The Calvinistic doctrine of irresistible grace, Arminianism denied by asserting that the grace of God, even in regeneration, may be resisted. Arminianism asserts also the freedom of the will, as opposed to the Augustinian and Calvinistic teaching on that subject. Calvinism holds to the Perseverance of the Saints; Arminianism that this may be doubted— that a Christian may fall away, and be finally lost. These were the five points of chief difference.

Socinianism was partly, in its origin, the result of a reaction against the intellectual bondage which in ante-Reformation times made all generous minds so restive, under the spiritual tyranny of Rome. After men had begun, thus, to claim their right of free inquiry, it is not surprising that some of them carried the claim too far, and along with usurped authority, began to question that which is legitimate and binding. Thus in the early days of the Reformation,-antecedent to it, in fact―sprang up a rationalizing tendency similar to that which we see in our own time; an assertion in behalf of the human reason, of the right to try all things whatever, and to rule in the domain of faith itself. A conspicuous advocate of this view was Michael Servetus, whose history and ultimate fate became interwoven in such an unfortunate way with one passage in the life of Calvin. The man, however, who seems to have been the founder of the sect of Socinians was Lælius Socinus, an Italian, a man of genius and learning. Obliged to leave Italy on account of his opposition to the Papacy, he came to Zurich, in Switzerland, in the year 1547, after having traveled extensively through Europe, everywhere disseminating his views. He died at Zurich, in 1562. From the papers he left behind him, Faustus Socinus, his nephew, appears to have constructed the Socinian system of doctrine. In this system, Scripture inspiration is recognized only in a modified sense, the whole teaching here being made subject to reason in such a way that it is to be accepted only so far as reason approves. The main tenet relates to the person of Christ, whose divinity it denies, while confessing him to have been an extraordinary being, supernatural in origin,

admitted to peculiar acquaintance with the mind and purpose of God, and exalted now to kingship in the domain of spiritual things. It denies the incarnation and the atonement, find. ing the whole saving efficacy of the Gospel in the teaching and example of the Lord. The principal seat of Socinianism in the earlier times of its history, was Poland. Under the form and name of Unitarianism, it has in these latter days gained considerable prevalence, chiefly in England and America, being fostered by all the rationalistic and infidel tendencies of the time.

Doctrinal value of the Reformation.

There remains, now, one question, with some brief notice of which this chapter may conclude. It has been doubted, singularly enough, whether the Reformation in its doctrinal character was of any real value. It is claimed that its value was simply in its inauguration of an era of free inquiry, prosecuted especially in these later times. This criticism originates with those who claim to be, themselves, above all others, free enquirers, and who reject the doctrines of the Reformation. We of course should have little hope of convincing them of their error, even if that were our business, just now. Besides, this question will come up for a much larger treatment than is possible here, when in subsequent studies we come to inquire, what the representative theology of the Reformation has been and has done, what place it has filled in the thought and life of the modern world. For the present we touch three points, only, and that mainly upon their outside.

1. The first is, that if there is to be a theology-and it should seem as if objectors must make up their minds to this, however much a trial it may be to them-if there is to be a theology, it is desirable that it should be as perfect, complete, and pure, as it can be made. It is to nobody's advantage that a religion should prevail and gain ground in the world which either, upon the one hand, fosters a superstition fed on ignorance, or upon the other, builds up hierarchy, and perpetuates among men the evils of priestcraft. Now, in the

very fact that the Reformation has originated and fostered free inquiry, there is a guarantee that its influence must have been favorable and valuable in both these respects. And history testifies that from the beginning of this movement its tendency and its result have been, while preserving whatever may have been true in medieval and patristic theology, to bring all Christian creeds and systems more and more into strict conformity to Scripture teaching, and at the same time to conform them all that is possible to the dictates of enlightened reason. That the rationalist has infinitely less to complain of in the theology of to-day than in that of the schoolmen, and that the lovers of intellectual liberty have far less to complain of in this theology as respects recognition of the rights of free thought, and the just prerogatives of the intellect and conscience of each inquirer than was the case when the Roman hierarchy bore rule-these two things are certain. So far, therefore, the objectors have a good deal to concede upon their own side.

2. And then, secondly, if there is to be free inquiry, it is certainly an advantage to have it exercised upon subjects worthy of it. Now, it so happens, that the questions embraced in theological investigation and teaching are precisely those which have most engaged the thought and interest of the brightest minds in the most enlightened ages. It is, certainly, not to the credit of the agnostic and the materialist that he undervalues what has thus been of supreme consequence to the masters of human thought in all the centuries of the past. Such an attitude in them argues a narrowness of mind quite equal to that which they are so free in attributing to others. Would they think it no loss to the world, if all matters of spiritual inquiry, all that concerns God, and the soul, and eternity, all that relates to that providential · government of which history is but the book of record, were suddenly to drop out of view and be for men a subject of thought and inquiry no longer? Would that be no intellectual loss to mankind? Or may we venture to say that the richest privilege of free inquiry, is this of confronting, in

honest, earnest questioning and study those mighty problems the very statement of which sets man's soul and intellect wide-awake in a moment?

3. But finally, for the present, it is quite proper to say that these gentlemen in judging for themselves in such a matter as this, can have no right to judge for others. Nor can they deny that for the great mass of every generation of men, those questions which it is the province of theology to state, define and expound, have been, as they still are, matters of profound personal interest. If it were possible for them to make a list of all those who, like themselves, are willing to know nothing upon these subjects, they would, we feel sure, be surprised to find that such a list did not embrace a larger proportion of the thinking people of the time. And of those who do care, what thousands and millions there are, to whom knowledge and faith as to these highest things are unspeakably precious! What can such objectors know of the sorrow, the poverty, the pain of body and distress of mind, the approaches to entrances of the dark valley, the sick-beds and death-beds, which in every moment of time are being comforted by this gospel which they despise? What can they know, either, of the great multitudes of the prospered and the happy, whose real treasure, after all, is the treasure they have in heaven? It is to such as these appeal should be made for deciding any question as to the value of that teaching which in the Reformation returned to the world, as when the rainbow angel came from heaven with the book in his hand.

IV.

PROTESTANTISM.

It is impossible to expound Protestantism, in its true nature, or justify it in its principles and its mission, without some study of it in its origin and genesis. The main incidents of the history so involved are familiar to all. The events of that era were not things done in a corner. The sound of them has gone out into all the world, and no student or general reader of modern history is without knowledge of them. Their real significance, however, is not always particularly considered, nor those inferences noted which indicate the place of Protestantism amongst those causes and changes which have put such a new face upon the world during the last three hundred and fifty years. Some hints in that especial direction is the purpose now.

Reformation Distin

guished.

The conventional usage of the term, Protestantism and the Protestantism, is not, historically, altogether exact. The words Protestant and Papist, are commonly viewed as strict. antitheses, and equally broad in their significance, so that by Protestants are usually understood all religious bodies which are not Papist. The distinction in this usage is made to cover doctrinal differences as well as all other religious ones, although extended so as to take in those which are more secular in their character. We do not mean to say that, interpreted historically, the word would not have reference to religious differences; but that, as thus taken, it does not so much make these prominent as certain others which came to