cellent Haldane, on his arrival in Geneva in the year 1816, found the students deeply sunk in Socinian theology; and among them were such men as D'Aubigné and Adolph Monod, whom he was instrumental in leading to the truth. The city of Calvin has had for some years in such men as the author of the History of the Reformation, and the author of Theopneustia, a theological school worthy of the great reformer, and second to none in the world for talent and piety. It is there, as Dr. Cheever remarks, "that D'Aubigné first utters some of those voices of truth and freedom-those declarations of independence which afterwards go echoing through the world." These few, but noble-spirited

the ministers who have gone out of our schools of theology to serve either the churches of our own land, or those of France and other foreign countries, have not received one single lecture on the truths which exclusively belong to revelation, such as the redemption of mankind, by the death of Christ, the justification of the sinner by faith, the corruption of our nature, the divinity of our Saviour, &c. In theology we were taught nothing but what are called the dogmas of natural religion. The extent to which this practical incredulity was carried, is clear from the fact, elsewhere unheard of, I suspect, in the annals of the Protestant churches-that excepting for a lecture in the Hebrew language, when the Bible was used simply as a Hebrew book, and not for anything which it contained, the word of God was never used throughout our course; in particular, the New Testament never appeared either as a language-book, or for any other purpose; there was no need of the New Testament whatever, in order to complete our four years' course in theology; in other words, that book, especially in the original, was not at all among the number of books required in order to accomplish the career of our studies for the sacred ministry."-See Dr. Alexander's Switzerland and the Swiss Churches, p. 194.

Cheever's Wanderings, p. 34.

and truly great reformers of the nineteenth century, placed as they are between unitarian rationalism on the one hand and despotic Jesuitism on the other, are doing good service, by means of their theological institute, to Christ's cause in Geneva and in other parts of the Continent. But, as regards numerical strength, they are like Gideon and his three hundred men opposed to the Midianites. The Lord, however, is with them, and is saying unto them, "Go in this your might, and ye shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent you?" This relieves the gloom, but it is still dense and disastrous. Socinianism, having long held its place in the Academy and the Church, and being supported by the secular arm, has left the way open for a reviving Romanism, or for the doctrines of Strauss. It is from this rationalistic school too, be it observed, that the French Protestant churches have chiefly derived those pastors who must be numbered among the rationalists and latitudinarians whose influence is

adverse to spiritual Christianity. Geneva is justly regarded as one of the most important centres of influence for extending Christianity on the Continent. But if we look to the New Academy as an effective agency in diffusing around and abroad the light of the Gospel, we must reckon the old as having exerted no inconsiderable power on the side of rationalism and infidelity.

Our survey of the schools, in so far as they have exerted an influence hostile to the Gospel and favor

able to infidelity, has been far from complete. But it has been extensive enough to let us see that they have been, and in many instances are, no mear agencies in forming and disseminating those manyshaped systems of unbelief which, during the last sixty years or more, have been rampant in many lands. If the fountains are polluted what must be the streams? And how great the responsibility of governments in appointing men to chairs in the national schools, who, by their teaching, infuse principles into the minds of youth, that are destructive at once of loyalty to the powers on earth and of devotion to the God of heaven. Were all the seats of learning in which the human sciences are taught, instrumental in guiding the minds of their disciples aright, instead of, as has often been the case, grievously perverting them-and were the schools which are especially designed for sacred instruction, made reservoirs of the pure river of the water of life-what a mighty agency for good would be brought to bear upon the world. Many would then run to and fro, and, in the best sense of the expression, knowledge would be increased. "A Christianized university, in respect of its professorships," says Dr. Chalmers, "would be to me a mightier accession than a Christianized country in respect of its parishes. And should there be a fountain out of which there emanated a thousand rills, it would be to the source that I should carry the salt of purification, and not to any of the streams which flow from it."1

Hanna's Life of Chalmers, vol. ii., p. 376.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PULPIT.

The pulpit no bad criterion-Divides now its former influence with the Press-Can never be superseded-Lines of Cowper-Extensively employed on the side of evil-Deplorable state of the Ger man churches-Testimonies of Drs. Wichern and Krummacher -Dishonesty of the rationalistic preachers-Fault of the consistories-Evil of uniting churches on a loose doctrinal basisRationalism in the Protestant pulpits of Hungary - National Church of Geneva-State of the Reformed Church of Holland-A glance at Belgium-Pulpit agency in France-Ministering to old superstitions or to infidelity-The Abbé Lacordaire-Rationalism in the French Protestant church-Causes of this-State of the British Pulpit-Much that is cheering-Ruinous influence of mere moral preaching in the Establishment-Tractarianism the growing evil-Concluding Remark.

THE state of the pulpit among any people is, generally, no bad criterion of the state of religion itself. It does not indeed indicate, as infallibly as the thermometer, or the water-mark, the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere, or the height to which the river of the water of life has risen. In some places there may be much light and heat in the pulpit, while the people to a considerable extent may be frigid and sitting in darkness. In other places, on the contrary, there may be much more vital godliness among the people than among their teachers; just as

sun-light while the But these cases are

the lowlands may be bathed in uplands are shrouded in mists. like exceptions to a general rule. It commonly happens that where a pulpit agency exists in any considerable extent, as in European countries, it exerts no little influence on the faith and morals of the population. The continual droppings from this quarter make an impression for good or evil, on the hearts of the millions that come under them.

The pulpit, at one time, was almost the only means of imparting instruction to the people. Books existed only in manuscript, and these were scarcely known beyond the walls of monasteries and the libraries of the learned. Down to the end of the middle ages, the oral teacher had nothing deserving the name of a competitor. During much of that period, however, the power of the pulpit was in a great measure dormant, owing to the corruptions of the church and the indolence of the clergy. At the Reformation it awoke; and, like the blast of a trumpet startled the nations. And from that time onward to the present, the pulpit, as in the early ages of the Christian church, has wielded an extensive influence over the minds of men. Ever since the invention of printing, it has had a rival in the press. The rivalry, in a great measure and for long, has been a salutary one. Both agencies have done mighty service to the world, in disseminating that truth wherewith men are made free. The press, within a few years, owing to the removal of restrictions that crippled its energies, has made rapid strides, and is, at the present moment, perhaps the