FRANCE CONTINUED: EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY OPPOSING RATIONALISM.
The influences operating against the integrity and progress of the
Protestant church of France are opposed by vigorous agencies. From the
clergy and laity men of eminent endowments have arisen who, in
ecclesiastical councils, and through the press, have defended
evangelical Christianity with a spirit worthy of their Huguenot
ancestors. Their task has been herculean. At every point of the horizon
infidelity has appeared, and sought to gain a hearing in Paris. Romanism
has crippled the advance of truth among the masses. The priesthood enjoy
the favor of the government. But the faithful and learned adherents to
orthodoxy in all parts of the empire are able to cope with their
antagonists. Inspired by such men as Vinet and Monod, they do not stand
merely on the defensive, but are constantly aggressive.
Foremost of the modern reformers of France stands the name of M. Edmond
de Pressensé. He is a vigorous writer, takes an active part in public
religious movements, and edits the _Revue Chrétienne_, a theological
monthly, which, in both the ability and orthodoxy exhibited in its
contents, has no superior in the world. Through this medium M. de
Pressensé is able to keep up a constant attack upon his adversaries, and
to discover all their subterfuges as fast as they may appear. We do not
look to this theologian for a system, because he publishes his views
mostly as replies to the assaults of Rationalism. Yet, by an analysis of
his writings, we shall find him entertaining such opinions as do equal
honor to his devout spirit and gigantic intellect.
M. de Pressensé believes that it is the duty of the Church not to create
a moderate Rationalism to take the place of the bolder system, but to
engage anew in a vigorous warfare against a school that would contest
the divine basis on which Christianity rests. Such, he holds, is the
task of the Christian philosophy of the present day. Evangelical
Protestantism is everywhere manifesting a necessity of reorganization.
And it has need to do so. The Church of the present day is engaged in an
inner crisis, which, in one respect, is legitimate; for it has the great
burden of expurgation and reconstruction upon it. The burden consists in
separating the immortal truth of the gospel from human imperfections,
and in finding in it a more complete expression. The present crisis has
dangers and temptations which, in our day, render moral and intellectual
life very difficult, and multiply shipwrecks before our eyes. "We wish,"
M. de Pressensé declares for himself and his co-laborers, "to serve the
cause of evangelical theology, and nothing else. We do not lift a
standard which would summon all opinions and systems without
distinction. We stand upon the position that there is a positive
revelation, which is not the most distinguished product of human reason,
but a divine work of redemption by him whom we appeal to as the Son of
Man and the Son of God, who 'died for our sins and rose again for our
justification.' It is in the Holy Scriptures that we find the revelation
which supplies the immortal wants of our conscience. Apostolical
Christianity does not come to us as the first theological elaboration,
the first system in a series. It is Christianity itself, and
consequently the primitive type, from which we ought never to wander. It
is the norm and rule of theology. Within these limits we freely admit
the liberty of thought. Variety of opinions has nothing which frightens
us; and we would regard uniformity and unanimity on secondary points as
a fearful evil."[117]
The purity of the Protestant theology of France is an aim constantly
before M. de Pressensé. He holds that, notwithstanding the diversity of
its formulæ, this theology is distinguished by two features: _first_, it
accepts the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and considers them alone
as containing the normal type of Christian thought; _second_, it
believes firmly in redemption, and that is in the salvation of ruined
humanity brought about by the sacrifice of the Man-God. Though the fall
of man was great, it was not absolute. Man was ruined by apostasy, but
he was not left destitute of all higher life. He retained some vestige
of his primal nature. A sense of the divine, a religious aptitude, and
the longing to return to God, subsist in his heart. These render his
redemption possible; for the moral law, which had been vindicated by the
terrible consequences of the fall, is maintained in all its integrity in
the restoration of the fallen creature. A certain harmony was necessary
between man and God in order to salvation. Had our nature been
thoroughly perverted, no contact would have been possible. We would not
have had the capacity to receive from God that great gift which was the
only mode of repairing the fall of beings created in his image and
formed to possess him.[118]
This being the condition of man, M. de Pressensé maintains that the
result of this divine teaching was to convince him of his weakness and
evoke the desire of salvation. Therefore Christianity comes in to supply
a felt want of human nature. Here is the first point of contact between
conscience and revelation. The Cross is not simply a testimony to the
Father's love, like the flowers at our feet, or the starry sky above our
head. It is the altar of the great sacrifice which restores man to God
and God to man. Christ is for us a Saviour as well as a Revealer.[119]
There is one perfection which can be perceived by neither the eye of the
body nor by that of the soul, unless it be revealed by a supernatural
fact. We mean the mercy of God. Pardon does not consist in the pure and
simple abrogation of condemnation; nor can it restore guilty humanity to
communion with God while the state of revolt lasts. Humanity can only be
saved by returning to God, and it will not return to God until the
divine law has been perfectly filled by it. Christ alone is capable of
completely carrying out the divine law. The obedience must go as far as
sacrifice, for the fall of man demands it. By coming here, Christ took
upon himself the wrath of God. He who was without sin was treated like a
sinner. He suffered and died, but his sufferings and death rose to the
height of a free sacrifice of love and obedience. Condemnation, thus
accepted, is no longer condemnation. It is an act of union with God, _un
acte réparateur_,--a redemption.
The Bible, according to M. de Pressensé, is not a metaphysical
geometry, but a description of the struggle of Divine love with human
liberty. This great Bible history, if we consider it at the time when
the Redeemer accomplished our salvation, stands before us as the most
striking consecration of the moral idea. Redemption is the painfully
reëstablished agreement between the human and the divine will by a
mysterious sacrifice. It is the most perfect reciprocal penetration of
the divine and human by means of liberty. If the moral idea be
consecrated by Christ, it will lead to the Gospel. No one will become a
Christian unless he has determined to listen to his conscience, and
never question concerning moral certainty. We know of no other
corner-stone in morality or in religion. But, in order to bring the
truths of the Gospel home to the heart, there must be religious liberty.
Christianity is the religion of love, but to what could a reconciliation
amount which is not free? It is the religion of freedom; and God, in
order to save us, has need of freedom.
M. de Pressensé, in his recent discussion on the religious bearings of
the French Revolution, proves from an historical stand-point the
absolute necessity of the separation of Church and State. His excellent
work is entitled, _The Church and the French Revolution; a History of
the Relations of Church and State from 1789 to 1802_. The motto upon the
title-page, derived jointly from Mirabeau and Cavour, will indicate the
spirit of the book: "Remember that God is as necessary as liberty to the
French people--The Free Church in the Free State." We trust the day is
distant when M. de Pressensé will be compelled to lay aside the pen. He
is engaged in a contest of momentous issues. That he has violent enemies
might be expected; yet he has also the sympathy and prayers of many warm
supporters. Hopeful and ardent, he sees indications of success where
others imagine darkness and failure. And why not? He has God and truth
on his side.
The Evangelical School has an able defender from the laity, the
distinguished scholar and statesman, M. Guizot. No one has taken a
deeper interest in the present controversy from its inception to the
present time than that venerable man. It had been supposed for some time
that he was meditating a reply to Renan's _Life of Jesus_. We now have,
as the latest fruit of his graceful and prolific pen, the first
instalment of the _Meditations upon the Christian Religion_, a work
which will prove not only a fitting answer to his countryman's attack on
the Gospels, but will serve equally well as an antidote to the present
skeptical tendencies of French theology.
According to M. Guizot, there is a great intellectual and social
revolution now in progress. Its characteristics and tendencies are the
scientific spirit, and the preponderance of the democratic principle and
of political liberty. Christianity has submitted to tests and trials,
and it must pass through those of the present day. It has surmounted all
others, and so it will overcome this. Its essence and origin would not
be divine if it did not adapt itself to all the different forms of human
institutions. Christian people must not deceive themselves as to the
nature of the present struggle, the perils which it threatens, and the
legitimate arms with which to oppose infidelity. Skeptics attack the
Christian religion with brutal fanaticism and dexterous learning. They
appeal to sincere convictions, and the worst passions. Some contest
Christianity as false, others reject it as too exacting and imposing
excessive restraint.
Concerning the Church and its relations to the enemies of evangelical
faith, M. Guizot asks, "Does it comprehend properly and carry on
suitably the warfare in which it is engaged? Does it tend to reëstablish
a real peace, and active harmonious relations between itself and that
general society in the midst of which it is living? In order to answer
these inquiries, he defines the church. It is not one branch, but the
whole body of Christ on earth. Therefore, when men deny the supernatural
world, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the divinity of Jesus
Christ, they really assail the whole body of Christians--Romanists,
Protestants, or Greeks. They are virtually attempting to destroy the
foundations of faith in all the belief of Christians, whatever their
particular differences of religious opinion, or forms of ecclesiastical
government. All Christian churches live by faith. No form of government,
monarchical or republican, concentrated or diffused, suffices to
maintain a church. There is no authority so strong, and no liberty so
broad, as to be able in a religious society to dispense with the
necessity of faith. What is it that unites in a church if it is not
faith? Faith is the bond of souls. When the foundations of their common
faith are attacked, the differences existing between Christian churches
upon special questions, or the diversities of their organization or
government, become secondary interests. It is from a common peril that
they have to defend themselves, or they must be content to see dried up
the common source from which they all derive sustenance and life.[120]"
In the _Meditation_ already published, M. Guizot discusses the essence
of Christianity, creation, revelation, inspiration of the Scriptures,
God according to the Biblical account, and Jesus according to the Gospel
narrative. In order to complete his work, the author designs to write
three more parts. In the second, he will examine the authenticity of the
Scriptures, the primary causes of the foundation of Christianity, the
great religious crisis in the sixteenth century which divided the Church
and Europe between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, and finally
those different anti-Christian crises which at different periods and in
different countries have set in question and imperiled Christianity
itself, but which dangers it has ever surmounted.
The third _Meditation_ will be a survey of the present internal and
external condition of the Christian religion. The regeneration of the
Roman Catholic and Protestant churches at the commencement of the
nineteenth century will be exhibited. The author will then describe the
impulse imparted by the Spiritualistic Philosophy, and the opposition it
met with in Materialism, Pantheism, and Skepticism. He will conclude by
exposing the fundamental error of these systems as the avowed and active
enemies of Christianity. In the _fourth_ series there will be a
characterization of the future destiny of the Christian religion, and an
indication of the course by which it is called upon to conquer
completely the earth and then to sway it morally. M. Guizot, having
spent his life in political excitement, now resolves to occupy his
remaining years in aiding the cause of religion. "I have passed," says
he, "thirty-five years of my life in struggling, on a bustling arena,
for the establishment of political liberty, and the maintenance of order
as established by law. I have learned, in the labors and trials of this
struggle, the real worth of Christian faith and of Christian liberty.
God permits me, in the repose of my retreat, to consecrate to their
cause what remains to me of life and of strength. It is the most
salutary favor and the greatest honor that I can receive from his
goodness."
We may now ask, What is the fruit of the labors of MM. de Pressensé,
Guizot, and their heroic coadjutors? Is the spirit of French
Protestantism against them, and are the majority of the clergy yielding
to the insinuating arguments of the skeptical school? These questions
are satisfactorily answered by the recent action of the French
Protestant Conferences. The Conferences are not composed of members
formally admitted, but of the pastors and elders who attend the spring
anniversaries, and choose to participate in them. The General Conference
includes all denominations of Protestants; the special, only the
ministers of the Lutheran and Reformed churches who constitute together
the National Protestant Church. Whatever action may be adopted by either
body is a safe index of the sentiment pervading the entire mass of
French Protestantism. In the General Conference which convened in Paris
in the spring of 1863, there was a violent debate between the
Rationalistic and Evangelical members. M. de Pressensé presided. Pastor
Bersier made a remarkable speech, in which he declared that true
science, light, liberty, and progress are on the side of earnest faith
in revelation, the atonement, and the other great doctrines of Christian
truth. At the conclusion of the discussion, the following protest was
carried by an overwhelming majority:
"The Conference, considering that the faithful may be troubled by
systems of the present day, attacking the very basis of Christianity and
the Church; that these negations are produced in the name of science,
and given as the definitive results of the elaboration of modern
thought,--protests in the name of Christian faith, of Christian
conscience, of Christian experience, of Christian science, against every
doctrine which tends to overturn the existence of supernatural order, of
the divine authority of the Scriptures, of the divinity of Jesus Christ,
and all that touches the very essence of Christianity; such as it has
been professed in all times, by all churches, marked with the seal of
religious power and faithfulness. The Conference invites the faithful to
beware of these systems of science, a thousand times contradicted by the
incessant transformations of the human mind; and exhorts the different
churches to make efforts and sacrifices to favor the development and
progress of Christian science."
The Rationalists hoped that by spending a year in the industrious
promulgation of their opinions, they would gain some official
recognition or power in the ensuing Conference. Accordingly, when the
General Conference of 1864 convened, they demanded the passage of a
resolution by which ministers would be freed from all authority, and
permitted to preach any doctrine, no doctrine, or a denial of all
Christianity, as they might choose. The debate was very animated, and
lasted three days. But the result was all that the most sanguine friends
of orthodoxy could desire. The Conference adopted the following
declaration, by a large majority:
"_Whereas_, For some years, pastors and professors of theology have
expressed opinions which affect not only the divine authority of the
Holy Scriptures, but also the most elementary doctrines of Christianity;
the Conferences declare that it is an abuse of power and a spiritual
tyranny for a minister of Jesus Christ to take advantage of his position
to propagate directly or indirectly, ideas contrary to the fundamental
doctrines of Christianity, such as the authority of the Bible, the
divinity and redemption of Jesus Christ, which are contained in all the
Protestant liturgies."
M. Guizot, who is an elder in the Reformed church, took a prominent part
in the session of the special Conference in 1864. He introduced a
declaration of principles, the character of which may be judged by the
following extract: "We have full faith, _1st._ In the supernatural power
of God in the government of the world, and especially in the
establishment of the Christian religion; _2d._ In the divine and
supernatural inspiration of the Holy Books, as well as in their
sovereign authority in religious matters; _3d._ In the eternal divinity
and miraculous birth as well as in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ, God-man, Saviour, and Redeemer of men. We are convinced that
these articles of the Christian religion are also those of the Reformed
church, which has plainly acknowledged them." "Gentlemen," said he, in
support of his proposition, "I call your attention to one important
fact. Look around you! The attacks against the bases of Christianity are
seen everywhere, in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, England, and France.
I fear nothing, provided aggression meets with resistance.... I have
entire confidence in the cause of Christianity. But man is God's
workman; it is by our faith and labor that the Christian religion must
be defended. Gentlemen, we have before us a responsible position and
great duties. We are the vanguard of all Christianity; we have behind us
all the Christian communions. Let us show ourselves equal to this great
task, and firmly resolve to accomplish it."
The debate resulted in the adoption of the declaration by a vote of one
hundred and forty-one against twenty-three.
In addition to these proofs of the orthodoxy of French Protestantism,
there is another of different character but of not less significance. We
mean the successful working of the evangelizing agencies lately
inaugurated in France. Forty years ago, A. Monod was in the midst of his
small Sunday School in Paris. The government was in the hands of the
Jesuits, and Protestantism had neither the political power nor spiritual
disposition to labor for the conversion of Romanists. As M. Grandpierre
has graphically said: "From 1810 to 1815 you could count on your five
fingers those Protestant French pastors who preached faithfully and
zealously the true principles of Christianity."
But improvement began, and between 1820 and 1830 several important
religious societies were organized in Paris. The Methodist and Free
Churches vied with the two National Protestant Churches in efforts for
the conversion of the masses. In 1830, the Free Church possessed but one
place of worship, but it now has a complete establishment for
evangelizing purposes in almost every _quartier_ of the great
metropolis. In the same year there were but six Protestant pastors and
five Churches; but in 1857 there were thirty-nine pastors and fifty-one
sanctuaries. Including the whole of France, there are, under Protestant
jurisdiction, about one thousand pastors, from fifteen to sixteen
hundred churches, and from seventeen to eighteen hundred elementary
schools. The official census previous to 1857 gives the total number of
Protestants in Paris as thirteen thousand; and seven hundred and seventy
thousand throughout the country. M. Grandpierre thinks these numbers are
really double; for in Paris alone two pastors are omitted, and if they
are left out what must be expected of the members under them? During
1862 twenty new Protestant Churches were opened and consecrated to the
worship of God. Twenty-five years ago there was but one Protestant
bookstore in Paris, and it was threatened from time to time with
bankruptcy. Now there are four, all of which are in a flourishing
condition. There is a Sunday School in nearly every Protestant Church of
the Empire.
Almost every year some new society is organized, having for its avowed
object the conversion of souls and the relief of the suffering. Those
now in prosperous existence will compare favorably with similar
institutions in Great Britain and the United States. We mention the most
prominent: The French and Foreign Bible Society, which sold eighty-eight
thousand copies of the Bible in 1862; the Protestant Bible Society; the
Tract Society; the Paris Missionary Society; the Primary School Society
and the Protestant Son Society. Each of these has its well-defined field
of labor, one aiming to arouse slumbering Protestants, another to seek
out wandering Protestants, and a third to educate homeless children. The
Evangelical Society of France, whose secretaryship M. de Pressensé has
held for thirty years, founded during the year 1862 nine new Churches;
created six additional centres of evangelization; aided twenty churches;
supported two Normal Schools; organized many others; cultivated two of
the faubourgs of Paris; and expended three millions five hundred and
eighty thousand francs for the purposes of evangelization. In addition
to these societies, there are Orphan institutions, Schools, Asylums for
the unprotected, destitute, fallen, sick, and infirm; some associations
for the aid of those near at hand, and others for those at a distance.
The press has been active in the same great cause. Weekly and monthly
journals have been multiplied, and carry the good news of God not only
through France but into all parts of the Continent. The theological
schools are in a flourishing condition, and evangelical professors are
everywhere in the majority. Of the seven teachers at Montauban, five are
outspoken adherents of orthodoxy. The inability of M. Réville to be
elected to a chair in that institution indicates the religious status of
those in authority of it.
Neander said one day to M. de Pressensé, "This period in which we live
is indeed a critical one. It is to be a dismal abyss or a rosy morning
light. But, depend upon it, it is going to be whatever we have a mind to
make it." The Evangelical Protestant clergy of France "have a mind" to
do a good and permanent work. We do not apprehend an unfavorable issue
from the present conflict, but that the prayers, proscription, and exile
of eight hundred thousand Huguenots will yet reap their appropriate
harvest, and that the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes will be avenged
by the pure faith and permanent triumphs of Protestantism.
FOOTNOTES:
[117] _Revue Chrétienne_, Feb., 1861.
[118] _Religions before Christ_, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1862.
[119] _Le Redempteur_, Paris, 1854.
[120] _Meditations on the Essence of Christianity._ Preface, pp. 6-10.