there seems reason to fear that weeds, as noxious as those disturbed by this excavator, will soon take possession of the soil, and self-confidence and self-righteousness being superadded, the last state of these men may be worse than the first. Shall we then deplore their secession from the church of Rome? Far from it. Hypocrisy can never be other than a cankerous, ever-spreading, mass-polluting evil. The infidelity of those who have left the Roman Catholic, or of those who ought to leave the Lutheran communion, was preceded by a forsaking of the doctrines held by each, and, under such circumstances, to observe the letter, while contemning the spirit, is a daring mockery of God and man. Rongé's ambition has been, and is, to effect the emancipation of his countrymen from Roman thraldom; for this he has striven and dared both opprobrium and danger and verily he hath had, and is having, his reward, for he is elevated by many thousands to the rank of a demi-god, and thousands upon thousands have heard his warning voice, and thrown off the shackles of ages; but his personal religion is Deism. Jesus Christ is, with him, a great and glorious philanthropist, a preacher of peace on earth and good-will to the children of men; an apostle of the law of love, of humanity, and of pure morality; and, to the honour of Rongé be it spoken, not even the breath of calumny has dared to cast a stain on the immaculate purity of his own conduct; and although his first published sentiments were more noted for a want of, than an anti-christian spirit, yet, alas, many of his later ministrations and publications identify him fully with the rationalists of the Protestant church, who seem resolved to emulate, if not outdo him in ultra-liberalism; extending their expressions of brotherhood and unity, not to all mankind, whatever be their religious views, but to the religious views of all mankind. Never was there a time when Pantheism had so many votaries as at present in Germany. Love is with them so literally "the fulfilling of the law,' that they seem desirous of abrogating all distinction of right and wrong, for fear of giving offence to a brother, by seeming

F

to infer that his sentiments can by possibility be deserving of reprehension; and from this "wide embrace" none but the puritan of the Protestant, and the ultramontane of the Romanist party, are excluded, because neither of these can admit that the distinguishing doctrines of their respective faiths are matters for individual opinion, and that we can be equally good Christians whether we hold them or their opposites.

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CHAPTER V.

REFORMATION OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

(CONTINUED).

The Breslaw Church-Its two Parties-Effect of the Announcement of the Exhibition of the Holy Coat—Visited by Rongé-Höcker's spirited Address to the Catholics-Its effects-Resolutions of the Separatists-Great Meeting for Worship-Appointment of Rongé to the Pastorship—Dr. Regenbrecht's Letter on his Secession from the Romish Church.

It is not the first time that Breslaw has played a conspicuous part in the great religious movements of the day. Deeply sunk in the darkness of the middle ages, and devoted to the papal power, it was distinguished in the fifteenth century for the fanatic zeal with which it persecuted the Hussites, and the present parade ground was, in those days, frequently witness to the cruel death inflicted on Protestants. On that fatal spot the worthy Bohemian martyr, John Krase, refusing to recant his sentiments, was burned to death on the 15th of March, 1420, and bore his sufferings with a Christian constancy. The inhabitants of Breslaw entered with enthusiasm into the later fierce war against the Hussites, and vied with Zisca's bloodthirsty host in deeds of ruthless violence. In the following century, however, Breslaw, still forward in good or ill, became one of the first supports of the Reformation; for its town council, favouring the reformed doctrine, early invited some young theologians from Wittenburg, who

promulgated Lutheranism; and on the 21st of October, 1523, appointed Dr. John Huss, a pupil of Luther's, to the church of St. Magdalen, of which they were the patrons: and now again, after the lapse of so many centuries, during which there have not been wanting outbursts of both Roman Catholic and Protestant violence within her bounds, Breslaw has once more become a chief seat of a new reform, and boasts the most numerous of all the churches to which that reform has given rise. During the last ten years, the conflicts in Cologne regarding mixed marriages had found their way to Breslaw, and roused that confessional antipathy which had slumbered for half a century; while a theological contest, carried on with great heat on both sides, between the Roman Catholic and Lutheran clergy, respecting the Roman doctrine of salvation being confined to the Romish church, had drawn, within a still shorter period, a strong line of demarcation between the two confessions, and banished from the Catholic portion of the Breslaw population that social amiability for which they were previously famed. In these circumstances the announcement of the exhibition of the holy tunic appeared, and, before either religious party could recover from its astonishment, was followed by Rongé's letter, which, like an electric spark falling on inflammable materials, instantly kindled a fire in many a Catholic bosom, which the zealous efforts, through the medium of the press, of foes no less than friends, helped to fan into a flame.

Rongé obeyed the call of his admirers, and came to Breslaw towards the end of 1844. A letter, which he wrote shortly after, graphically describes the position and feelings of this remarkable man during the most important epoch of his life. After sketching with a rapid pencil the impression made on his own mind by reading the call of Bishop Arnoldi to worship a coat, and his resolve, and instant execution of the resolve, to answer it, he says, "At the moment of writing the letter, I never thought of consequences; indignation alone filled my breast for the disgrace put on my country and the

common sense of mankind, by this new attempt of Rome. But when it was dispatched, I began to foresee the struggle which must ensue, although I was far from anticipating the rapidity with which the cause would spread, and its powerful, no less than sudden, development. On the 18th of October I received the printed copy of my letter. I left Laurahütte on the 4th of November, and remained three days with my brother in Appelin, and a fortnight with Count Reichenbach at Wald-dorf, where the episcopal summons to recal my words reached me. Even at that early period several citizens of Neisse, where I frequently was, declared to me their readiness to abjure Rome. On the 23d of November I came to Breslaw, and found it was indeed high time."

Early in December came the excommunication. The month was occupied in completing some literary compositions which had been begun in Laurahütte. The first week of January was very depressing to my spirit, in consequence of the slow advances which the congregation made; but Höcker's address had done the work, and a book was prepared, in which those who wished to separate from Rome might inscribe their names. The first meeting was held on the 23d. This influential address by the celebrated painter, Albrecht Höcker, dated the 17th of December, was circulated privately among the Catholics, and was in these terms:

"It seems to me as if this Johannes Rongé were here in a wilderness, even in the midst of enlightened Germany. From all quarters come addresses of thanks, goblets, cups, and golden coins; but no voice is raised, calling to the believing and likeminded Catholics, 'Come, rally round Rongé, that German Catholic priest, let him be our pastor and spiritual teacher.' Therefore I hail you with the divine greeting, Peace be with you, my German Catholic brethren; whoever among you desires to join the new German Catholic church, and to choose Rongé for his spiritual leader and shepherd, let him gather signatures. The writer of this has long ceased to be a youth. He belonged to the men who, in 1813-14, responded to