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not conflict with the perfect happiness of each soul in its sphere at any given time, or at any particular stage of development; we must not forget that the great law of spiritual being in this world and all worlds, growing out of the very nature of the soul, is progress-a continued movement forward and upward; an endless growth in knowledge and power, and development into higher forms of life and blessedness. This is the order of God's creation everywhere. We see in the natural world, on every side, a constant growth to maturity, then decay, and death, and reproduction in new forms and combinations. The Bible's brief sketch of the order of creation, geology, history, intellectual philosophy, observation, all contribute to confirm the truth of this.

The boy will not always be satisfied with his hoop. By and by he will get beyond it, and it will be laid aside as unfit and insufficient for his wants. He will be moving ere long in the upward path of thought and nobler action, and approach the position occupied by the philosopher, who, in the meantime, will have left it to climb to still loftier heights of science and inquiry. The young Franklin will fly his kite as a boy, and rejoice in the height to which it rises, and be content as a boy. But ere long he will fly his kite for another reason; and as he draws from the key the electric spark, he will rejoice with another kind of joy, and be content as a philosopher!

And so in the glorious world of light to which we go, progress, more and higher, is the law. Alps on Alps eternal rise. Beyond and above, they lift their glittering heights; beyond and above, forevermore-and far up their sides those who have gone before us beckon us onward, and shout to us of the glory that lifts upon their vision. Joyful in the present, we shall press forward; our very blessedness made more blessed in the exercise and development of our spiritual power. And leading us, and walking with us, and following us, familiar sister spirits crowd around; and stranger spirits, now no longer strangers, meet us with a welcome, and join us on the upward march to higher knowledge and wisdom and happiness. Or, in the language of the disciple, "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. iii. 18.)

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So shall the promises of God be fulfilled to us; and so shall be realized the sublime doctrine of the resurrection, which teaches us that the glory of the terrestial is one, and the glory of celestial is another, and that there is, among the celestial bodies, one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; and that one star differeth from another star in glory. But in all this difference there is at the same time a unity of glory, a oneness of harmony and beauty. They all shine from the same firmanent,-they all move obedient to the same laws, they all glorify the power, the wisdom and the skill of the Great Architect:

"Forever singing as they shine,

The hand that made us is divine."

So with all the redeemed, however differing in degrees of capacity and happiness, from the loftiest to the humblest, all shall be united in purpose and aim, joined in perfect harmony of spirit, "all blessing and all blest." And together they shall lift up the hymn of praise-glory in the highest be unto God, who is excellent in power, whose wisdom is unsearchable, and who doeth wonders forevermore!

T. B. T.

ART. XI.

Progressive Character of the Reformation.

THE growth of unjust power is always attended by corruption of principles. The one follows the other as the shadow follows the substance. The errors of doctrine which were clearly discernible in Tertullian, and which received a strong cast in the hands of Augustine, reached their most objectionable form when the Papal power triumphed in the person of Gregory VII. The successive heads of the church, using their influence with constant reference to the increase of their power, allied themselves to the various states around them, keeping good faith to

the ear, but breaking it to the heart, whenever their dar ling object required. Some eleven centuries had passed away, and their triumph was complete. They had trampled upon one potentate after another, until the occupant of the pontifical chair had come at length to stand face to face with Henry IV. Germany was powerful, and might have secured her emperor success. But her internal divisions made the pontiff more powerful, and Hildebrand triumphed.

The culminating battle was a struggle on the part of the pope to maintain two newly-assumed prerogatives. The first was the right absolutely to enforce the celibacy of the clergy; and the second, to dispose of all the bene fices of the church, prohibiting lay investitures by such sanctions as absolving subjects from their allegiance to the bestower, and excommunicating the recipient. Victory, at least for a time, perched upon the standards of the Roman see. And he who, as successor of St. Peter, claimed to hold the keys of heaven and hell; who, as mouthpiece of the church, assumed to utter its traditions, of equal authority with the Bible, and requisite to an adequate interpretation thereof; and who was the fountain of that river of grace which flowed through a long line of priests, and found access to the hearts of men through the the magic power of the golden key of indulgences; he whose infallibility was the guide of the world, and whose bull of excommunication was as the trumpet-blast of the final judgment, had at length come to be as powerful politically, as he claimed to be spiritually.

Such audacious assumptions must have called for especial defence. As the institution of slavery necessitates a corrupt interpretation of the Bible, as the current drinking customs of society ignore the law of social obligations, so the assumption of such daring power could be justified only by a corresponding debasement of human nature. itself. The more absolute and complete the depravity of man could be shown to be, the higher would be the exaltation of that priesthood which was appointed for its deliverance. If the Bible was forbidden the masses, it was because their depravity on the one hand, and their lack of the guiding influence of tradition on the other, disqualified them to receive it. If gold could turn the

scale which should raise a departing soul to heaven, the payment of it was but fitting penance for sinning against proffered light. The one was a

Hence two results had been attained. harmoniously developed system of dogmatic theology, of which the doctrine of the utter depravity of human nature was the key note. I need not say that this system included the doctrines of the trinity, the fall, original sin, vicarious atonement, a future general judgment, and endless rewards and punishments. The other was a thoroughly digested church polity, of which the assumed prerogatives of the hierarchy were the inner life. In this result are found the so-called corruptions of the church, such as her alleged infallibility, the supremacy of the Pope, the doctrines of purgatory, penance, and indulgences, the seven sacraments, with the assumption that divine grace is conferred on men through these, and faith in the intercession of the saints and in works of supererogation. The first of these results has been relatively permanent, and the doctrines included therein make the staple of our modern "evangelical" theology; while the second has proved much more transient.

In verifying these declarations, we propose to glance at the leading phases of dissent from the commencement of the Reformation until our own time. Of course we can only present the most hasty generalization,-a generalization, however, which needs but be stated to be recognized by the student of church history as veritable; and which, in its gradual unfolding of the successes of more than five centuries, well illustrates the law of intellectual and moral progress. Educated in subjection to the power of the accumulated errors of the Papal church, the understandings of men could be opened to them only gradually. And such, in fact, will be found to have been the result.

Among the earliest of the reformers which, according to our purpose, require notice, was the bold and original Wickliff, born in Yorkshire, England, in 1324. To learn the nature of his attacks upon the church, we have but to mark the principal charges of error against him. These were first, a departure from orthodox language in speaking of the doctrine of the real presence; secondly, a de

nial of the authority of priests, bishops, or pope, while in mortal sin, and of course a denial of the validity of their administration of the sacraments,-that is, a denial that divine grace will flow through such unholy channels; thirdly, a denial of the right of ecclesiastics to hold temporal possessions; fourthly, affirming that when the contrition of a sinner is sincere, confession to a priest is useless.

Half a century later, the spirit of reform was far more penetrating. John Huss was born in Bohemia, in 1373. Possessed of a much clearer insight than his predecessor, he openly attacked the doctrine of transubstantiation, and denied the supremacy of the pope, the intercession of the saints, and the efficacy of absolution by vicious priests. He condemned the doctrine of unconditional obedience to rulers, and the sin of simony, or traffic in benefices. While he thus penetrated to a greater depth the corruptions of the church, he struck a still more powerful blow at her dominion, by denying the authority of tradition, of which she claimed to be the depositary. But the boldness and ardor of Huss were early rewarded with the honors of martyrdom. At forty-two years of age he was burnt alive, and his ashes thrown into the Rhine at Constance.

Turning to Italy, we meet with Savonarola, who was born in Ferrara, in 1452, but who adopted Florence as the city of his residence, and the principal theatre of his labors. To great eloquence as a preacher, he added great activity as a politician. Patronized by Lorenzo de Medici, he attacked the corruptions of the church with remarkable vigor, but with less of system or insight than either his English or Bohemian predecessor.

In Switzerland, the name of Zuinglius stands conspicuous in the catalogue of reformers. Born in 1484, at Wildenhausen, he opposed the mendicant orders, the worship of images, the numerous fasts and masses of the church, and rejected the authority of tradition, affirming that the Scriptures alone are a sufficient rule of faith and practice. What, however, made his fame most conspicuous, was his scathing rebukes of the sale of indulgences, and his personal conflicts at Zurich with one Samson, a monk of Milan, notorious for his profligacy in that traffic. Zuinglius appears to have discerned the corruptions of

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