FRAGMENTS.

canonicals, then issued forth from their respective quarters, with flags and banners, crucifixes and crosses, lighted candles and smoking censers, to join, or rather to lead, a procession which moved thrice round the church, invoking every picture, altar, and relic in their way, to aid them in obtaining the miraculous fire. The procession then returned to the place from whence it started, and two greyheaded bishops, the one of the Greek, the other of the Armenian Church, were hurled by the soldiers through the crowd into the apartment which communicates with that of the Holy Sepulchre, where they locked themselves in; there the marvellous fire was to make its first appearance, and from thence issue through the small circular windows and the door, for the use of the multitude. The eyes of all, men, women, and children, were now directed towards the Holy Sepulchre with an anxious suspense, awaiting the issue of their expectation.

251

sent off to Bethlehem, the birth-place of Christ, to inform the brethren there, and to invite them also to offer up their tribute of thanks for the transcendent glory of the day. Thus closed the lying wonders of the holy week of Easter.*

CONFESSION OF SIN OFTEN NOT SINCERE. A LADY came to Charles Wesley, complaining that she was the chief of sinners-the worst of transgressors utterly lost and helpless. "I have no doubt, madam," replied he, "that you are bad enough." She instantly flew into a passion, declared that she no worse than her neighbours, scolded the preacher as a slanderer, and, it is thought, would have boxed his ears if he had not quitted the apartment.-The Bishop; or, Letters to a Prelate.

was

A parallel passage occurs in Mrs Hannah More's "Colebs: "

In the evening Mrs Ranby was lamenting, in general and rather customary terms, her own exceeding sinfulness. Mr Ranby said: "You accuse yourself rather too heavily, my dear; you have sins to be sure." "And pray what sins have I, Mr Ranby?" said she, turning upon him with so much quickness that her husband started. "Nay," said he, meekly, "I did not mean to offend you; so far from it, that, hearing you condemn yourself so grievously, I intended to comfort you, and to say that, except a few faults "And pray what faults?" interrupted

catch an interval to tell them. My dear," replied he "as you charged yourself with all, I thought it would be letting you off easily, by naming only two or three, such as- Here, fearing matters would go too far, I interposed; and softening things as much as I could for the lady, said: "I conceive that Mrs Ranby meant, that though she partook of the general corruption- "Here Mr Ranby, interrupting me, said: "General corruption, Sir, must be the source of particular corruption. I did not mean that my wife was worse than other women. As she is always insisting that the whole species is corrupt, she cannot help allowing that she herself has not escaped the general infection. Now, to be a sinner in the gross, and a saint in the detail-that is to have all sins and no faults-is a thing I do not quite comprehend."

The mixed multitude, each in his or her own language, were pouring forth their clamorous prayers to the Virgin and the saints, to intercede for them on behalf of the object for which they were assembled; and the same were tenfold increased by the fanatic gestures and the waving of the garments by the priests of the respective communions who were interested in the holy fire, and who were watching by the above-mentioned door and circular windows, with torches in their hands, ready to receive the virgin flame of the heavenly fire, and convey it to their flocks. In about twenty minutes from the time the bishops locked themselves in the apartment of the Holy Sepulchre, the miraculous fire made its appear-she, continuing to speak, however, lest he should ance through the door and the two small windows, as expected. The priests were the first who lighted their torches, and they set out on a gallop in the direction of their lay brethren; but some of these errandless and profitless messengers had the misfortune to be knocked down by the crowd, and had their firebrands wrested out of their hands; but some were more fortunate, and safely reached their destination, around whom the people flocked like bees, to have their candles lighted. Others, however, were not satisfied at having the holy fire second-hand, but rushed furiously towards the Holy Sepulchre, regardless of their own safety, and that of those who obstructed their way; though it has frequently happened that persons have been trampled to death on such occasions. Those who were in the galleries let down their candles by cords, and drew them up when they had succeeded in their purpose. In a few minutes thousands of flames were ascending; the smoke and the heat of which rendered the church like the bottomless pit. To satisfy themselves, as well as to convince the Latins (who grudge so profitable as well as so effectual a piece of machinery being in the hands of the schismatical Greeks and Armenians, and one which augments the power of the priests and the revenue of the convents, and who, therefore, exclaim against the miraculous fire), the pilgrims, women as well as men, shamefully expose their bare bosoms to the action of the flame of their lighted candles, to make their adversaries believe the miraculous fire differs from an ordinary one, in being perfectly harmless. The two bishops, who a little while before locked themselves in the apartment of the Holy Sepulchre, now sallied forth out of it.

When the whole multitude had their candles lighted, the bishops were caught by the crowd, lifted upon their shoulders, and carried to their chapels amidst loud and triumphant acclamations. They soon, however, re-appeared, at the head of a similar procession as the one before, as a pretended thankoffering to the Almighty for the miraculous fire vouchsafed; thus daring to make God a partaker in their lie. An express messenger was immediately

Fragments.

CONVERSION TO POPERY.-A servant girl consulting Mr Rowland Hill about changing her religion to Popery, he observed to her, that he did not know before that she had any religion to change.

RICHARD BAXTER.-He talked in the pulpit with great freedom about another world, like one that had been there, and was come as a sort of an express from thence, to make a report concerning it.--Calamy.

ASSURANCE. A man may have the root of saving faith within him, though he do not perceive it; as the grass that is trodden upon has as much a root as the finest flower.-Bishop Wilson.

THE BIBLE. Take a plain man with an honest heart, give him the Bible, and make him conversant with it, and I will engage for him he will never be at a loss how to act agreeably to his duty in every circumstance of life.- Warburton.

Herschell's Visit to my Fatherland in 1843, pp. 173-180.

THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

THE CHURCH OF LUTHER.

BY THE REV. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, SALTON.

SECOND ARTICLE.

bred in the school of the Pietists-educated in that orphan hospital which had been reared by the instrumentality of the pious Franke, and in which he had enjoyed the most religious training that his country could afford. We are told that the serious impressions he received there were never wholly effaced from his mind, and awoke with peculiar force in his old age, when he saw, with deep regret, the evil consequences growing out of his indefatigable but ill-directed labours. Falling short of a true conversion to the faith of the Gospel-being, as he himself confesses, light-minded, and being, besides, a man of superior talents and extraordinary as tivity-it was rather a misfortune than otherwise, for him to have been connected with Pietism; for, as he could not but dislike it on account of its spirituality, so he soon discovered its deficiency in learning, and the erroneous grounds on which some of its peculiar views were founded. These errors and deficiencies proved fatal to that school, now that the tide for philosophy and human learning had set in so strongly, and caused it to fall into discredit. Semler, especially, having taken up with ardour the new principle, that everything in revelation was to be subjected to the test of reason, and that whatsoever seemed not to square with this was to be explained away, sought, by a mixture of loose reasoning and misapplied learning, to exhibit nearly all that is peculiar in the Gospel as a mere accommodation to Jewish prejudices -a falling in with the popular belief at the time—and, consequently, not to be received as properly a part of revelation. But how reconcile such views with adherence to the doctrines of the Church? "He said there was a public and private religion for the theologian. In pub

viceable in helping them to understand the meaning of Scripture, but also as qualifying them to decide upon and modify its statements. There had been no danger and no harm in the new state of things, if the spirit of inquiry had been tempered with sobriety and real wisdom, and kept in subordination to an enlightened and solid piety; for the religion of the Gospel has nothing to fear from the learning of this world in such a case; and hence it is not philosophy at large that Christians are exhorted to beware of, but only a false philosophy, or, what substantially amounts to the same thing, an exalting of true philosophy out of its place, and carrying it over the Word of God, which alone can make wise to salvation. Unhappily it was thus that matters proceeded in Germany. The first system of philosophy paid respect to revealed religion, at the same time, however, lowering its tone, and making it, in a sense, indebted to human reason; but the systems which followed in rapid succession—those of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegelclaimed for reason an authority above revelation-a right to decide upon all things, divine as well as human. They might, therefore, with propriety be classed with what the apostle calls "false philosophy and vain deceit," assuming, as they did, the self-sufficiency of reason to be a rule and guide to itself, and, consequently, leading, by a direct road, to Infidelity or Deism. This result was the more speedily arrived at in Germany, as along with these daring speculations in philosophy, and, indeed, to some extent giving rise to them, a kind of wholesale importation into that country of the Infidel writings of our own took place, from the beginning to about the middle of last century. These had been vigorously met, and trium-lic, he was not authorized to reject any received phantly answered here; but they were translated into German, and widely circulated, while the answers were either not at all, or but very feebly given. Then the well known Infidel opinions of Frederick II. of Prussia, and the pernicious influence exerted by the gay despisers of religion whom he kept about his court; the unprincipled character of the writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and some others of the like spirit, which spread like wild-fire through the Continent; and, finally, the awful outburst of Infidelity connected with the French revolution, came one after another to help forward the tide of innovation and impiety, till, with only a few rare exceptions, the Church and nation of Luther were found without any settled foundations in religion-Christians only in name-substantially Infidel in sentiment, and with hardly even the semblance of piety.

This melancholy result was not, of course, reached immediately. There were many steps in the process. And it is a somewhat remarkable fact that the man (Semler) who made the first great inroad upon the domain of religion, and did more, perhaps, than any other to unsettle and remove the old landmarks, was

doctrine; but in private he might believe what he pleased. And when the preacher spoke of the Son of God,' it was no harm if one part of his audience regarded him as really God, and another as merely a man." Alas! for the Church whose public teachers acted upon such wretched morality, and in whose hands the trumpet of the Gospel gave so uncertain a sound on the most vital and important doctrines of the faith once delivered to the saints. Bad as Semler's views were, however, they were far outdone by many of his successors toward the end of last century and the beginning of this-such as Eichhorn, Gabler, Paulus, Lessing, and many others whose names it is needless to mention. It is sufficient to say, that by such persons-ministers of the Gospel and professors of divinity for the most part-the orthodox faith was wholly renounced, the Bible treated merely as a human composition, full of mistakes and errors, and its peculiar doctrines and miracles utterly exploded. The religion of the country was poisoned at its fountain-head, and the new views (the Neology or Rationalism, as they were called) having much show of philosophy and learning on their side,

POETRY-DEATH FAMILIAR.

by degrees bore down the feeble opposition that was made against them, and met at last with almost universal acceptance.

255

men as Baumgarten, Semler, Michaelis, Eichhorn, &c., poured forth their stores of learning in support of their new views, the only men who had any religious life wanted the weapons for the warfare, and true religion soon came to be looked upon as an ignorant, narrow-minded, and despicable thing; while those heroes of Neology were regarded as giants, whom it was vain to think of opposing. A more extensive vestigation of the points at issue, has already in great measure dispelled this idea. Learning and philosophy, when fairly applied, have been found not against, but on the side of sound orthodoxy; and the most profoundly learned and able divines of the present day in Germany treat the writings of the Rationalists as shallow and superficial productions. Even on the score of learning they have fallen into the background, insomuch that some of the leading apostles of heresy have lived to see and openly retract the errors into which, by a too hasty and superficial consideration, they had fallen. It is not the orthodox Churches who have to fear the progress of enlightenment and research; and they act most unwisely for the interests of the truth, when they do not encourage and promote true science and learning among their students and ministers.

It is certainly, in any point of view, a melancholy reflection, that the Church of Luther should have sunk into such a condition, and that the country which had been the birthplace of the Reformation should, in little more than two centuries, have become again a spiritual wilderness in itself, and a kind of work-learning, and a more thorough, scientific inshop of heresy and pollution to the other countries of Europe. But it would have been much more melancholy still, if such ruinous defection from the truth and righteousness of God could have been fairly traced to Reformation principles themselves, and not, as was really the case, to the imperfections and errors with which these were intermingled; for the Churches of the Reformation may now learn by the past, and with well-grounded hope may adopt measures to prevent the recurrence of like evils in the future. Even in Germany the darkness and apostasy never became total, as in the days of Popery; a divine seed still remained in it, which, in God's time, sprung forth again into life and fruitfulness; and, as we may perhaps show in another article, a return to the old paths, and a revival of living piety has taken place already to a very large extent. Meanwhile, from the sad history just sketched, the following practical conclusions may safely be drawn :-

1. The insecurity and danger, to a Church, of not having a wholesome discipline as well as a sound faith. That, the Lutheran Church wanted from its commencement. It was too closely bound with the State either to obtain or to preserve, if it had obtained, such a discipline. If it had possessed this, how easy would it have been for the Church courts to have chocked the evil in its commencement!-to call Semler, for instance, to account for his Rationalism, and exclude him from the communion of the Church if he persisted in his course! Instead of that, however, he was allowed freely to spread his opinions far and wide, as were also his still more daring and Infidel successors. Luther should not have stood at the point What is the article of a standing or falling Church? but should have proceeded to consider, and settle more definitely than he did, the further point-How may a Church which has that article continue to maintain and preserve it! She can never do so properly, and may not be able to do so at all, without a vigorous and effective discipline in the hands of the Church herself-her members and office-bearers. Without this, the light may soon become darkness, and the very foundations get out of

course.

2. We may learn, again, the danger of neglecting, among those who are the lights and pillars of the Church, a solid and extensive learning.

This was what the school of the Pietists for the most part did. And hence, when such

3. Still it must be remembered, as a further lesson arising out of the past -history of the Lutheran Church, that without a healthful and living piety, nothing can secure stedfastness in the faith. It is only where that is, that man can have a real discernment of the doctrines of the Gospel, and a relish for them. The carnal mind will be ever apt to misapply its resources, when it comes into contact with the great things of God; and learning in its hands must always be a dangerous weapon. The state of the Lutheran Church was equally distinguished for its deficiency in genuine piety and the scarcity of solid and useful learning, when the great apostasy from the faith began; and the first broachers and future disseminators of the spiritual poison were remarkable for their destitution of personal godliness-some of them even for their gross immorality. Churches, therefore, as well as individuals, should be brought to feel, that if the truth is to be held in purity it must also be held in righteousness. Every safeguard against deadly error will fail, if they who are the teachers of others are not themselves taught of God. And whatever other efforts are made by evangelical Churches to promote among themselves the cause of truth, they should especially see to it, that the work of personal religion be maintained in life and vigour.