past history and present condition of the Reformed Church of France.

In France, previous to the last Revolution, the Roman Church was by law the National Church; and though not recognised as such by the constitution of the Republic, such it continues to be in fact. The Reformed Church, the Lutheran Church, and the Jews, nevertheless received, and still receive, a legal provision for their ministers; and all other forms of religion are, at least professedly, tolerated. Besides the two Protestant communions we have now named, there are Protestant congregations of foreigners in connexion with the Churches of their different countries; and there are also various Protestant bodies, among others Baptists, Darbysts, Wesleyan Methodists, and what may now be called the Old Secession, consisting of congregations which from time to time, and for various reasons, have separated from the endowed Churches. All these bodies are perfectly independent of each other. A union between the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, though long desired, has hitherto been found impracticable, and the kind of Federal Alliance into which, since the late secession, several of the Churches have entered, leaves their distinct character untouched. There exist, therefore, two Established Churches, and several Churches non-established, each of which (though all are united by the common bond of Protestantism, and some, moreover, in the federal way we have just alluded to) are essentially as distinct from one another as any of the various Protestant communions in Great Britain.

Let us, first of all, cast a retrospective glance at the early history of the Protestant Churches in France. The French Reformation, in its origin really earlier than either the German or the Swiss, may be said to have first taken a definite form when the scattered Churches, founded during half a century of disorder and persecution, felt the necessity of union, and of coming to a common consent on their discipline and doctrine. This was accomplished in the year 1559, when a synod of the various reforming bodies of France was assembled secretly at Paris, which constituted them into one Church, by drawing up a Confession of Faith and a Rule of Discipline, which should be common to them all.

This Confession, finally adopted two years later by the Synod of La Rochelle-whence the name by which it is known, of the Confession of La Rochelle-never having been regularly abrogated, replaced, or changed, continues up to this day the professed Faith of the French Reformed Church. But subscription of this symbol, with a few rare exceptions, being now no longer demanded, it has ceased to be of any positive application. Indeed the immense majority of the clergy, as well as of the laity, would

hesitate or refuse to subscribe to it in the fulness of its literal meaning.

With regard to the Rule of Discipline, it consisted, in its original form, of only forty articles, but it has been frequently modified and extended. It is well worthy of attention in many respects. The order of Church government which it enforces is similar in its details to that of the Scottish Presbyterians. Every congregation had its Consistory, composed of its pastor and its elders. The Consistory thus corresponds to the Scottish KirkSession. Above the Consistory is the Conference, in French Colloque, composed of the pastor, or pastors, and an elder from each of a determined number of consistories. Above the Conference is the Provincial Synod, composed of the pastors and one or two elders of each church within its bounds. The Conference and the Provincial Synod thus represent the Scottish Presbytery and Synod. Lastly, at the head of all, judging as the court of last appeal, in questions concerning the doctrine and discipline of the Church, and answering, in that respect, to the Scottish General Assembly, is the National Synod, appointed to meet annually, and composed of two pastors and two elders from each provincial synod.

Such was the Presbyterian organization according to which the French Reformed Church was originally constituted. It must not, however, be supposed that this machinery has been, or could be, practically worked. This the force of circumstances has prevented, down to the present day. And, indeed, the Rule of Discipline itself throughout bears evidence of impediments experienced or foreseen. "Except in difficult times"-" except in times of trouble"-" as far as may be avoided"-" as far as shall be possible"-and similar expressions continually accom-. pany its enactments. Nor without cause.

Great, indeed, and long continued were the sufferings of the Reformed Church of France. Almost unbroken trouble and disorder has marked her history down to the present hour. We need not refer to the persecutions she endured in her youth. These are known to every reader of modern history. But to show their duration, we may state, what to some will seem incredible, that so lately as the year 1762, four Protestants, one of them a pastor, suffered death at Toulouse for conscience sake; that in 1770 the galleys still contained Protestant prisoners, chained in them for adherence to the faith; that only in 1787, sixty-three years ago, was an end put to the infamous fiction by which the marriage of Protestants was considered null and their children illegitimate; and that it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the right of Protestants to celebrate their worship publicly was conceded by law.

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During this protracted period of affliction, the Reformed Church could not, of course, put into actual and full operation the theoretical constitution she had given herself. Her National Synods, for example, instead of meeting annually, assembled only thirty-five times, after the first convention held in 1559, and of these thirty-five seven were the so-called Synods of the Desert; a name illustrative of their history, seeing that the fatal policy of Louis XIV. had truly forced the Church to fly into the wilderness. But even when at last tolerated by law, the Reformed Church was still unable to put her theory of discipline into due exercise, and no National Synod (unless indeed the Assembly of 1848 be regarded as one) has ever been convoked, even under the comparatively favourable legislation in force during the last half century. That more tolerant legislation originates in the act known as the law of 18th Germinal, year X. of the Republic, (7th April 1802), which established the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches on the footing on which, notwithstanding what has been said to the contrary since the last revolution, they still undoubtedly stand. By its provisions, not only was the liberty of public worship, hitherto refused, at length granted to them, but both received from the State a regular provision for their pastors. Such a measure of liberty and such a boon, coming after so long a time of trial, and more particularly after the still recent Reign of Terror and the general proscription of all religion whatever, was received with gratitude by those whom it concerned, and hailed by them as the dawn of a better day. It may be doubted, however, whether the joy thus excited was not much misplaced, and whether the advantages offered by the new enactment were not more than counterbalanced by the conditions which it imposed. For if, on the one hand, it not only placed the two Protestant Churches beyond the reach of persecution, but by its endowments gave them moreover the means of extending their influence, on the other, it sadly impaired that influence and usefulness by presenting insurmountable obstacles to their effective ecclesiastical organization, and secured them from external assaults only to expose them to what is more pernicious-internal disunion. This the following examination of the facts, as regards the Reformed Church, will show.

The law of Germinal, in resuscitating that Church, beyond a question recognised both its Confession of Faith and its Rule of Discipline. So it was understood at the time. And indeed the text seems plain. By the fourth article, "no doctrinal or dogmatic decision, no formulary under the name of confession" could be published without the authority of government. this evidently relates to any new Confession, and assumes the continued use of the old; for it applies equally to the Lutheran

But

Church, as to the maintenance of whose Confession there can be no doubt, from the fact, that in the law itself that Church is always styled "the Church of the Augsburg Confession." Again, as to the Rule of Discipline, the fifth article enacts that "no change shall take place in the Discipline without the same authority." But, excepting the ancient Rule of Discipline, there was none extant so as to be capable of change. Yet notwithstanding this, from restrictions contained in other parts of the law, its practical effect has been to prevent either the Confession or the Discipline being brought out of the disuse into which, during the previous times of trouble, both had fallen. And as the law further prevented the substitution of any new articles or canons, the result was, that in reality the Church had no recognised standard either of doctrine or government, except in so far as the national law itself regulated the latter.

As regards a Confession, we do not mean to say that the Church desired one. It will soon be seen how her representatives differed on this subject. But as regards Discipline, all parties, latterly at least, have agreed in condemning the established state of things. For the defective organization of the Church, therefore, the law of Germinal is responsible. And to show how exceedingly defective that organization is, we have only to point out its working as regards the Consistories. Indeed the chief root of the evils introduced by the law lies in the way it dealt with these courts, in the first place as to their formation, and in the second, as to their functions.

By its provisions these Consistories were to be composed of the pastor, or pastors, attached to each church, together with a certain number of elders, varying from six to twelve. The lay portion was to be chosen according to a system, which amounts to self-renewal, from among the Protestants paying the greatest amount of direct taxes, no qualification or fitness for the office being requisite beyond this proof of their worldly wealth. It was not necessary that they should be communicants, nor even that they should be in the habit of attending public worship; nay, they might be, and have been, of notoriously immoral character.

Nevertheless, into the hands of consistories so composed was committed the whole discipline, patronage, and power of the congregation, and it may easily be supposed with what pernicious results. For these bodies, so composed, were practically responsible to no higher ecclesiastical authority. All superior courts had been virtually suppressed. The consequence was, in the first place, that the Reformed Communions of France ceased properly speaking to be one Church, and became a mere agglomeration of consistorial organizations, in which there was no central government, "no unity, no cohesion, no rule, no order;"

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and in the second place, that the Consistories were led to assume and exercise an arbitrary power which should never be committed into such hands. So much for the external condition of the French Reformed Church, and the effect upon it of the law of Germinal. We shall now shortly consider its internal state.

Every one knows the influence exercised, openly or insidiously, and with more or less effect, on the whole Christian Church, by the prevalent scepticism and worldly spirit of the philosophy and public opinion of the eighteenth century. This influence of course was more particularly felt in France, not excepting the French Reformed Church. The faith which had been that Church's shield during two centuries and a half of battle and persecution, she seemed ready to abandon; and the blessing that had made her "strong in weakness, victorious in defeat, united in dispersion," appeared to be almost withdrawn from her pale. This great religious declension is however past, and though to this day she is far from doing her first works, there is no doubt that a great and real revival of Christian energy has taken place, and is still going on within her. And, even at the worst, it should be understood, that if the teaching of a number of her clergy is still more or less unsound, the Rationalists of France are far from being the Lichtfreunde of Germany, and that if fundamental truths are sometimes doubted, they are seldom openly denied.

But if the general aspect of the Reformed Church of France has become more earnest and hopeful of late years, and contrasts favourably with the present state of the Protestant Churches in some neighbouring continental countries, she still contains an element, and that in an immense proportion, which renders her whole frame diseased. The evil under which she labours is the spirit of latitudinarianism. Neither cold nor hot, a large section-perhaps a half-of the Reformed Church seems ready for universal ecclesiastical fraternity, manifests a tendency to regard sincerity as the one thing needful, and, in the name of charity and catholicity, exhibits a doctrinal indifference, which accords well with much in the public opinion of this age, but which is inconsistent with that zeal according to knowledge which contributes so powerfully to the health and vigour of a Christian organization.

This latitudinarianism, however, it should be observed, is, as regards its working, essentially a negative principle. All it desires is that matters should be left as they are. All it does is to act on the defensive, against those who would have the Church to declare and act upon some definite and stringent rule. Except upon this point the latitudinarians profess no hostility to evangelical views; nay, not a few of them entertain and teach evan