CHAP. Lord Jesus Christ, by whom (or by which) the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world."-And this assuredly, in all its parts, is the state of mind which is especially wanting to us, to give more effect to our ministrationsto draw down a larger measure of the divine blessing upon them. May He, with whom is "the residue of the Spirit," indeed raise up among us-shall I say a new race of such "men of God," by whom he will indeed revive his church wherever it is decayed, reform it wherever it is corrupted, unite it wherever it is divided, and extend it wherever it is not yet planted; that "the wilderness and the solitary place may be glad for them, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose!" In short, the great charm of Luther's character, and that from which the other excellencies admired in him even by those for whom this may have less attractions, derived their origin or their support, was his spirituality. His whole heart and soul were in religion; not in the barren notion of its truths, or in its mere exterior observances, but in the communion with God by which it is produced and cherished; in the love of God and of man, in the "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," in the penitence, the faith, the devotion, the deadness to the world, the heavenly mindedness, in which it consists; and in all the practical fruits of righteousness and usefulness which it brings forth.-The reader will not forget his correspondence at the period, especially, of the diet of Augsburg, or the account of those retired devotions, by which his Christian heroism was sustained, given by Vitus Theodorus, his companion at Coburg. He will recal to mind, perhaps, the manner in which he has heard Luther speak of his daily exercising himself on the common truths of the catechism: and he will not be displeased to receive the further testimony, borne to his devotional spirit, by Melancthon in the oration before referred to, which he pronounced at his funeral. "Often have I myself gone to him unawares, and found him dissolved in tears and prayers for the whole church of Christ. He commonly devoted a portion of every day to the solemn recitation of some of the Psalms of David, with which he mingled his own supplications, with sighs and tears and often has he declared, that he could not help feeling a sort of indignation at those who, through sloth, or under the pretence of other occupations, hurried over devotional exercises, or contented themselves with mere ejaculatory prayer. On this account, he said, divine wisdom has prescribed some formularies to us, that our minds may be inflamed with devotional feeling in reading them,-to which, in his opinion, reading aloud very much conduced. When therefore a variety of great and important deliberations respecting public dangers have been pending, we have witnessed his prodigious vigour of mind, his fearless and unshaken courage. Faith was his sheet anchor, and, by the help of God, he was resolved never to be driven from it."2 And in this place I think I cannot do better than transcribe, also, the noble application which bishop Atterbury has made to him of a sublime passage of S. Paul's writings. It is in his defence of Luther's discontinuing the observance of the "canonical hours," or that daily 1 Compare his observations on this subject in his commentary on Joel, quoted Seck. iii. 666 (5). 2 See the Oration at length, Seck, iii. 648-650. A. D. 1546. IX. CHAP. repetition of forms of devotion, to which the Romish ritual obliges the clergy. "His active spirit," the bishop says, "was employed upon things more acceptable to God Almighty, because more useful to mankind. He was wrestling against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. To this end, he took unto him the whole armour of God, that he might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. He stood therefore, having his loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith he was able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And he took the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: still praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for all saints; and for himself, that utterance might be given unto him, that he might open his mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.-I could not forbear," the bishop declares, "setting down at full length this panoply of S. Paul, wherewith Luther completely armed himself in his spiritual warfare: and I do not know whether this description so justly belongs to any man as to him, since the days of the apostles.” 2 Our obligations to the Reformers. I only add an observation on the real nature of our obligations to the blessed and venerable 1 I apprehend intermingled with those ridiculous legendary tales, of which Dr. Philpott's and Mr. Blanco White have lately given us ample specimens. 2 Answer to Considerations, &c. p. 42. reformers of the sixteenth century. The reader will not be surprised at my expressing an utter disapprobation of all such sentiments as the following: "that the reformers are to be honoured chiefly for the grand principles of Christian liberty which they so strenuously asserted and maintained-the detail of doctrine and practice will always occasion difference of opinion that they were too tenacious of their particular creed-but that this period was only the dawn of religious discovery," &c.-I confess that, in my opinion, all this is catering most offensively to the corrupt taste of a lukewarm and latitudinarian age. I trust that I honour the reformers, as much as any man can do, for "strenuously asserting and maintaining in the face of the most powerful opponents "—so far as they really did assert and maintain them"the grand principles of Christian liberty:" but I conceive that they did this, to say the least, not at all more perfectly than they" asserted and maintained," and brought forward into open day "the grand principles of Christian" TRUTH: that, as far as they succeeded, they were "the restorers of light"-the pure light of the gospel -not at all less than of "liberty," to the Christian church, which had for ages been " sitting in darkness and the shadow of death."-" The detail of doctrine and practice will," no doubt, "always," while the state of mankind continues what it is, "occasion difference of opinion : " but we are not on this ground to be left to conclude that truth, even on the most essential points, cannot be ascertained. There has been unspeakably less difference of opinion in such 1 Robertson. A. D. 1546. IX. matters among really good men in all ages, than is commonly supposed. No doubt also the reformers might be "too tenacious of their particular creed, and," in some cases, "inconsistent with themselves"; but let us not, under the cover of positions which none can deny, as applied to minor parts of the reformers' system, be led to conclusions which none should admit concerning the great outlines of their doctrine. -And with extreme caution is the suspicious statement to be received, of "this period being only the dawn of religious discovery." Let no inexperienced reader ever suppose, that religious truth can be the subject of "discovery," in any such sense as latent principles or hitherto unobserved phenomena in chemistry or in geology may be; or that one age can improve upon the theological science of another preceding it, any otherwise than by returning to the more simple and more unreserved reception of the unerring disclosures, which were completed to the Christian church in its very infancy, in the only source of all religious knowledge-"THE ORACLES OF GOD." And, in their "discovery” and exhibition of all the leading principles of these repositories of divine wisdom, I am persuaded no class of teachers have surpassed the great luminaries of the reformation. Yes, it is upon this ground, above all others,-by their having asserted to the sacred writings, as they did, that sole and exclusive authority which is their inalienable right, and having deduced from them all the great truths of pure and undefiled religion, that they have established a claim to our eternal gratitude. "These men were the servants of the most high God, shewing unto us"-after it had been obscured and almost |