institutions. This is especially noticeable in districts where Protestantism has flourished. Its power and its worth are recognized. Respect is manifested and courtesies are exchanged, where not many years ago violence would have been fashionable. Armenian bishops can now unite with Ameri- can missionaries in an effort for the formal recognition by Imperial firman of an evangelical college. Evangelistic labourers not infre- quently are permitted to teach evangelical sentiments within the precincts of the national churches and schools. Children are sent in large numbers to Protestant schools, for the avowed reason, that in those schools more attention is paid to religious teaching. Skilful teachers, thoroughly evangelical in spirit, are in some cases employed in the national schools, in which also the study of the Bible in the vernacular is becoming more and more general. In Constantinople a school paper is published by Armenians which unfolds various courses of study, prominent among them a course of Scriptural study. There is an increasing demand for the Bible, not only for use in the schools, but also in the shop and in the home. The demand for a clergy of a higher moral and intellectual calibre grows more emphatic. With increased intelligence, the grip of superstition upon the masses has weakened. The illustration of the power of the Gospel in the Protestant community has developed a demand for Gospel preaching and teaching. This demand is so emphatic that the clergy have not been able to ignore it. Iconoclastic tendencies are strong. Pictures and images are disappearing. The Gospel is heard from unwonted pulpits. In some places this spirit expresses itself still more positively. There are here and there bands of men who refuse to Protestantize ; ADDRESS BY THE REV. M. BOWEN. 85 they refuse to leave the Church in which they were born. In some cases they take excessive precaution to avoid being confounded with Protestants. But they form themselves into congregations, and choose for themselves leaders, whose responsibility is to expound the Gospel. The Gospel they insist upon having. They rebuke their own Churches for hiding it. They labour and pray for a new spiritual life in those Churches. All this leaves unsaid anything of what exists under the name of Protestantism. The problem of evangelism to-day in Turkey includes the fact of a large evangelical constituency. There is a great number of active evangelical Churches, enrolling their thousands of members. There is a still larger Protestant civil community. There are a great many schools, and seminaries, and colleges, aiming at a high education for both sexes. In these schools Christian training is paramount. There are Bible and Christian associations for women ; associations for young men, and associations for children. There is no doubt about the fact of a Protestant constituency. It is a constituency, too, from which work is to be demanded and expected. It has demonstrated its evangelistic power. The revivals of which we have heard in various parts of Asia Minor during the last two years, especially the still recent outpouring of God's Spirit upon the Evangelical Churches of Central Turkey, are suggestive of the good that may be expected, and of the responsibility that must be laid upon this constituency. The policy of evangelical missions in Turkey has been to foster in every way self-reliance and aggressive- ness. The difficulties have been immense, but the effort has not been unsuccessful. Larger results were aimed at, but we must not minimize the results achieved. There is a working evangelical constituency, and one which should surely feel responsibility. But we cannot ignore its poverty. Their resources are incommensurate with the demands made upon them. They become disheartened also by the cry of retrenchment from the missionary societies. The time has not yet come for the withdrawal of those societies. Their assistance will be needed yet for many years. Would that instead of chilling cries for retrenchment, evangelical work in Turkey might be kindled by the command to enlarge and advance ! In passing we may make regretful mention of the fact that this 86 THE BEST METHODS OF EVANGELIZATION. work in Turkey, as in too many other places, represents the spectacle of apparently divided ranks. Turkey, like other missionary fields, is intolerant of that kind of effort which emphasizes mere denominational tenets, rather than truths essential to eternal life. The cause of Christ in this land will welcome any symptoms of progress, which this great Alliance may make, in the good work of assigning to the proper agency each particular part of the field. It will respond quickly to the stimu- lating influence of any measure which aims at the harmonious presen- tation of Jesus Christ as the world's Saviour. Such being some of the general circumstances conditioning the work in Turkey, we may enquire now as to the more important agencies to be employed. THE NATIVE MINISTRY. Experience has confirmed the view, early adopted in missionary effort in Turkey, that the Gospel must be preached principally by a body of well-trained and competent natives. And the raising up of such a ministry must remain as in the past a prominent factor in the accomplishment of the work. To realize what is involved in such an undertaking, it is only necessary to remember the different classes of people to be reached, and the variety of language to be employed. This Native Ministry, as well as the Missionary labourers, need to be thoroughly endued with spiritual power. This will tell far beyond mere intellectual culture, in breaking down the barriers, removing unreasonable prejudices, and harmonizing the sentiments of loyalty to nation with the dictates of conscience. Oriental human nature does not differ from human nature elsewhere in feeling marvellously the power of a life, which they easily recognize as ft God-inspired life. CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. Too great emphasis cannot be laid upon the need of a more ample provision for Christian education, as one of the most essential of evangelistic forces. The Christian teacher can go where the Evangelist finds closed doors. Christian schools break down barriers, where preaching would excite antagonism. An experienced pastor in a large town of Asia Minor one day said to me, " For a long while evangelistic effort has busied itself in seeking to enlighten the adult adherents of the old Churches. The more important work now ADDRESS BY THE REV. M. BOWEN. 87 before us is the religious training of our own children, and the bringing of wholesome religious influences to bear upon the other children also, whom we are able to gather together in well-ordered schools." The records of the schools as to the conversions of young men and women give ample testimony to the spiritual value of this department of work. Certainly only the most pessimistic notions of education could fail to anticipate rich spiritual blessings from schools in which the Gospel of Christ is an essential part of the curriculum. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE. The paramount importance of Religious Literature as an evangelistic agency is ever receiving new illustrations. The increasing demand for the Bible in Turkey is stimulated both by the intellectual training of the schools, and by the spiritual training of the pulpit. It must be met on the part of the Bible Societies with enlarged schemes for the dissemination of the printed Word. That Divine Word goes into many villages and many homes, unaccompanied by any human comment, and exercises there its redemptive influence. The- Bible colporteur finds villages, never visited by any other evangelical agency, and leaves the seed which is to develop into eternal life. He, too, like the Christian school teacher, prepares the way for the more systematic and persistent effort of the evangelist. The increasing intellectual life among all classes of the people, suggests the imperative need that evangelical enterprise should at least keep abreast with the times. The astonishing spread of atheistic literature throughout the country emphasizes this need. Evangelism should make itself felt in the intellectual life of the people by wholesome religious literature. Illustrations are not infrequent of the work accomplished by some good book, where no other visible agency has been at work. In the pushing of this department of work also, the missions are crippled by the economy which they are obliged to practise. We expect, of course, to hear of such a censorship that it tolerates absolutely no books, that have as their distinct object the enlightenment of Moslems. Its intelli- gence and spirit may be imagined from facts of actual occurrence like the following : Astronomical articles in the newspapers have been prohibited because of the use of the word for star, which in Turkish 88 THE BEST METHODS OF EVANGELIZATION. is the name of the palace of the reigning sovereign. Geographies have been condemned for containing the name and picture of Mt. Ararat, as located in Armenia. The use of Shakespeare in the schools as a text-book could not be tolerated, because Shakespeare teaches the possibility of overthrowing sovereigns. The biography of Livingstone is not allowed to pass the custom-house, because Livingstone was a missionary to Africa, and no Christian missionary had any business to go to such Moslem peoples. The story of the Prodigal son is objected to, because it will be supposed by some to refer to family disturbances at the palace. Christians have been refused permission to publish the phrase that Christ is the Saviour of the world. The use of indi- vidual texts of Scriptures has been forbidden by censors, although knowing that the words are taken exactly from the Christian Bible, the publication of which is authorized. Tracts of small size have been objected to on the ground that they were so convenient for dissemin- ation. Hymns familiar to Christendom have been expunged, because containing the word for soldier. The publication of a work on " Spiritual Awakening " was recently forbidden, because of the term Evangelical applied to Protestant Churches. It is only just to Turkish authorities to say that in this case, and in many of the most ridiculous cases, the censors are from the Christian nationalities. The difficulties do not cease, even after the rigid press laws have been complied with. Books are published and put into circulation with the due authorization of the Ministry of Public Instruction at Constantinople. They are packed in cases and submitted to the usual examination at the custom-house. They go to the province, and are there confiscated by local officials on the ground that some obnoxious sentiment is discovered, which the censor at Constantinople had overlooked ! No reliance, they say, is to be placed upon the imprimatur which appears upon the title-page. Nothing is to be trusted except the official seal of the censor. Ignorant upstarts insist that even this is of no value unless it appears upon every page of the book. The difficulties are not over after the books have gained an entrance into the vilayet. Colporteurs are arrested and books are seized, notwithstanding all the tribulations through which they have already passed. In some cases delays of months are inter- posed before the work can be resumed. ADDRESS BY THE REV. M. BOWEN. 89 Here, again, it is only just to remark that the most unreasonable interferences emanate from petty officials, acting oftentimes under instigation from Armenians and Greeks, of that kind zealous for the liberty of all except Protestants. The central government has mani- fested a disposition to right matters, and correct the blunders of provincials. It is a matter of regret, however, that so long a time should be necessary, and such persistent pressure also, before securing the plainest rights. Notwithstanding awkward embarrassments of this nature, it is a matter of profound gratitude that the missionary organizations, and also the Bible Societies of Great Britain and America, are able to accomplish the mighty work they do, in the publication and circu- lation both of Scriptures and other religious literature. THE POLITICAL STATUS OF PROTESTANTISM. That the civil and political status of Protestantism should have an important bearing upon evangelistic effort grows out of the peculiar constitution of things by which the Turkish government is administered through the religious communities. Thanks, we believe, to most timely pressure from the British government, the claims of Protestant- ism to civil existence have again been formally recognized, and we have now at the head of the Protestant Chancery a man pre-eminently well qualified to maintain its dignity and meet its responsibilities. He has before him an almost superhuman task to bring order out of chaos, and put Protestantism as to its civil status where it ought to be. In order to meet the financial burdens of the office he needs the cordial support of the Protestants of Turkey. This he is likely to receive, if we may judge from the sense of need which has been so repeatedly and so emphatically expressed. But it would be visionary to hope that in the present material condition of things these burdens can be very largely met by the community. And so the cordial indorsement of the missionary societies will sustain the Protestant Chancery, in an earnest appeal at no distant day, to the Protestant nations, for material aid in putting the civil welfare of evangelical Christianity, in this land, on a sure foundation. 90 THE BEST METHODS OF EVANGELIZATION. THE SOCIAL STATUS OF PROTESTANTISM. There is another great need relating to the material stability and also to the spiritual welfare of evangelical institutions in Turkey. One hesitates in speaking of it, and yet it cannot be ignored in an honest presentation of the demands of the work. I refer to the need of a heartier sympathy and championship in influential quarters. I refer not now to the financial help, but to that moral support, so essential to any religious system in maintaining its dignity and respectability. Why should not Protestant institutions have as enthusiastic a championship as that accorded by their influential men to Greek, Armenian, and Catholic institutions? There are those from whom Protestantism might experience a more cordial treatment, and that to the great encouragement and advancement of its institutions Evangelistic workers in Turkey are conscious of being influenced by the highest motives ; they are exceedingly scrupulous in observing the laws of the land ; they are fully aware that the great Christian pulse of the home lands beats in sympathy with their own. But their character is often vituperated, their motives are impeached or misunderstood, their deeds are misjudged. It is not surprising that they should long for a more emphatic endorsement at least from those men of influence, who accept and love the same faith with themselves. THE MOSLEMS. Organized effort in Turkey for Moslems is impracticable. This was the decision reached at a missionary conference in Constantinople, so far back as 1856. The decision was afterwards confirmed by the action of both an English and an American Society, in formally withdrawing from organized effort for Moslems. The passing years have wrought great changes in the Turkish empire. Concessions have been made to broad and enlightening influences. The evidences of progress in almost every line are numerous. But the feasibility of evangelistic movements among Moslems is to-day apparently what it was in 1856. It will, however, be interesting at this time to note some features of the Moslem attitude toward Christianity. ADDRESS BY THE REV. M. BOWEN. 9! 1. It would be entirely gratuitous to suppose that Moslem opposition to Christianity is simple obduracy. We are not to think of Moham- medans as opposed per se to the spiritual ideals of Christianity. The phrase " unspeakable Turks " is misleading. Moslem Turks are a religious people. From infancy they are trained to reverential habits and modes of thought in relation to God and eternity. They are stern anti-idolaters. The conception prevalent among them of Christianity is that it is idolatrous. This idea is the natural product of their centuries of contact with those forms of it which they have known. It is difficult for them to interpret otherwise what their eyes have seen and their ears heard. Protestant Christianity puzzles them, but it pleases them. The Protestant chapel, free from anything suggesting idol worship, pleases them. Protestant forms of worship please them, as contrasted with the pomp which they associate with Christian worship. Moreover the Moslem mind is pleased with the earnest spiritual teaching of the Protestant pulpit and the Protestant class room. There may be some suspicion about its sincerity. The truth approved may be regarded as taken really from the Koran. But the fact remains that the essential features of evangelical Christianity please, rather than antagonize the Moslem mind. 2. There is, however, a powerful opposition to Christianity as such, emanating in the first place from the Oolema, or ecclesiastical class. The attitude is that simply of lofty disdain. Christianity, as they understand it, is vastly inferior to their own faith. Their compre- hension of both systems may be very limited. But their training, their traditions, and the whole existent order of things makes contempt for the other faith perfectly easy and natural. Neither is it the contempt of mere political superiority. It has the positiveness of honest conviction. 3. There is also a literary opposition which is by no means insignificant. Intelligent Moslem minds understand very well that evangelical Christianity can not be sneered out of existence. The intellectual activity of Protestantism tends to develop in no incon- siderable degree an attempt to imitate it, and compete with it in the interests of Islam. And so we find rapidly coming into existence a body of Mohammedan apologetics. But this enterprise is not merely defensive. It reaches out in ambitious and unsparing attacks upon X 9 THE BEST METHODS OF EVANGELIZATION. Christianity. Not only newspaper and magazine articles appear, but books, exhaustive treatises, are published. 4. There is finally an opposition, the most decisive of all in its results, which centres in the governing class. It is political, rather than religious or intellectual. There are many nominal Christians whose religion is not embarrassing to them in the relations of this life. And so Turkish Pashas, as such, need not be suspected of feeling very deeply the religious authority, or even the intellectual superiority of Islam. But Islam, as a political power, seems tied up with its religious security. And disloyalty to the Moslem faith becomes confounded thus with political treason. A mere reference will be sufficient to the constitution of the Turkish army, tolerating only faithful Moslems in its ranks. This of course strengthens the disposition to give a political inter- pretation to any movement which might contract their recruiting territory. The impression is certainly very strong among the ruling class that all missionary effort in that land must have eventually a political object. Protestant missions are not responsible for this impression. The predilection to such a notion was confirmed by the large issue years ago of passports from Catholic powers which followed the operations of Jesuit Missions. Protestant missionaries have had numerous applications for foreign passports, as a reward for the pro- fession of the Protestant faith. Though the missionaries have with emphasis rebuked this conception of their aim, still to this day the average Turkish official is suspicious. The professions of the mission- aries do not suffice to undeceive him. In closing, then, it is to be remembered that all statements in regard to religious liberty in Turkey should be qualified. The following are facts, which it is not likely Turkish authorities them- selves would think of disputing. 1. The Turkish government permits and protects other religious systems than its own. It leaves its non-Moslem subjects free to follow the dictates of conscience. At the same time, however, it makes distinctions that are oppressive, as to civil and political rights, upon which we may not linger at this time. 2. The Turkish government nominally permits to every religious ADDRESS BY THE REV. M. BOWEN. 93 community, schools, and churches. Great practical difficulties how- ever are interposed. Severe restrictive laws are enforced. 3. The Turkish government permits a non-Moslem to change his faith, and eagerly opens the Mosque doors to such as elect the faith of Islam. It does not however allow the same freedom of choice to its Moslem subjects. Many, probably in this assembly, will remember the time when death was the penalty for desertion from Moslem ranks. In 1843, tne Sultan gave a written promise to the British ambassador that from that time no one should be put to death on account of his religion. Such a declaration does not modify the law, but only suspends it, and that in violation of Moslem conscience and public opinion. The Holy Law says that when a Moslem adopts another religion he is to be killed. He is unworthy to live and is already virtually dead. Hence his possession of property rights and conjugal rights terminates. Such a renegade is nevertheless to be dealt with mercifully. He is to be imprisoned during three days with such suffering as may make him realize the gravity of his situation. At the end of that time, if he still refuses to recant, he is to be decapi- tated and his property is to be seized. It is doubtful whether the Turkish government at the present time would venture to execute a man for accepting Christianity. But it would not be obliged to spare such a man's property, even if it spares his life. Islam asserts also as strong a grasp upon the converts which it makes from Christianity as upon its born followers. Recently in one of the provinces, a little Armenian girl of 12 years of age, it is reported, was seized by her brother, who had become a Moslem, and put in the family of a Turkish Pasha, where she was persuaded to acknowledge herself a Moslem. Afterwards, she ran away, and returned to her father's house, and claimed his protection as a Christian. The local government decides that having once declared herself a Mohammedan (although the Armenian Bishop protested that a 12 year old child was not competent to change her faith) the proposition of her becoming a Christian cannot be entertained, and so summarily dismisses the case. We shall be glad if we hear that the enlightened central government at Constantinople has reversed this action, and announces its willingness to allow freedom of 94 THE BEST METHODS OF EVANGELIZATION. conscience, at least, to such Moslems as have previously been Christians. More might be said, but this is enough to illustrate the fact that plans for evangelistic effort in Turkey must be limited. The day has not yet come, when we may, without hindrance, invite all men without distinction to the faith of Jesus Christ. 95 <$baugflijation in ADDRESS BY THE REV. CAY. PROCHET, D.D., OF ROME. WITH intense attention and delight I listened, yesterday, to all that was so eloquently said. But, I must say the truth, I have been sorely disappointed in one thing I was expecting to hear a word .... the speakers succeeded to one another, and the word did not come. That word I feel bound to say, though it may take me out of my subject. I heartily concurred in what our worthy chairman (Hon. Mr. Bligh) told us when he evoked the souvenir of the Madiai, who suffered in this very city for conscience sake ; but there have been other Evan- gelicals that have preceded us and them in this land, to whom, as an Evangelical Alliance, it seems to me that we owe at least a thought at this stage of our proceedings. ... So far back as 1218 we read that they held a Synod in the neighbourhood of Bergamo, and that they were numerous in all the provinces of North Italy. From 1350 to 1550 they founded many a town and village in the South of the Peninsula, and their messengers who went from the northern to the southern brethren left traces of them in all the Italian cities they crossed. I do not need to name them, nor do I intend to trouble you with the recital of their long sufferings. Anyone but slightly acquainted with history knows the wholesale butchery that destroyed thousands of them and annihilated the Calabrian colonies, and cannot ignore how they were driven from the other parts of the Peninsula (those at least who could escape the claws of the Inquisition) to the secluded valleys of the Cottian Alps. Who has not heard of the thirty-three bloody persecutions that visited even these, the descendants of the refugees ? By thousands, by tens of thousands, they fell for no other crime than that of their persevering and undaunted attach- ment to Christ and to His Gospel .... Now, am I to believe that all those sufferings, those tears, those groans, those rivers of blood, have passed unnoticed by Him Who sitteth on the grand throne and judges according to justice ? No, my whole being revolts at the 96 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. mere supposition. He who took notice of Abel's death cannot have paid no attention to the slaughter of the thousands of confessors of His only begotten Son. Whatever philosophers may say about the connexion between cause and effect in the events of this world, we Christians know that the blood of the martyrs " speaketh to the Lord," that their tears are numbered by Him, nay, that their "very dust is precious to Him." . . . God alone can tell how much we are indebted to those martyrs for the privilege of holding our Con- ference in a town of the land they have watered with their blood ; but I feel sure that no one of us will deny what a debt of gratitude we owe towards them, and that consequently it is not out of place to give a thought to their memory. . . . Impartial history will tell fifty years hence how much Italy itself is indebted to them for the liberty she now enjoys, and how it comes to pass that the land of the Pope has to envy no country of the world so far as freedom of conscience is concerned. ... A striking fact, but a /aft as long as Italy behaved as a bad, heartless stepmother to the Waldenses, she was herself trampled down and trodden upon by all kinds of tyrants. The very year (1848) in which, at last, the emancipation of the Waldenses was proclaimed, that very year, I say, saw the first dawn of the new era of liberty. But mark, it was but a dawn, in point of liberty of conscience, for the first article of the Statute says : " The Roman Catholic apostolic religion is the religion of the State, the other worships are tolerated according to the laws." To this day the letter of the law speaks of toleration. How is it that, notwithstanding I would almost say against the letter of the law, we enjoy full and complete liberty? What may have induced the greatest Italian statesmen, thirty years ago, to give the strangest of all commentaries to the first article of the Statute, and to proclaim in the Subalpine Parliament the grand principle, " Chiesa libera in libero Stato " (Free Church in a Free State) ? One of the speakers yesterday referred to the connection of Cavour with some Protestant family of Geneva ; but that is not sufficient for an un- prejudiced mind to explain the attitude assumed by Cavour. . . . Among his friends there was a deputy to the House of Parliament whose name will long be revered by all those who have known him (I mean Signer Giuseppe Malan, a Waldensian). It is by him, and through ADDRESS BY THE REV. CAV. PROCHET, D.D. 97 him, that the great Italian Minister learnt to know and to appreciate the only Italian Evangelicals then living in Piedmont. How much Signor Malan had to do with the rapid growth in the concession of liberty of conscience in Italy I have no time to describe, but an anecdote will give an idea of it. In 1860, soon after the annexation of Tuscany to Piedmont, there was in Leghorn an evangelist who is with us to-day. The priests feeling instinctively that the preaching of the Gospel would put an end to their uncon- trolled power over the people, did what they could to check his mission. They excited the mob created disturbances so much so that the life of the evangelist was more than once in real danger. The Prefect, under the influence of the priests, refused to provide for and protect Signor Ribetti in the exercise of his functions as evangelist. Signor Giuseppe Malan was written to, and went straight to Cavour. I am glad to see you, said the latter ; I much wanted to have a talk with you. I hear that one of your pastors is the cause of unpleasant tumults in Leghorn. I am annoyed at it and vexed. I expected better things from the Waldenses. . . . Signor Malan let the great man give vent to his feelings, then very calmly contradicted the- statement, and showed that the Waldensian pastor in Leghorn was preaching exactly the same doctrines that the Waldensian pastor of Turin was proclaiming in the Church of Corso Vittorio Emmanuale, the difference in the results depending on the fact that the inhabitants of Turin (priests included) understood what liberty of conscience was, whilst in Leghorn everybody (including the Prefect) seemed to ignore its meaning. "Can you answer for your man in Leghorn that matters stand as you describe them?" "As for myself" "All right then." . . . And a few hours afterwards a telegram such as Cavour knew how to write went to the Prefect of Leghorn, and in twenty-four hours the disturbances were a thing of the past. In a similar way hundreds of officials have learnt what liberty of conscience was, and the whole nation has risen to a higher appreciation of it. ... Italy being opened, brethren from other lands have come to evangelize it. Following the chronological order in which they have come successively, I name the Plymouth Brethren, the Wesleyans, the Baptists Open Communion, the Baptists Close Communion, the Methodist Episcopals, the General Baptists. In the year 1820 thirty G 98 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. congregations, formed by Plymouth Brethren, united together and founded the Chiesa Libera (Free Church). Some years after Count Campello began his movements towards the formation of the " Italian Catholic Church." All these brethren will speak for themselves. I wish only to say this in regard to them. I have been nearly thirty years in the field ; for twenty years, through no merit of mine, I have been honoured by the Waldensian Synod with the presidency of its evangelization work, and I can boldly say that no brother of another denomination coming to me has met with a refusal when he offered the hand of Christian fellowship. I have visited Protestant Churches of many countries, delivered hundreds of public speeches, and I can challenge any man to point out a word less than courteous, in any one of those speeches, towards the brethren of other denominations working in Italy. . . . And now I should tell of the progress of our Evangelization work, but my time is nearly up, and I don't want to take that of the brethren that have to follow me. So I shall simply say that we received 581 new members last year, and have had this winter about 600 men and women in our Bible classes, and nearly 3,000 scholars in our Sabbath schools. . . . But what is all that compared with an army of 30,000,000 of people? Looking at it, one's arms are ready to fall down in discouragement; but if we turn round and look at the way already travelled, then we can thank God and take courage. Two tableaux will enable you to understand what I mean better than many words. In 1862 the little town of Rio Marina was presenting one fine summer evening a very striking sight. Hundreds of men and women were rushing towards one house, shouting, yelling, and actually piling wood around it to burn it. What was the matter? Who was there? A murderer fled from the penitentiary of Porto Ferrajo ? No, in that house were sheltered two theological students of the Waldensian Church, who were utilizing their holidays by preaching the Gospel ; the mob, fanaticized by the priests, wanted to burn them alive, and would have done it had it not been for the energetic interference of some men of influence, who fortunately saved the lives of the evangelists and the Church of Rome from another bloody stain. Go now to Rio Marina, and you will find in the Waldensian schools 180 pupils, 160 of whom are children or ADDRESS BY THE REV. D. BORGIA. 99 grandchildren of the same people who wanted to burn the first evangelists of the island. . . . May the Spirit of the Lord breathe upon our people and awaken the thousands, the millions of consciences lulled asleep in superstition or infidelity, and we shall see still greater contrasts in the future. ADDRESS BY THE REV. D. BORGIA, OF MILAN. HONOURED BRETHREN IN CHRIST I gladly respond to the request to give a short statement as to the Evangelical Church of Italy. To the most of you I can say nothing that is new, especially to my fellow-labourers and friends here present, who have been eye-witnesses of the birth and develop- ment of this infant work in Italy, but to so many illustrious friends and brethren, gathered from every part of the world, who cannot be expected to know about us, it is right I should explain who we are, and what we should desire to do, with God's blessing, in ournativeland. First of all, what is the Evangelical Church of Italy ? It is theUnion of the separate evangelical Churches, which sprang up all over Italy in the early days of liberty, through the reading of the Word of God. These various Churches, moved by the desire of united action in the work of Evangelization, met in General Assembly at Bologna in 1865, and laid the basis of their organization, under the title of the " Free Christian Church in Italy." But it was only in Milan in 1870 that, properly speaking, the movement took shape and initiative, for it was in that second General Assembly that the compact of Union was ratified by the adoption of a Confession of Faith, or Declaration of principles common to all the congregations. In 1871, at Florence, the Third General Assembly sanctioned the accomplished Union by means of a Constitution or body of Rules for the work of Evangelization. Finally, in 1889, by unanimous consent of all the Churches, in order to respond to the ardent desire of the pioneers in the work, and also to the history and special disposition of our Church, the General Assembly by acclamation assumed for itself and for those 100 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. ChurcTies which might hereafter be joined with it, the name of the Evangelical Church of Italy. This Church has for its sole and infallible Head, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, for doctrine and rule of faith and conduct, the Word of God contained in the canonical books of the Bible, for motto in all its actions, "Truth in Love," and for its guide in all social and civil life, " Honour all men. Love the brethren. Fear God Honour the King." The great aim of this Church is the salvation of souls and the welfare and prosperity of our beloved country, by means of the preaching of the Gospel. Such is the Evangelical Church of Italy and such her noble purpose, with the divine blessing ! It is a young Church, with little more than 20 years of life, but it has the conscientious conviction of having accomplished much good, by carrying the message of redemption into many towns and villages, and bringing many souls to the foot of the cross of Christ. Nor has this been achieved without serious difficulties. If you, my hearers, had been present in many a Meeting of our Committee here in Florence, you would have seen us gathered together with sad thoughts, amid uncertainty and discouragement, amid earnest prayer and supplication to God. You would have seen us all, from the lamented Gavazzi to the Rev. Mr. MacDougall, on to the humblest member of the Committee, who has now the honour of addressing you, with tears in our eyes, like a father when he sees his beloved children without bread. Yet God has always heard our prayers, and brought us out of all our difficulties, so that the Evangelical Church of Italy goes on its way as if nothing had happened. All these trials have done us good, because they have strengthened our faith and brightened our hope in the promises of God. The victory achieved over so many difficulties has convinced us still more that our Church is of God and that He has called us to do His Work. Hence, our greater activity and more lively zeal, hence the increase of the spirit of self-sacrifice in all our Churches and the ever growing desire for the wider diffusion of the Gospel. I will say nothing about the sufferings endured by the individual Churches, and by the members of the same, for the sake of the ADDRESS BY THE REV. D. BORGIA. IOI truth. We enjoy much liberty in Italy, but the Clericalism of the Vatican is still very powerful and wages continual war against us, and raises up mountains of difficulties to the progress of the Gospel cause. But God is with us, and despite all the persecutions suffered, the testimony for Jesus is maintained by all, and the banner of our salvation is everywhere floating in the breeze. After these general considerations, I shall now give you a few particulars as to the past and present condition of the Evangelical Church of Italy : i. The past. When our Church presented itself to the Christian World, it was a very poor stripling indeed. The first two or three years were consecrated to the work of harmonizing the various elements in our union and of study and preparation, while we were carrying the Word of God far and near throughout Italy. But soon we found ourselves in presence of three great difficulties : i. The want of a good Theological College for training aspirants for the Ministry. 2. The need of suitable places of worship, if possible our own property. 3. The opening of day and night Schools in connec- tion with each of our Churches. To provide at one and the same time for so many necessities was no light matter. But it is written: "Seek and ye shall find." We sought and God has blessed us, and in this wise : Theological College. To tell the truth, there was always a small. College in our Church from its earliest origin. In 1867, thanks to the help of Rev. Wm. Clark, of America, a College was opened in Milan, from which excellent labourers went forth, among others the lamented Zucchi, Girola, Manin and others. In 1870, this first effort was closed, and immediately another was opened in Pisa, under the direction of Professor Paolo De Michelis, where several faithful servants of Christ were trained, among others Mariani and the lamented Pierallini, who founded the Church at Airolo, on the St. Gothard, and later on the Evangelical Italian Church in Marseilles. In 1873 the Pisa College was closed and a more thoroughly equipped establishment was opened in Rome, directed by Gavazzi, with whom was associated in 1876 the excellent Henderson, whom God saw fit so soon to take to Himself. Among the Professors we may mention 102 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. Rev. Cav. Karl Roennek, Chaplain of the German Embassy, and Rev. Henry Piggott, Superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission in the North of Italy. A directing Council, presided over by the Rev. Mr. MacDougall, watched over the progress of the Classes, and as a result many Pastors, Evangelists, and Teacher-Evangelists were sent forth, a goodly number of whom have passed into other denominations. This has caused no regret. The principal aim of preparing able Evangelists has been attained. If some of these are enrolled in other regiments, we are comforted by the thought that we are all soldiers of one army, guided by one Leader, fighting under the same banner, and called to defend the same great and holy cause. Owing to circumstances which we could not control, the Roman College has been closed for a time, to be soon re-opened either there or in some other city. The sad loss of Gavazzi, and the decreed demolition of our building in the general plan for the improvement of Rome these are the reasons for the momentary closure of the College. In the meantime the students are placed under the care of Pastors in different towns. We hope, through God's blessing and the sympathy of friends, that the decision to re-open a Seminary in Rome, Florence, or elsewhere, will soon be carried out, and that many will be prepared within its walls who shall be worthy of the high Mission and of the Gospel, as well as of the Church and of Italy. . Places of Worship. The plain matter of fact is, that when our Church presented itself to the Italians it was well-nigh unprovided with everything, and especially with places of worship. The Meetings were held in shops, warehouses, in the upper rooms of houses, and sometimes we were even driven to assemble in dark, prisonlike places, which made it easy for the priests to discredit the Gospel cause. We were also under constant threat of being turned out, and finding it next to impossible to secure any other place. The Clerical party was ever on the alert, creating immense difficulties for us. Even for these poorest of meeting-houses, we were obliged to pay large rents, which drained our small finances. Then it was that our excellent friend MacDougall, to whom our Church is debtor for the immense services he has rendered, began to carry out his noble plan of purchasing properties for various Churches. From 1873 until to-day, thanks to the munificence of ADDRESS BY THE REV. D. BORGIA. 103 many friends, he has acquired buildings in Rome, Florence, Leghorn, Milan, Bassignana, Venice (two), Bergamo, Udine, Fara Novarese, and Pisa. He has also to-day in hand for the purchase of other places of worship the following sums : 8000 fr. for Bari, 8000 fr. for Savona, and 7000 fr. for Sassari. We earnestly hope in a few years to see suitable buildings provided in the towns where we have large congregations and Schools, such as Genoa, Bologna, Naples, and Palermo. This is but one part of the service rendered by our Honorary Treasurer. I say one part, for his activity is seen in all departments of the Evangelical Church of Italy. How he has been able in so short a time to overcome so many obstacles, it is difficult to under- stand. Asking himself, the only reply is : " Pray, always pray." Schools. It was also the intention of the Evangelical Church of Italy, that alongside of each of the congregations there should be established elementary and night Schools, as well as Sabbath Schools, for the future of the evangelization of the country largely depends on the rising generation, if a truly Christian education is imparted to it. For this purpose the Committee of Evangelization set itself to the study of the problem of providing Teachers, who should feel in their innermost heart the importance of their noble profession, and be faithful and well-proved Christians, and so fitted to shed the sweet odour of Christ in the heart of the little children. Sabbath Schools were at once begun in all the Churches through the earnest efforts of the Evangelists, aided by many brethren and sisters in Christ as Monitors. In 1870, however, there were only two Day Schools, one founded by De Sanctis in Turin, and another by Ferretti in Florence. Since 1872 many other flourishing Schools have been established, in Rome, Leghorn, Naples, Fara Novarese, Bassignana, Venice, Carrara, Spezia, Palermo, and latterly at Forano Sabina and Montefiascone. 2. Now I come to the present condition of the Evangelical Church in Italy. Here it would be convenient to make a journey together, which would not occupy many minutes, and pass in review all our Churches, Stations, and Schools, from the North of Italy to Palermo. But time presses, and therefore to complete my statement I shall only add a few statistics. 104 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. The Evangelical Church of Italy at this date has 1820 Members (Communicants) ; 450 Catechumens ; 1295 Children in the Day Schools : 1 2 10 Children and adherents, whom I baptize by the name of Nicodemus. The Church is composed of 31 Churches or Congregations; 24 Stations and 50 places regularly visited ; 30 Sabbath Schools ; 10 Day Schools and 5 Night Schools ; i Industrial Institution ; 3 Young Men's Christian Associations ; 8 Committees of Beneficence and Societies for mutual help. The Buildings purchased are 13, and 3 are in pro- cess of acquisition, of the value of ... ... Fr. 916,000 Furniture of Church and Schools ... ... ... 75.850 Reserve Funds 232,625 Making a total of ... Fr. 1,224,475 During the past year (1890) the Churches have collected For the work of Evangelization ... ... ... Fr. 4,891*63 For local purposes 16,326-25 Making a total of ... Fr. 21,217*88 or an average of fr. 9*20 per member. This is all made up of the pence of poor working men, given for the work of God in Italy, and it is not a small offering. Now let me bring my address to a close with two observations i. A word of thanks to all those friends who have aided us with their prayers and sympathies, and who will not fail us, we trust, in the future. Our gratitude remains eternal towards all of them, and especially to our great friend, Rev. John R. MacDougall, who has ADDRESS BY THE REV. D. BORGIA. 105 spared neither labours, nor sacrifices, nor health, for the work of God in Italy. Praise, and honour, and glory, to God for His divine aid, and for all the blessings which He has showered down upon us to this very day. All our trust is placed in Him for the future, and all our care is cast on Him, knowing that He cares for us. 2. The Evangelical Church of Italy has for its basis the Union of the Churches. You will find this principle in the first pages of its history, as in the early days of its existence. Without such a princi- ple, indeed, an Evangelical Church of Italy would not be possible. Not only so, but we were among the first to make proposals of Union to all the Churches in the first instance, and to the Waldensian Church afterwards, as all in Italy can testify. We have held Conferences and Special Assemblies for studying the way to effect this noble purpose. Our efforts have failed. It is said that the time had not yet come for this. Has the time now come for this much-desired Union ? God grant it may. Notwithstanding the shipwreck of these noble aims, we still feel and desire the Union of all the Churches in Italy. We long to be, and to be seen to be, one body in Christ, called to a common effort, for the glory of Christ, in our fatherland. This Union of the Churches is longed for by all our brethren. It is a voice which sounds in the Italian air from the Alps to Sicily. It is desired by our Italian fellow-citizens, as you heard from the authoritative words of Professor Mariano yesterday. It is desired by our friends abroad, and, above all, it is desired by God. Let us respond nobly to this divine and universal call. In one word, the Evangelical Church of Italy sincerely, earnestly, resolutely desires union with all the Sister Churches, and prays that this Great Conference may send forth the word of command, that such a project may be speedily consummated, in order that we may in one serried rank send up the unanimous cry : " We wish all Italy for Christ." Possessed by this delightful expectation, the Evangelical Church of Italy, through me, offers you its fraternal regards. 106 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. ADDRESS BY THE REV T. W S. JONES, Wesleyan Methodist Church, NAPLES. DEAR FRIENDS AND CO-WORKERS, The first present ever made me in Italy was the gift of a beautiful photographic copy of a statue representing Italy rising from the dust in which she had lain. Underneath the lovely, queenly figure there was graven this motto: "Dope 12 anm" "After 12 years." Surely in this gathering of the representatives of Christian work and workers in the Ninth International Conference of the Evangelical Alliance it is well to take as our motto : " Dopo trenf anni " " After thirty years." Thirty years of toil and disappointment, years of hope and of success. I would that, as I occupy the brief moments allotted me, I might strike a note of praise ! As the review of the past comes up before us, our hearts and voices must blend in a hymn of praise to God, for what He has wrought out for Italy by those who are now in heaven, for what He has wrought in and by us, by you the Evangelical Churches, the Evangelical Church of Italy. We all are the Evangelical Church of Italy. The Rev. Cav. Prochet has told the story of the Martyrs of the Valleys and of the Calabrias. We all of the common faith and hope of Jesus claim those martyrs as our own. Our heroes are your heroes too. "Ye are not your own." We all are Christ's. We may then sing loud our praise to God for these our martyrs. It will do our friends here, gathered from the hundred cities of Italy, from the wide world, good to know and feel that amidst the calm enumeration of the difficulties of our work the faithful survey of what we now are doing, even amidst the wise counselling as to more perfect service, there ought to be also the faithful and loving testimony of what God has done praise for what God is doing. Let it then go forth from this assembly to the Vatican itself, let it go round and through our Churches, from the Alps to the farthest sea, to England and America, through France, Germany, the Conti- nent, let the hymn of blessing go the whole wide world round, that we, the Evangelical Churches, the Evangelical Church of Italy praise God for what He has done, for what He is doing "God be praised." ADDRESS BV THE REV. T. W. S. JONES. 107 " Blessed be the Lord God." Forgetful of the great things God has done, the hands fall helpless and the spirit faints and fails when the memory of the wonders He has wrought comes freshly over the soul, then is there light and life ! It is right that we should review the tendencies of public thought and feeling as gauged by those without as well as those within the Evangelical Church of Italy, as has been done with master hand by Professor Mariano. It is well that we should number, weigh and measure the difficulties with which we have to cope ; and that we should search out and acknowledge the weaknesses, imperfections, and troubles that are ours ; and on account of these we humble ourselves before God : but we must also remind our friends gathered here from England, America, the Continent, and the world, that these troubles are not other nor are they worse than are found in other Churches and in other lands. It is right to measure the forces out-growing from the genius of the people, from the social and political condition of Italy, forces that may be drawn into association with and in favour of our work. That we should consider and attain the best methods and modes of working ; but I cannot forget that all methods and modes of work are only potent as is the spirit and power with which they are wrought out. The existence of the Evangelical Church of Italy is the still con- tinued existence of a Martyr- Church. Witness the massacre at Barletta the terrible attack on our work in Marsala, and the thousands breaking into our apartment there ; the rising of the people in Pozzuoli, led on by priest and monk ; and the life-martyr- dom endured by many of our people from day to day. " After thirty years ! " " God be praised." As we review our own little work in Southern Italy, as we hear the reports of the Churches, our souls are glad with praise. Our Churches, our Day Schools, Evening Schools, and Sunday Schools ; our Y.M.C-A. Associations a goodly array of loyal, earnest Christian workers, what hath God wrought. We are glad, and thankful ; we are not a vanquished band of Christian soldiers ; we will not know defeat. The Lord be praised ! 108 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. The Signs of the Titnts. It is not only Signer Mariano, amidst the Professors of the University of Naples, who is bringing the religious question to the front There is also Professor Chiappelli, who gave us his inaugural address before the University, on the " Millennium." He has promised to give a Lecture on " Christ " in our Church. Deputy and Professor Bovio, one of the leaders of naturalistic thought, publishes his " Christ at Purim" Bonghi gives his " Life of Christ," and before an audience of priests and people of all classes, gives, on a Sunday afternoon, under the auspices of a Literary Society, his reasons why he, a layman, must make known the Life of Jesus. Oh, how many hopeful signs, did time permit, could we recount. We praise the Lord ; and we say, Praise ye the Lord ! ADDRESS BY THE REV. Q. B. TAYLOR, D.D., OF ROME. I PROPOSE to name some of the advantages and disadvantages, some of the helps and hindrances, in the work of Evangelization in Italy. I. One of the advantages is that we have not, as Morrison in China, and Judson in India, to toil long years in making a translation of the Bible, but that one was ready to our hand in Diodati's version, pub- lished in 1603, a classic as to style, and at least so faithful that it anticipates many of the improvements of the English Revised Version. And if any object to Diodati's as a Protestant Bible, there is the version from the Vulgate, of Archbishop Martini, thousands of copies of which we are gradually putting into circulation. Yet a third translation by the lamented Professor Revel, at the high level of modern scholarship, is most precious for the student. So also, for the Roman Catholic controversy, the works of Dr. de Sanctis, and others, furnished a well-stored arsenal from which every needed weapon may be drawn. And I have also noticed that not alone ecclesiastics, but others, who come to us from the Church of Rome, fight their way through so much of opposition, that they are thenceforth well able not only to give a reason for their faith, but also to confute an adversary if not win him to the truth. ADDRESS BY THE REV. G. B. TAYLOR, D.D. 1 09 We have almost perfect protection and freedom in our work. Petty annoyances and local persecutions are indeed encountered, but the former are overcome with patience, and for serious grievances the law provides ample redress. And the grossest outrages often turn out for the furtherance of the Gospel when met with a manly resistance unmixed with desire for retaliation. Our brethren in the tortures of cruel disease, and in the hour and article of death, "witness a good confession " before many witnesses. The burial of deceased brethren also is a valuable opportunity of Evangelization. Twice lately at the municipal cemetery of Rome, I have assisted in funeral services attended by many who would never enter one of our churches, yet who listened with rapt interest to the hymn, the Scripture, and the words spoken. The generous kindness of Italian Christians towards their own poor brethren is very beautiful. In part it proceeds from that affectionate- ness of disposition which is a striking race trait. But it is also to- day, as in Apostolic times, one of the first manifestations of the out- goings in love and helpfulness of the heart which bears the image of Jesus. I am happy to say in this connection that there exists a fairly good understanding among the various bodies at work in Italy, as among the workers themselves. While the lines dividing us are clearly defined, perhaps because they are, there prevails a general good will and fraternal love. We have practically demonstrated how we can be true to our respective convictions as to doctrine and ecclesiastical practice, and yet walk together as far as we are agreed, work together in various lines, and together meet for prayer and praise, not as Waldenses, or Free Church, or Methodists, or Baptists, but simply as the disciples and servants of our one Lord and Saviour. In the intercourse of life there is much of that mutual courtesy, and sym- pathy, and helpfulness, which greatly promote interdenominational comity, and often make us forget everything save that we are the sons of one Father, and the heirs of the same blessed, everlasting home. In a word, all candid people who know the facts must see the sub- stantial unity which exists among us, in harmony with that diversity which is the necessary fruit of freedom. If many as the waves, we are yet one as the sea. The Evangelical Alliance has done much to 110 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. promote the unity of Protestant Christians in Italy ; and God grant that it may do yet more in the time to come ! II. Jesus Christ and His Apostles preached in the open-air and in the Synagogues, and missionaries in various lands preach in the streets and market places. But not only are Catholic Churches closed to us, but the law very properly does not permit meetings save in our own locali. Hence any extension of our work save by private labours like those of the humble but useful colporteur requires the renting of preaching-places, which is attended with considerable difficulty and expense. Nor is house-to-house work done without great embarrassment and labour. Suppose you have wearily climbed several flights of stairs, then to obtain admission into a home into which you have not been previously introduced, and to make there a visit, is a matter of extreme delicacy, if it be not of doubtful advantage or impossibility, and this, too, even among the very poor. The circumstances are utterly different from those of England or America. And in our conversations and preaching, words often fail of their due effect because of that superficial knowledge of the Bible which is generally possessed, and which makes our message less fresh, unless indeed to those who go deeper, to whom certainly the Gospel comes with the shock of a joyful surprise. But most Roman Catholics think of us as irreverent and irreligious, while the sceptical say that ours is only a different kind of cottege or shop. An analogous difficulty is the weakening, aye the degradation, which religious language has undergone. Sin, Saint, Repentance, Confession, Holiness, and many other pivotal words, have been either emasculated or perverted from their true meaning. Of disadvantages external, may be named the fact that in many parts of the Peninsula the plainer people, who are those usually most ready to hear the Gospel, are in such subjection to clerical land- holders that they fear to take a step which may, at least temporarily, take the bread from their mouths and the roof from over their heads. In fact, Romanism has been for centuries so bound up with the institutions, the proprty, the commerce, the social customs and the ADDRESS BY THE REV. G. B. TAYLOR, D.D. Ill whole life of the people, that it must long remain a mighty foe to the Gospel, even apart from its influence as a moral and religious entity. A problem not easy of practical solution is that of helping the needy who are all around. To be blind and deaf to the cries of the hungry and naked and homeless, were inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel. But to respond to them as might be done in a Protestant land, were to incur a double peril, as we should thereby repel the truth-seeker, and draw around us those who care most for the loaves and fishes, while we should, at the same time, cater to an eleemosynary spirit which has been fostered for ages. Our converts are liable to err in opposite directions. On the one hand, they retain customs, which, if in themselves innocent, are yet intimately bound up with the errors they have left. For instance, many are careful to name their children after a saint, and they themselves celebrate not their first nor their second birthday, but that of their saint. It may be a convenient custom, but it tends to still further obscure the New Testament doctrine that all believers in Jesus are saints, while it promotes the disposition to have some other mediator than the " one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." On the other hand, it is easy in the recoil from a system which makes work the price of salvation, to go to the other extreme of not practically recognizing the true place of good works, and the absolute necessity of a holy life. Possibly in part, on account of this, the sight is not so rare as might be desired, of Churches which have little of the expansive spirit of the Gospel, and little resemble the Thessalonian converts who were " an example to all," and " from whom sounded forth the Word of the Lord, so that the Apostles needed not to speak anything." Such Churches remain stationary, and sometimes worthy brethren have a tendency to preach to their handful of believers instead of going out into " the highways and hedges," with the importunity of those who believe in heaven and hell, and compelling men to come in and partake of the Gospel feast. After all, religious indifference, the ground swell of Romanism, worse than Romanism itself, is our greatest obstacle, and only the Spirit of the living God can " make these dry bones live." 112 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. ADDRESS BY THE REV. JAMES WALL, OF ROME. IN the brief space of time accorded to each on this occasion, the most one can attempt is to give an idea of some part of the work the Baptist Mission is doing in Italy. The Mission was commenced in Bologna in 1863, and in Rome in 1870. Rather, however, than commence a new mission in Italy, we desired to build on the ancient foundations which lie ruined in the catacombs and testify to the forgotten truth in so many parts of Italy. We recognize that evangelical work in Italy is of vital importance to all Protestants, and that the time has not yet come when the Protestant lamb may venture to lie down with the Catholic lion. Our mission in Italy comprises three districts North, Central, and South. At present, I speak of the latter, or at least, of work at its centre. Pardon me if I refuse to regard our Church or work in Rome as foreign. The presence of two or three foreigners in a Church of two or three hundred natives does not un-romanize a work now any more than when Paul was in Rome. Three of my colleagues deputed to present the salutation of our brethren in Rome to this Alliance are Roman citizens. In Rome, then, we have five preaching stations, while in the neighbouring towns we have four others^ which are visited from Rome. The principal hall is in the mission premises situated in Lucina, on the Corso, in the centre of the city. It is here that the missionary resides, that the Church meets, that the printing is carried on, and also many branches of city mission work. In each of the halls we have preaching three times a week ; in the Central Hall weekly communion, a meeting for prayer and one for the study of the Scripture. During Lent we have preaching every night except Saturdays. In four of the halls we have Sunday-schools and medical missions ; in three, working meetings for mothers ; in one, a shop for the sale of their work ; in another, a meeting for the very poor, where, according to the need, Mrs. Wall gives bread or soup or seeks to find work for special cases. The Church which meets in the Central Hall has its native ministry, composed of elder (just deceased), deacons and deaconesses, evan- ADDRESS BY THE REV. JAMES WALL. 1 13 gelists and helps. It manages its own affairs, has several small societies, and carries on several branches of work. The number of members is between two and three hundred, its form of Church government is free, communion is open, discipline maintained. Everyone is expected to give or receive, everyone is expected to work, either as help to the deacons, or the evangelists, and thus maintain the ministry ; all are invited to take the place in the Church on earth, which they hope to occupy in the Church in Heaven. Our only code is the Bible ; our Church ideal, Christ's Risen Body ; our temporal model, the primitive Church ; our mission to come out of Babylon, get back to Jerusalem and rebuild the House of God. Our statistics of attendances in Rome for the first quarter of 1891 are as follows: At the preaching, 11,516; Communion, 1,146; Bible Class and Prayer, 863 ; Sunday School, 3,411 ; Mothers, 696; Medical, 4,523 ; Poor, 3,756 ; Total, 25,910. I am not discouraged by the strength of Popery, but by our own inability to comply with God's conditions of success. The Vatican is strong because we are divided. Rome is an amalgam of truth and error, both of which find the reason of their existence in the present state of Protestant truth, which must be kept until you receive it error, which must remain as long as transgression of grace has to be punished. Israel went to Babylon to pay its debt of broken sabbaths, and unlearn the idolatrous lie : when this was accomplished, fingers of flame signed the destruction of the king. So now God's Sabbath is rest in Christ, and ritualistic and rationalistic rejection of this sends multitudes to the slime and willows of Popery. Return to primitive Christianity and Popery is exhausted. When brought forth from Babylon there must be no stopping short of Jerusalem, and when again on primitive holy ground, instead of building private houses on private plans for private purposes, as the Israelites did, we must think of the House of God, of the plan beneath its ruins, and the worship He requires. This building of private houses has stopped the dew of Heaven. There is much talk of Pentecost, but who sees it ? This building of private tabernacles has brought darkness down on the Mount of Transfiguration. Our programme in the Church must be JESUS ONLY. H II 4 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. This work of re-edification requires the heart and hands of all the people of God : not only the ministry, but all the people in mass, everyone in his place. Then, when the ancient lines have been retraced and the ruins restored, we may wait confidently for the glory of the cloud and the power of the presence. Thus real Church testimony would be rendered and all those glorious laws of power, now latent, be called into vigour, by which alone the kingdom of Satan can be overcome. Seek, then, the old paths. Wait not in Jericho, but in Jerusalem ; build not sects, but the House of God ; watch for deliverance, not from yourselves but from the shining forth of God, the Holy Spirit. If you prefer, however, to take your own ways and think your own thoughts you are free to do so ; but, thank God, there is a law according to which you cannot divide for ever. You divide the Church, you may possibly carry your divisions into the congregation of your own soul ; but in the Kingdom of God division has no place unity is its law of gravitation. Meanwhile sin calls for chastisements deep calleth unto deep. Rome has a mission to you ; she says : unite a dozen little sects at your own door, even while preparing to subdivide tauntingly cry, " unite." The politician, the philosopher, the sociologist recoil before your division, and Italy, after its successful struggle for unity, forbids you to settle down into diminutive vaticans, with their relative primacies, inquisitions, and infallibilities. The Holy Spirit is not blessing denominations in Italy as such. He is recognizing individuals whenever He can do so, and is thus keeping the truth alive until His time has come for resting bodily upon believers who are of one heart and of one mind. In such a moment, " whereunto we have already attained," by that same rule let us walk. This is the present limit of our liability, to which, if we are faithful, light shall reach us as we meet the difficulties which successively arise "even this shall God rei>eal unto you." So shall our " path be as the dawn, shining more and more unto the perfect day," " till we attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God." ADDRESS BY THE REV. WILLIAM BURT, D.D. 115 ADDRESS BY THE REV. WILLIAM BURT, D.D., OF ROME. THIS is not the time or place to sound the denominational trumpet, nor to boast of our personal work. Now it becomes us, it seems to me, to look over the whole Evangelical field, and in the light of our experience in that field ask what are the difficulties, and what are the means most efficient for accomplishing the work proposed. The Christian world knows how important is the Evangelical work in Italy. Here we contend, not only for the cause of Christ and humanity in Italy, but in the entire world. We know, also, how great, powerful, astute, and implacable is our enemy, the Papacy. It is true that it has not all the worldly means that it once possessed, though it still has enough. Permit me, however, to say frankly that in spite of all these worldly means, all this power and cunning, the greatest obstacle to the Gospel in Italy is not so much the Papacy as the Evangelicals themselves. I cannot here give the history of Evangelization in Italy, though this would furnish the clearest proofs of my assertion, but I will simply and frankly say a few things which I have learned during five years of study in the field itself. i. There is much that we could and should do together as Evan- gelical Churches, but there is a lack of the true spirit of union. There are those who speak of and apparently exert themselves to effect this union, but generally speaking these mean uniformity to their methods rather than unity, and they are intolerant of those who do not conform to their ideas. There is a spirit of egotism, of prestige, and of pre- tension, which wishes to rule over others instead of admitting them to fraternal equality. True unity begins with union of heart, of scope, and of principle, leaving to each the liberty to adopt those means which may seem to him the most effective, provided that they are not contrary to the Word of God. Here is the basis of a true union among the Evangelicals of Italy, and united we would be strong. The history of Protestantism teaches us that union is possible, and of very great advantage ; but that uniformity is impossible, and that the efforts to effectuate it are injurious to Evangelical work. We have before us, in the Papacy, the Giant Goliath well armed from head to foot, who challenges the most valiant of the army of I I 'i EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. Israel. Who will vanquish him ? Perhaps some other giant among us ? But where is this giant in the Evangelical camp ? Behold a David called of God ! The youngest of all, and somewhat small of stature, but he is full of courage and certain of victory, because full of faith in God. The giant despised David because he was young, and Saul and the others, seeing how small he was, tried to dissuade him from his intention to meet the giant. FinaUy, however, seeing the persistence of David, the king caused him to be armed with his own armour. But David said, I cannot walk with these because I have not tried them. And David chose from the brook five smooth stones, and, with his sling in hand, said to the Philistine, " I come to you in the name of the Lord." The giant fell with his face to the earth. From that moment began the popularity of David, and the consequent envy and hatred of Saul. Why could not the great and magnificent Saul do that which David did ? Because the power of God was no longer with the proud and pretentious king, but with the humble and trusting shepherd lad. If the Lord should call into our camp a David, who among us would wish to take the position of Saul, and insist that the newly called David wear our armour? Our success in this work is not a question of nationality, nor of denomination, nor of prestige, but of our fidelity to God. And if we truly love God we shall love each other, and be united at the Cross of Jesus, and there will be the consequent fraternal equality. 2. In my opinion we have sought too much to make the people Protestants rather than sincere and living Christians. In order to have numbers we have not always been sufficiently careful about the genuine character of those whom we have taken into the Evangelical Churches. And sometimes we have not respected as we should have done the rights of each other in the passage of members from one Church to another. The desire has been to make a good show to the committees in charge, and especially to the foreign committees, in order to stimulate the contributions. This has greatly damaged the work in two senses. We have lowered our ideal of the work, and we have inscribed as members of the Church those who are Christians only in name, and who have brought discredit to the cause. The statistics have been enlarged in order not to make a bad show, but in the end we have not only made a bad show, but have positively injured the work. ADDRESS BY THE REV. WILLIAM BURT, D.D. 117 3. We have made a mistake in Italy by neglecting the lay-element in the work of Evangelization. In the Romish Church the priests do all, and are, in fact, the substitutes of the people. Sometimes I have thought that it was almost the same in some of our Evangelical Churches. The ministers preach, pray, and, in fact, do all, while the brothers and sisters of the Church are mute. Have they nothing to say ? Has not Andrew found the Messiah ? Why, then, does he not go and find his brother Simon ? Must he first go and find a minister who has a diploma from some Theological School, and who has been regularly consecrated ? If we have tasted of the grace of God we are all apostles and missionaries of Jesus Christ. Last month I had the great privilege to be present in one of the popular Evangelistic services in the city of Geneva. How beautiful and cheering it was to see so many distinguished laymen zealously occupied in the work of the Lord ! Speaking with the distinguished president, Count St. George, he said, " I do not believe in ruts, but I do believe in rails." For many here in Italy the argument that closes all is, " We have always done so, and, therefore, no change in our methods of Evangelization can be approved." Brethren, the Lord has wonderfully blessed in these last days the work of the laity, the men and women of the Church. But some one says, In Italy we have no laymen, or very few, capable of speaking in public. It is certain we shall never have them with the present system of exclusiveness. 4. To have perfect communion and co-operation there is too great a distance between minister and people. As ministers we are willing to be doctors, professors, directors, teachers, and I know not what else, while we forget that we are called to be shepherds, ministers, and servants of the flock of Christ, sent to save the lost and re- conduct to the right way the erring. 5. In conclusion, I must say that in the so-called Evangelical Work in Italy, we hear Vittle or nothing about the Holy Ghost and His work in the conversion of souls. Here, probably, is the principal reason why there are so few spiritual conversions. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you, ye must be Il8 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. born again." In the presence of so many and so great difficulties, we are weak if we have not the Divine Spirit. We are often face to face with those possessed and tormented by the devil, and although disciples of Jesus, we are not able to cast him out. We have not the power. What can we do without the divine fire, the power of God ? It is not enough that we are Protestants by birth, that we have been baptized by evangelical ministers, or that we have regularly completed all our studies as theologians. We have need of some- thing else that comes alone from God. May God pour upon us the Holy Spirit ! ADDRESS BY SIGNOR VARNIER, OF MESSINA. ADDRESSING this august assembly, I feel I would rather abstain from referring in any way to my personal history, but for the develop- ment of the subject on which I am called upon to speak, I am obliged to touch on a few points in connection with it. Brought up most rigidly in all the tenets, superstitions, and practices of the Church of Rome, and joining at an early age one of its religious Orders of the strictest discipline, I determined to devote my life to Missionary labours in heathen lands. Ordained a priest, and while yet in Rome finishing my theological and controversial studies, I was directed to learn the English language, with a view of working among the English Protestants for their conversion to the Church of Rome. At that time the many secessions from the Church of England to the Church of Rome, consequent on the Tractarian movement, had raised up the long-cherished hopes of the Papacy of re-conquering England to the Church of Rome ; and all efforts were being made by the Jesuits to favour that movement, by setting at work all possible agencies, and multiplying Missions in Protestant England. Our English friends may not know that Rome attaches the highest importance to subduing and re-conquering England to the Papacy. Rightly or wrongly it is believed in Rome, that if Protestantism be crushed and stamped out in England, it will die away in every other country. England is considered as the great bulwark of the Protestant faith, and the mainstay of all Protestant Institutions, Missionary Societies, Bible Societies, and other Gospel agencies ADDRESS BY SIGNOR VARNIER. IIQ throughout all countries. If so much energy, activity, earnestness, zeal, devotion, and above all, wealth, which England devotes to the cause of Protestantism, could be taken hold of by, and made subservient to the cause of the Church of Rome, the Papacy would completely triumph over Protestantism, and stamp it out in all other countries. Animated by zeal for the conversion of Hindoos and Mahomedans, but above all for the conversion of English Protestants to the Church of Rome, I left for India. There I set to work earnestly and bonb- fide, having learnt the languages of the land indispensable for the work, but my chiefest charge was for English work. It is not here the place to say by what providential circumstances the Lord brought about my conversion to the Gospel of His dear Son, drawing and rescuing me from darkness to His marvellous light. I published a little book at the time of my conversion " Why I left the Church of Rome." Suffice it to say that it pleased God of His infinite mercy to draw me to the excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus and the power of His grace, by the very means I was employing to draw Protestants to the darkness and superstitions of Rome. Nor let it be supposed that I was ignorant of the Bible. I was acquainted indeed with its letter, and had studied it in its original languages, but I did not know its spirit. A Roman Catholic does not read the Bible to find therein the mind of God and the teachings of the Holy Spirit ; but he reads it to find therein the mind and the teachings of his Church. Received into the Church of England, and Licensed by Bishop Cotton, of Calcutta, I was sent to open the Patna Mission for Hindoos and Mahomedans in connection with one of the Church of England's Missionary Societies. But from the time of my conversion, I felt an ardent desire to return to this land of ours, and devote all my poor energies, all my life, in promoting a thorough Reformation of the Church in Italy. But alas ! at that time our dear Italy was split into petty kingdoms, tyrannized over by petty princes in alliance with the Papacy. Sicily, my native island, was groaning under the oppression of the Bourbon Government, and in total spiritual darkness. No native of the land was allowed to profess the religion of the Gospel, much less to preach or to teach it to others. The Italian Bible was a proscribed book there, no less than it was here. The only bright spot in all Italy 120 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. was little Piedmont. In this state of things I had but to pray, and wait the Lord's time if He would use me in His blessed Gospel cause in my native land. This time, however, came. It pleased God to grant that the Italians should realize their long aspirations of political emancipation, freedom, and national unity. Constituted into one great, free, and united nation under the sway of the glorious house of Savoy, every citizen was free to return to his home, and profess whatever form of religion his conscience dictated. As soon as I could conveniently do so, I obtained leave from the Bishop and the Missionary Society I belonged to, and came to Europe. In England I made known my purposes and my plans to some kind Christian friends, who were interested in the spiritual restoration of Italy by a thorough Reforma- tion of ils Church, just as they had rejoiced at Italy's political regeneration. Helped by them, I left England for Italy, my ultimate destination being Sicily, where I had fixed the field of my operations, and from where, if blessed by the Lord, they would be extended to other places. With a view of ascertaining what prospects there were to effect a thorough Reformation of the Church of Italy, I visited some of its principal towns, exploring the views, ideas, tendencies, and dispositions of the clergy and laity to that effect, and their actual state of religious thought and religious aspirations. The idea of Church Reformation I had cherished for Italy was that it should be effected from within, and not from without ; that it should be a corporate Reformation brought about by a national impulse of a want deeply felt for a purer, higher, and spiritual Church life ; a return to the primitive Gospel doctrine,* faith, discipline, and Evangelical simplicity of worship, which distinguished the Church at Rome in Apostolic times, when the faith of the Roman Christians was spoken of throughout the world. Just as Italy had effected its political emancipation from within, inspired by the deeply felt want of being a great, free, and united people ; so a similar felt want of a purer and more spiritual life should lead them to effect the Reformation of their Church. But alas ! I was very sadly disappointed in my expectations, and soon I perceived that such a Reformation, as I had designed in my mind, was impossible. In ascertaining the real state of religious ADDRESS BY SIGNOR VARNIER. 121 thought, tendencies, and aspirations both of clergy and people in the different towns of Italy and Sicily, I found there was a desire indeed for a Reformation ; but their ideas of Church Reformation did not rise above simple Ecclesiastical Reformation. It was a Reformation of forms, a simplification of Ritual ; the performance of the Church Services in the language of the people ; the abolition of enforced celibacy, and restoration of the right of marriage to the clergy ; a limitation of Papal and Episcopal power over clergy and people ; the suppression of gross abuses in the Church, and such-like externals. But as for a Spiritual Reformation, a return of the Church to the Spirit and the purposes of the Gospel ; to a renovation of mind and heart in its members in accordance with the revealed Will of God, feeding in, and abiding by His Word ; to a higher spiritual and inner life hidden with Christ in God, seeking communion with Him in faith and acceptance through the blood of Christ, of this Reforma- tion, the real, indispensable and needed Spiritual Reformation of the Church in Italy, neither clergy nor laity seemed to think of it or have any conception of it. In fact, all the attempts made, and the religious movements set on foot, by good and well-meaning men, in several towns of Italy, both enlightened and liberal priests and laymen, did not go beyond the limits of Ecclesiastical Reformation. In my inter- views with some of them, I was told that for the present it was not safe to touch Dogma ; neither clergy nor laity were prepared to go thus far in Italy ; but they thought that Ecclesiastical Reformation would lead, in time, to Spiritual Reformation. I frankly expressed my own convictions to them that I thought they were beginning at the wrong end. Spiritual Reformation would surely carry with it Ecclesiastical Reformation ; but the past has shown that Ecclesiastical Reformation has seldom, if ever, led to a pure Gospel and Spiritual Reformation. It was on these lines that the work was initiated by me at Messina, in the year 1863. At first, a few personal friends gathered round me, anxious to know what reasons had induced me to leave the Communion of the Church of Rome. This I told in a series of addresses or lectures, affording me the opportunity of contrasting the Church of the Gospel with the present Church of Rome, and thus of preaching to them the grand vital truths of eternal life. 122 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. My house was open at all hours to inquirers after the truth, amongst whom there were not a few Priests, and I was ready, by God's help, to answer questions, to solve doubts, to evangelize, and to witness for Christ. Thus a nucleus of believers was formed, and the work began to assume a shape. At this time, by God's providence, the Rev. Signor Scuderi was called by the Lord to see the errors of the Church of "Rome and to believe the Gospel. And he, faithful to the Divine call, renouncing his living and benefice in the Church of Rome, joined me in the work of evangelization among our country- men. From this time our plans assumed a definite shape, and our method of evangelization a definite form. Our work is undenominational, our aim not that of organizing Churches. This we leave to those Evangelical bodies and Churches already in the land, who will follow on our wake, and gather in those that have believed through our preaching. Our aim is to draw people to Christ, to realize His Divine power as a personal Saviour. To do this we go among the people and try to make friends of them. We have found by experience that it is not by preaching in buildings and halls that the masses can be reached. We must go to them, as the Apostles did. We avoid controversy as far as possible, and when it is forced upon us, we conduct it in a calm and friendly spirit. We have found by experience that preaching the Word in faith, "Christ, the power of God;" "repentance and remission of sins in His Name," and reconciliation with God through His blood, walking henceforth in newness of life these are the grand truths that have power of converting the hearts and winning the day. It is thus that by preaching the Gospel through good report and evil report, by scattering broadcast the Divine seed of the Word everywhere, in open-air places, in house-to-house visitations, in rail- way waiting-rooms and carriages when travelling, in places of public resort, in conversation rooms, in hospitals, in factories, and wherever we can get opportunities of reaching individuals or a body of people with the Gospel message, by endeavouring to use all such influences and means in our power to enlighten the masses, we contribute our mite towards preparing the materials for the building of God's spiritual temple, a pure Gospel Church in our dear land. ADDRESS BY THE REV. GORDON GRAY, D.D. 123 ADDRESS BY THE REV. GORDON GRAY, D.D., OF ROME. THE Presbyterian Church in Italy differs in one respect from all the other Churches, whose representatives have just spoken. While its special work lies among English-speaking residents and visitors, it has always abstained from setting up any mission of its own. The wise founder of its various stations very early in his experience of Evangelical work in Italy, came to the conclusion that " the Italians would do the work best themselves." His life work, so admirably summed up in "The Italian Campaign," was nought but the consistent application of that principle. In this respect the late Dr. Stewart was thoroughly supported, not only by his own branch of the Church in Scotland but by the Presbyterian Churches of the world. I must refer to the share which the Presbyterian Church has thus far borne in the great movement. Its stations in Italy are five in number. Leghorn was established as far back as 1845, Florence followed in 1849, Genoa in 1854, Rome in 1859, and Naples in 1861. Not one of these stations has been without its work among Italians, though the principle has been steadfastly adhered to that they "can do best for themselves." I do not now allude to the work done among English seamen at the ports of Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples. A special place has been assigned on the programme for reference to that important work, which after all belongs to and benefits foreign nationalities. Our Church has given itself largely to educational work. Dr. Stewart, in addition to his many labours on behalf of the Waldensian Church, established in Leghorn elementary schools, through which hundreds of young people have passed and have obtained an acquaintance with Evangelical truth. Naples station has been even more remark- able for the numbers of young people that have been brought under Evangelical influences by the same means. Though the actual additions to the membership of the churches have not been numerous through these schools, a wide field has been prepared for the colporteur and the evangelist. Prejudices have been dissipated. It has been made far easier for many to profess the Evangelical faith 124 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. and identify themselves with one of the Evangelical Churches. I do not mention Florence in connection with school work because our station here is an illustration of what another of our ministers has been able to do for another Italian Church. The labours of Mr. MacDougall on behalf of the Evangelical Church of Italy (better known as the Free Italian Church) have laid that Church under the deepest obligations. He has been very largely instrumental in making it what it is. There is not a school nor congregation connected with it that does not owe much to his energy and zeal. AH the influence which he has gained during these many years as minister of the Scotch Church here he has without stint devoted to the Free Church of Italy. What Dr. Stewart has been to the Waldensian Church Mr. MacUougall has become to the Free Italian Church. The two Churches of the country, most thoroughly Italian in their origin and direction, are thus generally acknowledged to have become what they are in large measure through the self-denying and most devoted labours of two Presbyterian ministers. And so the special function which our Church believes has been assigned to her has been doubly fulfilled, while manifest proof has been given of the liberty which she allows to her sons who serve her, always within the limitation that has been already more than once alluded to. This sketch would be still imperfect if I did not allude to what our Church has been honoured to do in connection with the education of girls of the belter classes. In Naples and Rome there exist schools of this character. As our minister from Naples will speak on this subject, I do not enter into detail. It may suffice to say that some 270 girls are receiving an education based on evangelical principles at these two schools, of whom by far the larger number are in the Naples schools. Among these girls are to be found daughters of noblemen, senators, deputies, officers of the army and navy. One of the special benefits that cannot fail to flow from such work, is the bringing of an element into the Churches which will tend to make them self-supporting. We are gathering the elements on which the Churches are to work, and we shall be only too glad to pass them on to those who can utilise them. In regard to the work of the Evangelical Churches in Italy, as hitherto carried out, there has always seemed to me to be a very ADDRESS BY THE REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. 125 great want, one, too, which could be so easily supplied. Local branches of this Alliance in all the leading cities would be of great service in the direction which I am to indicate ; and I trust that one of the fruits of this General Conference will be the thorough establishment of such branches, each with its monthly united prayer- meeting connected witli it, and with its joint evangelistic efforts as well, because prayer and work should go together. COUNT CAMPELLO, who hoped to have been able to attend all the meetings of the Alliance, and to take a prominent part in them, was, to the deep regret of all, seized with illness, and was only able to be present at one meeting that held on the evening of Tuesday, the 7th of April. On that occasion he was too ill to say more than a very few words. He was followed by one of his young evangelists and preachers, the Rev. Ugo^Jani, from San Remo. The Rev. Alexander Robertson, of Venice, introduced Count Campello to the meeting. Time only permitted him to give a much curtailed address. We asked him, however, to write out his notes, which he consented to do, and we here give them in full, as they tell in a succinct form the story of the Count's life and labours. COUNT CAMPELLO'S CATHOLIC REFORM MOVEMENT, BY THE REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. CONTE Enrico di Campello is well known throughout Italy and beyond the bounds of the Peninsula as an able preacher and evangelist, a courageous reformer, and a patient sufferer for the cause of liberty, truth and righteousness. To him it has been given, as it was to Paul and to the Philippians of old, " in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Count Campello was brought up in the Church of Rome. About forty years ago, when he was a young man of twenty, he was constrained, much against his will, to enter the ranks of the Roman Priesthood, under that unwritten, but then almost universally obeyed, law by which every family was expected to give a son to the Church. 126 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. Whilst never reconciled to his position, he determined from the first to make the most of it, and to lead an active, useful life. This determination, coupled with his great natural abilities, his scholar- ship, his earnest Christian character, and his frank and sympathetic disposition, opened for him a clerical career of great promise. In 1 86 1 he was made a Canon in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, a position which he held for six years. During that time he founded evening schools in Rome for young apprentices, and did missionary work amongst the boatmen of the Tiber, in addition to discharging all the offices of his canonry. Indeed, his activities in an educational and evangelistic direction outside his official duties rendered him obnoxious to his brother Canons, who, in contempt, called him the " black canon." But the " black canon " soon left them all behind, for in 1867 Pio Nono bestowed upon him a canonry in St Peter's. Count Campello was then thirty-six years old, and was the first ever appointed to such an honourable position at so young an age. It was whilst holding this canonry that he began his work as a reformer. The difference between the Catholic Church of Italy of early centuries, and the Roman Catholic Church of the nineteeth, painfully pressed itself upon his mind. In those early times the Church was free. The people elected their priests, and the priests and people elected their bishops, and there was no Pope, and no curia of ambitious worldly-minded cardinals to lord it over God's heritage. Then the Church was pure. The monstrous claims and irrational doctrines of the Church of Rome, which make her to-day the enemy of education, of liberty, of righteousness, of almost every principle that is essential to human progress, were unknown. The idea of a return to the Church of primitive times took possession of the Count. He talked to others of this. He found many at one with him. And so a Reformation Society was started inside the walls of the Vatican itself. But Count Campello soon discovered that it is an impossibility to effect reform inside the pale of the Church of Rome. Those whose interest it is to keep things as they are will listen to no argument in that direction, and will scruple at the adoption of no means to crush those who do. Why, even the Pope himself is only a puppet in the hands of the curia, and dare not cross their will. He is free within a certain circle, if he oversteps that he ADDRESS BY THE REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. 127 gets a cup of poison. The Reformation Society was destroyed. Some of its members were coaxed into acquiescence in the existing state of things, others were driven into submission, and others were buried alive in obscure parishes where they could exercise no influence. Count Campello was examined, and threatened, and flattered. At last the prospect of a cardinal's hat was held out to him. Nothing, however, could move him from the cause of reform. But now, having for a long time been convinced that inside the pale of the Church of Rome he could never accomplish much, he nobly resolved to sacrifice everything, to resign his canonry, to turn his back on his brilliant ecclesiastical career, to separate himself from all his old friends and associations, and, shaking himself free of all trammels and obligations, to stand forth, though he should do so singly and alone, before his countrymen as the champion of Italian Catholic Reform. On the i3th September, 1881, he broke with the Papacy, and went forth from the Vatican, with all its pomp and luxury, never again to enter it. During the past ten years Count Campello has laboured in Italy in the cause of Reform, that is to say, he is seeking to bring about in his native land a reformation such as was brought about in England in the sixteenth century. Briefly stated, the chief things in his pro- gramme are these the rejection of Papal supremacy, of Mariolatry, of Saint worship, of Purgatory, of the Mass, of compulsory auricular confession, of celibacy in the clergy, and of Latin in the Church Service. He holds the leading doctrines of Protestantism, and the Episcopal order of Sacraments and Government. He demands that all Church Services be conducted in the mother tongue, and that the bible should form the subject of public and private reading and study. Like Wycliffe, he believes " that every man's guide should be in every man's hand." Count Campello is therefore virtually one with all of us now present, and with the different Churches we represent, in all that is essential in our faith, whilst differing from some of us as to the secondary matters of policy and ceremony. There is one feature in his mode of working to which I especially want to draw attention. He conducts services on Church lines and on Evangelistic lines, but whilst doing so he keeps them strictly apart. There is no confound- ing of the one with the other. The Church Services are held in his 128 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. chapels, when robes and liturgy are used, and the worshippers are, for the most part, enrolled members. His Evangelistic Services are held in schoolrooms, barns, private houses, and in the open air. At them robes, liturgy, and all the formalities of a Church Service are laid aside. By means of an Italian flag, or a hand-bell, or hand bills, the passer-by is invited to attend. Sankey's hymns are sung, and short pithy Gospel Addresses are delivered by several speakers. By means of these services the Gospel is carried to the people, and thousands are made to hear the good news for the first time. I think the distinction here drawn by Count Campello between Church and Evangelistic Services is one to a great extent lost sight of in Italy. In Presbyterian and kindred Churches the so-called Sunday or Week-night Evangelistic Service generally differs in no particular from the Sunday morning one. It is conducted in the Church, by the Pastor alone, who preaches a sermon, and observes in other particulars his usual Church order. The result often is that the attendance is simply his Sunday one reduced in numbers. Members and adherents of his congregation are there, but outsiders are not reached nor brought in. I think, then, it would be well if many of us in Italy learned a lesson from Count Campello as to the way of conducting Evangelistic Services, and if we could hold many such in every quarter of the land. The adaptation of Count Campello's Catholic Reform Work to meet the present needs of Italy is very apparent. Wherever he plants a cause success attends it It was so in the Valnerina, where his headquarters are, at Terni, at San Remo. It could not be otherwise. Although Italy is the centre and shrine of the Papacy, it is no longer a Papal country. Secondly, for intellectual reasons. The unprofitable- ness of a service of ceremony conducted in a tongue known neither to priest nor worshipper, which is often the case, is apparent. The young intellect of the land denounces it as a mockery. Thirdly, for moral reasons. No class in Italy, as the records of police courts and parish registers testify, surpasses the priests in looseness of morals. The great fact of marriage having been taken out of the hands of the Church and made a civil rite ; of education being now national and secular, and entirely outside the control of the priests, who are no longer employed as teachers ; the fact of public charities being now ADDRESS BY THE REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. 129 removed from the control of the Church, and being administered by lay government commissions, on which it is illegal for a priest to hold a seat ; the passing of those clauses in the new penal code which threaten with fine, imprisonment, and dismissal from office, any minister of religion who talks against the unity of Italy and its con- stitution ; all show the attitude of bitter hostility that exists between the king and Pope, the Quirinal and the Vatican, the State and the Church in Italy, and also show that the people are masters of the situation, and have chosen their king and country, and have repudi- ated the Pope and the Papal Church. But whilst they have thus thrown off Popery, they have not thrown off religion. Their religious instincts are strong as ever. This is seen in the fact that they are printing the Bible for themselves, and that its circulation is every year increasing. Nor have they thrown off Catholicism. They have ceased to be Roman Catholics, they have not ceased to be Catholics. And so it is just here that Count Campello's Reformed Catholicism conies in to meet and to satisfy what is fast becoming a national demand. Again, the Ecclesiastical Property Law of Italy favours a Reforma- tion on Count Campello's lines. All Church property belongs to the State. The Papacy as a Church owns not a stone in the land. The State lends that property to the people for religious purposes. It rests with the people to say of what nature these services shall be. The moment they demand a Reformed worship the Churches are theirs in which to conduct it. At Mount Orfano, near the Lake of Maggiore, this law was lately put in force, and a Protestant service is now being conducted in the Parish Church. At present there is a widespread state of callousness and indifference. There is nothing to move the nation as a whole religiously. But things cannot con- tinue as they are. The State cannot for ever recognize and support in its midst a Church which is its most b'itter and most dangerous foe. The Papal guarantee clauses in the Constitution of 1870 can- not always remain in force. They have long been denounced by the Italian nation as " infamous." And so, should a national crisis arise, should Italy be involved in war, she will then turn fiercely upon her internal foe. Roman Catholicism will no longer be the national Church of the land, but if the State continues to recognize a Church at all it must be one on the lines of Count Campello's movement i 130 EVANGELIZATION IN ITALY. a Reformed Italian Catholic Church. Should such a crisis arise soon, Count Campello's present labours are preparing the people for it. Should it not come, his labours themselves are bringing about this Church Reformation, only slowly and peacefully. Men flock to his standard wherever he can plant it. At present his resources are very limited, and utterly inadequate to the necessities of the case. Italy needs to be evangelized, to be Christianized. But a fraction of the twenty millions at present outside Roman Catholicism has been gathered within the pale of any other Church. Not a few Evangelical Churches and Societies, strong in numbers, and in resources, and in the sympathies of Christians in England and America, are at work in Italy. Count Campello, I know, rejoices in that fact. His presence here this evening is a proof of it, and of his desire to recognize and to co-operate with all who, though they wear different uniforms and carry different ensigns, are yet fighting for the same cause, under the same great Captain ; and I trust that all here regard Count Campello in the same way. Let us seek to put in this way into practice everywhere and always the spirit of the Evangelical Alliance, under whose auspices we are here met. Let us seek to embody in our lives the spirit Paul manifested when he said, " Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice ; yea, and will rejoice," and so hasten on the day when this land of Italy, so long sunk in ignorance, and superstition, and idolatry, shall be brought back to its primitive state of Christian knowledge and of Christian worship, in which its early inhabitants rejoiced ; and which made them blessed, and a blessing to many nations around. 13* WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1891. FIRST SECTION. THE REV. BP. WALDEN.D.D. (UNITED STATES) PRESIDED. Jiibiue Eutijoritg of l$$lr> g>wpwre. PAPER BY THE REV. PROFESSOR R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LLB., OF LONDON. ALL Evangelical Christians will unite in recognizing the Divine authority of Holy Scripture. They will differ very considerably from one another when they make the attempt to formulate the grounds of that authority. Our Lord Jesus Christ in discoursing with the Jews employed language which must have been clearly understood by them to mean that there was a Divine authority in the written word which forced them to receive it as a statute or commandment, to be obeyed not discussed, when once the voice was distinctly heard. " The Scripture cannot be broken" said the Saviour (ou Swarai XvQrjvai / ypa^tj). That is to say, there is no possibility, in consistency with the position of a true ^Israelite, a true child of God, a true citizen of the Divine Commonwealth, of escaping the obligation to accept as true what God says in the Scripture, and to submit to the written Word as a final court of appeal. We take it for granted that in some or other meaning of the words there is a divine authority in Holy Scripture. In claiming for the collection of writings which we call the Bible, divine authority, we wish to escape at the same time the "Scylla" of a rationalistic Individualism and the " Charybdis " of mere ecclesiastical dogmatism. 132 THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. We think it is not necessary to be drawn in by either to the destruc- tion of our Faith and of our Freedom. We cannot satisfy ourselves with a definition of authority which seems to exclude the main fact that God has given to us a special and positive revelation in the Scriptures. To say, as many are saying, the authority of the Bible is the authority of Truth itself, Truth recognized as truth, and therefore binding upon the reason and conscience, the authority of Scripture in its commanding power over me is not enough. That is only one side of the matter. The subjective must have an objective corres- ponding to it. Nor are we much helped to define authority when we are told that the Word of God is in Scripture, but the Word of God is not identical with Scripture. The Bible makes no claim to be the sole and exclu- sive means of divine communication with mankind. God speaks to His creatures in many ways and with many voices. There is no single sentence in the Scriptures which can be rightly interpreted to mean that there is no other source of divine light than the pages of the Bible, nor is there any possibility of defining the exact limits of Scripture by the words of Scripture. Moreover, when we speak of divine authority, it must be clearly understood that verbal infallibility is not meant, nor are we bound to acknowledge the seal of a canon- ical imprimatur put upon a certain collection of writings. We may rightly and reverently enquire, What is Scripture? In answering such a question we entirely disclaim all ecclesiastical authority as such. We may agree with the Canon, but divine authority is to us something far higher than decrees of councils. Another preliminary point is this divine authority of Holy Scrip- ture does not mean the absolutely uniform value of every book of Scripture, and of every portion of every book. There was a distinction preserved among the ancient Jews between the Law and the Prophets, and between the Prophets and the Holy Writings or Hagiographa. All had divine authority, but all did not stand upon the same level. The Pentateuch lay at the foundation, the Prophets were built upon it, and the Hagiographa was a kind of supplement, confirming and filling up the grand outlines. The divine authority of the Apostle Paul's epistles is not destroyed by the admission that an argument, ADDRESS BY REV. PROFESSOR R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LL.B. 133 or an analogy, or an allegory, or form of speech, is peculiarly Pauline. The divine authority of the Mosaic writings is not destroyed by the admission that a superseded theory of the physical universe appears in their language. We cannot identify divine authority with mere details of external form. Holy men of God spake and wrote as they were moved (^ipo/aven) impelled and guided, by the Holy Ghost. The men were inspired, and the people to whom they spake were inspired ; the authority was both in the messenger and the message, and as preserved and handed down to us, it was both in those who ministered in God's name and those who testified to their message. Unless we believe in a providential superintendence by which the Scriptures have been preserved to us, we shall find ourselves compelled to be satisfied with an external argument very far from complete. And the form of that principle of providential care of the Scriptures, if it is not to fall into a mere blind acquiescence in tradition, must spring from the Bible itself. The internal authority and the external authority mutually confirm and support each other. Our position, then, is this the Divine authority of Holy Scripture is the authority of the Spirit of God, the authority of divine facts, the authority of special divine grace, the authority of a divine testimony in the Church, and lastly, the authority of manifest superiority and supreme success in the world. I. The divine authority of Holy Scripture is the authority of the Spirit of God. No one will deny the fact of Inspiration. No one will refuse to admit that some of God's servants have been lifted above others in knowledge and enlightenment. If such men, inspired men, have written books, it is no unreasonable demand that we should place such books above other books. If you find that there are books, now included in the Bible, which have been made books of final appeal in matters of faith and practice by believers, distinctly on the ground that they are given by Inspiration of God, that to the Jews before the time of Christ they were the books of " the Oracles of God" committed to them, and to the Christians after the time of Christ, they were set apart from all other writings as the Law of Christ for His people on the same ground, that they were given by inspiration ; then such writings certainly come to us with the seal of the Spirit upon them. If we have any doubt as to any individual IJ4 THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. writing, we shall appeal to the same Spirit of God to guide us to a decision respecting it, asking to be led into the truth in deepest humility and reverence. It is not necessary, however, to dwell upon this part of the subject. As a general principle it is sufficient to state it. All Scripture that is given by Inspiration of God has divine authority. The divine authority of the Bible claims inspiration for a particular collection of sacred books. Therefore, the stress of proof must lie on the evidence which attaches to the books. II. The divine authority of Holy Scripture is the authority of divine facts on which they rest, and which are the substance of them. Christianity is a body of facts, it is a kingdom of God on the earth. As such there must be an authoritative history on which it rests, and that history is in the Bible; there must be an authoritative institution of the kingdom, an authoritative exposition of its nature and laws, the Bible comes to us as such. It is emphatically the Book of the Kingdom, published in the name of the King. Every one of the sacred writers professes to speak with authority, and those to whom he spake and who gave his writing the place it holds in the sacred volume acknowledged that authority. The Bible comes to us as a State Book, with the stamp of the Divine Government upon it. If any portion of it is challenged, it must be on the distinct ground that it is not genuinely that which it is said to be, and which its place in the volume asserts for it. We hear a great deal in these days about evolution. The Law of Continuity is much in men's thoughts. No one can deny that there is a close connection of continuity between Christianity and the antecedent Judaism. There is a line of facts which culminated in Jesus Christ and in the Christian Church. Looking back over the fifteen centuries which preceded the appearance of our Lord in Palestine, if we take the books of the Old Testament as representing those centuries, and coming out of them at different intervals, it is easy to recognize in the succession of books a marvellous unity, a continuity, and a manifest fulfilment in the Gospel. The Old Testament and the New are mutually interpretative. Each is the complement of the other. Christians with the New Testament in their hands still find the Old Testament full of divine teaching, and see in it an authority which clothes itself afresh with the Spirit of Christ, in the Gospels and Epistles, but is substantially the same. ADDRESS BY REV. PROFESSOR R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LL.B. 135 And the Bible as the Book of our Religion stands quite apart from all other religious books identified with religious life. In the Eastern world there are religions and religious books, but there is nothing like the Bible. In the cases of Hinduism, Buddhism, Con- fucianism, Parseeism, Taouism, or any other heathen religion, the religion has grown out of the books or out of the teaching of an individual, but there is no divine history on which the books them- selves are founded at all comparable to what we find in Holy Scripture. There is a wonderful course of facts in Scripture, and they form the substance of the Book, and they culminate in the one supreme and pre-eminently Divine fact, the sum of all previous facts and the beginning of the New world, the manifestation of Jesus Christ. The books of the East are not at all like the Bible : they are prayers, songs, ritual, in their earliest form simple, devout, elementary, religious teaching and worship. But most of the sacred books of Eastern Religions are commentaries upon other sacred books, books of complicated ritual, developments, philosophical treatises, remains of great religious sages, rules of common life. There is no parallel anywhere to what we find in Holy Scripture, that is, an historical germ traced from its beginning to its full growth and firm establishment in the earth, the Kingdom of God shadowed forth on the first pages of Genesis, described in its development in connexion with the history of God's ancient people, and then at last, in fulfilment of distinct predictions of Old Testament Prophets, set up as an everlasting kingdom in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can we compare with this, for one moment, the story of Gautama, the dreamy conversations of Kreeshna and Arjoon in the Bagavad Gita on the mysteries of human life, or the philosophical meditations of Lao-Tse ? Admit there is legendary matter in the Bible, will that destroy the continuity of the great line of facts in the record ? There is no people of whose national life we can say what we must say of the people of Israel, it had a distinctly divine commencement and divine direction. The books written by its great men declare and expound that divine character and destiny of the nation. It was built upon the hope of a personal Messiah. As soon as the kingdom, which was prophetically embodied in the Jewish people, became, visibly, an accomplished fact in the Lord Jesus Christ, the nation, 136 THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. simply as a kingdom of this world, was swept away in the destruction of Jerusalem, and a spiritual kingdom took its place, of which the New Testament is the statute book as well as the historical foundation. The authority of Scripture is the authority of the Tree of Life, which is seen more or less clearly in every book of it, which stands out in the Gospels deeply rooted in humanity, and claiming the whole earth as its sphere. Is there any book in the world which contains in it facts at all comparable in greatness and gloriousness with those of the New Testament ? If such facts are accepted at all, they must be accepted as more closely identified with the Divine Author and Ruler of the Universe than anything else in human history. If Jesus Christ really lived and worked and taught and set up His Kingdom on earth, as the New Testament says He did, then in some supreme sense He must have come forth from God, and His Book, the book which we call " the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" has divine authority amongst men. The New Testament carries the Old Testament with it. As the Apostle Peter said at Caesarea, "to Him give all the prophets witness," and as our Lord Himself said to the Jews, "Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me." We may be tempted sometimes, in our desire to find Christ in all the Scriptures, to read Christian meanings into particular words and phrases and facts, which they will scarcely justify ; but whether we say the Old Testament is full of types and foreshadowings or not, it cannot be denied there is a progressive development in it, a Messianic development, and it is only a very uncandid mind that will hesitate to admit, now that we can place the two volumes side by side, that they stand to one another, as the Epistle to the Hebrews declares, in the relation of shadow and substance. The grandeur of Christ gives divine authority to the whole Bible. It is full of Him from beginning to end. Every page has a watermark in it. Hold it up to the light of the Christian consciousness and you will see that it is the watermark of the divine government, and the sign manual of the King of kings can be recognized in the midst of it. Criticism, with its hard, narrow, and often presumptuous dogmatism, may compel us to change our views or to doubt our old positions, as to the authorship or date of particular books of Scripture, but criticism ADDRESS BY REV. PROFESSOR R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LL.B. 137 cannot overturn the main facts. No one can read such a book as the book of Psalms and not believe that it came from a people very much higher in their religious character than any other, and that behind those sacred songs there is a Law and a history at the root of the national life substantially the same as that described in the Penta- teuch. Such facts are divine, and give divine authority to the Bible. III. The Scriptures are authorized by Divine grace. The books which are collected together in Holy Scripture are not, as some have represented them, mere remains of Jewish literature, they are not an anthology, they are not writings of great literary men or sages, which by their inherent merit have overcome oblivion, and been preserved by the universal reverence of a whole people. They are the religious books of a nation, but they came forth from a portion of the people, a remnant according to the election of grace, whose position was that of steadfast adherence to the Law of God, while the great majority of the nation went astray, walking in their own ways, not daring, it is true, to disown the authority of the Scriptures, but contributing nothing to them, and neglecting the institutions which grew out of them. This was very strikingly seen at the period of the restoration of the Jewish state and religion on the return of the Jews from captivity. There must have been a very much larger number of the people who preferred to remain in the provinces of Persia and mingled themselves with the heathen, than the comparatively small number who were re-settled in Palestine. It was the select few, called out by the grace of God, who started afresh the Jewish nation, and they did so on the basis of the Law of Moses. The fact that the Samaritans claimed to have a Pentateuch of their own, shows that the Mosaic writings Were still acknowledged to be the fundamental Scriptures of the nation. No Jews in Persia set up a different religious authority and standard, while at the same time they were more in numbers, richer and more powerful than the small remnant in Jerusalem. Through eighteen hundred years the Christ- ian Church has been inviting the descendants of those people, scattered over the earth, persecuted and oppressed, to accept Jesus as the true Messiah who fulfilled the Law and the Prophets ; unwilling as they are to occupy the Christian standpoint, they still read and reverence the same Scriptures which predicted their ruin, and to 138 THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. which their own history is a solemn testimony. How could prophets have ministered to such a people ; how could such men as led the work of restoration ; how could Haggai and Jeremiah and Malachi, have secured a hearing and been the voice of God to the whole nation, while in fact surrounded by so small a minority, unless the grace of God had clothed them with a spiritual power which was supreme and indisputable? The seal of conscience is upon the books. Their place in the Bible is a witness to the divine authority which they not only claimed but exercised. The Bible stands on holy ground. Even those who are condemned by its message, and whose sufferings fulfil its predictions, put off their shoes from their feet when they approach it. Afflicted Jews stand and wail against this sacred wall of divine Scripture as they do against the ruins of their Temple at Jerusalem. How different it would be if the Jews had simply gathered together a number of ancient books and said, These are the remains of our literature which flourished through fifteen hundred years these are the writings of our greatest men. In that case we should place such books in the one vast library of human thought and progress, and should see in them no more than contributions of various value and significance to the providential education of the race. But we have only to glance at the Bible to see that it bears no analogy to such a national literature. Not only are all the books deeply imbued with the same religious spirit, but in several instances, particularly among the prophets, there would seem no reason for the preservation of the writing, save that it was the fruit of special grace bestowed on the writer. Unto the Jews were com- mitted these " oracles of truth " as the Apostle Paul has called them. They have come from a small minority who were the Church in the world, the Church in the nation, yea, more, the Church in the Church ; they were spoken to ears divinely opened to hearken, they were uttered by lips touched with a live coal from off the altar of God. Various as they are, both in character and value, they carry with them the authority of that special grace of God which called out the individual writer, and which surrounded him with the few select souls who heard and read and kept the words of his prophecy, and were blessed of God in doing so. And this leads us to another statement of the divine authority of Holy Scripture. We may say, ADDRESS BY REV. PROFESSOR R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LL.B. 139 IV. The Divine authority of the Scriptures is the Divine authority of the Church of God. It does not seem possible to maintain the authority of a positive revelation in sacred writings unless we admit that there is a true Church of God, and has been a true Church from the beginning, to which and by which the revelation is given to the world. God may reveal Himself to a great poet, and his poetry is in a sense a revelation of God to the world, but we cannot attach to the works of a great poet special divine authority. There is an admixture of trutli and error in his writings which deprives them of any claim to be a universal and authoritative standard. But the Bible is the Book of the Church. The authority of Scripture is the authority of the true Church holding forth the Word of Life to the world. Are we, then, in the position of subjection to fellow men, and are we com- pelled to define where the true Church of God begins and ends, and who are its representative leaders ? In the midst of modern eccle- siastical controversies it is absolutely necessary that we understand what we mean by the authority of the Church. There is a Canon of Scripture, but there is no divinely-given Canon. There is an imprimatur on the books which we receive, but there is no obligation on true believers, because they are members of the body of Christ, to recognize the imprimatur of a particular ecclesiastical organization. We have no evidence in the case of the Old Testament writings that any Jewish assembly or council prescribed the exact limits of Scripture. After the time of Moses for many centuries there was no attempt made by the Jewish people to put together their Scriptures. It is true that at the time of the Restoration, under the personal guidance of such men as Ezra and Nehemiah and their companions of what is called the great Synagogue or assembly, there seems to have been some- thing like the formation of a Canon of the Old Testament, but it is impossible to say when it was closed. It was certainly left open for the addition of other writings for a considerable period, and what was gathered together was not stamped by any formal decree as neither to be added to nor taken from on pain of exclusion from the Religious Commonwealth. We have a large collection of writings in the Old Testament which are simply called " The Writings" and that title was probably given to them ages after they were published, simply because they were preserved and regarded as sacred writings by the 140 THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. Jews, though not placed on the same level with the writings of Moses and the Prophets. For three hundred years the books of the Old Testament were exposed to the trial of being preserved among a fallen, corrupted people, and through great political convulsions. A number of books, chiefly written in the Greek language, came into existence through these centuries. The fact that the Jews of Palestine never mingled them with the books of Scripture, proves that there was all along the ages a "remnant according to the election of grace," who kept the Word of God pure, and to whose influence it was owing that the Bible was not destroyed by the corruptions of the nation. At the time of our Lord's appearance, there was no confusion of the Apocrypha with the Old Testament. Jesus never quoted the Apocryphal books and never referred to them. Degraded as the people were in many respects, they still honoured, outwardly at least, the ancient Scriptures. To some extent the writings of the New Testament may be said to have gone through the same kind of trial. There was a period which may be called the period of formation ; then there was a distribution of the writings through the communities of Christians, and a general acknowledgment of their authority ; and after the Churches received them, they were exposed to a very severe test of circumstances, the fiery trial of persecution, the attack of heathen opponents and heretics, and great apologists rose up who defended not only the Truth itself, but the writings in which the Truth was set forth. From the fifth century onwards, .there was a universal acceptance of the books in the great ecclesiastical organization which called itself by the name of the Church. Division there still was even in the Western world, but it was not over those books which now form the New Testament, but on the question of the Apocrypha. The Council of Trent settled that controversy as far as the Roman Catholic Church was concerned, and bound that Church to a false view of Scripture. But in doing so, the distinction was clearly put before the world, between the voice of the true Church of Christ and the voice of ecclesiastical Councils. Decisions of Councils have not been the work of the Divine Spirit, they have frequently been obtained by unworthy means and by the suppression of religious liberty. No Canonical decree is binding on Christians generally. No Canon of ADDRESS BY REV. PROFESSOR R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LL.B. 141 Scripture is of any importance except as evidence by which we may judge what has been the prevailing view of Christendom. For some centuries, as there was no recognition of the necessity for dividing and separating the books of Scripture from all other books, some of the writings of early fathers of the Church were read in the public assemblies of Christians, and sometimes bound up with the books of the Bible. But the very writings which were so honoured witnessed to the authority of the Scriptures. The voice of the early Church was not the voice of accurate scholars and critics, but it was the voice of faithful and devoted Christians, and it always set the words of Apostles and Evangelists above all others. We are bound to respect the judgment of those who lived during the first four centuries as to what books were Apostolic. As an external argument nothing can outweigh the evidence of men who represent the great leading currents of opinion among the Churches. The books were not only read as the Word of God, but they became more and more identified with Christian life. The Spirit of God set His Divine seal upon them. He kept them in the hearts of God's people ; He maintained their superiority over all other books. Nothing short of a spiritual miracle could have pre- served the New Testament from corruption, during ages of ignorance, persecution and strife. The thousand years which preceded the Great Reformation, though they were full of spiritual darkness and superstition, still bore a continuous testimony to the Word of God. Great men in the Roman Catholic Church wrote their commentaries on the books of Scripture and elaborated th'eir systems of Theology. Tradition was set up side by side with Scripture as an authority, but the New Testament itself was never dethroned as the highest record of the Divine Mind and Will. When the light broke forth over Europe from a German Monastery, and the true people of God were summoned by the voice of Christ's faithful witnesses to a work of Reformation, the Bible was subject again to a very severe trial. The sacred writings had to be brought out into the light from the holes and corners where they were hidden. Criticism began its work as never before. The new life of the Church had to be distinctly based upon the Word of God. The spiritual revolution tried the Word just as the Word tried the Reformers. And the New Testament 142 THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. came forth from that trial with undiminished divine authority. The Roman Catholic Church condemned itself as unfaithful to Truth. Attempting to hold up what was supposed to be a falling ark, it put forth its hand upon the Scriptures, and by its Canon corrupted them, and so brought the curse of God upon itself. The real Bible is not the Bible of any Church Canon, it is the Bible of God's own people, the Bible of His Spirit, the Bible of Christian life and experience. Whatever changes criticism may necessitate, the ultimate appeal must always be not to scholarship or intellectual judgment, but to the Spirit of God in the Church of Christ. The "onus probandi" must fall upon those who deny the authority of that which comes to us with the seal of Time and Truth upon it. Looking at the present position of the Bible in the midst of a stormy sea of critical contro- versy, surely it becomes us to be patient, and at the same time watch- ful and prayerful. The dogmatism of the so-called scientific school of Germany has imposed upon some, but new and startling facts and discoveries are continually reminding us that Time will often do for us what argument fails to do ; we shall keep hold of our divine assur- ance, and therefore we shall not be "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness after the wiles of error," we shall "prove (or try) all things, and hold fast to that which is good." V. Lastly. The authority of Holy Scripture is the authority of its own manifest superiority and divine success in the world. We do not maintain the divine authority of any Ecclesiastical Canon, of any traditional names, titles, dates, or critical readings, manuscripts, or editions. We cannot prove with absolute certainty that the words as written are in every case Holy Scripture. But there is what Jerome called the Divine Library, the collection of books written by men who were inspired by the Holy Ghost. And we can appeal to the testimony of experience when we place these books above all others. The facts of the last fifty years have been wonderfully confirming the truth of Scripture. Biblical literature is now the commanding feature of the age. The greatest powers of mankind are being occupied with the Bible. Heathen nations are being provided with the light of God's Word. The throne of the world will be given up to that which manifestly is taking captive the thoughts and sympathies of men. We ADDRESS BY REV. PROFESSOR R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LL.B. 143 stand upon what one of our greatest Englishmen has called " The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture." There have been other lights shining in the world. Sir Edwin Arnold has described in his beau- tiful poetry, " The Light of Asia" but he has shown us in his recent poem, " The Light of the World? that before the " Sun of Right- eousness " all other lights grow pale that He was '' the Great Consummation." What can we put above the Bible? And this internal superiority, this manifest miracle in the Book itself, is confirmed by the divine success which attends it. The Bible is practically master of the world. It is practically proved divine by what it is accomplishing. Who is there that will venture to deny the facts ? Is it not indisputable that the Bible has been and still is casting out the superstition of the human race, that it has wonderfully promoted and stimulated the civil freedom and advancement of the world, that it has fed and nourished the human intellect, that many of the greatest minds have done homage to its commanding power, and that it has kept alive in the hearts of millions, and is at this present time waking up afresh in the midst of all the confusions of modern society, a grand social ideal of universal brotherhood, " the parliament of man, the federation of the world," that it is filled with a sublime optimism which lays hold by faith of " that divine far-off event to which the whole creation moves." The Bible is the Book of Christ, and that gives it divine authority ; for the personal character, and history, and teachings of Jesus Christ are the greatest motive power of the modern world. We may say of Holy Scripture what Bishop Butler said of conscience Universal authority is in it, universal dominion is its right, and our hearts say, let it have might as it has right. The Divine authority of Holy Scripture is the proposition of faith, the demonstration of history, the testimony of a countless multitude of redeemed and rejoicing souls. Like the Incarnate Word Himself, when on earth men may crucify it, they may apparently break it in pieces, they may pierce it through and through, and lay it in the sepulchre, but it proves itself divine by a resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God. And, like the glorified Son of Man, the Written Word shall yet reign over all its enemies, it shall judge the world, it shall be translated from the language of human lips to the language of human 144 THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. life, and remain an everlasting kingdom of truth and love, into which all kingdoms shall be lifted up, in which God and man shall be united in perfect fellowship, in which the Water of Life never ceases to flow in the pure river, and the fruits of the Tree of Life are yielded all the year round, and the Rest of God is the rest of His people for ever. '45 TOorfc of ctenee. BY PRINCIPAL SIR J. W. DAW80N, K.C.M.Q., F.R.8., OF MONTREAL. I PROPOSE to refer in the following notes not to mere speculation or to literary or historical criticism, but to the relation of facts and inductions of Science, and especially of Natural Science, to the cosmogony and history of the Bible, in so far as these can be fairly brought into comparison with each other. It will be necessary in the first place to refer to certain popular misconceptions on this subject. These have been well summed up by Mr. Gladstone in a recent work,* and may be stated as follows: 1. It is taken for granted and affirmed that modern scientific dis- coveries have contradicted the statements respecting creation and nature in the Old Testament, and show these to be errors of an ill- informed age. Along with this is mixed up the curious misconception that when any effect is referred to natural law it loses thereby all dependence on a personal God or lawgiver. 2. It is also maintained in connection with hypotheses of evolution that man must, as a descendant of lower animals, have begun his existence in a low or semi-brutal condition, and that all his improve- ment is the result of his own action and the interaction of his environment, thus leaving no room for revelation. 3. That science leaves no room for the miraculous or supernatural, an assumption which goes far beyond any basis of fact, inasmuch as we know that beyond the limits of man's knowledge and power there must lie a practically illimitable region of the unknown, which may yet be well-known and capable of being used by higher intelligences or by God Himself. 4. That certain historical and critical evidence has been found to prove that the older books of the Bible were written long after the dates which they claim and to which they have been ascribed, and that they consequently have no authority as to matters of fact. * "Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture." IfO THE POSITION OF THE BIBLE WITH REFERENCE TO SCIENCE. 5. That the ideas of the older biblical writers are of a low and even immoral tone, and unworthy of an enlightened age. It is not too much to say that these conclusions are merely loose impressions, floating in a confused manner in the minds of men, and that when they are traced to their sources they have no foundation in science properly so caHed. This however we can inquire into in the sequel. I. NECESSITY OF THE NARRATIVE OF CREATION. The geological chronology has always suggested comparisons with the narrative of creation. These have often been unfavourable to the latter ; but this state of things is passing away as our knowledge ex- tends. Few men now doubt that there is in many respects a marked coincidence between the six creative days and the history which has been found in the rocky strata of the earth. There are, it is true, some apparent discrepancies respecting details, but these can be at least conjecturally explained, and recent discoveries have been diminishing their extent, while men are beginning to see more clearly the necessary difficulties of comparing a very short historical statement with the results of investigation of monumental details. A primary question here is as to the use of any revelation of creation. As to this, I have in a previous work* gone very fully into the question, and have shown that it was in the highest degree necessary that such statements as those in the first chapter of Genesis should be prefixed to a divine revelation, even at the risk of being afterwards placed in comparison with the records preserved in the crust of the earth itself. i. The grand fundamental doctrine of a beginning of the universe and of its divine origin forms the substratum of all religion properly so-called. This doctrine also is and must always be in perfect accord with natural science. We have traced everything organic and inorganic in the present machinery and inhabitants of the world to a beginning, and we cannot imagine an eternal procession of finite things, therefore there must have been a beginning of all. In this beginning it is im- possible that the universe can have been self-created or a product of chance, therefore there must have been a Creator. Science and * " The Origin of the World." ADDRESS BY PRINCIPAL SIR J. W. DAWSON, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. 151 philosophy can rationally reach no other conclusion than that embodied in the first verse of Genesis. 2. If there is an omnipotent and all-wise Creator there must have been a divine order and method in nature, leading up to its culmination in man, and indicating to him his duty and interest as a worker and enjoyer of rest under God. Hence an order of creation, conveyed most naturally under the figure of working days and a day of rest of the Creator, and bringing out in the most general way the leading points of the work, more especially as related to man. 3. In connection with this the idea of one God must be maintained, and no room left for the supposition of good and evil beings contend- ing with each other. Hence all nature, whether apparently helpful or harmful to man, the tempests of the atmosphere and the ferocious beasts as well as the things pleasant to us, must be ascribed to the one infinite Creator. 4. Men had from a very early period ascribed divine power and attributes to heavenly bodies, to streams, to trees, to animals, to heroes and demigods of old tradition, and all these materials of idolatry must be bound together within the doctrine of monotheism. This is most effectually done in the creation narrative and the sub- sequent statements as to early human history. These great objects were served in the time of the Hebrew lawgiver and in our own time by the cosmogony and history of the early chapters of Genesis. II. CHARACTER OF THE NARRATIVE OF CREATION. It may next be proper to enquire as to the resemblances or differ- ences of the order and nature of the process of building up the world as we would infer it from the record of the rocks and that of Genesis. This may be best understood by noting the points in which they agree. i. In both we are struck by the evidence of an orderly process in, which inorganic arrangements are first perfected and then the organic world of plants and animals culminating in man himself. In both, we read the unity of nature and a grand uniformity of development and progression from the beginning onward. 152 THE POSITION OF THE BIBLE WITH REFERENCE TO SCIENCE. 2. Though geology carries us only a part of the way to the genesis of the earth itself, yet when it joins its facts and conclusions to those of physical astronomy we reach a formless and void condition, a nebulous mixture of all materials, chaotic and undifferentiated, as the beginning of our planet and our system. Physical astronomy is also making plain to us the fact that the first stage in the conversion of dead and cold matter into worlds consists in the development of those vibrations which cause light, heat and electricity. The only physical idea of a nascent planetary system is that of a self-luminous and condensing nebula. Light is the first demand of science, but such light can at first only be diffused. The next stage is its concen- tration around a central luminary, and then comes the distinction between light and darkness, day and night. This is clearly the con- ception of the writer of Genesis i. as much as of modern physicists. 3. After the first formation of a crust on our nascent earth, the geologist postulates an ocean, and he finds that all the stratified rocks composing our continents bear evidence of having been deposited in the waters and elevated therefrom to constitute land. This also is the conception of Genesis. The fiat, " Let the dry land appear," implies its emergence from the ocean. 4. Now, however, we find two apparent points of difference between Genesis and modern science. In Genesis the introduction of vegetation immediately follows the production of the continents, and precedes the creation of animals. In Genesis also the perfection of the arrangements of the Solar system follows this early vegetation, constituting the work of the fourth creative day. Of all this geology professes to know nothing, yet it has some dim perception that the old historian must after all be right. Why should land have existed a long time without any vegetable clothing ? Would it not be natural and even necessary that the plant should precede the animal ? May not the great beds of carbon and iron ore in the oldest rocks of the earth's crust be the residence of an exuberant vegetation otherwise unknown to us ? Again, may not the final gathering of the luminous atmosphere around the sun, and the final regulation of the distance of our satellite, the moon, have been of later date than the origin of the first dry land? There is nothing to contradict this and some things to make it probable. We know that in all the millions of ADDRESS BY PRINCIPAL SIR J. W. DAWSON, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. 153 years since the first crust formed on the earth, the sun must have undergone great contraction, and reasons of at least a very plausible character have been assigned for the belief that in those early ages the moon may have been greatly nearer the earth than at present. Thus, while as astronomers and geologists we may consider these statements as yet unproven by science, we cannot condemn them as untrue or even improbable. 5. When we come to the introduction of animal life, the parallelism becomes obvious. The great incoming of the sheretz or swarmer in the seas corresponds with those early Palaeozoic ages which have been emphatically called the Ages of Marine Invertebrates. Not that land animals had not appeared, but they were altogether insignificant in numbers and importance. In no respect has the author of Genesis been more unfairly treated than in his reference to the Tanninim of the fifth day. The word has been translated " whales," and still more absurdly, " monsters." As used elsewhere in the Bible the word Tannim seems invariably to denote a reptile, either serpent or crocodile. It first occurs as the name of Moses' rod when turned into a serpent. It is used afterward for a large predaceous animal inhabiting large rivers, armed with scales, and used as an emblem of Egypt and Babylon.* Evidently it is a generic name applied by the Hebrews to the larger serpents and to the crocodile. If then great Tanninim and flying creatures are represented as immediately succeeding the marine invertebrates, the writer means to picture an age in which reptiles and flyers, which may be either birds or flying reptiles, were dominant. He has before his eyes a picture exactly similar to that represented in the sketches of the Age of Reptiles, by the late Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins. The quadrupeds of the land obviously come into their proper place on the sixth day, as immediate predecessors and contemporaries of man. 6. The comparative recency of man is one of the best-established geological facts, and while, as in the second chapter of Genesis, man may be said to have made his appearance in the latest Tertiary or Quaternary period, along with a group of land animals suited to him and to the condition of the earth when he appeared, on the other See the Author's "Origin of the World," p. 405. 154 THE POSITION OF THE BIBLE WITH REFERENCE TO SCIENCE. hand his place in the general chronology of the animal kingdom is that of its latest member. Farther, even since the appearance and wide diffusion of man, there has been a great continental depression which is connected with the extinction of certain early tribes of men, and also of a great number of the quadrupeds of the land. It is, therefore, undeniable that we have in the geological history an equivalent of the biblical deluge. III. ANTEDILUVIANS AND THE DELUGE. The biblical history of the antediluvian period is apparently mainly intended to inform us of the fall and its moral effects, and to reduce to the level of ordinary humanity certain heroes and inventors who had in a very early age become the objects of mythical stories and idolatrous worship. The deluge itself is presented to us rather in its moral than its physical aspects ; and the narrative of it is with much literary skill put into or left in the form of the testimony of a witness a form which of course relieves it from all the difficulties as to uni- versality, and at the same time enables a graphic delineation of facts to be given in a condensed manner. I have elsewhere discussed somewhat fully the questions concerning the deluge,* and may here content myself with some questions recently raised respecting its "universality" and the conditions it implied. It is obvious that there are four senses in which a catastrophe like the deluge of Noah may be affirmed or denied to have been universal. 1. It may have been universal in the sense of being a deep stratum of water covering the whole globe, both land and sea. Such universality could not have been in the mind of the writer, and probably has been claimed knowingly by no writer in modern times. Halley in the last century understood the conditions of such univer- sality, though he seems to have supposed that the impact of a comet might supply the necessary water. Owen has directed attention to the fact that such a deluge might be as fatal to the inhabitants of the waters as to those of the land. In any case, such universality would demand an enormous supply of water from some extra terrestrial source. 2. The deluge may have been universal in the sense of being a " Origin of the World." "Modern Science in Bible Lands." ADDRESS BY PRINCIPAL SIR J. W. DAWSON, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. 155 submersion of the whole of the land, either by subsidence or by elevation of the ocean bed. Such a state of things may have existed in primitive geological ages before our continents were elevated, but we have no scientific evidence of its recurrence at any later time, though large portions of the continents have been again and again submerged. The writers of Genesis (chapter i.) and of Psalm civ. seem to have known of no such total submergence since the eleva- tion of the first dry land, and nothing of this kind is expressed or certainly implied in the deluge story. 3. The deluge may have been universal in so far as man, its chief object, and certain animals useful or necessary to him, are concerned. This kind of universality would seem to have been before the mind of the writer, when he says that " Noah only " and they who were with him in the ark remained alive.* 4. The deluge may have been universal in so far as the area of observation and information of the narrator extended. The story is evidently told in the form of a narrative derived from eye-witnesses, and this form,, as I have already observed, seems to have been chosen or retained purposely to avoid any question of universality of the first and second kinds referred to above. The same form of narrative is preserved in the Chaldean legend. This fact is not affected by the doctrine held by some of the schools of disintegrators, that the narra- tive is divisible into two documents, respectively " Jahvistic " and " Elohistic." I have elsewhere f shown that there is a very different reason for the use of these two names of God. But if there were two original witnesses whose statements were put together by an editor, this surely does not invalidate their testimony or deprive them of the right to have it understood as they intended. It is thus evident that the whole question of "universality" is little more than a mere useless logomachy, having no direct relation to the facts or to the credibility of the narrative. There are also in connection with this question of universality certain scientific and historical facts which should be clearly stated in any discussion of the subject. Nothing is more certainly known in geology than that at the close of the later Tertiary or Pleistocene * Genesis vii. 23. f" Modern Science in Bible Lands," chap. iv. 156 THE POSITION OF THE BIBLE WITH REFERENCE TO SCIENCE. age the continents of the Northern Hemisphere stood higher and spread their borders more widely than at present. In this period also, they were tenanted by a very grand and varied mammalian fauna, and it is in this continental age of the later Pleistocene or early modern time that we find the first unequivocal evidence of man as existing on various parts of the continents. At the close of this period occurred changes, whether sudden or gradual we do not know, though they could not have occupied a very long time, which led to the extinction of the earliest races of men and many contemporaneous animals. That these changes were in part, at least, of the nature of submergence we know from the fact that ourpresent continents are more sunken or less elevated out of the water, than those which preceded them, and also from the deposit of superficial gravels and other detritus more recent than the Pleistocene over their surfaces. The human period of geology is thus separated into two portions by a submergence which must have been fearfully destructive of human and animal life, and vastly more extensive than that portion of the Noachian deluge which came under the observation of the author or authors of the narrative in Genesis. If, therefore, we suppose that existing men are the descendants of survivors of this event, there can be no reason to doubt that a catas- trophe so terrible might remain in remembrance, and might be the same with the historical deluge recorded in the traditions and early history of so many races of men. Further, since large tracts of land in the Mediterranean, in the Persian Gulf and its vicinity, and on the coasts of Western Europe, which are known to have been above water in the antediluvian period are still submerged, it is possible that as yet we know nothing of the arts or literature of the greater and more civilized peoples of the antediluvian world, except from historical records. If we could ascertain all the facts of this kind, it is possible that fewer difficulties would attend our speculations as to the origin and extent of civilization both before and after the deluge. At one time, indeed, it was supposed that the geological deluge was a much more ancient event than that of Noah, but recent discoveries have tended greatly to strengthen the probability of their identity as to date. Thus geology and archaeology have no alternative but to believe in a deluge of wider range geographically than we could have inferred with any certainty from the narrative in Genesis. ADDRESS BY PRINCIPAL SIR J. W. DAWSON, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. 157 One other objection to the deluge narrative perhaps deserves a word of comment that urged against the statement of the gradual disappearance of the waters. The extraordinary difficulty is raised respecting this, that the water must have rushed seaward in a furious torrent. The objection is based apparently on the idea that the founda- tion for the original narrative was a river inundation in the Mesopo- tamian plain. This cannot be admitted ; but, if it were, the objection would not apply. River inundations, whether of the Nile or Euphrates, subside inch by inch, not after the manner of mountain torrents. Thus this objection is another instance of difficulties gratuitously imported into the history. In point of fact the narrator represents the deluge as prevailing for a whole year, which would be impossible in the case of a river inun- dation. He attributes it in part, at least, to the "great deep" that is, the ocean ; and he represents the ark as drifting inland or toward the north. Such conditions can be satisfied only by the supposition of a subsidence of the land, similar, in kind, at least, to the great post-glacial flood of geology. Partial subsidences of this kind, local but very extreme, have occurred even in later times, as, for instance, in the Run of Cutch, the delta of the Mississippi, and the delta of the Nile ; and if the objectors are determined to make the deluge of Noah very local and more recent than the post-glacial flood, it would be more rational to refer to subsidences like those just mentioned, and of which they will find examples in Lyell's " Principles," and other geological books. It is, however, decidedly more probable that Noah's flood is identical with that which destroyed the men of the Mammoth age, the palaeocosmic or "palaeolithic" men;* and in that case the recession of the waters would probably be gradual, but intermittent, "going and returning," as our ancient narrator has it; but there need not have been any violent debacle. I may add that the importance and authority of the Deluge narration are supplemented and enhanced by the invaluable table of the early affili- ations of nations in Genesis x., which all scientific investigation confirms. IV. SCIENTIFIC WORK RELATING TO HEBREW HISTORY. There can be no doubt that within recent years a large amount of "Modern Science in Bible Lands," chaps. Hi. and iv. 158 THE POSITION OF THE BIBLE WITH REFERENCE TO SCIENCE. work on the part of surveyors, excavators, and archaeologists has been throwing light on the older Hebrew books, and remarkably vindicating their historical truth. The signal confirmation of the topographical accuracy of the books of Exodus and Numbers by the Ordnance Survey of Sinai is one of these, though its force is scarcely yet appreciated by theologians and linguistic scholars. The late Professor Palmer has extended this evidence to the north, and I have myself ascertained the geological and topographical accuracy of the part of the narrative relating to Egypt. My own studies of the region of the Dead Sea have also enabled me to vindicate the accuracy of the narrative of the destruction of the cities of the Plain, and recent discoveries in Chaldea have unearthed corroborative evidence of the battle of Abraham with the Euphratean kings. The excavations of Tanis, Taphanes, Rameses and Pithom, the Tel el Amama tablets and multitudes of other Egyptian facts have all tended in the same direction. The excavations of Lachish, the ruins of the ancient Minean cities of South Arabia, the monuments of the Hittites, and the extension of the evidence of literary work and education to times long antecedent to Moses in Egypt, in Arabia, in Syria, and in Chaldea, all tend in the same direction. These are subjects on which others who have given them special attention may dwell ; but I may be pardoned for saying that as archaeological evidence they can be fully appreciated by the geological student While, therefore, certain lines of literary criticism and philosophical speculation have been reaching conclusions adverse to the Bible, and even to Theism and natural religion, the testimony of nature and ancient art as disclosed and interpreted by actual original workers has been tending altogether in the other direction. Thus the practical work of science is placing itself in antagonism to evolu- tionary dogmas and refined textual criticism. In other words, nature itself is coming forward to testify to revelation as an emanation from the aqthor of nature. In an enlightened age like ours, it is scarcely possible that fact will not ultimately overcome conjecture, however able and plausible, while on the other hand, the intensely practical character of Christianity and its reflex action as a spiritual ADDRESS BY PRINCIPAL SIR J. W. DAWSON, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. 159 life on all ordinary work and research, cannot fail to promote the scientific pursuit of truth, and to discountenance vicious, superstitious and degenerate tendencies. The present outlook for both religion and natural science is therefore hopeful ; and we may expect that they may more and more work together as allies, and that the triumphs of the Word of God in the immediate future will surpass those of the past. In so far as present difficulties relate to science they seem to depend mainly on two features of our time. 1. The prevalence of systems of Philosophy which have arrived at the absurd conclusion that the Kosmos shows no indications of divine wisdom and power, but is a result of mere mechanical reactions or of chance. By such systems scientific men are naturally easily misled. 2. The exclusive pursuit of specialties in which men bury them- selves so deeply in pursuit of particular veins of truth, that they lose sight both of the landscape around and of the heaven above. In reference to these errors it is necessary that we should revert to the teaching of God as the Creator of Heaven and Earth, a doctrine as essential in our time as in the dawn of revelation. i6o SECOND SECTION. M. LB PASTEUR RECOLIN (PARIS) PRESIDED. t!)e JpounUatiou of tije Eutfjocmj of Scripture. OUTLINE OF ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROF. Q. QODET, OF NEUCHATEL THE differences which divide theologians are too great to allow of any theory of inspiration. Our ideas on the subject proceed from our inmost experience, and from our individual development, intellectually and theologically. I. There is great disturbance among Christians, even among those who believe in the great evangelical facts, by the assaults of modern criticism. The problem is how to settle the question of the authority of Scripture so as to preserve the faith of our contemporaries. There are many proofs that the Bible is divine. Its unique beauty, its superior teaching, the presence of the Holy Spirit in it, its power to regenerate, the prophecies included in it. Many are satisfied with such proofs, but others think them too vague, and while they appear conclusive for portions of Scripture, they do not remove objections to other portions. We might reason a priori^ Christianity is a revela- tion from God, God must therefore have provided for its preservation, therefore an infallible inspiration is necessary, and a canon formed providentially and indisputable. But this will not serve to answer the questions of criticism, which historical proof alone can meet. We cannot take each book separately and prove its authority, and there is no guarantee that the tradition of the Church is trustworthy. II. There is a simpler and safer road to reach the same end. The authority of the Bible can be established on a ground where it is safe. The central point in the Scriptures is the Person of the Lord Jesus, announced and prepared for in the Old Testament, proclaimed and set before us in the New. He who is the centre of the Scriptures ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROF. G. GODET. l6l is also the centre of History. His existence is universally acknow- ledged, even by unbelievers themselves. Of Jesus and His work we have records contemporary or almost so, and our question is, are these records to be trusted ? Now when the Apostles tell us that Jesus claimed divine authority, we cannot doubt that He did so. Others, however, have done the same, as Mohammed, Joseph Smith, and all who have founded religions. Had Jesus more claim than they to be received as divine? The facts answer. The perfect holiness of Jesus Himself. The Apostles could not be deceived as to this. The Saviour's own consciousness of perfection shines through the whole narrative. Such a consciousness is itself sufficient testimony to the fact; otherwise we must suppose an inconceivable pride and fanaticism in Jesus. Again, the perfect holiness of the Saviour springs from His perfect love of God; it is a relation of free dependence, of abso- lute confidence, of perfect fellowship between the Son and the Father. This it is which exalts Him in holiness infinitely above the most virtuous of Jews or heathen. And the evidence of the Gospels proves that Jesus believed Himself to be the Son of God in a higher sense, by an essential relation to God the Father. This we find not only in the fourth Gospel, but in the synoptists as well. The pre- existence of the Son of God, the essential deity of the Christ, that is the key to a full understanding of the personality of Jesus. When we come to the Apostolic Epistles and the Acts we find the Master, twenty or thirty years, yea, even a few days after His departure from this world, addressed and invoked as " The Lord." The whole Church is fully persuaded that He is divine, not on metaphysical grounds but on the evidence of facts. He appeared as a man, humbled Himself to the form of a servant, being obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. (Phil. ii. 6, 7.) And this perfect holiness and essential deity of the Saviour are confirmed by a third fact, His Resurrection, attested by the twelve, by S. Paul, and by the whole primitive Church. We can only escape the force of such a fact by accusing the early Church of illusion, which a sound criticism, free from rationalistic prejudice, will never do. III. We may pass, then, from the personal authority of Jesus to the infallibility of His teaching. On the question of His authority in l62 CHRIST, THE FOUNDATION OF THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE. matters outside the domain of religion it is not necessary to enter. Being perfectly holy, He could not err in religious matters. His filial relation to God lies at the foundation of His moral and religious life. His words are the words of God. His Resurrection demon- strated His divine authority, for if He had died in sin He would not have risen again ; He was not a blasphemer, as the Jews said, but truly the Son of God. IV. On this authority of Jesus we can found that of His Apostles, and that of the Old Testament. As to the Apostles we must dis- tinguish the Apostle Paul from the twelve. The Apostles were not merely witnesses of facts, they were trained by Jesus, they assimilated His thoughts, they lived His life. And Jesus promised them His Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth. The fourth Gospel especially gives evidence of this spiritual guidance of the Spirit. It is as one of the Fathers has called it, the " Pneumatic Gospel." The epistles of John and the Apocalypse reveal the same special inspiration. But the Apostle Paul holds a somewhat different position. If we believe in his miraculous conversion we must believe in his authority as at least equal to that of the other Apostles. This is proved by the conformity of his teaching with theirs, together with an absolute independence towards them, and the special relation of his teaching with that of Christ, the inmost thoughts and perfect spirituality of which he alone unfolds. As to the Old Testament. Its authority rests on that of Jesus Christ, just as in the case of the New Testament. First ^ He used the Old Testament. He recognized it as a divine revelation. If He was infallible in religious matters He could not be deceived in this. Again, the revelation in Christ presupposes a preparatory revelation, of which the Old Testament is the record. It may not have for the believers under the New Dispensation the same weight as the New Testament, but it is still indispensable, for without it we should be unable to understand the perfect revelation in Jesus. Thus the whole authority of Scripture rests on that of Jesus Christ. The problems of Biblical criticism still remain. But we can study them calmly. However they may be settled they can never rob us of Christ Himself, Whose word, life and work are the immoveable foundation of our salvation. ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROF. G. GODET. 163 Our time needs authority in regard ' to religion. Give it the authority of Christ. All false authority will disappear, when the conscience recognizes Him. We must establish that authority not by a visible theocracy, as in the middle ages, but spiritually by the reign of the word of Christ in human souls. 164 ISible in rrmani? before &ut1)fr. ADDRESS BY PASTOR BAUMANN, OF BERLIN. IN my earliest infancy, I heard from my pious mother about the valiant and faithful inhabitants among the Alps, who for centuries held their own tenaciously, against the persecutions of the Church of Rome, but it was not until 1857, when the Evangelical Alliance met in Berlin, that I became aware that these heroes were the Waldenses. It has fallen to my lot, dear friends, to say a few words to you about the version of the Bible which was prepared by Peter Waldo, and taken by the Waldenses into Germany. It is a matter of contro- versy whether this version has been preserved, and whether it was made use of by Luther. This question is, at the present moment, very warmly discussed in Germany and elsewhere. It is certain that the Waldenses of Savoy came very early into Germany. These people were scattered about Austria, Bohemia, and Silesia, going as far northward as Berlin and the borders of the Baltic. They were devout students of the Bible, and led a pious and truly Christian life, although remaining still within the pale of the Papal Church. They were regarded by that Church as true believers, as they did not deny or openly repudiate the doctrines, usages, and forms of the Church, such as the Mass, Confession, the veneration of the Saints, and the recognition of the Priesthood. They probably hoped that they would be as the salt of the earth, and purify the Church by remaining in it The priests, however, showed themselves but little disposed to tolerate the proceedings of the Waldenses, who succeeded in occupying fresh ground in various parts of Germany. Princes, and nobles, and priests viewed them with dislike. Whole villages, provinces, and countries felt their influence. In 1395 there were forty villages in Steietmark entirely peopled by them, and they had their own spiritual directors. It appears that both people, nobility, and priests massacred the ADDRESS BY PASTOR BAUMANN. 165 peaceful inhabitants who were living a quiet and virtuous life, offering up daily prayer at the family altar, who were good citizens, and obedient to the laws, refusing only to take an oath and to serve in the array. These Waldenses distributed pious writings wherever the people were able to read. They also sent deacons, and popular preachers, and consecrated assistants into the houses to hear confessions, and to read portions of the Scriptures, parts of sermons, and short tractates, by Chrysostom and Augustine, two fathers of the Church, who warmly recommend family worship. Alas ! of all these writings scarcely any remain. It is surprising that no trace is to be found of a German translation of the Waldensian Bible. The Waldensians used the translation which was already in Germany. The persecution which the In- quisition carried on against them was so violent that all trace of their Bible, even if it were translated, has disappeared, destroyed either by the flames at the stake or in the cells where the torture was applied. What a history theirs is ! By hundreds and by thousands they were tortured and burnt. Among their martyrs was the celebrated and learned Reiser, of Niirnberg, called Frederigo, by the grace of God bishop of the faithful, who tried in vain to organize his brethren against the enemy. He was burnt alive in 1458 at Strasburg. Un- fortunately his followers mixed themselves up with some Hussite fanatics, who fell victims to their democratic and socialistic excesses. All lovers of peace people, nobles, and princes withdrew them- selves from them, and repudiated their extravagance, calling those who, up to that time had been looked upon as the light shining in the darkness (" Lux lucis in tenebris "), " Luciferi," i.e., " The servants of Satan." The Waldenses disappear in Germany with the Hussites. Before the time of Luther all trace of them is lost. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the art of printing occupied much the attention of the public, and it was made use of first for the Bible. Nineteen German editions were published before the great Reformer set his mark upon the age, and of each of these we still possess a large number of copies. None of them agree 1 66 THE WALDENSIAN BIBLE IN GERMANY BEFORE LUTHER. with the proven^al Bibles of the Waldensians. The Waldensian Bible, therefore, never fell into Luther's hands ; it had disappeared from the scene. We have, however, discovered a book which was undoubtedly Waldensian. It was in the possession of some of the martyrs, who appended to it comments probably made in public worship. It had evidently escaped the eye of the Inquisition, as it was carried by its owner into the torture chamber, and retained there until he sealed his confession with his blood. This book is the "Codex Teplensis." It is an extremely old manuscript of the New Testament in the German tongue, discovered a few years ago in the convent of the Premonstrants, at Tepel, in Bohemia. The margins are covered with glosses, and some ad- ditional matter is added, manifestly Waldensian. The text of this Codex is very old, being of the time when a dialect was spoken in Germany which has become almost entirely extinct. The writing is minute, the size of the book being so small that it could be carried in the pocket, and, therefore, easily con- cealed. Comparing the text with the Waldensian MS. in Dublin, it is believed that they are quite separate. The Dublin MS. being written in the Provencal. But how are we led to believe that this MS. was in the possession of a Waldensian if the text itself is not in his language ? It is proved, we think, by the marginal notes, and also by the additions. No Roman Catholic would have made such comments. The person to whom it belonged was evidently a victim of the per- secution. By the remarks which he makes, he is in danger of being found out, and is a faithful and loyal believer, as well as a man of science and culture, as many of the Waldenses were. He objects to be judged by the authorities, because he does not believe in their enlightenment, and knowledge of the truth. Only at the Last Day, when the great white throne is set, will he submit to have his motives and conduct laid open before them. But for the time being it is his duty to proclaim the Word of God. There is but one God, Christ alone is the Saviour of men, and no man ought to take an oath. ADDRESS BY PASTOR BAUMANN. 167 Added to the MS. there is, first : " The seven articles of Faith" which coincide with the formula used in ordination by the Waldenses, and which are perfectly orthodox ; next, " The seven Holy Things" i.e. " The seven Sacraments" which evidently were formally accepted, but which were not necessarily practised by the Waldenses. Then there is likewise a short list of the Saints' Days, which were observed by the Waldenses, but in no wise superstitiously. Also the days when mass was said on behalf of the souls of the departed, at which they occasionally assisted. Finally, there is a lectionary, and a list of sentences (pericopi) such as was in use among the Waldenses only. At the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew, there is inserted an extract from the writings of Hugo of St. Victor, who was held in high esteem by the Waldenses. The most striking evidence, however, is that frequent quotations are made from Chrysostom and Augustine in relation to the Bible and family worship ; for example : " A layman is a bishop in his own family, and has the charge and the care of the souls of those who belong to his household" One who thus writes could not possibly belong to the Papal Church of the fifteenth century. The subject however is still subjudice. However it may be decided, this much remains certain, that the Waldenses, long before the time of Luther, exercised a powerful influence in Germany, and were always the depositaries of truth, and as such a continual danger to Rome, at a time when all was enveloped in the clouds of error, superstition, and hierarchical tyranny. The blood of the Waldenses flowed in torrents throughout Germany. Their preaching awoke the sleeping conscience of the people, and their adherents were faithful unto death. And now with gratitude on our part and merit on theirs, we offer our fraternal greetings to the descendants of those heroes who have handed down to the present time a true German manhood. God bless the Alliance which has been the means of bringing us together ; blessed be the holy bonds of that faith which knows no obstacle either of distance or of race. Blessed be God for this word of joyful congratulation. "Lux litcet in Tenebris" 1 68 [An Excursion was made, Wednesday afternoon, to the Piazza di Michael Angelo, a beautiful open space above the city.] WEDNESDAY EVENING. M. VISCHER-SARASIN, OF BASLE , PRESIDED. Evangelistic Addresses were given, with one exception, in the Italian language, by M. MEYHOFFER, Pastor at Brussels, SIGNOR BERUATTO, of Venice, the Rev. WALKER KING, of England, the Rev. Dr. MURRAY MITCHELL, of Nice, and the Rev. Dr. STACKPOLE, of Florence. 169 THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1891. MORNING MEETING. DR. EDOUARD NAVILLE, OF GENEVA, PRESIDED. CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIAL QUESTIONS. liobettg antj Iff irfjeg, from ttje laberg Question. BY PROFESSOR BUFFET. OF GENEVA. AT the meeting of the International Committee of the Evangelical Alliance, held in Berlin, September 26 and 27, 1888, Dr. Fabri, the venerable Inspector of German Missions, called the attention of his colleagues to the Anti-Slavery Crusade, which Cardinal Lavigerie had some months previously inaugurated. He spoke of the great meeting, held at Cologne, in which he had taken part, and in his enthusiasm he urged the assembled delegates to make their respective branches acquainted with the subject a subject so momentous and so sad. The result was an invitation to the different branches of the Alliance to take up the Anti-Slavery Question. I can speak for Switzerland. An Anti-Slavery Association was established at Geneva January 7, 1889, and has pleaded the cause of the Blacks before the general public for two years under the presidency of M. Edouard Naville. As a mixed society of Catholics and Protestants it should have been dissolved, for it was evident that common action between them was not possible even in the region of charity. So much the more reason is there that the question should come before the assembly, and especially as, notwithstanding a general opinion to the contrary, it is an undoubted fact that Slavery carries on its cruelties more fiercely than ever. This I will now show. With a map of Africa before us, we see that it is naturally divided into three parts. To the North, the Soudan, Sahara, and the Mediterranean provinces. In the centre, the Equatorial plateaus, with their great lakes, and the important basin of the Congo, with its affluents. In the South, the countries bounded by the Zambesi and extending downwards to the Cape of Good Hope. In former times, when the American slave trade carried on its ravages, the Man-hunt was on the West Coast, and Christian philanthropists directed their attention simply to that portion of the sad continent. But since the researches of such men as Barth, 250 THE SLAVERY QUESTION. Nachtigal, Schweinfurth, Burton, Livingstone, Cameron, Wissman, Stanley, and others, have opened to astonished Europe the immense regions of the central part, we have learned to our dismay that the oriental trade, though less audacious than the American, was no less active and cruel. Indeed, the slave trade of the past was mere child's play compared to that of the present time. The state of Africa, from the Zambesi to the borders of Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt, that is, with the exception of the Sahara, the richest, most fertile, and most populous portion of the continent, forms the field of this cruel Man-hunt Fifty years ago the traders of Zanzibar did not penetrate more than two hundred miles into the interior, and were satisfied with what slaves they could obtain between the lake district and the sea coast. The high road of the traffic was at a distance from the Zanzibar coast ; but other routes have been opened in the north and the south at this time, through immense regions, with millions upon millions of our fellow-creatures, slaves are being carried away by the Arabs, who leave behind them nothing but blood and devastation. Every year, as the testimony of many travellers shows us, nearly a million of the people are carried off, and fertile and prosperous countries are reduced to a desert. Time will not allow me to recite the details of this terrible traffic. Captain Binger has described it in his work on " Slavery, Islamism, and Christianity," and we may refer to the Anti-Slavery Society of Belgium's Report for the year 1890. It is not only the Arabs who reduce the black populations to slavery, but the tribes of Equatorial Africa carry on the same dreadful traffic among themselves. The slave is the African's money. He purchases everything he wants by paying slaves for it. Hence a constant state of war between the tribes, the powerful making raids upon the weak in order to obtain their ebony money, and buy with it the goods of the Arabs, cloth, powder, muskets, and glut themselves on human flesh. " Yes," says Mackay, " Africa bleeds at every pore " and as Buxton says, " The cry of the Dark Continent is, We are the meat, and they are the knives ! " Friends, what are we to do to cure this terrible evil ? It was in 1876 that King Leopold of Belgium, in the circular which he sent to the Geographical Societies assembled in Congress ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR RUFFET. 251 at Brussels, pointed to the abolition of slavery as one of the principal objects to be pursued in Africa. Two months subsequently the same monarch, addressing the new Belgian Committee of the International Association, put the suppression of the trade in negroes first and foremost in his aims. In 1888, this question, thus prominently brought forward by the King of the Belgians, was carried into a wider sphere. A Conference of the chief civilized States was called together in Berlin by Prince Bismarck to consider the African ques- tion. The suppression of slavery, and especially the trade in blacks, was indicated at the first meeting by the venerable Chancellor as the sacred duty of all the Powers, and, with the exception of Turkey, all of their representatives unanimously declared that the new territory of the Congo should not be the route through which the traffic should be carried, of whatever race the slaves might be. All the powers undertook to employ all the means in their power to put an end to the trade, and punish those who are engaged in it. But in spite of all this, the European public generally still remained in ignorance of the facts, and supposed that the horrors of slavery had ceased with the American slave trade. At this crisis it was that God put it into the heart of a venerable man, head of the Catholic missions in Africa, to come to Europe and destroy this illusion, and reveal (the word is not too strong) to a portion of the Western world the miseries of the negro race. He preached his crusade in France, Belgium, Italy and England, and at a meeting in London presided over by Lord Granville a resolution proposed by Cardinal Manning was unanimously adopted, to urge upon the British Government in agreement with the other European powers holding territories in Africa, to adopt measures which should ensure the abolition of this frightful traffic in slaves. Anti-Slavery societies have been established in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, with most influential persons presiding over them, and the Anti-Slavery Society of Great Britain through Mr. Sydney Buxton, and supported by Lord Granville, have brought the question officially before the Government and Parliament. As a result of this the King of the Belgians called together a Congress at Brussels, in which the plenipotentiaries assembled on the i8th Nov., 1889, and signed an agreement on the 2nd July, 1890. They con- 252 THE SLAVERY QUESTION. sidered the question in all its details, and agreed to employ remedies against slavery, expressed in a hundred particulars which it is not necessary to enumerate here. Everything which can be done will be done to suppress this nefarious traffic, to civilize the natives, and to encourage those who are labouring in missions and otherwise for their good. But do not let us think that the work is accomplished. The articles agreed on in the Congress have got to be ratified by the contracting powers, but even if all be consummated, shall we fold our arms? No; the mission of Evangelical Christians in this great question is only just begun. We have only taken the first step. When American slavery was abolished, colonies of freed men were founded in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and only a few years since, Frere Town on the Zanzibar coast, and a home for female slaves has been opened at Cairo. But all such institutions, and the efforts of all our missionaries, all are not enough. They are only the beginning of the work, and Evangelical Christians, on the continent at least, are not doing as much as they ought for their black brethren. What can we do? We can take up the Propaganda. Some months since, when I met the great traveller, Stanley, in the Swiss mountains, I asked him how he thought we could help the cause of the blacks. He replied, By the Propaganda. We must make widely known the sufferings of the African populations. We must urge the continental press to publish the facts. We must induce our audiences in frequent meetings to touch the hearts of our Sunday School children, to appeal to the devotion of our Young People's Christian Associations, so that associations may be formed to set up refuges for freed men in Africa, asylums for children, agricultural colonies for adults, in short, to labour in every possible way to stop the plague, and to staunch the flowing blood. There should be a national society formed in every country, and all such societies should form themselves into a federation for co-operation and mutual assistance, waking up public opinion, keeping vigilant watch upon governments, and constraining them to persevere in fulfilling their promises. I have one more word to say. There is an enemy rapidly advancing in Africa, threatening our missions and protecting slavery with ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR RUFFET. 253 all its horrors ; I mean Mohammedanism. It is impossible to draw too much attention to this fact : the revival of Islam. There is no fact more significant in this nineteenth century. Mohammed is regaining in Africa what he has lost in Europe. The future of the black race is involved in the struggle between Christianity and Islam, and depends upon the vigilant and heroic efforts of Christians. Two-thirds of Africa, geographically, belongs already to Mohammedanism. The fetish worshipping negros are being compelled by force and fear to accept it, and it ministers to their carnal desires. There is a confused awakening, a desire to rise, among the black races; Mohammedanism appeals to this. Even the European colonies, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, show an increase in Mussulmen ; where there was not one to be found, there are now fifty thousand. Wherever Mohammedanism goes it carries slavery with it, which is necessary in order to maintain its polygamy. Let us not depend on Governments and carnal weapons. We need them in their way. The Mussulmen will never accept Christian rule. England and France must include political reasons in their efforts. But we must rescue the souls of these black people from Mohammed ; for on them also the Sun of Peace has risen. Mission- ary work and Anti-Slavery work must go hand in hand. We must carry to these people not the sword and the fire, but the whole Gospel that Gospel which heals the wounds of humanity, and carries to men the Word of eternal life. Let us keep in mind the last words of the dying Livingstone, and engraved on his tomb in Westminster Abbey " I have nothing more to wish for as I die, than that the most abundant blessings from Heaven may rest upon all those, whoevertheyare English, Americans, or Turks who will help to banish from this world the frightful plague of slavery." Evangelical Christendom, I confidently believe, will accept this legacy of Livingstone, and receive the blessing which he prayed for on the saviours of the black people.' 254 AFTERNOON MEETINGS. THERE WERE TWO SECTIONS; LORD KINNAIRD PRESIDED AT THE FIRST, AND M. SARASIN-BISCHOFF, OF BASLE, AT THE SECOND. goung Jften ant) Doling Women. ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROFESSOR CHARTERIS, OF EDINBURGH. IN 1844, the Young Men's Christian Association was founded by Mr. George Williams, whose absence from this meeting we greatly regret. In March, 1891, it had 4,063 branches and 364,934 members, with fields of labour in every quarter of the globe. It has 38 branches and 600 members in Italy. It seeks to unite young men in efforts to extend Christ's kingdom. In 1855, l ^ e Young Women s Christian Association was originated by Miss Roberts and Lady Kinnaird, and I rejoice to address Lord Kinnaird when I speak of an Association which owed its best impulses and wisest guidance to his mother for many years. Its branches and members are also found everywhere over the globe, but I do not see any 'statement of the number of its members. Its central principle is stated as " A living union with Christ." Kindred in some respects to this last is the Girls' Friendly Society, the aim of which is to raise the standard of moral character, by uniting those whose moral character is beyond reproach. Like the Y.M.C.A., it also aims at associating for their mutual benefit ladies of Christian experience with young women of their own sex. In England, it is a Church of England Society ; in Scotland, it is entirely undenominational. I might speak of several other unions of young men, such as the Sabbath Morning Fellowship Union, which may be taken as representing the strictly religious side of the Y.M.C.A., and I observe that in Scotland the Associations are now united. Except the Girls' Friendly Society in England, all the foregoing are non-ecclesiastical organizations. ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROFESSOR CHARTERIS. 255 There has been of late in Great Britain a large development of another kind of society closely connected with the several Churches. I think they all bear the name of Guild, in this, as in their constitu- tion, following the example of the first of them, the Church of Scotland Young Men's Guild. The object is to unite the young men in every congregation in mutual helpfulness and good works, and to unite the various parochial and congregational branches thus formed in a Church Guild. In practical methods the Guild closely resembles the Y.M.C.A., but it is in connection with the Church : a part of its organization, and subject to its authority. It has not been found that there is in this connection any restraint upon the liberty dear to youth : or on the other hand any disloyalty to the Church which is Christ's ordinance upon earth, and which shelters its young men in their Guild. Many Presbyterian Churches and the Congregational Union have now such Guilds. In some respects similar is a method of the Organization of Woman's Work in the Church, of which the General Council of the Presbyterian Churches unanimously approved in 1889. It aims at the same objects as the undenominational Associations already mentioned, but is an attempt to make those who worship in the same sanctuary recognize their obligation to mutual helpfulness as well as to united service of the one Lord. Without entering into details, I may say that it gives to every female member and adherent of the Church a place in its general grade or Woman's Guild, and assigns to those who have given several years of service a right, as members of the Women Workers' Guild, to be leaders of the others, while on those entitled by longer service or by special training the Church confers the degree of Deaconesses. Equally with those last-named Guilds connected with the Church, but composed of both sexes is an American Society, the growth of which has been absolutely phenomenal. The Society of Christian Endeavour dates only from 1881, and already it has 13,000 branches and a million members. Its object is to unite all young people of both sexes in each congregation on the basis signified by its name. Its active members declaring that they are Christians, and that they seek to promote the glory of Jesus, bind themselves as the mark and bond of union to attend without failure (unless their reason for absence 256 OUR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN. be such as they can expect to satisfy Christ Jesus) the weekly Prayer Meeting of the Society, and to contribute to the proceedings of that meeting by statement, suggestion, question, quotation, prayer, or praise. There is also a monthly meeting, at which the active members give their experience by statement or descriptive text for the encouragement of the others. In addition to those active members others are joined as Associates, who do not profess actual union with Christ Jesus, but are possessed by the desire to be found upon His side. While thus a part of the congregation and of the Church, like as Guilds are, this remarkable Society has one distinctive feature, which makes it some- what resemble the older and undenominational Societies, viz : There is an Annual Conference, to which all the Congregational Societies of all the Churches are invited and expected to send delegates. There is another largely successful Society in America with the quaint name of The King's Daughters, whose distinctive outward feature is that every group consists of Ten. Its motto is as quaint as its title : Look up and not down : look forward and not back : look out and not in : lend a hand. We thus complete our survey, and now we ask what conclusions force themselves upon us. first of all, we see here, as may be seen in foreign missions, that the first movement did not come from the corporate Church, but from groups of individuals possessed by a kindred aim, and impelled by a like ardour. The representatives of Churches and the leaders of Associations are anxiously and successfully making arrangements to promote mutual understanding and harmony by interchange of deputies to their respective Annual Meetings, and by facilitating the enrolment of local societies as branches of more than one union. The fact is that the Churcli has adopted the principles, or rather have undertaken to do the practical work of these Associations, and therefore the Associations cannot find it so easy to proceed without any regard to the Churches as it was forty or fifty years ago. If it be said, Why should the Churches not leave it to the Associations to work out the principles ? we must say 2. The idea at the basis of the Associations is an essential part of the Church. Nor is this all. The Church can do more in the good cause than any undenominational Association. Instead of the ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROFESSOR CHARTERIS. 257 exceptional few, she can reach and invite all the youth. She can provide means of intercourse and good influences with infinitely less trouble than it can. Her men of position, her women of experience, are but doing the most obvious commonplace of Christian duty, when, as members of the congregation, they make themselves friends and counsellors of the young people who grow up by their side, and worship with them. The associate and the member of a Girls' Friendly Society have no previous bond of acquaintance, and it is not easy for them to arrange even an occasional meeting ; but the mature Christian lady in a Church and the eager young life that is trembling into womanhood in the adjoining pew have been in the Master's presence together, and they meet every time they pass in by the same door to stand up and praise Him in the congregation. When St. Paul instructed Timothy to tell rich men how to use the riches, and aged women how to guide young ones, he never intended that the blessed functions to which those happy possessors of talents were called should be outside of the Church of Christ. I have recounted with pride the present numbers in the Y.M.C.A., but what are they among so many ? I know Scotland best. The Y. M.C.A. in Scotland is admirably managed and wisely guided ; but it has only some 25,000 members, and the Guild of my own Church, ten years old, has already 20,000. The corporate Church, now awakened, can stretch out wider, and penetrate deeper than any other agency ; and the future will be hers. 3. The Churches ought each to have a Young Men's Christian Association^ and a Young Women's Christian Association, and a Children's Christian Association : the Churches ought each to have one (perhaps with sub-divisions for sex and age) and the Churches ought all to have one. The Church Guild seems to me to be a step in the right direction : the conference of delegates of all Churches in the annual meeting of the Society of Christian Endeavour is another right step. For the oldest Church Guild I think I can promise that we are ready to enter into that Federal Union. I have long dreamed that it would be possible to see the Y.M.C.A. composed of all the Church Guilds and Societies for Young Men, bearing the same relation to them that this Evangelical Alliance has to all the Churches represented in it. The same, and yet different ; for the R 258 OUR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN. delegates to the Central Society would be officially delegated by the Societies of the Churches. Aye, and perhaps our own Alliance will be enabled to take that further step, and keep up with the young people's pace : so that from every General Assembly, Synod, Con- sistory, and Convocation we shall be sent by our Churches to say we are one body in Christ Jesus. Perhaps we may see the young people lead the way, for they have no history to develop, no awkward old pledges to modify ; they are coming untrammeled into the great arena, round which hovers the cloud of many witnesses waiting to see us begin the unity which is their glory up above. 4. There is in this a combination of unity with diversity, of law with freedom, which might for the time we live in be the realizing of an Ideal of Church Life ; of the Life of the Body of Christ. By Church I, of course, mean any band of believing people organized for service and worship. The Body of Christ has been far too long concerned about the subordination of members ; it is according to the answers to a question as to the law of subordination that our various denominations are distinguished, and so Churches are Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational, and what not. To hold the Head, even Christ ; to belong to the Body of Christ, i.e., to be of His Living Church ; to do the work of Christ in the world as a part of that Living Body ; that is what men are coming to in our day. And so men and women will not, do not, wait for clerical leading as they used to do. Such and such a work is to be done, and if our clergy will not lead us, and our Church does not give it a place, we shall do it in Christ's Name, and it is done. And rightly too. No doubt in another sense Christ's Church is an army, and there must be leaders under the One Great Captain, but in these democratic days, "bayonets think," and the bayonets will not be fixed and charge under the rule of officers who are unfit to be leaders, no matter how high their titles sound. And so there is in the multiplication of Societies as part of the Church just what we need in our time. " Unity without diversity is tyranny ; diversity without unity is anarchy," said Pascal ; and what is repose without labour but iniquity when there is so much work to be done ? To avoid tyranny, anarchy, and selfishness, the Church of Christ must have many departments of labour, in which those Associations have pointed and are pointing the way. ADDRESS BY THE REV. PROFESSOR CHARTERIS. 259 Christendom is full of corruptions, and will never be free of sin until the labour of Hercules is repeated. Into that Augean stable we have to turn the river of God's good pleasure. To do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. To talk of the self-sacrifice of our religion is not enough. There must be sacrifice, which means dedication of our powers, help of others with our work. I see this in all the Associations. The mis- sionary spirit is spreading. It is not really much to say that so and so, once members of some of those Associations, has gone to the foreign mission field, for one can scarcely imagine that anyone would be fit for a foreign mission if they were not taking part with the fore- most at home. But a spirit of missioning at home is growing. The young people are giving personal trouble to bring out others, and to keep them up to the mark. And this is as it should be. But it is only to a weak and small beginning. Till we recognize that a con- gregation is not an instrument to be played upon, to make reposeful music, a harmonium that goes very slow and has many stops, but is an instrument to work with, to guide, to direct, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, there is no hope for corporate humanity in this redeemed world. There is this transubstantiation needed : the bread and wine of the Christian life to be turned into flesh and blood, the very flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus, that His work may be done in the world. It is Christ the Life we are looking for, and, God be praised, are realizing. The reformers proclaimed Christ the Way; and our divines and apologists have shewn that Christ is the Truth ; but it needs the living Church to shew that Christ is the Life. As those days pass and the old things fade away with them, the Church must become more of a social force, elevating, consecrating, using social influences. I know those Associations are doing Christ's work, and I cannot forbid them merely because they follow not with us ; but He Who told His disciples that, also so founded His Church that those out-workers never forbidden were welcomed and incorporated in the great organization whose portal was baptism, whose reunion was at the Communion table, and whose function was, and is, to make up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ, and so complete the redemption of man. 260 J&cn's oltriens antr Report of the Military Evangelical Church in Italy. BY THE REV. CAV. CAPELLINI. FOR more than eighteen years an important Mission of Evangeliza- tion has been carried on among the soldiers of Italy. Such a work demands not only zeal and untiring activity, hut tact and prudence, on account of the extreme jealousy of the Italian government, as to the relations between civilians and military. It was in the year 1872 that by the grace of God this work was founded in Rome. It began with the distribution of books to the garrison, then in gathering together those who received the Word of God with joy, and as the meetings daily increased in numbers a larger Hall was engaged. At the beginning all sorts of difficulties arose, notably from the landlords of the houses, who, urged on by the priests, refused to allow their rooms to be used for the preaching of the Gospel ; but God, Who was the Director of the work, defended it, aided it in its difficulties and distresses, and at Easter of the following year a small number, twenty-five only, first-fruits of the mission, celebrated the Lord's Supper, thus laying the foundation of the Military Church. From that day onward the work has gone on increasing, and up to the present time, the nineteenth year of labour, not less than 1,604 Italian soldiers have publicly confessed their faith in Christ at the Lord's Table. This does not represent more than a fraction of those who have been brought by their comrades to hear the Word of God. The changes in the stations of the different regiments, and the termination of the period of service of the various classes, open a fresh field of Evangelical labour every year, while the return to their homes of those soldiers who have finished their military career, sows 276 CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. the seed of the Gospel in the cities and villages throughout the length and breadth of Italy. A colporteur, who acts as door-keeper, and an Evangelist, who is an ex-soldier, converted to the Gospel in this Church, aids the Minister in his work, and the meetings are never interrupted ; but every evening, those soldiers who are free and can come, meet during their short hour of liberty, hungering and thirsting after the Word of God. Besides the Church, with its daily conferences, there is instituted in a suitable locality, in three large rooms, in Via Pouro delle Cornacchie 14, a club for the non-commissioned officers, which has taken the name of the V.M.C.A. Martin Luther. In these rooms, besides the reading-room, with books and newspapers, there are night schools for Italian, French, English, and Stenography, and by means of these classes, by means of conversation with the soldiers, by means of visits to the Hospital, and by the distribution of the Holy Scriptures and tracts, the seed of the Word of God is diligently sown in all sorts of ground. But the work is not limited solely to the garrison of Rome. Every summer, when the troops are sent for their military manoeuvres, we go to the camps with as many books, Bibles, and Testaments as we can gather together. We visit regiment by regiment, distributing books, and speaking to them the Word of Eternal Life, so that, in the nineteen years that the Mission has existed, we can safely say we have assisted at all the grand manoeuvres that have taken place in the various provinces of Italy, and that we have visited all the encampments. Besides this there have been established small branch congregations, dependent on the Church at Rome, which I can visit every three or four months, holding services and administering the Lord's Supper. These Churches, each with its deacon at the head, at Viterbo, Spoleto, Perugia, Civitavecchia, Capua, and Caserta, are composed of the brethren in the various regiments which were formerly in garrison at Rome. To these also must be added the correspondence carried on with those who have been transferred to cities at a greater distance ; with the garrisons in Africa ; with those who have attained the rank of officers, and with those who have returned to their homes, whether in villages or towns, or small isolated cottages on some high mountain, where no one is near who cares for their soul. ADDRESS BY THE REV. CAV. CAPELLINI. 277 When the garrison is entirely changed, the Church naturally is quite deserted and therefore witli the new regiments, one must begin the work all over again from the beginning but, between the preparatory work of the summer manoeuvres and through soldiers sent to the Church by friend or relative who has formerly been a member, and now returned home, one soon arrives at refilling the meetings, and re-forming the Church, and the work goes on its way, as in years past. In the course of the year, after due preparatory instruction, a certain number of these soldiers, who were all formerly Roman Catholics, publicly profess their faith by taking part in the Lord's Supper. The adherence of the soldiers to the religious services has been shown in many ways ; more than once, there have been those among them, who after a fatiguing march of twenty miles or more with their knapsack on their back, hardly returned to barracks, tired, dusty and dirty have given themselves a little tidying up and gone out again to the services, perhaps two miles distant from their quarters, having just time to sing a hymn, join in a prayer, hear a part of the sermon, aud then hurry off to be in time again in barracks for the roll call. I might also speak of the time of Carnival and other public Fetes, when the soldiers prefer to come and hear the Gospel. It is on these occasions that the men, having extra leave, profit by the liberty granted them, to come in larger numbers to the services, so that every evening whilst in the street there is riot and uproar, the Military Church is full from end to end, of healthy, hearty, young men, representatives of all the provinces of Italy, singing the songs of Sion, and listening with hungry ears to the exposition of the Word of God. In the same way, every year on the King's birthday, a special meeting is held, in which the soldiers themselves make splendid speeches concerning their King, their country, their religion, and prayers are offered to the Most High, for the King, Queen, and Country, and if His Majesty himself could be secretly present at one of these meetings, he would see how it is the Gospel alone that makes true Italian soldiers, good subjects and good patriots. Hearing of these things, the clerical party began anew its fierce 278 CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. war against the Military Church, sometimes sending gentlemen and ladies to the neighbourhood of the entrance door, who, with flattering words, tried to prevent the soldiers from going in, or by means of their religious newspapers, rOsservatore Romana, Vocc della Verita, &c., putting all the relations of the soldiers on their guard, so that they might demand from the Government that their sons who had come up for military service, to serve their country, should not be led astray and forsake the religion of their fathers. But the Military Church did not fear the thunders of the Vatican, neither did the soldiers the menaces of their parents. They were deprived of their dear home letters, and even of the little money help which fathers generally send to their sons (and be it noted that a soldier has many wants, and that his pay is two halfpence per day, and only one if he is punished for any breach of discipline). But the Church was more filled than ever, and the testimonies to the truth more frequent, and the soldiers themselves applied to their captains to be taught as to their liberty of conscience and to obtain justice. Now one sees at the meetings not only non-commissioned officers, corporals, and soldiers, but officers also ; the captain, who will receive a book, and give it to his soldier servant to carry home ; the major, who sits among the men to hear the same word of truth ; a colonel, who put his head in at the door, looks at the meeting, but, fearing to make the men uncomfortable, stays at the door throughout the whole service ; another, more courageous, enters, sits down on the last bench, and remains to the conclusion. And, all the time, in Rome, the men are being sought after, in their quarters, in the Piazza d'armi, in the guard-room, and in the prisons ; and soldiers and officers, prisoners and prison-guards, are being converted to the truth. In all other parts of Italy, Sicily and Sardinia also, new Churches are formed by the home-returned soldiers, like the Romans found in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, who, returning home, were the first to establish Christianity in this city, so these soldiers, who, in Rome have received the Gospel, returning home, have first intro- duced the knowledge of the truth, as it is in Jesus, into their native villages, and so from this beginning Churches are formed which increase from day to day. ADDRESS BY THE REV. CAV. CAPELLINI. 279 If I were to narrate the facts and conversions which occur in the story of the Military Church every year it would take me far too long, but as I wished only to give a very short account of this important work I think I have said enough, and I will close this relation with saying that it is most needful in these present times, when Catholicism tries in every way to destroy us, to labour more and more. And in order that the military mission should not decline, in order thaj we may work freely and conquer in our warfare against our various enemies, it is most necessary that all Christians throughout the world should support us with their prayers and with their sympathy, it being a work which embraces the whole of Italy, and therefore has a good right to be called the Evangelical Italian Church. 280 among BY THE REV DONALD MILLER, OF GENOA. THIS" has been emphatically a century of Missionary effort. But there is a class of men which the Church has, until very recently, neglected and practically ignored. It is the sea-faring class. The history of the Church's efforts in behalf of seamen may be told in very few words. So far as I know, nothing special was done for sailors before the Reformation. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Danes, whose flag went to all parts of the world for commerce and conquest, appointed special chaplains for their seamen. Wherever they established colonies, pastors were settled whose duty it was to minister not only to the colonists but to the crews of the numerous Scandinavian ships which traded with them. From 1619 to 1637 twenty-two ministers were ordained with reference to the spiritual care of the sailors alone in the East and West Indies. The Society of Church History in Denmark has very rightly published the names of many of these pioneers of the Church's work among the men of the sea. But with the close of the eighteenth century the list ends, for under the blighting influences of Rationalism in Denmark all such work ceased. In Britain, isolated Christian efforts for the spiritual benefit of sailors may be traced as far back as the middle of the seventeenth century, but no organized and systematic work was undertaken till the beginning of the present century. To the Rev. George Charles Smith, a dissenting minister, once a sailor, and Tebulon Rogers, a Methodist shoemaker, belongs the honour of establishing prayer meetings for sailors in the Port of London, the first of which was held on board the brig Friendship, on 22nd June, 1814. Three years later the first " Bethel " flag was run up to the mast-head of the Zephyr, a flag which is used to this day, both ashore and afloat, to indicate the sailors' place of worship. In 1818 "The Port of London Society" was organized, and a Floating Chapel provided for seamen on the Thames ; and the ADDRESS BY THE REV. DONALD MILLER. 281 following year " The Bethel Union Society" was formed, with a view to extend the work to other British ports, and maintain correspondence with godly seamen in foreign lands. These two societies were sub- sequently united to form " The British and Foreign Sailors' Society," which is thus the oldest existing society in the United Kingdom for the prosecution of Gospel work among seamen. Since the formation of this society others have been organized in Britain for the same end, and there is hardly a port all round the coast of Britain where a Mission to Sailors is not to be found. In the United States of America also, societies exist for promoting the Gospel among seamen, which had their origin about the same time, and of which " The American Seamen's Friend Society " is the most efficiently equipped and most widely operative. In more recent times similar societies have been organized in Sweden and Norway. It is unnecessary to enter here on any detailed history of these societies. Enough to bear in mind that they have all come into existence within the last eighty years ; and that before that, if we except the work of the Danish pastors already referred to, no organized effort had been previously made to save the souls of the men of the sea. At the beginning of this century the moral condition of sailors was sad in the extreme. The ships of Christian Britain, which then, as now, outnumbered those of any other nation, were familiarly known as " floating hells." Blasphemy, drunkenness, impurity, and insub- ordination abounded. Religion was laughed at. The man who dared to profess it, or show any aversion to the dissolute practices and filthy conversation of his shipmates, was considered unfit to be a sailor. The idea of making sailors Christians was ridiculed by those who had to do with them, and the few Christian philanthropists who attempted to stem the current of evil found that their efforts were of little avail. And the state of things on shore was even more deplorable than on board ship. Sailors returning from long voyages abandoned themselves to the gratification of their appetites and lusts, and professing Christians regarded them as too dissolute in character and habits to be reformed. I have no means of knowing what the condition of sailors was at the beginning of this century in Roman Catholic countries. Possibly there may have been less drunkenness 282 WORK AMONG SAILORS. among them than among the sailors of the northern nations which profess Protestantism, but there is no reason to suppose that in other resects they were better. Now, thank God, a great change has come over the character of sailors in Protestant countries, and it is not too much to say that that change is to a great extent due to the special efforts made on their behalf. Wherever the sailor lands he is almost sure to find an Institute, a Rest, a Boarding House, a Hospital, where he is made welcome and surrounded by Christian influences. His physical, intellectual, and spiritual necessities are provided for, and every effort is made to keep him from temptations and shield him from the land sharks who are ever ready to prey upon him. And when he sails he is furnished with Bibles, carefully-selected books and peri- odicals, by which he can carry on his intellectual and moral culture when at sea. At the present day thousands of ships have Loan Libraries placed on board by various societies, which can be passed on to other ships, or exchanged at the societies' headquarters. Savings Banks have been organized in many ports, to protect the sailor's, hard earned wages from robbery and abuse, or to facilitate their transmission to his family. In short, the Christian Church, or rather, I should say, the Evangelical Church, has now begun to care for the men of the sea, treat them as brothers in the common family of humanity, and preach to them that Gospel by which they, as well as other classes of mankind, may be saved. And though the amount of good actually accomplished is proportionately small, it is in the aggregate incalculably great. The converts of the sea can be counted by thousands. Indeed, it may be well questioned whether in the whole range of Christian husbandry any field is at present yielding, in proportion to the efforts put forth, a richer or more abundant harvest. But these efforts are capable of great development, and there are many reasons which should impel the Church of Christ to give them more of her attention and a much larger measure of her liberality. Let me refer briefly to some of these reasons. The dangers to which sailors are exposed and the privations they have to endure, are of themselves a strong reason why the Church should extend to them her special sympathy and care. Again, sailors are men on whom vast responsibilities rest. Think ADDRESS BY THE REV. DONALD MILLER. 283 what an enormous amount of property, what countless numbers of human lives are intrusted to their care. Without them the com- mercial traffic of the world and intercourse between nations could not be carried on. Is it not, then, of the utmost importance that, instead of having on board our ships men whom dissipation and vice have rendered physically and morally incompetent for their work, we should have sober, steady, God-fearing men, who will realize their responsibilities, and discharge their duties to the world and to the Church in the Spirit of Christ ! On these grounds alone, the sailors' claim is one which cannot be considered with cold indifference in any country where Christian charity and brotherly love exist. But there are stronger reasons why the Church of Christ should give to the men of the sea her most earnest and solicitous attention, reasons which arise from the consideration of the place assigned by God to sailors in His great plan for the redemption of the world. The sailor needs the Gospel ; yes, but it is equally true that the Gospel needs the sailor ! Let the Church turn her attention to the men of the sea, and convert them, and then she will be better able to convert the world. She must make it her aim and endeavour to turn the mighty energy, which is now employed for the diffusion of evil, into a force for the extension of the Kingdom of God. Sailors are indispensable to commerce and to civilization, and they are equally indispensable to Christianity. It is along the lines of commerce, as a rule, that Christianity propagates itself. There is a Society in New York which places on board every vessel that leaves the port a packet of Bibles, Testaments, and tracts, in the language of the country to which the ship is bound. The results have been wonderful ; but how much more wonderful would they not be if the seamen to whom the distribution is entrusted were all truly Christian men ! There is not an agency which the Church has devised for the spread of the Gospel which would not find in the men of the sea a powerful auxiliary if they were only men of God. For the sailor does nothing by halves. When he is converted, he is thoroughly converted. When he becomes a true Christian, he is an earnest, witnessing, working Christian. Such are the men the Church needs to aid her in christianizing the world. Oh, if the 3,000,000 men of the sea were 284 WORK AMONG SAILORS. converted to God, how quickly would the Gospel be spread through- out the world ! Another reason why the Church should seek the co-operation of sailors in the work of spreading the Gospel is, that both the declarations of Scripture and the example of Christ show plainly that God has assigned to them a most important part in that work. Let the Church ponder well the example of her Lord, if she would understand the important part sailors must bear in the evangelization of the world. His labours when on earth were confined to a small and comparatively insignificant country, and yet in those labours the little Sea of Galilee, with its shipping and its sailors, played no unimportant part ; and if, as we believe, everything He did was done for a wise and deep purpose, and as an example to His followers, it cannot be without significance that He began to teach and to preach by the seaside at Capernaum. Did He not intend that His Church should understand that sailors are indis pensable to the evangelization of the world ? I cannot doubt it. And then, lastly, there are analogies in nature and facts in Provi- dence which seem also to indicate that, in the Divine plan for the world's redemption, sailors are destined to bear a most important part, and which should therefore suggest a further reason why the Church should labour and pray for their conversion and co-operation. And the teachings of Divine Providence point to the same con- clusion. Since the Reformation, the commerce of the world, so far as the sea is concerned, has, to a very large extent, passed into the hands of Christian nations professing Evangelical truth. The great maritime powers are the Protestant nations of the world ; and surely that fact should be regarded as indicative of the purpose of God in relation to the spread of the Gospel. I cannot now dwell on the many important considerations which this fact suggests, nor will time permit me to indicate other arguments which might easily be drawn from the teachings of both Providence and Revelation. Enough has been said to establish a definite conclusion. Considering the present moral condition of sailors, the dangers to which they are exposed, the privations they have to endure, the ADDRESS BY THE REV. DONALD MILLER. 285 responsibilities that rest on them, and the vast power they possess to influence the world ; Considering that the efforts made in recent years to improve their moral and spiritual condition, though far from being proportionate to their numbers and necessities, have nevertheless been crowned by most encouraging success ; Considering that the declarations of Scripture and the example of our Lord teach us that in the Divine plan for the world's redemption a most important and indispensable part has been assigned to them, and that, until that is carried out, the Church has no right to expect that the world will be evangelized ; And, considering that the analogies of nature and the facts of Providence confirm the teaching of revelation in regard to this subject ; We are led to the inevitable conclusion that the Church of Christ, deploring her past neglect, and realising that her work in the world cannot prosper as it ought without the co-operation of the men of the sea, is bound to turn her attention to them, and use every possible means for their conversion to God, so that they in turn may aid her in spreading the Gospel throughout the world. When the Church shall have done her duty to sailors, the apocalyptic vision of the new heaven and the new earth will soon be realized, and then " there shall be no more sea." 286 SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1891. COUNT KNOBELSDORFF PRESIDED. CHRISTIAN FAITH AND CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY. ttje 13oU)cr of ,|Fatti) is perfmeti in Hobe. BY PROFESSOR DR. FABRI, OF BONN. THIS subject belongs to the very central sphere of Christian thought and life. It concerns the individual and the whole Christian com- munity, and it is vitally important, apart from all Creeds, Churches, and parties. We shall all agree that both Faith and Love are fundamental to the spiritual life, and that Love is the greater of the two. The little book which Professor Henry Drummond has just published, " The greatest thing of the world," has been universally read, and helped us all to feel our unity in its world-wide acceptance. Our subject, to-day, touches closely the same truth, but it is not quite the same. Rather we take up that which is complementary, or if you take it better, preliminary to the Divine celebration of Love. For our subject is more directly how we reach the fulfilment of the royal precept of Love. Is Faith necessary before it ? Has it power in itself to subdue our selfishness, and to lead us into the path of Love ? Love is, in fact, a universal moral law, which makes itself felt in every human heart. Even those who have no faith acknow- ledge the obligation to cultivate friendliness, kindness, and good will in commercial intercourse. Still, valuable as this moral impulse is, it falls far short of the Divine precept. Selfishness, egoism, is the root of all evil. Estrangement from God is, we might say, the tragedy of the world's history and of the history of man. Our greatest ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR DR. FABRI. 287 question, then, must be, How can we escape from this slavery to self? The answer is twofold. Man's answer for his own side, and God's part in the work. The first thing is to obtain a true, unprejudiced knowledge of our- selves, our errors, our sins, our inward discontent, the vanity of all earthly things, the restlessness and fleetingness of all joys and sorrows of this life, the fear of death, all show us that we are not in our true element ; we are in a strange land, and therefore miserable. We need something to make us complete, to renovate us, something which can come only from above. Man can find out as much as this, at all events in his best state, by self-study and observation : the law of the knowledge of sin works within him (Rom. iii. 20), he may be receptive of the help which a higher hand offers him and may desire it. Such a help we know is offered, and millions of men have already found it. It is God's work, accomplished in Jesus, and brought to us in Him. Cleansing from all sins, peace with God, joy in the Holy Ghost, and a living hope for the future, that is the substance of it. How do we become partakers of these things ? Through faith. Faith is the organ, the medium, by which we are included in Christ's salvation. Hence it must be both distinct from and higher than any mere acceptance of propositions and dogmas. However important this may be, that which brings us into vital union with God and His life is something greater. This is what the Church of the Reformation made a fundamental truth. Where then is the place of Love ? Faith is the means, Love is the proof and aim of Salvation, as appropriated by Man. Hence they are inseparably united, and demand and conditionate one another. Love appears in the very first act of faith. God's Love ; for Salvation is the announcement of it. Man's Love ; for immediately the divine Love is shed abroad in our hearts. (Rom. v. 5.) Love is the eldest and most excellent daughter of Faith. It is not the foundation of the new life, but it is necessary to its development and perfection. (The paper expounded this view at considerable length by scriptural proofs.) But in all periods of the Christian Church the fact is more or less plainly seen, that the degree in which Love reveals itself, as the proof of the power of Faith, varies much and is often very small. Burning zeal, we find in many instances, has not been directed to subdue the 288 HOW THE POWER OF FAITH IS PERFECTED IN LOVE. power of sin and unrighteousness and to guard and defend the Faith itself, but to maintain theological or even philosophical speculations, calling fleshly lusts to its help, and preventing fanatically with fire and sword those who were of opposite opinions ; not to mention the Inquisition, the trials for witchcraft, and other outbreaks of an evil spirit. Orthodox Pharisaism has, alas, played a sad and momentous part frequently in all periods and among all ecclesiastical parties. The world has too often exulted in the contrast between such facts and the claims of Christianity to be the religion of Love. The real explanation of such facts is that the natural man cannot receive the Spirit of God. The Guardians of the Sanctuary have set the example of carnal zeal, what wonder that the unconverted mulititude have followed it ! They have not understood that Faith works by Love. Hence it cannot too often and too loudly be proclaimed in our own times. It is especially the duty of learned writers and those who are in spiritual office to do so. We must destroy Pharisaism by the power of the love of Jesus. There were many perils besetting tne kingdom of God in these days, not only in particular nations, but wherever there is the life of culture. It is perfectly true, as it is said, that Christianity alone, that is, Faith working by Love, can save us from these dangers. Each individual believer has therefore a great work to do. The perfection of Faith in Love is the realization of the believer's present experience in the fulness of eternity. God is Love. Eternal blessedness therefore must be the everlasting, free manifestation of divine Love in and to the whole redeemed and saved creation, God's Light flowing through all countries, and uniting them into an eternal and holy society with its peaceful glow of warmth and with unbroken serenity. That is the highest conception we can form of Faith perfected in Love. We are here met together in a great gathering of the Evangelical Alliance. In such a union there are two chief thoughts suggested. We meet together not as attempting to unite all the divisions of Protestantism in a new form of ecclesiastical union, but as one in a fellowship and love which is rooted in a common faith. And again, the Evangelical Alliance has set before it the aim to show the value and truth of the great principle of toleration and ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR DR. FABRI. 289 religious freedom. However good, useful and even necessary this object may be, and we cannot forget at the present time the lament- able state of things in Russia, which has already drawn our attention, still it is the first of these aspects of our Alliance which appears to be the greatest. Everything which promotes true fellowship on the ground of Truth itself, has the promise of an immediate Divine blessing resting upon it. Our subject, therefore, has a direct bearing on the objects of the Alliance. Even the defence of religious liberty is eventually a work of brotherly love. The irregularities of religious zeal have frequently been hindrances to religious liberty. Priests and preachers have often been, and sometimes still are, its most intellectual opponents, in league with the powers of this world, lawyers and the representatives of human ideas of right. It is not in obedience to the Gospel and under its influence, but still in the spirit of it that the so-called modern enlightenment has been working, and it is the principle of religious toleration for which it has claimed an open path among civilized nations. For once Love has won its victory without the power of Faith being its instrument. The propa- ganda of Love has preceded that of Faith. The almost innumerable labours, and the fervent and happy zeal of the inner Mission is a similar instance of the same. But undoubtedly our object must be to work the work of Love in the power of Faith. The more by God's help we succeed in this, the more influential will our Alliance prove itself, and the more blessed will be the results of it. It is our common desire and prayer that we may so succeed, and that the Lord may pronounce upon our work His Yea and Amen. 290 ant) IJotorr of tt)c in vTiiriMian ?iit"r. BY THE REV. H. W. WEBB-PEPLOE, M.A., OF LONDON. WITH regard to the universal endowment of God the Holy Ghost as a gift, God's Word made it clear that once for all there had been bestowed that gift of the Holy Ghost as a Person. But this would not prevent a constant repetition of earnest prayer for the experience described in Luke xi. 13 : " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children : how much more shall your heavenly Father give Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ?" There was no article "the" quoted in that passage ; the word was partitive, not personal : it is " Holy Spirit." None of us had realized the fulness of the possi- bilities that might be expected concerning the gift or powers, or qualities of this " Holy Ghost ; " the very holiest would always be conscious of needing more. It was one thing to recognize that we had failed to take and to use what our Father had bestowed ; it was another thing to charge our Father with not having bestowed what He says He has given. The Holy Ghost has already given as the universal income of the Church, " the earnest of our inheritance : " the earnest, because a man may possess a splendid income and yet never have seen his magni- ficent property. What we enjoy of our income is the measure of holiness which we really possess, or exhibit in this life. Hereafter the inheritance will be ours in its fulness. The promises in the Old Testament distinctly marked God's intention to give the Holy Ghost. There were several texts that spoke of God's "pouring out" of His Spirit, and the passage in Joel ii. 28-29 : "* W 'N P our out My Spirit upon all flesh," et seq. was the key text to the whole, because in Acts ii. 16 the Apostle Peter says : " This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel." That was a most remarkable expression. Great authorities sustained the view that the term " upon all flesh " did not mean upon each individual man, but that the descent of the Holy Ghost was to be on human flesh as a whole. This was the character of ADDRESS BY THE REV. H. W. WEBB-PEPLOE, M.A. 291 the promise ; had it ever received any distinct fulfilment ? \Ve had an historical fulfilment in Christ at His baptism, when the Holy Ghost descended and lighted upon Him ; and then the historical fulfilment for the Church in the day of Pentecost, with its glorious results. We had these remarkable facts. First, the Holy Ghost descended upon the Lord Jesus, as representative Man. Then Christ went back to Heaven, and, at Pentecost the Holy Ghost descended as a Person, and became the absolute gift of God to men. There was a generic fulfilment of God's promise upon the Israelite, the half-breed, and the pure Gentile. Thus were all mankind included. This was the universal endowment or gift to man, of God, the Holy Ghost. Individual enduement was a totally distinct thing. The first fact already mentioned was one in which man was in no wise concerned, God acting alone. In this second stage there was partly the work of God and partly the work of man. When any man was dealt with by God, the Spirit came to work in him a process of conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The very moment the man received the blessed truth that God was in Christ saving him, he was given a new life. At that moment there was in him, first the old natural life which remains with us to the end of our existence, and secondly the new spirit life which God the Holy Ghost bestowed : " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His." All the Church, therefore, were at one upon the simple fact that when we believe we are partakers of the Holy Ghost and the life of the Spirit is put into us. As Christians we are not " waiting for the promise ; " but we have received the blessed spirit of liberty and of power ; the individual enduement has taken place. There was a most solemn distinction between the actual endowment, or the enduement, by God, with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and man's personal enjoyment of that gift from the moment he received it. The Holy Ghost is to the soul what pure air is to the body. The only real question now to be answered is, "What can we do to be filled with (or in) the Spirit?" In the days of Hezekiah, when the temple had been allowed to have all kinds of iniquity brought into it, the priests came and purged out all the filth. In Nehemiah's day when Tobiah had filled God's chambers with household stuff, the prophet cast it all forth. When the temple was filled with money-changers and sellers of merchandise, the Lord 292 THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CHRISTIAN LIFE. Jesus made a scourge of small cords and drove them all out. That was the first step to be taken by us ; and that first step taken, the Holy Ghost would rush into our hearts as air does into a vacuum when opened, or as water into a vessel when placed under a fountain. Between the Old Dispensation and the New there was this difference. The Old Testament prophets were borne along by the Spirit. He never drives now. The Gospel is not a driving dispensa- tion ; you must be willing to be led. There were negative results of yielding to the Spirit. " Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Gal. v. 16.) The lust of the flesh was in all men to the last. The flesh was there, and what was the Christian to do : " Walk in the Spirit," because willingly led of the Spirit, and stay there all the days of your life ; if you do you will never fulfil the lust of the flesh. What were to be the positive results ? The answer was in Gal. v. 22 : Do not let us talk of the fruits of the Spirit ; it was the' fruit of the Spirit nine grapes in one bunch. It was all of one Spirit who desired to work one and the same blessed fruit in us all. Nine beautiful grapes they were, and all relating to character rather than to conduct. You are wanting to go and do some great works ; God wants you to begin with character. The Holy Ghost works character; then He can fill for service. It was no man's special prerogative, or gift, above his fellows, to be filled by the Spirit ; but a child of God may grieve and quench the Holy Ghost. A command of the Lord to each one was this: "Be filled irv the Spirit," and then "Yield yourselves as those that are alive unto God ! " ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR BARTH, OF BERNE. WE believe in the Holy Ghost, the characteristic sign of the children of God ; and in His work, the conversion and sanctification of sinners. But how are we to conceive His working, and whereby do we recognize His presence ? Some see Him whenever men are filled with enthusiasm for anything, taking Him to be the human spirit in an exalted condition. It is, however, a limited empiricism to find spirit only in the human life, since the same, on the contrary, is ruled ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR EARTH. 293 by the flesh, as long as there is no second birth. Others see just the reverse. They only see the Holy Ghost when the activity of the human spirit ceases, therefore, in the supernatural ; they emphasize the gifts of grace, prophecies, tongues, the healing of the sick, deplore their extinction in the Church, and desire their revival by a new outpouring of the Holy Ghost. But the Apostles warn us from an over-estimation of these wonderful gifts, and find in daily life the apocalyptic territory of the Holy Ghost. By what do we now recognize Him in daily life ? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. The first Adam had Spirit by the breath of God the Creator ; but became flesh by His dis- obedience. The second Adam had flesh by His human body, but became Spirit by His obedience unto the death of the Cross. He introduced the Spirit of God as a uniting power into the life of man. The new humanity receives from Him the Holy Ghost, who, through the second birth, sanctifies body, soul, and spirit of man. The Holy Ghost is thus the Divine Life-power which appeared in Jesus as the principle of the human life, and now also brings to bear upon His disciples a divine law of life upon the human period of life. Their signs of recognition are, as with Jesus, the form of a servant, and the form of the Crucified. The Holy Ghost works mightily, but imper- ceptibly. He gives to man an ethical gravity of life, as Jesus suffered the Cross to remain obedient to God. He gives a loving devotion to man for his fellowmen, as Jesus has suffered for us. He gives a mind of patient bearing, as Jesus bore to the very cross. He gives the glance into the invisible, with which Jesus has passed through the Cross to the Throne. Man receives the Holy Ghost through faith in fesus, which results in Communion of Spirit with Him. But " faith cometh by preaching, and preaching by the Word of God." The more we rest upon the Word of God, the more we become spiritual men, and our Evangelical Church is the Spiritual Church, because she is the Church of the Word. Therefore we pray for the Holy Ghost, but also labour for His increase through searching in the Word of God, and the use of its treasure for the spiritual life of our nations in order that the Reformation may remain permanent amongst us by God's Word and Spirit. Then we may also in love say to one another : " Ye have the same Spirit with us." 294 AFTERNOON MEETING. Af. LB PASTEUR DR. LELIEVRE, OF PARIS, PRESIDED. due SJniig of tfte ttljri&tian