John Ronge: The Holy Coat Of Treves Part 8

CONFESSION OF FAITH.

Art. 1. The foundation of the Christian faith should be solely and exclusively the Holy Scriptures and Reason, pervaded and actuated by true Christian principles in their interpretation--Art. 2. The community accepts the Apostolic Creed as its own. It is the problem of the Church, as of the individual, to reduce its contents to a living recognition, corresponding with the principles of the age.--Art. 3. In the difference of statement and interpretation with regard to the given contents of this Confession of Faith, the community finds no ground for excommunication or anathematizing.--Art. 4. With reference to the objective principles of belief, it, is held that there ought to be no impediment to free inquiry, and that no one should be anathematized on account of the exercise of the right conceded to him of free inquiry--because it is impossible to fix a completely definite rule of faith for the human mind.--Art. 5. The community consider the chief problem of Christianity to be, not merely the bringing of its principles to living recognition among the members of the community, by public wors.h.i.+p, teaching, and instruction, but also the promoting, according to their ability, the spiritual, moral, and physical good of their fellow-men, without distinction.--Art. 6. The community acknowledges only two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper; because only these have unquestionably been inst.i.tuted by Christ, according to the testimony of the Scriptures.--Art. 7. Baptism is the sign of reception into the Christian Society; it is administered to children under the reservation of their confirming the Confession of Faith at the years of maturity.--Art. 8. The Lord's Supper serves as a remembrance of Christ, and as a sign of a covenant of brotherhood for all men.--Art. 9. The Sacrament to be received by the community in both kinds, as it was appointed by Christ.--Art. 10. Transubstantiation is not acknowledged, because it cannot be justified from the Gospel.--Art. 11. Marriage is declared as a holy inst.i.tution, and the blessing of the Church on the same regarded as necessary.--Art. 12. There are no other restrictions on marriage recognized than those appointed by the laws of the State.--Art.

13. Celibacy is rejected by the community as an inst.i.tution not found in the Holy Scripures, as not to be justified before reason, and as devised by the Roman Popes for the advancement of their Hierarchy.--Art. 14.

The community rejects the supremacy of the Roman Pope.--Art. 15. It abolishes auricular confession.--Art. 16. It uses the language of the people in public wors.h.i.+p.--Art. 17. It rejects the invocation and wors.h.i.+pping of saints, (admitted into the ritual of the Romish Church), relics, and images, which are regarded as unchristian, and as leading to gross abuse.--Art. 18. All the previously existing customs of the Church, such as indulgences, fastings, pilgrimages, which could only lead to a useless work-holiness, are abolished by the community.--Art.

19. The outward form of public wors.h.i.+p should ever adapt itself to the wants of time and place.--Art. 20. The outward demeanour in the Church cannot be prescribed, and is left to the religious sense of each individual; that which leads to superst.i.tution is forbidden.--Art. 21.

Only those festivals are to be celebrated which are sanctioned according to the laws of the land.--Art. 22. The community makes use of its old right freely to elect for itself its pastors and office-bearers.--Art.

23. The community is to be represented by its pastors and the chosen elders; the election of the elders to take place yearly at Whitsunday.--Art. 24. Each pastor to be introduced to the congregation and to his office by a church service, yet herewith avoiding everything which could be held as sanctioning the sacramental value of the Roman consecration of the priesthood, and serve as the foundation of the Hierarchy.--Art. 25. The stipend of the pastor to be regulated according to the means of the members of the congregation.--Art. 26. All church transactions, such as baptisms, marriages, burials, to be gone about by the pastor, without (surplice) fees, for all members of the community alike.--Art. 27. All these findings are not settled for all times, but can be altered according to the belief (lit. consciousness) of a particular period, by the community in agreement therewith.--Art. 28.

To make a Christian Church a truly universal (Catholic) one, and not to exclude the admission of congregations const.i.tuting themselves in different places--all these, in every view, merely provisional findings, to be submitted to a universal (German) council,--Art. 29. The reception into the Church, after its complete const.i.tution, takes place after the declaration of desire for admission, and the acceptance of the Confession of Faith adopted by the community, before the office-bearers, by public deed in the congregation.

Another short doc.u.ment has appeared, which runs as follows:--"I believe in G.o.d the Father, who by his Almighty Word created the world, and governs it in wisdom, justice, and love. I believe in Jesus Christ, one Saviour, who by his teaching, his life, and his death, has redeemed us from the bondage of sin. I believe in the work of the Holy Spirit upon earth--a holy universal Christian Church--the forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting. Amen."

The following is the order of Church-service for the Church in Breslau.--1. Introductory Hymn. 2. Confession of sins (Confiteor). Lord pity us, &c. Glory be to G.o.d, &c. 4. The prayers of the Collect. 5. The Epistle. 6. The Gospel. 7. The Sermon, with the usual prayers, with a verse of a hymn before and after. 8. Instead of the Canon of the Ma.s.s, a pa.s.sage from the Pa.s.sion and the Sacrament. 9. Holy, holy, holy, &c.

O, Lamb of G.o.d, &c. 10. Lord's Prayer. 11. Concluding Hymn. 12.

Benediction. It has also been resolved that part of the Sabbath afternoon be devoted to catechizing, as is now common in many Protestant churches in Germany and Switzerland. The only point of difference, so far as we are aware, among the different communities, is on the doctrine of tradition; some proposing to abolish it altogether, while others wish to retain it so far as in accordance with the Bible--though to maintain a subordinate place. An intimation has been published, stating that representatives from all the churches--now about 18 in number--are to meet in Leipsic at Easter, to make arrangements for the authorized const.i.tution of the new Church. Meanwhile Ronge has prepared the draft of a new liturgy.

The community at _Elberfeld_, in separating from the Church of Rome, expresses itself as follows:--

"In the name of G.o.d, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen! We, the undersigned citizens of Elber-feld, belonged, up to this period, to the Roman Catholic Church, and had, for a long period, been aware with increasing force, of the errors and abuses which cling to it in its most inward principles, and have a.s.sumed the ascendancy in its latest phases.

The more we have striven to become acquainted with the true doctrine of Jesus in the Gospel, which is the alone source of revealed truth, the more deeply have we been penetrated with the conviction, that Christ is the only mediator between G.o.d and man, and that the doctrine with regard to the Pope and the one infallible Church, has no foundation in the word of G.o.d, and weakens the merits of Christ; that the doctrines of the Romish Church of the Holy Sacrament--of the priesthood and its relation to the people, is false, and deprives believers of their choicest privileges. The more clear this conviction has gradually grown upon us, the more oppressive do we feel the chains by which we are bound, and the more are we in our consciences hindered from belonging to a Church whose most important doctrines we can no longer reconcile with the Gospel, from adhering to a faith which we cannot openly avow as becomes the disciples of the Lord. Herewith was connected the pain of having no wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d corresponding with our altered religious views. Then came forth from the darkness, whose shadows settled more and more thickly over us, a light which, in our extremity, we view as the morning-dawn of hope, and as announcing to us the good favour of G.o.d. Events, to which we do not require more specially to refer, have given us the joyful a.s.surance, that the day is at hand, which brings deliverance and freedom to those in bondage! That which was struggling unconsciously within ourselves has now been brought to full consciousness, and we thank G.o.d that we now know what we should do, and that he has given us courage openly to bear testimony to the faith which we acknowledge. In the sight of G.o.d we separate ourselves from the Pope, and the Hierarchy, and from the whole anti-evangelical system therewith connected, whatever struggles or shame we may have to encounter. We thus separate ourselves--not for the sake of carrying on a war against those who hold a different confession--not even that confession which we abandon--but for the purpose of finding rest for our souls, and of serving and thanking our G.o.d and Lord in peace. We separate ourselves--not in a spirit of vain glory, or from a false desire of freedom, we acknowledge, along with our brethren in Schneidemuhl, Jesus the crucified, whose pure doctrines alone, whose kingdom alone, whose glory and wors.h.i.+p alone, we seek and desire, Amen!

"Accordingly, we hereby const.i.tute ourselves into a Christian, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We solemnly declare that we adhere to the Confession of Faith, in the sister Church, in all its essential points, as follows,--(here follows a verbal copy of the Schneidemuhl Confession.) This true, universal faith, revealed by Christ Jesus, we now acknowledge, freely and truly, and promise, by G.o.d's help, to maintain and avow the same with unbroken steadfastness, uncorrupted and unperverted; as also to give all possible care that this faith be held, taught, and avowed, by those under us, or by those who have confidence in our intention, until our Confession of Faith has received the requisite alterations or enlargements in a future general (German) council of the chief members of the entire Christian-Catholic Church.

May then G.o.d and his divine Gospel a.s.sist us! Amen!

"In this Confession of Faith we have declared our inmost convictions.

Although we are still few in number, yet we feel ourselves strong enough in our Christian faith to oppose' all difficulties, obstacles, and oppositions, and by G.o.d's grace, not to wander or waver in the way which has been marked out, but to remain firm in our present intentions and desires unto the end of our days--even though the outward means for carrying these out should be wanting--even though our present limited number should be still more limited--yet even though only one of us should in this life stand alone in these his convictions. At a later period we shall hold our public consulting a.s.semblies, and allow, even to those who are most undetermined in the matter, free right of admission, and liberty of stating their views, that all may be convinced of our upright intentions.

"The members of the German Christian Catholic Apostolic community in Elberfeld. In their name. (Signed) C. T. von Knapp, R. Hockelmann, T.

Korner.

"Elberfeld, 15th February 1845."

It were of course quite premature to criticize the doctrines, or system of government of the new Church, as they themselves have declared that their findings are not to be held as final, until they have been examined and approved of by a general synod or council. Meanwhile we hasten to complete this hurried sketch. Since the events that have taken place, Bishop Arnoldi has been honoured with torch-processions in Cologne and Bonn and Coblentz, and has been burned in effigy by the students in Jena. So far from wis.h.i.+ng to undo what has been done, he has inst.i.tuted an annual Church festival, to be called the Festival of the Holy Coat, the Nails, and the Lance, and to be held on the Wednesday in the third week after Easter. Nay, not only so, but it has been actually reported that he has resolved to establish another Pilgrimage in honour of the Holy Nail, which Prince Metternich has, after solemn conference and negociation, promised to restore to the Cathedral of Treves.

The Bishop has lately given a proof of his tyranny as well as his superst.i.tion, in suspending one of the clergy of his diocese, by name Licht, who had dared to doubt--and to express his doubts to his people.

He had been promised to be reinstated on retracting his obnoxious opinions about the Coat--but has preferred degradation to dishonour.

Our clergy, says one account, appear to lose in prudence exactly as the Separatists increase. Thus, so far from the more extreme section of them expressing themselves with greater caution than formerly, some of them are declared to have taught openly since the event, that not only was this the _bona fide_ Coat of our Lord, but that it was the _only Coat which he ever wore_--and that it grew with the growth of his body from the cradle to the Cross. To counteract the influence of the movement now in progress, Bishop Arnoldi, in conjunction with the Bishop of Cologne, has inst.i.tuted a new Catholic Society for the Rhine provinces, the object of which is,--by a Monthly Journal, by the circulation of sermons and tracts, by the publication of standard Catholic works at a cheap rate, by the founding of a new Catholic library and the like, to diffuse a spirit of stronger Catholicity through this section of the Church. A member of the Theological Seminary is already named as its president, and collections are ordered to be made on a general scale in all the parishes, and specially by calls made at each individual house. In addition, five new journals of the same stamp have been established.

Meanwhile the Protestant evangelical societies have not been asleep.

The Gustavus-Adolphus Society (a Society founded for the support of poor Protestant congregations in Catholic countries, and one of the best proofs of the reviving spirit in the German Church,) have expressed their opinion that by the const.i.tution of the Society, they are precluded from a.s.sisting the new movement by specific grants of money, but at the same time stating their desire to urge on the spirit that was abroad by all means in their power. Collections accordingly have been made in the various large towns, to defray the necessary expenses incurred by the support of clergy, the performance of public wors.h.i.+p and the like. Places of meeting have been granted in most cases by the authorities of the town. So far as we are aware, only one member of the new community has openly gone over to the Protestant Lutheran Church.

In Breslau the long-vacant and much-disputed episcopal chair still remains unoccupied,--von Diepenbrock having expressly refused the offer, on the alleged ground of the unsettled state of the Church. During the late sittings of the Diet at Breslau, the excitement was altogether of a religious and not of a political kind. Ronge and the anti-Popish movement were the great subjects of conversation. "The Separation," says an account, "is widening daily, and quarters are now full of agitation which before were peaceful as the grave. Our ears are once more deafened by the No Popery cry. The congregation here now numbers above 600 families." Ronge is busily occupied with the affairs of the Church--delivering the most stirring addresses--and everywhere receiving fresh proofs of sympathy and support.

Czerski, the pastor of Schneidemuhl, has followed Luther's example in the matter of marriage, the Protestant clergyman officiating. He has since been formally degraded and excommunicated, previous to which, we believe that in many places seven ma.s.ses were offered up daily for his return to the communion of the Church. In addition, all who adhere to his opinions have been excommunicated _en ma.s.se_. A small pamphlet has lately come out in Berlin, which states, that he had been always distinguished by great laboriousness in his parish, and that he had previously excited great attention by a stirring Address which he had delivered in the open air, on the matter of some Indulgence, pointing out the true method of repentance and pardon, and advising the people to have nothing farther to do with Indulgences, as the greatest of them could not make a man a Christian. He is represented as a person of great simplicity of character, and of deep feeling. He is firm in expressing his determination to adhere to the Bible and not to the Church. He and Ronge have been both, by letter from high quarters, admonished to be on their guard, as attempts on their life from some fanatics were dreaded.

Several threatening letters had been also sent to some of the more active lay members in the new Church. At Breslau, on Sabbath, 9th March, the first public service was celebrated. Dr. Steiner delivered an Address on the momentous step which had been taken, and then requested the community to use the right of _free election of their pastor_, now restored to them. John Ronge was unanimously chosen. Czerski was present from Schneidemuhl, to take part in the services of the day. Intimation was made that Kerbler, hitherto vicar in Lindenau, was present, and had joined the New Church. Then followed the induction of the new pastor into his charge. Twelve girls dressed in white, with garlands of flowers, formed a procession,* which was followed by John Ronge, Czerski, Kerbler, and the chief members of the congregation. Dr. Steiner then delivered a powerful Address to the new pastor on the duties of his office. Ronge replied to his people, and promised not to forsake them in joy or sorrow, after which the ordinary services of public wors.h.i.+p began. After a hymn, he ascended the pulpit, and delivered a discourse _on the true character of the Church_, which he said was founded on the two maxims of Christ,--"Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect;" and "Love G.o.d, and your neighbour as yourself," and not on exclusive confessions, forms, and ceremonies. The great matter was to make Christianity inward and spiritual, and then to act accordingly. The man who did this was a true Christian, and herein lay the possibility of having a universal Christian Church, which should be one in knowledge, in love, and in deed. After leaving the pulpit, he read the New Confession of Faith from the altar, to which those present responded with a hearty "Amen." A selected piece from the Pa.s.sion was then read, with the words of the inst.i.tution of the Supper, which was followed by the choral, "Holy, holy, holy." The whole was closed with the Lord's prayer, the Hymn "Great G.o.d we praise thee," and the Benediction. The service seems to be pretty nearly the same as in the Protestant German Church, at least as it is now celebrated in the Cathedral of Berlin.

* This must be regarded as a German rather than Popish custom.

But the matter of controversy is not confined to the humble parish-priests of Silesia. While the two Bishops of Treves and Cologne, Arnoldi and von Geissel, have been issuing their annual pastoral letters in Lent, filled with the most extravagant declarations of ultramontane opinions, the Bishop of Mayence, von Kaiser, has issued a doc.u.ment breathing a very different spirit. In the former, each of the faithful is admonished in opposition to the movements which are at present taking place in the Catholic Church, to hold firmly by Rome and the Pope, as the central-point of the Church--is warned against apostacy and false doctrine, whilst the faith in relics, and what belongs thereto, is expressly inculcated. Bishop Kaiser, again, in a mild and tolerant spirit, dwells largely upon the fundamental principle of brotherly love and reconciliation, and although he attaches great weight to positive belief, yet, above all things, he gives prominence to the principle of the Apostle Paul:--"If I had all faith, and had not charity, I am nothing." Without this, he adds, all our works have no value before G.o.d.

This pastoral letter has, in its whole contents, reference to the Church relations of the present times, and must be regarded as a determined protest against the wild proceedings of the Jesuits. He proves that it is neither Catholic nor Christian to make a tool of fanaticism, intolerance, and proselytism,--that the principle of toleration is also a Catholic one, and that both Churches can subsist together in peace, if the authors of disturbance were only powerfully restrained. He moreover _acknowledges the claims of Protestantism_,--a fact which, in reference to the recent course of events, is of vast importance:--"It is possible," says he, "for men of different creeds, if they have good moral principles, to live together in the same country, and to meet in civil life peacefully, friendly, and lovingly, and yet for each to remain unchangeably true to his individual belief. This experience has taught; already 300 years have past since in Germany a section of our brethren in the faith separated themselves from us. The division has taken place. Divine Providence has permitted it, and permits it still.

What G.o.d permits, man should permit too; or should man not will it so--still he _must_. If the mixture of men of different creeds has once become realized as a fact, then has their living together become a matter of necessity. It were, accordingly, foolish and unreasonable, if they did not wish, as much as in them lay, honestly and truly, by reciprocal toleration and indulgence, to make these differences lighter and less felt. It were foolish, hypocritical, and supercilious, at the same time, if they pa.s.sed judgment upon each other's faith and believing life harshly and uncharitably, rather than to be reserved in their judgment, and to consider that each man for himself, and among his own fellow-believers, has faults enough to rectify. * * * * G.o.d is love, and we prove our love of G.o.d by our love of man. In faith we are not at one, but in love we can and ought to be so--in love, we can and ought to strive with one another, and by love can we best show the truth and purity of our belief, and place ourselves in the best position for recommending it to others, until it shall please G.o.d that we all together should attain to the unity of the faith.'"

We believe it difficult to exaggerate the importance of this doc.u.ment.

Here is a man holding a high office in the Catholic Church--living in the very midst of the scenes lately enacted, with two bishops on either side of his diocese, who seem equally ready personally to take part in, or with all the power of their office, to defend the most extravagant superst.i.tions, or the most insidious policy of Jesuitism, with a people who showed how thoroughly they were given up to idolatry, and with a clergy equally capable of misleading or being misled,--still calmly lifting up his voice for a purer faith, and for the manifestation of the true spirit of Christian liberty and love. It seems most probable that this defence of _toleration_ may, ere long, make its author personally feel what _intolerance_ is. He is already denounced by the ultra-Catholic party in the Rhine provinces, and report says, in the Vatican itself. If so, we may expect to hear more of Bishop Kaiser of Mayence. Meanwhile, it is gratifying to state that Addresses have been sent to him by his clergy and fellow-citizens, fully partic.i.p.ating in his spirit, and expressive of their joy that he has all along so strongly discountenanced the doings in the neighbouring diocese of Treves; while a Special Address has been presented to him from Offenbach, praying that he, as their spiritual guide, would lead the way in making them discard the leading errors of Popery. To show that this spirit of dissatisfaction is not confined to an individual case, we may state, that at least one other Bishop has, in his annual Address, pa.s.sed over what has taken place without a single allusion or remark; nay, that even in Treves itself, which seems destined to become the _Mecca_ of continental Popery, there were priests whom nothing but the fear of consequences compelled to take part in the degrading scenes referred to.

And now, in drawing this hasty sketch to a close, we have left ourselves room for but one or two general remarks.

1. From what has been said, it must be as a matter of fact, plain, that Germany is now the scene of a most remarkable awakening. Catholic Germany is again, after a lapse of more than three centuries, the scene of an open secession from the Church of Rome; and at the head of the movement stands one, who writes with Luther-like power--who has gone through many of Luther's experiences, and who has already shown that he has imbibed a vast deal of Luther's spirit, in deed as well as word. The occasion too, of the movements, was not unlike--Indulgences in the one case, and relics, accompanied with Indulgences, in the other, have awakened men's minds to see the evils of the whole system, and to shake off their connection with it. Congregations have been formed--a new Church is being established, and men on all sides say and show that they identify themselves with the movement. The Pope is busied now with giving new directions for the German Church; and is earnestly setting himself to narrow, as far as policy, or concession, or remonstrance can do, the evils of the schism which has already taken place. The new Church, it is true, still adheres to the name Catholic, and Ronge has said, that to pure Catholicism he remains true; but we quarrel not with names, if the faith and doings of the men be Protestant in fact. And moreover, it is at once evident, that as regards the immediate progress of the movement, it is perhaps well that Ronge should still, if he so pleases, call himself Catholic, as by so doing, he is not to be viewed with the same jealousy or distrust by his Catholic brethren, which would be the case, if he at once openly avowed that he had become Protestant.

In this event he would be treated as a heretic by hundreds, whose eyes, like Luther's, may not at once be opened to see that the Church of Rome is not the true and only Church of Christ.

2. As to the _real character_ of the present movement, in a religious point of view, it becomes us, _as yet_, to speak with caution. The period has not arrived for our forming a proper estimate of it, as we have not yet all the materials for so doing; and still more as great allowance must be made for two circ.u.mstances--1st, The half-formed condition of the new community in its present transition state; and 2d, That progress in their views of divine truth, which may take place with them as it did with Luther. Meanwhile, taking both circ.u.mstances into view, it cannot be questioned that much of the present movement may be traced to causes other than those connected with the deeply Evangelical principles, which characterized the Reformation. It is true, the Reformation began also with a mere outward abuse; but this was rather the first occasion for the manifestation of the Christian principle, that was the soul of the movement in the sixteenth century, and determined its whole spiritual character. The great Evangelical doctrine of _Justification by Faith_ was, _in principle_, opposed to all such practices, of which _Indulgences_ was only one specimen; but this doctrine went a great deal further, namely, in supplying the positive and constructive principle of the Reformation throughout. The trade in Indulgences might have been opposed upon grounds of mere worldly politics--from an infidel hatred of all systems of religion--from a mere moral dislike at hypocrisy or superst.i.tion; but it required a true spiritual principle, connected with man's relation to G.o.d as a sinner, to give it its full value as regards the cause of Evangelical truth. The Reformation proceeded from a living principle within, which was at war with outward practices and systems,--instead of merely opposing these from principles drawn from a different circle of motives and actions apart from religion. Popery was overthrown by the French Revolution, as well as the Reformation; but no one would think of comparing as a.n.a.lagous the moral causes at work in both cases. And now as to Ronge's movement, we desiderate the statement of the great evangelical principles on which he falls back, and which would prove his struggle to be freed from priestly thraldom to be the desire of reaching the true liberty of the sons of G.o.d in Christ. It cannot be concealed that much of the spirit of Ronge's letters is explicable from the mere desire of independence of priestly tyranny, or from principles of a general enlightenment--or of warm patriotism, not necessarily of a religious character. Certain it is, that in all his productions there is much to desiderate; nay, we may go farther, and declare that there is much in them which seems to savour of the modern German Liberalism, with all its parade of words about the dignity of human nature, and the demands of the spirit of the age, and the shadowy future of an ideal perfectibility. It is not to be denied, moreover, that many of the Addresses sent to Ronge breathe a good deal the same spirit, and are sadly wanting in the strong statements of men who have been really made to feel that this is a matter affecting the salvation of the soul, and man's highest interests as an immortal being. This we are far from stating from feelings of suspicion or hypercritical jealousy. Quite the reverse. We are merely pointing out a source of danger in pa.s.sing too hurried a decision on a movement which may not yet have had time or opportunities enough to bring out or establish its real spiritual character.

But on this point we have said enough, and desire that what we have said be not construed into an avowed opinion as to the character of this movement as a whole; but rather as indicating the possible direction which may be given to it, if the principles hinted at be really at the bottom of it. We earnestly hope that such is not the fact.

3. What we have now said leads us, in conclusion, to state the obligation which lies on the Protestants of this country to give, if possible, a proper direction to this movement, and to encourage it, in so far as it has this direction, by all means in their power. A voice from Protestant Britain might do much to strengthen the hands, and encourage the hearts, of those who are now occupied in opposing error, and, we hope, testifying for the truth, from a true knowledge of it as it is in Jeans. Most desirable it is that this movement be guarded against the influences of Rationalism, of whatever kind, and thus of becoming a scandal to Protestantism, and a new cause for the enemy to triumph. The awakened and evangelical Protestantism of Germany will be ready to co-operate with us and with them, in proportion to their increased purity of creed, and their daily increasing activity and efficiency as a branch of the Church of Christ. A n.o.ble opportunity seems now, in the providence of G.o.d, presented, for drawing together different parts of the Christian Church, as well as of aiding in a great effort to overthrow the system which has so long kept the nations in the very darkness of the shadow of death. We have means of knowing that many of the best and wisest men in Germany believe that we are now standing on the threshold of great events; and meanwhile, when on both sides of the Alps, Popery is reorganizing itself for a new and fierce attack on Christendom and Heathenism alike, it is most gratifying to know that in the very country of the Reformation--aye, and in the bosom of the Catholic Church itself, there should still be found slumbering the spirit of Luther and his times. Let us hope that the presence of Him who led the spirit of Luther to larger conceptions of Divine Truth, and gave him courage equal to his mighty work, may now be vouchsafed to many who, like him, may still be groping in a kind of twilight knowledge and faith, and be led, as all around and within them brightens, to have no longer any fellows.h.i.+p with the works of darkness! May G.o.d grant the Churches of Christendom light to act as becomes the emergency; and may all that has taken place, or that may yet take place, in connection therewith, tend to advance the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We conclude with the well known words of Luther:--"If this is G.o.d's work it will advance; if it be man's it will come to nought."