ecclesiastical system, and this controversy led by degrees to a questioning, and finally to a denial of the system itself. Both the reformers insisted on removing from the church whatever doctrines and principles were without foundation in the Bible. They came independently to the same conclusion in this respect, and were thus accidentally united in their opposition to the papacy. But in their positive construction of Christianity they represented different tendencies. Luther was more mystical, and allowed of more historical development in the church. Zwingli and his followers had less feeling, less imagination, less love of mystery, and represented rather the philosophic and rationalistic tendency in religion. The terms mystical and rationalistic are here used in a good sense. Nothing was better adapted to bring out the peculiarities of both orders of mind and types of theology than the question of the eucharist. While both rejected the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation as unscriptural and unreasonable, Luther adopted a theory, somewhat inaccurately termed consubstantiation, as mysterious and inexplicable as that which he rejected; while Zwingli stripped the whole subject of its mystery, and exhibited it as a plain and simple emblematical rite, just as it is now viewed by most Protestant denominations in this country. The appearance of Calvin at Geneva, and his powerful metaphysical genius, gave a decidedly metaphysical and logical cast to the theology of the Reformed (Calvinistic) church, thereby distinguishing it from that of the Luther an church. The Loci of Melanchthon and the "Institutes" of Calvin, the most celebrated Protestant theological productions of the age, favorably represent the ground type, as the Germans would say, of the theology of the two confessions. Perhaps, in the more logical character of the Reformed churches, as distinguished from the Lutheran, the reason predominating over the feelings, is to be found the cause of their greater individuality in matters of opinion, and greater diversity of creeds in different cities of Switzerland, and in different countries of Europe. The fact is unquestionable that the Lutheran church was much more homogeneous and united than the Reformed. In general the south of Europe remained Catholic, while the north became Protestant; and of Protestant countries, Switzerland and the west were Reformed, while the east, that is, the most of Germany and Denmark, Sweden and Norway, were Lutheran. The Genevan church was the model for France, Holland, Scotland, and in part for England, and consequently for North America. In the opinion of many Lutheran writers, the prominence given to the understanding over the religious sentiment in the Reformed church is the reason why Socinianism flourishes so much more in that church than in their own. The Reformed theologians, in turn, find in the mysticism of the Lutheran theology the cause of that revulsion of which rationalism is the result. We leave these points for others to decide. United as the church and state were in the 16th century, a reformation in religion could not take place without political convulsions. Not only were the Swiss cantons and the German states, especially the northern and western, immediately affected by the religious change, but the political rights of Protestants in general were long and fiercely contested, and were.conceded only after the desolations of a 30 years' religious war. By the peace of Westphalia, Protestants were, in respect to political rights, put on an equal footing with Catholics.-Up to the time of the reformation there had always been Protestant elements in the Catholic church. Now these were drained off. The last appearance of any thing kindred to Protestantism was in the Jansenists, and that was suppressed. The council of Trent established by its decrees an authoritative rule of the Catholic faith, confirming, though in very general terms, the mediæval theology, condemning Protestantism, and correcting some abuses no longer tolerable. It was the province of Jesuitism to make up for the loss sustained by the separation of the Protestants from the church by new conquests to the faith in heathen lands. By the missions of the Jesuits many converts were won in China, Japan, India, and America. At home, in Catholic countries, they have been a kind of standing army of the church. As they were very active and influential in the council of Trent through Laynez, the general of their order, and as their principles, with some slight exceptions, were the principles by which the church was maintained against Protestantism at home, and chiefly extended by means of missions abroad, it is hardly too much to say that up to the time of the suppression of the order in 1773, they were the true exponents of the spirit that ruled in the Catholic church of that age. They were sacrificed to expediency, and were restored on a change of circumstances. But owing to the continued operation of those causes, in a greater or less degree, which led to their suppression, the nominal restoration of the order does not place it where it was before.-The Lutheran church has felt the influence of time still more than the Catholic. In the controversy between Luther and Erasmus on the liberty of the will, the former carried his church with him; but on the mind of Melanchthon and some others the arguments of Erasmus made a deep impression. Before his death, Melanchthon, no longer restrained by Luther, who was now deceased, put forth views on this subject quite at variance with those held by Luther, and the Lutheran church followed Melanchthon rather than Luther. Since the days of the reformers, the principal controversies of the Lutheran church have turned on the question whether the reformation should be further developed and completed, or whether it shall be considered as having received its completion and fixed character from Luther. This question has never been settled for the whole Lutheran church, but the two parties, taking opposite sides, have each contended, and are still contending, for victory. Crypto-Calvinism, the doctrine of Calvin in respect to the eucharist, was introduced into Saxony by the progressive party, which sprang from the school of Melanchthon. It was afterward suppressed by the strict Lutherans, and condemned in the "Formula of *Concord." The theologians of this school were more rigid in maintaining the authority of human creeds, after the manner of the scholastic dialecticians, than zealous in propagating a spiritual Christianity. As opposite extremes usually produce each other, so this called forth the pietistic school of Spener and Franke, who placed the Bible far above the creeds of their church. In opposition to both these parties sprang up, about the middle of the last century, the school of rationalists, who set aside the authority of all creeds, and acknowledge the authority of the Bible only in a modified sense. After & century of triumph it seems to be approaching Its dissolution, and the Lutheran theologians are returning either to their old orthodoxy, or to an evangelical faith founded upon a deeper study and truer interpretation of the Scriptures than was possible before the rise of rationalism. So the parties now stand divided more than ever on the question whether the normal Christianity of the church is that which has been handed down from the reformers, or that broad historical Christianity brought to light by a more extended and more critical study both of the Scriptures and of history. In the Reformed church, Geneva was as much the centre of influence as Wittenberg was in the Lutheran. The preeminence of Zürich was limited to the lifetime of Zwingli. After his death, Calvin rallied the forces of the Swiss churches, and guided them with unsurpassed ability and energy. Beside, he wrote for all who used the French language, as Luther did for those who used the German. Luther was a practical leader, and controlled alike the thoughts, feelings, and actions of his followers. Calvin, more learned and more philosophic, aimed chiefly to master the intellects of men, and in this lay his great power out of his own city. Luther never wrote so complete a work as the "Institutes" of Calvin, nor are his commentaries so well adapted to all countries and all ages as are Calvin's. The Genevan reformer, though educated for the bar, was much more rigid in his views of Christian morality than was the monk of Wittenberg. Luther, while he aimed to put men right on the main points of morality, was content with the spirit of Christianity, and was quite easy about the particular acts of the individual. He was the advocate of great freedom in the individual, and allowed him to choose his own pleasures and amusements. He was even jovial in his own character. Calvin was just the opposite of all this. The churches founded by these great men differ as much, in respect to freedom or strictness of Christian conduct, as they themselves did. What was called a Christian life in Wittenberg would have been pronounced unchristian in Geneva. While Luther lamented the easy and lax morality of Wittenberg toward the end of life, without any attempt to control it by church discipline, Calvin was in a state of constant warfare with the "libertines" of Geneva in the matter of discipline. These two different types of Christian character are observable in the whole history of the two confessions. The Genevan church maintained its character through the 16th and 17th centuries, but during the 18th it gradually relaxed its theology, and in the beginning of the 19th was decidedly Socinian.-From Geneva proceeded, chiefly through Calvin and Beza, those influences which introduced the doctrines of the reformation into France. During the life of Beza, the Huguenots, as the French Protestants were called, became a numerous and powerful party; but for the greater part of three centuries they have been persecuted by the French government. Forty thousand were said to have perished in one month. Twentysix years later, Henry IV., who had been educated in their faith, secured to them a political existence by the edict of Nantes, after which they flourished again in France for nearly a century. They had distinguished schools of theology at Saumur and Sedan, and numbered among their theologians such men as Blondel, Daillé, Bochart, Basnage, Beausobre, and Saurin. By the revocation of that edict by Louis XIV., hundreds of thousands of Huguenots were driven into exile. The refugees filled large cities and districts in several Protestant countries, particularly in the Netherlands and in Brandenburg. Now followed the period of "the church in the desert," during which, in the Cevennes mountains and other secret retreats, the Huguenots held their stealthy.communions. The French revolution again brought them liberty, since which they have experienced the various fortunes to which the people of France have been subject.-The reformation made its appearance at an early period in the Netherlands. But the emperor Charles V., and after him Philip II., resorted to the severest measures in order to crush it out. The people endured this rigor for a long time, and then they resisted, and finally established their independ ence. The church, henceforth connected with Geneva rather than with Wittenberg, held its first synod at Dort in 1574, and the next year founded the university of Leyden. The most remarkable feature of the church of the United Provinces was the celebrated Arminian controversy. Arminius and others resisted Calvin's doctrine of predestination. The matter was brought before the synod of Dort, and, as most of the clergy had been educated at Geneva, the doctrines of the remonstrants, as the followers of Arminius were called, were condemned. Though the Arminian church never acquired a position of great influence in Holland, its leading men, among whom were Grotius, Episcopius, Curcellæus, Limborch, Le Clerc, and Wetstein, formed a school of wide-spread and lasting influence in the literary world. The remonceive of a Scotchman as a Lutheran, either in strants became more and more latitudinarian iu their views, and verged toward Socinianism far more than toward Calvinism. The Reformed church in Holland, though softened in the tone of its theology, has undergone much less change in its faith than the Swiss or the German church. -In England the doctrines of the Swiss reformers have had a peculiar fortune, owing partly to political, and partly to other causes. The attitude of Henry VIII. toward Luther was unfavorable to the introduction of Lutheranism into England. Distinguished theologians from Strasbourg sympathizing with the Swiss reformers, of whom Bucer and Peter Martyr are most known, were employed to aid Cranmer in carrying forward the work of reformation under Edward VI. Mary's troubled reign followed. English Protestants fled to the continent, where they became acquainted with Calvin and the spirit of the reformation introduced by him. On Elizabeth's accession to the throne, the reformation, begun by Edward, was carried through mainly on the principles of the Reformed church in respect to doctrines, but modified by Lutheran principles in respect to ecclesiastical organization and the ritual. Not that the Lutheran church government and liturgy were copied, but that Luther's theory, in respect to the extent to which the ancient usages of the church might be retained, was adopted. The church of England merely retained a little more both of the liturgy and of the government of the Catholic church than the Lutheran church did. It may be said in general terms that the Anglican church is eclectic, combining Calvinistic, Lutheran, and Catholic elements, while the Puritans of England adhered more strictly to the Reformed church. In England the history of Christianity and the history of the government are so connected that the one cannot be understood apart from the other. High churchism and toryism go hand in hand, while the moderate party and the dissenters favor the progress of liberty. England, too, has had its crisis of unbelief. The English deists exerted great influence both in their own country and in other countries of Europe. But in no country has the church been truer to herself in the defence of Christianity than in England. More eminent, perhaps, in antiquarian than in biblical learning, she presents a body of Christian literature which, as a whole, will bear comparison with that of any other country. The bishops of England have, in this respect, been outdone by the prelates of no other church.-Nowhere have the principles of the Genevan church been carried out more fully than in Scotland. Knox not only knew Calvin and his followers intimately, but deeply sympathized with them. He was a Presbyterian by nature and by temperament as well as by conviction; and the Scottish character in general, with its metaphysical tendencies, seems to be adapted to that type of theology and that form of religion. It would be difficult to con his theology or in his ideas of religion. The Scottish church has maintained much of its original character through all the changing scenes of its history. It could neither be terrified by the Stuarts, nor bribed by pecuniary rewards or honors. The present Free church of Scotland is but a single specimen of the spirit and courage with which it has always been accustomed to face difficulties and dangers. The tendency to unbelief manifested in Edinburgh a generation ago was happily arrested by Chalmers, who was an ornament and a bulwark of his church.-Though scarcely any church of western Europe is without its representatives in the United States, the great bulk of the early emigrants to this country belonged to some one of the numerous branches of the Reformed church. Nearly all these churches have undergone some modifications in this country, more perceptible, perhaps, to Europeans than to ourselves. It is a common remark of intelligent foreigners, that with all the diversities of Christian sects among us, there is a general resemblance, apparently growing out of the entire freedom of religious development in our country. An ardent love of religious liberty, shared by all Christian denominations in common, a freedom from all entanglements with the state, and a strong aversion to the union of church and state, distinguish American Christians, and separate them widely from those of any other country. Hence, with all the diversities of creeds and forms of worship, there is not only a very catholic spirit, but a marked sentiment of Christian union, showing itself in harmonious action in cities and towns where different communions are thrown together, and in formal coöperation in societies of Christian benevolence. The relative position of the various Christian denominations in this country has greatly changed during the past century. The orthodox Congregationalists, less predominant in New England than formerly, have spread by emigration into the western and some of the middle states. They now constitute but one branch of the old church, the Unitarians constituting the other and more rationalistic branch. Indeed the theology of the Congregationalists of New England is never so perfectly settled as that of some other denominations. Every half century and every important locality has had its school of theology. This is not said in reproach. It is the natural and necessary result of giving to the intellect so great prominence in religion. The same cause not only prevents a "dead orthodoxy," a stagnation in theology, but makes them a highly intellectual and enlightened body of Christians, the best friends of learning and of education in general. The Presbyterians, having settled at first in the middle and southern states, consisting mostly of emigrants from Scotland and the north of Ireland, seem also to have, in some degree, a local habitation. The bulk of their population and their strength is still in those states. They expand, not in the direction of New England, but of the western states. Like the Congregationalists, they have maintained an educated ministry. The seat of their learning and theological influence is at Princeton, New Jersey. With the exception of the New School, which aims to be progressive, the Presbyterian church remains essentially what it was. It belongs to the old order. It has had a very able and influential ministry, who have strenuously supported order in their churches. The Episcopal church, which was somewhat checked by the revolutionary war, and was somewhat local in the beginning, is constantly manifesting fresh vigor and showing its power to go wherever wealth and refinement invite it. It flourishes best in old states of society and in populous cities. As in England it originally took an intermediate position between the Calvinists, Lutherans, and Catholics, so in this country at the present day it avoids all extremes in theology, and holds a sort of middle ground between the pietistic sects and their extreme opposites. Avoiding the ological discussion, both in books and in the pulpit, giving less prominence to preaching than most other Protestant communions, the Episcopalians aim less at profound erudition than the Congregationalists and Presbyterians in preparing their candidates for the ministry, and consequently place less dependence on the ological seminaries. In this respect they follow the example of their English brethren. But it must not hence be inferred that they have not an educated clergy. On the contrary, their clergy are generally accomplished scholars, but their study is more in the line of English literature, and in the rich literature of their own church, than in exegetical and doctrinal theology. An educated man rarely hears any thing offensive to his taste in the discourses or other religious services of an Episcopal clergyman. The Baptists and Methodists, though small in numbers at the first, have had a large increase from the common people in all parts of the country. Though differing in their creed, in their organization, and in their forms of religious service, they both lay great stress upon the experimental element in religion. The religion of the heart, drawn out distinctly in individual experience, they have always placed far above the religion of the intellect. Hence they have never made learning a requisite for the ministry. Though they have made great progress in education, and are no longer limited to the lower or even middling classes in the community, still their great strength lies in these classes. The Baptists are more nearly allied to the Congregationalists, both in doctrine and in practice, and the Methodists to the Episcopalians in church government, and to the Moravians in their religious spirit. In point of numbers they are the largest of the Protestant denominations. The Universalists, whose distinctive tenet is the final salvation of the whole human family, have made their appearance in American ecclesiastical history since the middle of the last century, and have received numerous accessions from most of the above-named Christian sects.-The Roman Catholic church, as represented by the highest authorities in that communion, maintains its prominent position in Christian history. During the last 3 centuries she has been forced by the Protestant movement to pass through a severe ordeal, in which all her constituent elements were put to the test; but, as they believe, she has emerged from the trial with undiminished vigor and brightness. Soon after the reformation had proclaimed that free private judgment was the right of man and the rule of faith, she was called, even more perhaps than Protestant communions, to defend the system of revealed religion against the assaults or infidelity and atheism. Subsequent to the breaking out of the French revolution, she was subjected in France to indignity and oppression from the civil power; her priests were scattered or put to death, bishops were exiled, popes were abducted and thrown into prison; but she came to see her adversaries baffled, her claims recognized, and her hierarchy restored. She has since endured the sorrow and waste of social and civil warfare in every one of her ancient possessions; but, as her disciples contend, modern innovation has been able only to retard her life march for brief intervals. They still further allege that her growth and expansion in most Protestant countries cannot be denied, while in all Catholic nations a daily increasing number of the faithful are devoting themselves to the strict practice of her law, and the upholding of her authority. Though in her collision with modern political and social systems, she, unlike other organizations, has been forced to no change of principles, she has nevértheless been able to throw off many old abuses and alliances that served more to encumber than to adorn her. This self-reforming and selfrenovating power is claimed by Catholic writers as a proof of the constitutional strength of that church, and, combined with unity of faith, sanctity in moral teaching, universality in time and place, and unbroken apostolic succession, as a mark of the Divine presence. The present condition of the Catholic church, as they hold, is inferior to no period of her past history, in the learning and efficiency of her clergy, in her many educational establishments, her missionary enterprises extending over almost every portion of the known world, her active associations for the exercise of every form of Christian benevolence. America, according to views recently propounded in this country, offers a new field to the ancient faith for the display of its diversified energies. Here, for the first time in the world's history, the Catholic church finds herself free from all entangling alliances with the civil government, and thus avoids a great source of distrust and dislike on the part of her opponents. Here, persecution, if it should occur at all, either for or against her interests, would be the result of transitory passions, not of the system of government by which the country is ruled. Here, the very conservatism which in the old world has made her so many enemies, is claimed as a title to respect, in view of the necessity of vigorous principles to counteract the impetuous rush of unrestrained political freedom, and the often erratic intellectuality of a transitional and protesting age. In the United States the progress of the Roman Catholic church is evinced by the large army of ecclesiastics who have gradually spread from the solitary cathedral in Baltimore, where Carroll exercised episcopal functions, to the most distant parts of the land; by the numerous churches, schools, convents, asylums, and hospitals, that she has everywhere erected; by her incessant labors among the great mass of emigrants who are sent to her door by the policy of European governments; by the frequent accessions to her ranks from the strictest anti-Catholic communions; and by the first fruits of a Catholic literature which is believed to promise largely for the future. We cannot speak more particularly of the religious bodies in this country, our object being not to sketch their history, but merely to illustrate the spirit of American Christianity by a few examples. What conclusion in respect to the future can be drawn from the history of the past? Has Christianity a prospect of perpetuity and increase, or is it threatened with decay? It must be remembered that Christianity is not wholly limited to the church. Many elements of its power are felt elsewhere. The philosophy of government at the present day is preeminently Christian. The theory of human rights and of social progress differs from ancient theories in having a Christian basis. The literature of the civilized world is more and more a Christian literature. A Christian philanthropy is breathed into poetry and romance, as well as into social and political life, more than in any former age. The public sentiment is deeply imbued with the principles of a Christian civilization. Christian nations and races of men are the dominant nations and races of the earth. Christian civilization, at this moment, more than ever before, seems destined to spread over all Asia, Africa, and the islands of the great oceans. The paganism of the world is evidently to share the fate of the paganism of the old Roman empire, to fade away before Christianity, and become a mere matter of history. Is it probable that in Christendom itself Christianity will be compelled to yield to philosophical scepticism? Never did Christianity stand stronger in England than after its contest with deism. Never did the philosophic mind of France grasp it with more power than after atheism had spent all its force. There probably was never a time nor a country in which a historical Christianity could be main tained against the fiercest assaults of a sceptical philosophy with such a convincing power as in Germany at this time. That false rationalism which is essentially at variance with Christian Will ity, deistically denying whatever is supernat ural, has been already overcome. Nowhere, during the whole history of the church, has the defence of Christianity been conducted with such critical learning and philosophic power as in Germany, by the great theologians of the present century. Such a historical groundwork of Christianity as Neander has represented to the world in his history of the church, it is vain to look for in any former age. Indeed, history now, civil as well as ecclesiastical, is the impreg nable fortress within which Christianity is securely intrenched. All the lines of philosophic history now converge in Christianity. the influence of sects and parties destroy the efficacy of Christianity? In respect to these, there is not only change but progress. It has become a pretty generally received opinion among the leading men of all sects, that the whole truth is to be found in none of them; that each is working out some problem, more or less important, to be adopted ultimately by all; that a more comprehensive view of Christianity will be possible after the good and evil in every system have distinctly made themselves apparent to the whole world. The greatest men of the age are already striving more philosophically and more satisfactorily to answer the fundamental question, "How is Christianity to be conceived of as a whole?" The old theological conceptions of it are found to be inadequate in many particulars, chiefly by defect. The theologians were at fault sometimes in their metaphysics, sometimes in their criticism and interpretation of the Bible. Christianity is manysided. The old theological systems were, all of them, more or less one-sided. One aspect of this great subject, it would seem, was supposed to comprehend the whole. A broader and more comprehensive study of the subject was demanded. The accumulations of learning made during many generations needed to be more exactly analyzed and more carefully tested, and then classified on a much broader scale. the approximations that had been made toward a clear and comprehensive view of the whole subject were to be studied with reference to a still greater enlargement. It is the manifest tendency of the public mind in this direction that distinguishes the present age. There is a reaching after a universal and complete Christianity, that is, the true historical Christianity, not the limited, partial Christianity of a particu lar school. Almost every party shows a disposition to appropriate whatever of truth or of excellence may be found in any other party. All seem to be aiming at a wider grasp of Christianity as a whole. All CHRISTIANS, a Christian sect which arose in the United States near the beginning of the present century. At their organization they adopted the appellation Christians as their only name, declared the Bible their only authoritative rule of faith and practice, and extended their fellowship to all Christians, irrespective of creed or party. They originated simultane |