was redoubled; he preached every day, he composed and published a Catechism for Children, and during the prevalence of the plague in 1526, he devoted himself with unwearied constancy to the sick and dying. Meanwhile, the council swayed, pendulum-like, now to this side, now to that; and they might have continued in this Laodicean state for a long time, if the burghers had not at last taken the thing into their own hands. On the 22d of October 1527, about four hundred citizens met to consult about what should be done to terminate the differences between the Reformed and the Romish preachers. They applied to the council, and were told that all the corporations should be assembled on the next Sunday to deliberate on the affair. In the mean time, as the council showed a disposition to postpone the meeting, a large body of citizens assembled, and in a sudden fit of iconoclastic rage, swept the churches of the old objects of superstition. Every effort was made by the Reformers to moderate the zeal of their friends, but it was of little avail for a time, in consequence of the furious denunciations of the priests. Both parties flew to arms, and a single spark might have kindled a terrible conflagration; but they were at length induced to forbear, and appoint a large joint commission. So thoroughly had the mass of citizens become imbued with the Reformed opinions, that a change was inevitable; yet it was not easy to make it: the Romanists were numerous and zealous; the council was divided; many of its members, though friendly to reform, were afraid of moving too fast and too far, and thus of bringing down the political edifice as well as the ecclesiastical. Wearied at last with the slow movements of the commission, the citizens met and demanded that the Catholic members of the council should resign or be expelled; and after some parleying, the demand was yielded to. From that moment, the ties which had so long bound the city to Rome, were sundered; the Reformation was triumphant, and the regenerated church of Basle entered upon a new career. This final blow to the Papacy was given on the 9th of February 1528.

Early in the year following, Erasmus bade farewell to the city where he had spent so many happy days. A great crowd attended the venerable scholar to the vessel on which he set out for Friburg. His affection for Ecolampadius, as before mentioned, sensibly abated, when the latter abandoned the monastic life, and finally fixed his residence at Basle. The Reformer still retained a warm regard for his old friend, and in one of his academic lectures made a very kind and respectful reference to the services he had rendered to the cause of letters; but the only effect of it upon Erasmus was to cali forth a petulant and even insulting remark. His writings con

tain many passages richly laden with the sweet savour of the gospel, and which might lead us to infer that, with all his faults, he was not a stranger to God's renewing grace. Be this as it may, as a public man he was evidently unequal to the stirring times in which he lived. To the cause of sacred letters he rendered important services, and for these he merits all the fame he has acquired. But this is the only ground on which his name deserves to be held in grateful remembrance. He was a scholar, perhaps the first scholar of his age; but only a scholar. Nothing could induce him to link himself with any enterprise which threatened to interfere with his literary pursuits, or to rob him of that learned leisure of which he was so fond. The grievous corruptions of the Romish Church he admitted and deplored; the moral, disorders of the age he attacked with all the weapons which wit, satire, eloquence, learning, could supply; he made the fat monk and the ignorant priest the laughing-stock of Europe. But when others of a more earnest temper sought to remove the abuses which were the themes of his eloquent invective, and to eradicate the cause of them, by diffusing the light of gospel truth, he, in turn, denounced them in the face of Europe as guilty of fanaticism and folly. To the glorious title of Reformer he has no claim; for he never handled any weapon in the cause of reform but his pen, and he was very cautious how he used it. In the field of action he accomplished nothing, and was ever opposing those who did bring about great results. He never even attempted to give effect to his own theoretical views of reform; although, it must be confessed, that if they had been carried out, the root of the evil would have remained untouched, and the condition of the church would not have been essentially changed.

Romanism having been overthrown, the council and the citizens addressed themselves to the important work of reconstructing the church of Basle on the foundation of the apostles and prophets; and to this end a synod was called, to which the other Cantons were invited to send delegates. By the 1st of April 1529, the council thus aided had digested a set of ordinances, containing a platform of doctrine, discipline, and worship; a very brief account of which is all that our limits will admit.

The document bears the title of "Order of the city of Basle, to be observed in town and country, in which the abuses we have rejected are replaced by a true worship." In the preface it is said, "It is not enough to remove abuses, but we must so regulate things that we can derive from them a Christian life. Hence the following rules, the making of which properly belonged to our ecclesiastical superiors, and which would have

been made by them if they had had the salvation of our souls at heart."

The first article respects Preaching, and contains a synopsis of doctrine. "It is necessary to preach Christ as God manifest in the flesh, the only Saviour, the only Mediator." The others have reference chiefly to matters of order. A board of examiners was appointed to examine candidates for the ministry. Two professors of theology were chosen, one for the Old Testament, the other for the New. The number of parishes was reduced to four.

Even the days and hours of divine service are carefully fixed. "The Christian soul," says the order, "can no more do without the word of God, than the body can want its daily bread." Accordingly on Sabbath, it was ordained that there should be a prayer service at an early hour in five of the churches for the benefit of travellers and servants." The chief service of the day was held at 8 A.M.; at noon there was sermon in the Cathedral and the Cordeliers; and at 4 P.M., preaching in the Cathedral. On all the other days of the week there was sermon in the Cathedral at 9 A.M.; and an exposition by one of the professors at 3 P.M. Books, religious periodicals, and even Bibles were not so plentiful then as now, but the Balois Reformers certainly did their best to supply the lack.

The article relative to the Eucharist was more extended than any other. As might be expected, its tone was decidedly Zuinglian; and it is therefore all the more surprising that the ordinance was ordered to be observed, not only on the four great festivals, Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost, as in the other Reformed Churches, but also on each Sabbath in one of the four parishes. This usage still exists in the Church of Basle. Another article defined the punishments to be inflicted on those who were guilty of blasphemy, heresy, or disorder.

Such was the original framework of the Reformed Church of Basle. At a later period, some changes were made through the influence of Calvin; but our limits will not allow us to describe them. Like all the other Reformed Churches, that of Basle employed a liturgy in the several parts of divine worship, but it was neither so complicated as that of the Anglican Church, nor was it enforced with equal rigour. In doctrine. and government the Balois Church was essentially Presbyterian; though while Ecolampadius lived, he was by common consent allowed to exercise a general supervision over all the parishes of the city and suburbs. On the subject of the relations of church and state, his views were far sounder and more scriptural than those of his friend Zuingle. He maintained that

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the church within her own proper sphere should be left untrammelled by the state. "The civil power," says he, in a letter to Zuingle, "will become even more insupportable than Antichrist, if it robs the church of her authority in spiritual things."

But we must hasten to a close. The constitution of the Reformer, never robust, was worn out before he reached the prime of life, by his herculean labours. Overwhelmed with business during the day, he would nevertheless spend half the night in composing his voluminous commentaries. Yet he was spared to complete the work, for which the Lord had brought him to Basle. The closing scene was in beautiful keeping with the previous life. When the news spread through the city that their beloved pastor was dangerously ill, the whole population was thrown into the deepest distress; the council instantly ordered the best medical aid to be provided, to save, if possible, a life so precious to them. But it was soon seen that there was no hope. On the 21st of November he took the communion with his wife and other near friends, and said to them, "This supper which I eat with you, is a sign of my faith in Jesus, my Lord, my Saviour, my Redeemer. If I am spared until to-morrow, I wish again to communicate with my beloved colleagues." The next day all the pastors gathered round the bed of their dying brother, when he said to them, “You see, dear brethren, what I am. The Lord is here, and is about to take me to himself." He then conjured them, in a most affectionate manner, to adhere to the truth of the gospel, and to maintain the brotherly love which had hitherto obtained among them. He then asked for his three infant children, and solemnly committed them to their mother's care, with the injunction that they should be trained in the love and fear of God. During the last night of his life, he did not converse much, but his frame of mind was calm and often joyful. One of the attendants having asked him if the light did not incommode him, he laid his hand upon his head and said—“ Here there is light enough." Just as the day was beginning to break on the morning of the 24th of November, he was heard repeating the 51st Psalm. He stopped for a moment, and then, as if making one last effort, exclaimed-" Lord Jesus! come to my help!" At the moment when the sun appeared above the horizon, the ransomed soul of the Reformer took its flight. Thus lived, and thus died, in his 39th year, John Ecolampadius, the Reformer of Basle.

Among the productions of his pen, his Commentaries on the

* In 1528 he married a daughter of the Chevalier Rosenblatt, a colonel in the service of the Emperor Maximilian. His widow died in 1564, having in the meanwhile married successively Capito and Bucer.

Old Testament hold the first rank. They are, however, not all equal in value. With those published after his death considerable liberties were taken by his editors. During his life, he published an Exposition of Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Romans; and only a few weeks before his death, he sent to the press a work on Job. Besides these exegetical works, he published translations of some of the Greek fathers.

ART. III.-Unity and Diversities of Belief even on Imputed and Involuntary Sin; with Comments on a Second Article in the Princeton Review relating to a Convention Sermon. By EDWARDS A. PARK, Abbot Professor in Andover Theological Seminary. Bibliotheca Sacra, July 1851, pp. 594–647.

It is not our intention to reply to the long article of which the title is given above. Our object in what follows is to present in few words our reasons for putting an end to the discussion between Professor Park and ourselves, so far as we are concerned.

His Convention Sermon presented three legitimate topics for discussion:-1. The nature of the theory therein proposed; 2. The correctness of that theory; and, 3. Its value as a general solvent of all allowable creeds. We have endeavoured to adhere strictly to these points. In that sermon our author set forth a theory which he seemed to think new and important. He applied that theory to neutralize some of the great doctrines of the Bible. It was incumbent on those to whom those doctrines are dear, and who saw them evaporating, in Professor Park's alembic, into thin air, to examine the nature of the process, and to ascertain whether it was a real discovery or only another Paine-light. Professor Park is very importunate in urging that we should drop this subject, and take up a very different one. After presenting in an interrogative form a variety of objections to the doctrine of inherent sin, he says, "We request an answer to these questions as a favour. We are entitled to demand such answer as a right."* We cannot accept this challenge. It may suit Professor Park's purposes to divert attention from the real point at issue, but we are not disposed to aid him in the attempt. In our preceding article we distinctly stated the subject we intended to discuss. After presenting an outline of the two great systems of doctrine, which have so long been in conflict, we said, "The question is not, which of the antagonistic systems of theology above de

Bib. Sacr. p. 646.