immense, as is evident by so much of it as is collected by Le Plat, in the seven bulky quarto volumes of documentary material. The original history of the eminent Venetian, Fra Paoli Sarpi, compact with incident and rich with information, gleaned by himself from living sources; the heavy folio of Cardinal Pallavicini, enriched with contributions from treasures of which much is yet in manuscript, unpublished; several other original volumes written during the sessions, or soon after, all original works of members of the Council, or of persons in active communication with it, and the impression also shown on the face of all contemporary history and literature, at least in Europe; all this demonstrates the vast importance of that Council as it stood in universal estimation. All parties had laboured and contended for the accomplishment of some great object. It was generally desired that the prolonged deliberations of princes and prelates, divines and canonists, should issue in the settlement of a controversy that was dividing nations, and the equitable establishment of peace for Christendom.

The better portion of the Romish Church sincerely desired. to witness an internal reformation "in head and members," and many of the clergy wrote and spoke on that side in such a manner as to command general admiration. On their necks the yoke of obedience to the Papal despotism had weighed heavily, and the tribute extorted from the clergy of all the ecclesiastical provinces to the offices at Rome was insufferably burdensome to priests and people. The whole episcopate out of Italy was jealous of the Pope's perpetual encroachment on their rights, and maintained that his arrogance, perhaps his office too, had no authority in Scripture. Any concession to these numerous claimants would have been gratefully welcomed, and but a moderate exhibition of liberality at Rome would have been acknowledged with delight by all the princes, and secured, except from the German Protestants and French Reformed, and from the Church of England, an unreserved acceptance. But the Papal Court made no concession, for they held it as a point of conscience and of pride to demand everything and concede nothing. They did not even try to compromise; they evaded. They wore out the patience of all parties, and, by the time that the Assembly closed, the attitude of opposition outside Italy had become so habitual, and the reasons of opposition were now so clearly justified, that none could change it. The clergy generally approved of the canons, about which most of them cared little, but the disciplinary decrees were for the most part rejected by both clergy

The Times are Changed.

135

and laity, and this was equivalent with a rejection of the Council. The German Empire resisted every solicitation, and repelled a stubborn importunity almost amounting to threat. The Emperor and electors absolutely refused to acknowledge the Council. So did France with patriotic unanimity. The Spanish clergy and people were so strongly indisposed to put their neck under the yoke that Philip II., for reasons of his own, and anxious to be at one with Rome, ventured not to suffer any deliberation of national authorities, but by his own single authority accepted the acts of the Council, and declared them law. In Italy, the States being always dislocated from each other, and the Pope therefore able to make himself Dictator over each of them, proceeded, however secretly reluctant, to accept them without reserve expressed. Venice, although the least servile, submitted first.

Now, the state of Europe and the world, and the internal and relative conditions of the Church of Rome at the present day, do not admit of comparison with what then was, and will only permit a contrast. Therefore, although the assemblage of the Council has become as probable as any human event can well be, its action can only be regarded with uncertainty; but its acceptance anywhere, as having authority over any individual who does not freely accept the obligation, may safely be considered as impossible, and this may be sufficient to account for the absence of all open and formal arrangement with any sovereign or government by the Pope up to the time of sending this article to press. The governments of Europe appear to avoid cautiously anything that would commit them to active participation. Some political writers, especially in Italy, strongly maintain a position of hostility, regarding the mere assemblage of the Bishops as an infraction of the rights of the State, while others, including the whole of Germany, North and South, will have it understood that any act of the Council that shall interfere with temporal matters will be met with instant resistance.

Some good men on the Continent, under an impression that the Pope had invited them to Rome on this occasion, have been moved to consider what they ought to do now that "Rome calls us." M. Merle D'Aubigné puts the question in this form, in a letter addressed to the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird. It should be observed, however, that the Pope does not invite. us to come to the Council, where none but his own prelates are admissible, but exhorts us rather to cast ourselves at his feet, and crave to be admitted into the bosom of his Church, which is the very last thing the excellent historian of the

Reformation would think of doing. Mr. Kinnaird, not staying to criticise the Pope's aimless missive, nor M. D'Aubigné's earnest letter, wisely confers with several of his friends, who agree with him that the proceedings of the Papacy are of such a character as to call forth that kind of opposition which it most becomes Christians to employ, and that therefore the month of December next, which may be marked in history by the assemblage of a so-called Council for adding yet more to the assumptions of the Pope, should be distinguished by the offering of special prayer "in private, in families, and in social circles, for the priesthood and members of the Roman Catholic Church, that they may be blessed with true saving grace, delivered from all error, and endowed with full knowledge of Scriptural truth." This is a wise and good conclusion." Anathema to all heretics" was the last sentence uttered in the Council of Trent: "Anathema, anathema, anathema," the last word thrice shouted in response. The ceaseless echo of that word rings harshly in the ear of Christendom, but it cannot be heard in heaven, where imprecations do not enter. Now let the noise of priestly curse be silenced, let the prayer of charity waken up, far and wide, and let a symphony of blessings make sweet music in the ear of Him who listens in His throne of mercy.

ART. VI.—Dr. Ewald Rudolf Stier. Versuch siner Darstellung seines Lebens und Wirkens. Von G. STIER, Director des Domgymnasiums zu Colberg, in verbindung mit F. STIER, Diaconus zu Sct. Nicolai in Eisleben. Wittenberg, Hermann Kolling. 1867, 1868.

[The Life and Labours of Dr. Stier. By his Two Sons.]

"WHEN the life of a man has been influential on the public life, when his character is one that is stamped by clear and distinct traits, and when it is possible to describe briefly how he became what he was-then his life may be, and indeed ought to be, written." By such simple words these sons of an eminent father introduce the volumes which they have prepared in deference to a very general expression of desire. Their work has both the excellences and the defects that too often mark the memoirs composed by filial affection. What those excellences and defects are it is needless to mention in detail, as the book is not likely to be translated into English. We shall content ourselves with giving a brief epitome of the career of this honoured servant of Christ and His Church; selecting such points as will tend to satisfy the natural curiosity of very many to whom his writings have been useful, with an eye at the same time to the profit of the student and minister of our own land. Our reader will trace the career of one who combined, beyond most others, the two generally incompatible characters of an indefatigable private student and public minister; and will see amidst what singular difficulties those characters were combined. He will also have perhaps a new insight into some phases of German Lutheranism, and some of the specific difficulties of German ecclesiastical life. In order to furnish this we must set before him some liberal extracts, for which, however, no apology will be thought necessary by those who remember that they would not otherwise reach the eyes of most of our readers. As to those who read German, we can only say that this book will be found. excellent reading; especially after the tedious former part of the first volume is disposed of.

Ewald Rudolf Stier was born with the century (March 17, 1800) in Fraustadt, a small town of Posen, or South Prussia. His father was a petty officer in the civil service; a man who underwent considerable hardships as the result of the French

invasion. The terrors in the midst of which the youth's infancy was spent impressed a lasting stamp upon his mind; he grew up into manhood under the most fervent, almost wild, political and patriotic influences. He was the first boy in the petty schools of the towns where his father served, yet his education was nevertheless comparatively neglected. Sent at thirteen to the Gymnasium at Neustettin, he by talent or circumstances found himself in time alone in the first class, when his master advised his transference to the University. On October 24, 1815, the youth, "Vir juvenis prænobilissimus Ewaldus Rudolphus Stier, Polonus," matriculated at Berlin as student of law; a good scholar, but only of the second class, with a certain lack of philological grounding which placed him subsequently at a disadvantage, inasmuch as he never thoroughly repaired it.

This highly privileged university was at that time well manned, so far as ability goes. Schleiermacher, twenty-five years of age, was at the head of the Theological Faculty, a name already beginning to be known as the herald of an evangelical revival from the torpor of illuminism. With him in dignity, though still younger in years, stood three men afterwards to be equally well known, De Wette, Marheineke and Neander. The Juristic staff enjoyed the talents of Savigny, Eichhorn, Göschen; while the Philosophical was sustained by Wolf, Solger, and Boeckh - Fichte having recently gone. Rudolf entered, we should say, the excited atmosphere of Berlin student-life, in those days of revolution and young German drill, three years too early; but he was one of those precocious youths the records of whom abound in university annals at home and abroad. He soon became a fierce demagogue, delighted in Jean Paul, made the acquaintance of Tieck, who introduced him to Shakespeare. Improving on some scraps of English that certain sea captains had taught him in the excise office, he soon became an enthusiastic reader and lover of our poet, whose influence, though he early renounced him, was stamped upon his thought and style to the last. Meanwhile the study of law soon repelled his ardent poetic nature. He succeeded by great effort in overcoming his father's reluctance to the change, and yielded himself to what he thought, and we think, to have been the Lord's own attraction towards theology. He soon mastered the necessary elements of Hebrew, and in October, 1816, became a divinity student, and attended the lectures of Schleiermacher, De Wette and Neander. Here he found his true vocation; but Tholuck, who knew him well through life, intimates in Hofmann's