and consequently proclaims it, the system is destroyed; for then it would possess a doctrine, and would return to God's truth. No, my brethren, it is impossible that the Church should have meditated for centuries on the oracles of God, which "enlighten the simple," and yet should not know what is found in them. It is impossible that the Church should believe in the Scriptures, and yet not know what the Scriptures tell it. The Church has known from the beginning; it knew in the days of Paul and Peter, of Athanasius and Augustine, of Luther and Calvin, it knows now, in every place, and at all times, what it rejects, what it believes, what it wants: GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH. And if there are any teachers, if there are, alas! any churches, which have withdrawn from this glorious and consoling confession, men only have fallen; the confession is still standing. The grass may wither, the flower thereof may fall away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever. Thus, my brethren (and with this we will conclude), a courageous confession of the Lord arises from the ruins which lie heaped upon the field of God; and a loud and faithful voice sounds from the very interior of the Revival which is taking place. But, you may enquire, do you then pretend to say that the Church in our days ought to confess its faith in an authentic and universal manner, as it did in the 16th century? And why should it not, my brethren? Do we then suppose, as some do, that a command of God is binding in one century, and not in another? I do not say that the form ought to be the same as that of the 16th century; it might be wholly different; perhaps it ought not to be a confession made once for all, but frequent and repeated confessions; perhaps not confessions made with pen and ink, but living confessions made by the mouth and the life. Every age has its peculiar manner of confessing Jesus Christ, as every age has its peculiar manner of persecuting those who confess him.”1 Nor do I assert that this must be done at all times. Finally, I joyfully acknowledge that there are lips which have spoken, and which still speak. But I simply say that "the church, over the whole 1 Quesnel. world, if it really awaits the coming of its Head, ought to confess, with a unity and universality far greater than it does now, that Christ is indeed the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' Then, you may say again; that concerns the ministers; you ought to preach to them, and not to us! What! is the Church composed of none but ministers? That is true only in the language of Popery. You are the Church, and you, as well as we, must confess Jesus Christ. When the Church professed its faith at Augsburg, before Charles V, there were none but laymen there to do it. The princes would not yield that honour to the theologians. Will you concede it now? Let us, then, my brethren, be confessors of Jesus Christ; let us be such, first, as individuals, as souls called out of darkness into Christ's marvellous light, and proclaiming the virtues of Him who hath redeemed us, by our words, by our lives, and by all our actions. Let us, then, be confessors of Jesus Christ, my brethren; but let our confession be sustained by faith and by internal life. Confession can be free and real externally, only so far as sanctification advances internally. A confession with the mouth, without renouncing self, and without the life of the heart, is hypocrisy, that is to say, an abomination in the sight of God. Let us be confessors of Jesus Christ, my brethren; but let us confess him with wisdom and charity; without uselessly affecting singularity; without giving too much importance to secondary objects; without forgetting that we must carefully watch the dispositions of our own hearts. Perhaps your father or your mother requires of you an act of conformity to the world; you refuse to perform it; you do well; but if, in doing so, you are violent, or wanting in respect, you sin against the Lord. Be confessors of Jesus Christ, my brethren; but confess him willingly, boldly, joyfully; not with that timidity, that mournful or gloomy aspect with which Christians are sometimes reproached. There is joy in the harmony of an identical and universal confession; but there is sadness in the discord of human opinions. You have nothing to fear. "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God; and "greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world." Let us be confessors of Jesus Christ, and let each of us fulfil this duty in the station in which God has placed him. Let the magistrate confess Christ in the council; let the mechanic confess him in his work-shop; let the man of business confess him amid his occupations; let the labourer confess him in the fields; let the mother confess him in her family; let the soldier confess him when in arms; let each, wherever he may be placed, look upon his situation as a sanctuary in which he is called to confess the Lord! And you, young men1 who have come back again from various countries, and have again left your homes to apply your minds to important studies, be confessors of Jesus Christ! Renounce the world and the flesh: be not the disciples and the servants of human masters; do not become great in your own eyes; but may you belong to Jesus Christ alone and entirely; confess Christ by your lives in the midst of this people, and at some future day, as lights of the Church in the midst of the world. On But shall we, my brethren, be content with individual confessions? In all the works of God we find union and harmony, and we see, too, what great things are effected by these. our mountains, a drop of water fallen from a glacier mingles with another drop of water; rivulets unite with rivulets, torrents unite with torrents; and from all these collected waters proceed those beautiful rivers, which hasten far away to carry life and fertility to the plains. At the dawn of creation, when, "all the sons of God shouted for joy," one world, at the Lord's command, approached another world, and "the morning stars sang together," and the heavens began that harmonious march of the universe which fills the soul with wonder and adoration. When the beloved disciple was ravished in spirit, and beheld a "throne set in heaven, and One sitting on the throne,' one voice joined another voice; many angels around the throne united their songs; and there were "ten thousand times ten thousand," and " every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them," replied; and these united voices were as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thun 66 'The students of the Theological Seminary. der." Let us also, O ransomed of the Lord! do likewise; let the voices of all here below, strangers, elect, and scattered throughout the world, unite in holy enthusiasm and courage to ascribe glory to Jesus Christ. Let us leave behind us our petty individualities; let us not be satisfied with our feeble voices dispersed here and there; let there be on earth, also, a great concert, a magnificent harmony, to celebrate the praises of Him who hath bought us with his blood. Let the world, which hitherto has passed by without attending to Jesus Christ, be constrained to listen; and let this voice of the Church become so loud that "all the kindreds of the earth shall worship before the Lord." Ah! if my voice could sound beyond this house! if it could be heard in the vast churches of this city, in which the faithful voices of our fathers once echoed; if, reaching still farther, it could speak to the church of Vaud, to the church of France, to the universal church of the Lord, and could say to that great assembly, Let us confess the Lord; for "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." Lord! I cannot do it, and my feeble voice must remain within this humble house of prayer; but thou canst! Speak then, Lord! and let thy servants every where hear! Dispel delusions; tear away every vail; break with thy mighty hand every fetter which binds the noble minds whom thou callest to freedom; suffer none of thy servants to "confer with flesh and blood;" grant that every where they may be deaf to the thousand voices of the world that might induce them to keep silence, and may they hearken to thy voice which calls them to confess thee. The days are hastening on; the times are ripening for the manifestation of thy salvation; call to thy church; let every soul hear thine imposing voice before the approaching solemn day arrives, when, appearing seated on the clouds, thou wilt say of many, "O Father! they have been ashamed of me, and now I am ashamed of them." Oh! may we not have to endure that opprobrium, and rather let us all be of those to whom thou wilt say in the day of thy glory, "I have seen thy trials, I have seen thy humiliation, I have seen thy faithfulness, thy courage, the confession which thou didst make of my name! Now I reveal them before the assembled universe! Faithful servant! enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" Amen. 129 DISCOURSE IX.1 THE CONFESSION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST IN THE "Whosoever will confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven."-MATTHEW, X, 32. THE HREE centuries have passed away since the princes of Germany, assembled at the Imperial Diet in the town of Augsburg, publicly and solemnly confessed Jesus Christ and his word in the presence of the emperor, of the princes who still remained under the rule of Rome, and of the ambassadors of Rome itself; and not only before Germany, but as it were before the whole world. That day is yet, and will be to the end of time, one of the brightest epochs in the history of Christianity. And at this time all the evangelical churches of Germany, as well as those of other countries, responding to the appeal of their princes and their pastors, commemorate with thanksgivings and songs of joy the third jubilee of that glorious day. In the words of an august personage, convoking the people whom he governs, "May the festival commemorative of the proclamation of that testimony of the faith of Christians, which is still and will ever be as true as it was three centuries ago, and in the spirit of which I heartily concur, contribute to strengthen and revive the true faith in the evangelical church, to awaken in all its members a unity of spirit, real piety, and Christian charity and tolerance." 2 Will you not also, Protestant Christians of France, remember that day of confession of the name of Jesus? Have you not shared in its blessings? Were you not born, and do you 1 This discourse was delivered on June 27, 1830, at St. Quentin (France), that day being the Third Centennial celebration of the Confession of the Protestant States of Germany at Augsburg. It was afterward repeated by request at Brussels. 2 Ordinance of his Majesty the King of Prussia, May 4, 1830. |