Imatges de pàgina
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RULES AND REGULATIONS.

I. That the central committee of the Sociétés Evangéliques be the medium of collecting, in this country, funds in aid of the Société Evangélique of Geneva, both for its Theological Seminary and its " Evangelization" department; and likewise in aid of the objects of the Société Evangélique of France.

II. That local committees in connection with the central committee be formed, wherever persons friendly to the objects of the two societies can organize such committees.

III. That the business of the central committee be confined within the following regulations :

1. To correspond with the Sociétés Evangéliques of France and Geneva.

2. To receive from those societies copies of all reports of proceedings, furnished to their own members for distribution to the contributors to their funds in this country.

3. To circulate such reports to the several local committees and individual contributors, in connection with the central committee.

4. To receive all contributions collected in this country by local committees and from individuals, and to remit the same statedly to the respective societies.

IV. That an annual report shall be published by the central committee, for circulation among the local committees and its individual subscribers, containing an abstract of the two societies, and an account of all sums collected on their behalf in this country.

V. That the central committee shall meet for the despatch of business once a quarter, on the first Thursdays in the months of January, April, June, and September; and specially, when occasion requires, on the summonses of the president, secretary, or of three members.

VI. That an annual general meeting of the contributors in or near the metropolis be held in the month of May, notice of which will be sent to each contri

butor.

AN ADDRESS,

BY THE REVEREND R. BURGESS,

ON

THE PRESENT STATE OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES IN

SOME PARTS OF THE CONTINENT,

AND THE EFFORTS NOW MAKING TO REVIVE THE TRUE FAITH.

ORIGINALLY PREPARED FOR

A CLERICAL MEETING AT CHELSEA.

REVEREND Brethren,

THE first persecution which arose in the church of Christ about Stephen, had the effect of scattering abroad the brethren, some of whom travelled, we are told, as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch. At this time we are not aware there was any acknowledged confession of faith, or any written document to which the scattered believers might refer in case of doubt or disputation: and yet, dispersed as they were, and ignorant of each others proceedings for a time, there was no difficulty in consolidating again the scattered elements, as soon as the persecution

ceased; and it is said the churches had rest throughout all Judæa, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified. Comparing this with the dispersion, not much dissimilar, of the French reformed Christians at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, we shall find this material difference, that in the modern persecution there was none of that consolidating power left in the scattered elements, and therefore the elements remain scattered unto this very day; this naturally sets us upon enquiring wherein the great strength of the primitive churches lay, destitute as they were of any written creed or document, to act as a standard around which all might rally. We find this principle of elastic vitality in a directing synod, exercising supreme jurisdiction, and sending forth their decrees as ecclesiastical law. As soon as tidings came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch: from which we should be led to infer that if the French churches had maintained a similar directing power, exercised by men of a superior rank or dignity, like Barnabas, they might also, after the storm had subsided, have re-organized their churches, and perhaps now, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, might have been multiplied. During the century however which elapsed between the fatal revocation of the edict to the breaking out of the great revolution, the reformed churches never rallied to any purpose; their very faith degenerated into a cold philosophy, except in those who chose rather to die in exile than renounce the articles of their belief. It would be in vain to look for any remnants of the reformed churches during the revolutionary wars of France, when the Christian religion in general be

came an object of scorn and contempt. We therefore propose to take up the subject from the period of the restoration, when Louis XVIII. in the constitutional charter proclaimed equal toleration to the Romish and the Reformed churches.

But our attention must first be given to a celebrated national church on the borders of the French territory, which was once the glory of the Protestant world, a church which received into its bosom several of those proscribed families who embraced the reformed faith in Italy, and where John Knox studied the Presbyterian form of government, which he imported into our island. It will easily be perceived that I allude to the church of GENEVA. A sketch of the history of that church from the days of Calvin might have enabled us to enter, with a more melancholy interest upon its present condition, but I must be content with directing your attention to the period of its decline.

The great reformer of Geneva had sufficient of the mind and penetration of our own reformers, not to leave the church he had modelled without creeds and forms of sound words. Along with a catechism which bore the name of Calvin, a liturgy which still exists, though only occasionally used, and various rules for the government of the church, the creed of the Helvetic churches was adopted as the Genevan rule of faith, and it was not until those records of the true confession were either slighted or fell into disuse that error began to invade the church of Geneva. A leading minister (or pastor) of the present day boasts that it is now more than a century ago since the doctrine of the Trinity was quietly laid aside, by Alphonso Turretine, the then professor of theology.

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