"with arms in hand, he forces those whom he must believe, according to his own principles, to be heretics, schismatics and profane, not only to enter his church, but even to eat what he asserts to be the veritable body and blood of Jesus Christ. According to his own doctrine, he gives to dogs the most sacred and holy thing upon the face of the earth. As Pilate delivered Jesus Christ to the Jews through fear of Cæsar, Monsieur de Meaux delivers Jesus Christ to his enemies through complaisance for his prince. When these heretics, I say, have in their profane mouths the Saviour of the world, they will be able to insult him with the words of that same Pilate and to say, 'I have power over thee; thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me.'" "In truth, sir,” adds the same writer, "this conduct, approved by almost all the bishops, your associates, ought at once to put an end to all religious disputes. It is an epitome of controversy very easy of comprehension by all who possess even a small share of good sense and reflection."

The bitter irony of the Abbé Frotté was but too well deserved. It was not long before the clergy of France, awaking from the delirium of joy which their first apparent success had produced, began to appreciate the depth of the abyss into which they had unwittingly plunged. They were filling their churches with heretics, with Crypto-Protestants, with enemies in disguise. A candid and serious parish priest confessed to Jaques Fontaine that he trembled for the future of his country, and feared lest the Almighty would send upon it, in consequence of the impious course pursued, war, famine, and pestilence; and the Huguenot confessor saw within his own days the fulfillment of the dire prophecy.* A subsequent age has beheld a result more dreadful and enduring, the growth of infidelity, restless and unprincipled, sapping the foundations of morals, unsettling the social fabric, making instability the rule and a firmly established constitution the exception. For this result Bossuet and his fellow-bishops, who enforced hypocrisy at the point of the sword, are in no small degree accountable. And they failed to crush Protestantism in France. After passing through a century more of cruel persecution, its adherents are scarcely less numerous to-day than before the French prelates undertook * Memoirs of a Huguenot Family, p. 103.

their impracticable task; while the multitudes that succeeded in escaping, in spite of their severe edicts, strengthened the hands of the Protestants of Germany and the Low Countries, gave a new impulse to the growing manufactures of Protestant England, and contributed to secure the predominance of Protestantism on this western continent.

ART. III.—HERMENEUTICS AND HOMILETICS; OR, THE STUDY OF THE ORIGINAL SCRIPTURES AND PREACHING. [ARTICLE FIRST.]

§1. INTRODUCTION.

OUR young men, candidates for the ministry, who are to be the future pastors and teachers of the Church, should covet earnestly a knowledge of the original Scriptures. Very few would object to this statement as a general truth, and yet when we come to make an individual application of it, many will begin to excuse themselves, and will point out some very eminent and very useful ministers who have never known the first words of the original Scriptures. Perhaps they will say, also, that some who have acquired a tolerable facility in reading the original Scriptures, do not use it, and that many go from our colleges and divinity schools, and if they do not actually sell their Hebrew Bibles and Greek Testaments, they let them stand upon the shelves of their libraries to gather the dust of weeks and even months, if not of years. But all this proves nothing more than that laziness and depravity may still inhere in a man whose office, advantages, piety, and love for Christ and for souls, should stimulate him to do better. A minister who neglects the opportunity of becoming well versed in the original Scripture, fails to secure one of the highest atattainments for usefulness in his vocation. Indeed, we claim for this attainment the first place in importance, as a human qualification, for the work of the Gospel. It is only secondary to the divine gift of the Holy Spirit.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XVIII.-3

§ 2. RELATIVE VALUE TO THE PREACHER OF KNOWLEDGE AND ELOQUENCE.

Of Apollos it is said, "He was an eloquent man, [λóyıos, a wordy man,] and mighty in the Scriptures, dvvatós öv ev tãis ypapais. Acts xviii, 24.

In a sermon the two great points to be secured are, first, the subject; secondly, the presentation of that subject. The first implies a knowledge of the Scriptures, the second, skill in presenting the subject. With the thoughtful hearer, what a minister preaches is of more importance than the manner of his delivery: by the ignorant and superficial, the manner is more regarded.

Neither Moses, the leading preacher under the old covenant, nor Paul, the leading preacher under the new covenant, were eloquent, according to their own testimony. See Exod. iv, 10, "And Moses said unto the Lord, I am not eloquent, [literally, I am not a man of words, not a λóyios,]

neither heretofore nor since Thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand thou wilt [shouldest] send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well; and also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God."

The above words show the fact that a public teacher must have, first, adequate knowledge, and secondly, an ability to communicate. Though he may not be eloquent, yet still he is to preach. The anger of the Lord was justifiable, in that Moses was unwilling to use the talents, such as they were, that God

had given him. God therefore commissioned to go with him his eloquent brother Aaron. "He shall be thy spokesman. unto the people. He shall be to thee for a mouth, but thou shalt be to him instead of God." Aaron was the man of words, the λóyios; but Moses was as God to him, or the man of knowledge. In the work of preaching, the latter is essential, necessary, the former is important. The story of the Gospel must first be known, comprehended; it is of the greatest importance that it be offered in an eloquent, agreeable manner.

We would further show the correctness of this view by a reference to the case of Jeremiah. See Jeremiah first chapter, verses 4-10: "Then the word of the Lord came unto me, [Jeremiah,] saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, I cannot speak, for I am a child. And the Lord said, Say not, I am a child; for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant." "Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth; whatsoever I shall command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces." Let the reader observe that the matter of eloquence is not here alluded to, but only the subject, and the bravery with which the truth should be spoken.

That the false apostles took a correct view of the Apostle Paul, is not denied by him. "For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." See 2 Cor. x, 10. Indeed, its correctness is confirmed by his own declaration: "But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge." 2 Cor. xi, 6. Again, 1 Cor. ii, 1, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, [worldly wisdom, oopía,] declaring unto you the testimony of God."

Again, verse 4, "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

All the above passages go to show that the Apostle Paul was not eloquent in the ordinary sense of that word, or in the sense that Aaron and Apollos were eloquent. But nevertheless his speech " was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,"

3. WHEREIN WAS THE APOSTLE'S POWER?

It is an important question, Wherein consisted the Apostle's power? It was first, doubtless, in a perfect intellectual mastery of his subject; and secondly, in the presence of the divine afflatus which filled his soul. These two things are possible of at tainment in a high degree by every minister. We do not say that all may attain them to the same degree that they were attained by the apostle, but every minister may approximate him.

In an intellectual mastery of the Scriptures-the original Scriptures the apostle had the advantage of us. The Greek and Hebrew were vernacular tongues to him. He was born in a Grecian city. He was trained up in Grecian learning. He was familiar with the Grecian philosophy and the Grecian poetry. He quotes their poets and criticises their philosophy. His mastery of the Greek language is evident, also, from the wonderful skill with which he uses it, both in his preaching and in his writings.

He also was by birth a Hebrew. His parents were Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin, and they had their son carefully trained in all Hebrew learning; first in the ancient Scriptures, and secondly in the traditional or Talmudic learning. He was favored also with the best Hebrew teacher of his time, the noble Gamaliel, at whose feet he was brought up. His mastery of the language is evident, moreover, from his reasonings upon individual Hebrew words, as may be seen in the first chapter of Hebrews and other places, and from entire passages of the Old Testament, as seen in the eighth and tenth chapters of the same epistle. His perfect mastery of his national tongue is further evinced from the fact that he used it with such effect as to stay the violence of the mob who sought his