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The Bible, in the Dutch translation of Verschuur, is zealously disseminated by the Jansenists throughout their communion; and generally speaking, both the clergy and the laity are distinguished by more liberality of thinking, and a freer intercourse with Protestants, than most Papists. They have a theological seminary at Amersfort, in which about twenty pupils prosecute their studies under the direction of three professors.

It can scarcely be wondered at, that a body so ambiguously circumstanced,—clinging to the infallibility of the Romancatholic church on matters of doctrine, while disclaiming it on matters of fact,―should be rapidly declining in numbers. In the year 1809, the Jansenist communion comprised thirty-three congregations. In 1831, these were reduced to twenty-seven, under the government of one archbishop and two suffragans, containing not quite 5,000 souls.

CHAPTER VI.

THE LUTHERAN AND REFORMED (OR CALVINIAN) CHURCHES. Origin of the term Protestant.-And of the Protestant cause.-Prior history of the Reformation.-Early differences between the Saxon and Helvetic Reformers. -Schism in the Lutheran church after the death of Luther.-History of the Helvetic or Reformed church.-Abortive attempts at accommodation between the Lutherans and Calvinians.-Form of Concord.-Spread of the Reformed doctrines.-The Calvinian churches not Calvinist.-Origin of the Predestinarian controversy.-Heads of the Augsburg Confession.-Other Lutheran and Reformed Confessions.-Heads of the Gallic Confession.-Points of difference between the Lutherans and the Reformed.-Points of agreement.-The United Brethren.-The Church of Prussia.-Present state of Protestantism in Germany, Switzerland, and Holland.

THE denomination, PROTESTANT, now indiscriminately applied to all the Reformed communions which have abjured the errors and pretensions of the Romish church, was first given to the followers of Luther, in consequence of the solemn protest entered against the decree of the second imperial Diet of Spire, held in 1529, revoking the toleration which had been established by the previous diet of 1526. In this protest, six princes of the Empire* united, together with the deputies of fourteen imperial cities and towns. At the diet held at Augsburg in the following year (1530), an exposition of the Reformed faith, drawn up by Luther and Melanchthon, was presented to the Emperor and the Diet, by the Elector of Saxony, in the name and on behalf of the Protestant members of the Empire. This document, hence called the Confession of Augsburg, continues to be the legitimate standard of the Lutheran faith.‡

The Elector of Saxony, the Marquis of Brandenburg, the two Dukes of Lunenburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Prince of Anhalt.

+ Strasburg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Constance, Reutlingen, Windsheim, Meinengen, Lindau, Kempten, Hailbron, Isna, Weissemburg, Nordlingen, and St. Gall.

The groundwork of this Confession was, the Seventeen Articles, drawn up

Strictly speaking, the term Protestant has a political, rather than a theological import; since it was not against the false doctrines of the church of Rome that the protest was entered, but against the intolerant decree of the Diet; and the Protestant princes and free cities made their stand on behalf of religious liberty. In the following year, they engaged in a league for their mutual defence, known under the name of the League of Smalkald, by which they compelled the Emperor to enter into the religious truce concluded at Nuremberg in 1532, which was to continue till the summoning of a free general council. At length, in 1535, the Pope (Paul III.), yielding to the wishes of the Emperor, consented to summon a council at Mantua; but the Protestants, convinced that, in a council convened under such auspices, every thing would be carried by the votaries of Rome, assembled at Smalkald in 1537, and there protested against the proposed measure. At the same time, a fresh summary of their doctrine was drawn up by Luther, in order to be presented to the council, if necessary: which document, distinguished as "The Articles of Smalkald," is generally ranked with the creeds and confessions of the Lutheran church.

The council, summoned successively at Mantua, Vicenza, and Venice, never met; at last, that of Trent was formally opened under the joint auspices of the Emperor and the Pontiff, who had determined upon forcibly suppressing all opposition. The Protestant princes, having refused to abide by its decisions, were proscribed by the Emperor; and an appeal to arms became their only resource. The battle of Muhlberg on the Elbe, April 24, 1547, in which the Proby Luther, and voted in the conference held at Sultzbach in 1529; which were presented to the Elector of Saxony at Torgau; whence they were styled the Articles of Torgau. Melanchthon was employed by the Protestant princes to revise and extend these articles, in which important task he is stated to have shown a due deference to the counsels of Luther. "And thus," says Mosheim, " came forth to public view that famous Confession of Augsburg, which did so much honour to the acute judgement and eloquent pen of Melanchthon." The original edition of this Confession (1530), styled Augustana Confessio invariata, received some modifications from Melanchthon in the edition of 1540, distinguished by the epithet variata, which has been followed in all subsequent editions.

testant princes were defeated, produced a temporary submission. This led to the issuing of the edict called the Interim, promulgated at a diet held at Augsburg, and intended to regulate the faith and worship of all parties till matters should be determined by the General Council.* In 1552, the war was rekindled with a different issue. Maurice of Saxony, supported by a formidable confederacy, led a powerful army against the Emperor, and compelled him to conclude at Passau the famous treaty of pacification, which laid the foundations of the religious liberties of Germany.† By this treaty, the rule of faith called "The Interim," was annulled; the contending parties were to enjoy alike the free and undisturbed exercise of their religion; all who had been banished on account of having taken part in the league or war of Smalkald were to be reinstated in their possessions and employments; the imperial chamber at Spire was to be open alike to Protestants and Catholics; and there was always to be in that high court a certain number of the Lutheran persuasion. It was not, however, till 1648, that the peace of Westphalia secured alike to Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and the Reformed, a perfectly free and equal right of publicly exercising their respective modes of faith and worship.

The origin of the Reformation dates much further back than the rise of the Protestant cause, with which it is sometimes improperly identified. Claude, of Turin, in the ninth century, Wickliff in the fourteenth, and Huss in the fifteenth, had peculiarly distinguished themselves by their noble stand against the corrupt doctrines and usurped authority of the see and court of Rome. The writings of Bernard and

The formula ad interim, or temporary rule of faith or worship, contained and asserted all the essential doctrines of the church of Rome, though artfully softened by an affected ambiguity.

"But that very religious peace," Mosheim remarks," which was the instrument of the Church's stability and independence, set bounds, at the same time, to its progress in the empire, and prevented it effectually from extending its limits."

Protestantism was the fruit and consequence of the Reformation, a cause identified with religious truth and freedom, but not itself a creed or religion: just as Dissent, in relation to the authority of the English Establishment, originated in the doctrines of the Puritans and Nonconformists, but strictly denotes, not a theological difference, but a political circumstance.

Augustine contain, indeed, the seeds of the Lutheran doctrine; and from these, and the study of his Latin Bible, the Saxon Reformer derived his views of sacred truth. In the year 1512, he commenced the public exposition of the Scriptures, four years before he took the field against Tetzel, the papal emissary, by publishing his theses against Indulgences. About the same time, Zwingle, the Apostle of the Swiss Reformation, treading in the steps, and following up the lessons of Geiler* and Wyttenbach,† his precursors, began to preach the Gospel, (A.D. 1516,) while as yet the name of Luther had never been heard of in those parts. On this account, he disclaimed the name of Lutheran, highly as he honoured his illustrious fellow-labourer, because he learned not, as he says, the doctrine of Christ from Luther, but from the word of God. As a preacher of the distinguishing doctrines of the Reformed faith, Zwingle preceded Luther, and had the advantage. of him in point of religious knowledge. But his sentiments had spread very little beyond the immediate sphere of his labours, when, in 1517, Luther "blew the blast which resounded throughout Christendom," and thus "caused the astonished world so firmly to affix the name of Lutheran to the new doctrine, whether taught by Luther in Germany, or by Zwingle in Switzerland, that, for many years afterwards, no other distinctive appellation could obtain currency."+

As the German and the Helvetic Reformation had each its distinct and independent origin in the labours of these two great men, so, it was not long before a difference of opinion discovered itself on some points, which led to a controversy that has ever since divided their followers. The main subject of this difference was, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The notions of the Saxon Reformer respecting the substantial

John Geiler, surnamed Cæsaremontanus, born at Schaffhausen, A.D. 1445, sowed the seeds of divine truth at Strasburg during thirty-three years, from 1477 to 1510.

+ Thomas Wyttenbach, born of a noble family at Bienne, in 1472, was professor of divinity, first at Tübingen, and afterwards at Basle, where he had Zwingle, Leo Jude, and other reformers for his pupils.

Scott's Hist. of the Reformation.

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