THE FREE CHURCHES OF THE CONTINENT; OR,

AMERICAN IDEAS IN EUROPE.

BY THE REV. J. F. ASTIE,

Professor in the Theological Seminary of the Free Church, Lausanne, Switzerland.

IT is probable that a certain number among you do not fully understand what is meant by the free churches of Europe. Though numerous, and differing in many respects, your religious denominations have a common character; they are composed of persons who share the same principles; they freely govern themselves; their financial resources arise from the voluntary contributions of those who attend religious services. Liberty, then, can not be the characteristic and distinguishing feature of any of your churches.

In Europe the case is quite different: on the one hand we have the national churches, governed by political powers and sustained by the public treasury; on the other, free churches, governing themselves and appealing for support to the system of voluntary contribution.

Although this antagonism has been but slowly developed, it nevertheless springs from the great religious movement of the sixteenth century. The Reformation, which, in so many respects, met the demands of the moment, could not then realize the notion of a truly spiritual Church. The necessity of resisting the formidable power of the Romish States, the entangled relations of political and religious questions, and other causes, all concurred to drive the nascent Protestant Churches to enter into relations so intimate with governments that almost everywhere political society and religious society were quite mingled. You are aware of the fact that the venerated founders of this Great Republic, the Pilgrim Fathers who landed on Plymouth Rock, were not in this respect more enlightened than the Protestants of Europe. They consequently established the New England Theocracy, which was distinguished from the State Churches of Europe only by a severer morality and a more rigorous logic.

which has stamped most of your religious denominations with a peculiar character has not yet been accomplished in Europe. It is for this reason that our ecclesiastical position differs in so many respects from yours. Our national churches of to-day call to mind but very imperfectly what yours were under the theocratic régime, and our free churches are yet far from realizing, either in fact or in theory, the ideal reached by those of the United States.

In almost every Protestant country of Europe, as at Plymouth and in Massachusetts, the State began by being strictly denominational; that is, one could not enjoy civil and political rights unless he were an active church-member. These perfectly logical consequences of the theocratic system have disappeared almost everywhere. Even where it has made great efforts to remain as denominational as possible, the State has to tolerate different churches side by side in the official establishment. There is even a certain country where it has come to pass that several churches are recognized as national, though one is Roman Catholic, two are Protestant, and the other is a synagogue. The French government recognizes and pays the ministers of these different denominations, which, if they are faithful to their duty, can not fail to come into conflict with each other. From this state of things has resulted a great difference between official or privileged churches on the one hand, and the free dissenting churches on the other. While the first contend for favors at the hands of power, the second do not always succeed to obtain the liberty with which they would be satisfied.

I. But it is especially on the internal constitution of the national churches that this mode of existence has exercised a profound influence. In the sixteenth century they all had a confession of faith. To-day those symbols have fallen in disuse where they have not been expressly abolished. As all the Protestants of a country belong to the official church, whatever be their dogmatic principles, their faith, or their infidelity, such must be the result. In the United

Every one of you equally knows that, under the influence of the great awakening instigated by Jonathan Edwards, the American Churches were renovated in their internal constitutions, broke away from theocratic traditions, and were led to realize a new ecclesiastical ideal, claimed by the Gospel spirituality and by the principles of Protestant-States, every dogmatic or ecclesiastical difism. ference of some importance betrays itself by

Now that deep ecclesiastical revolution a special denomination.

In Europe, on the contrary, the orthodox, | which had been so generously conceded to the Unitarians, and the Universalists con- them; the indifferent have generally kept tend for preponderance in the bosom of the aloof. The administration has thus remained national Church. It is not unfrequent to in the hands of persons more or less pious, hear from the same pulpit on the following and having a real interest in the matter. Sunday, or on the evening of the same day, On the contrary, in establishments where opthe refutation of what has been preached in posing parties had been contending for prethe morning. While the orthodox, appeal- ponderance, it has been necessary more than ing to historic rights, advance claims to the once to resort to electoral proceedings not exclusive possession of religions establish- unlike those of political parties. Some years ments founded in the sixteenth century, | ago one of the most celebrated of the estabtheir adversaries maintain that the normal lished churches of the Continent witnessed, state of the Church requires in its bosom under the roof of her ancient cathedral, the co-existence of those hostile parties which scenes of such a nature as to grieve all who are called to tolerate each other and to bal- still retain respect for holy things. ance one another. In consequence they modify, they even omit at their convenience the official liturgies.

the free churches of the continent of Europe may be estimated at 1,166,083 members.

1. Among those churches we may class, in the first place, the churches of foreign origin; namely, those which are the fruit of the missionary enterprises of American and English denominations. Six foreign churches have founded missions in Europe. The American Baptists number 67 churches, 16,778 members; the English Methodists, 4541 members, 15,993 hearers; the American Methodists, 28 chapels, 5396 members; the German Methodists of North America ("Die Evangelische Gemeinschaft von Nord America"), known in Switzerland under the name of Albrechts Brüder, and there having 7 churches, 15 stations, 198 members. The Free Church of Scotland has stations at Pesth, Breslau, Prague, Amsterdam; and the Irish Presbyterian Church, at Bonn, Vienna, Hamburg, and Altona.

2. Those free, churches which owe their existence to some peculiar state of things on the continent of Europe may be divided into two principal classes.

a. Those that never were national churches, like the congregations of the Waldenses of Piedmont, and the Mennonites that are found in Holland (60,000), in Germany, and in Russia. They reach back to the movement of the sixteenth century. Let us, moreover, mention the Lutherans of the States of Austria, of Hungary, and of Transylvania, which number 1,000,000 of members. In this class must also be ranked the French Refugee Churches, scattered in Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, which have always governed themselves.

b. The churches which have become free in after-times are of two classes-those which have become so on account of doctrinal reasons, and those which owe their origin to the need of a more internal and spiritual constitution.

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trines not only of traditional orthodoxy, but even of Deism itself. These churches number altogether about 25,000 members. (b.) The Swedenborgians profess, on the contrary, to have received new revelations; they are not numerous in Europe. (c.) In the third place, we have churches that have left the State Church because they did not regard it as sufficiently orthodox. Much more numerous than the preceding ones, they are scattered, in the different countries of Europe, either as Reformed or as Lutherans. The most important of all these denominations is the Separatist Reformed Church of Holland. It has 102,000 members, 338 churches, 233 pastors, and a theological faculty at Kampen. Besides these, there are the Reformed Churches under the Cross, and a few congregations known under the name of Free Evangelical Communities, less strict than the foregoing, in the maintenance of the doctrines of the Reformed Churches.

There is also in Holland a dissenting Lutheran Church, consisting of 12,000 members.

We shall next point out the old Lutheran Churches of Prussia, having 40,976 members, 55 parishes, 46 pastors; those of the Duchy of Baden, with 600 to 700 members; a Lutheran Church at Copenhagen (Evangelist Lutherk Fremenigh), with 150 to 160 members; and the Presbyterian and Reformed Church of Uster, in the Canton of Zürich, with 150 communicants.

In French-speaking countries, there are also churches which have sprung out of the felt need of reviving the doctrines of the sixteenth century. For instance, the Presbyterian Church of Geneva, with 1200 members and as many hearers; that of Lyons, with 600 members and 3000 hearers; the group of the Union of Free Churches of France (45 churches, 67 places of worship, 2962 church-members, and 6088 hearers); and the Belgian Missionary Church (66 churches, 1700 communicants, and 5000 hearers).

(2.) Among the churches whose birth is due to ecclesiastical reasons, we find, in the first place, the Irvingites and the Plymouthists, or Darbyists.

(1.) The congregations of the former group are subdivided into three very distinct class(a.) Some have broken off from the official Church because they looked upon her as too strictly orthodox. This is the case with the confederation of churches which is- These two denominations have precisely sued from the movement of the German Cath- the same idea of the Church as the Roman olics and of the Friends of Light, which took Catholics; that is to say, Christianity must place in Germany, 1845-1848. This confeder- constitute one single external body of beation numbers 144 [?] churches, destitute lievers, hierarchically organized. But, while of any profession of faith, being an offshoot Catholicism prides itself on being the perof the philosophical evolution of modern fect realization of that ideal, the Irvingtimes it rejects the most characteristic doc-ites, or apostolic churches, mean to do better, and claim to renew the gift of miracles all information, intimating that they did not feel at in order to realize their mission. The Plymliberty to count their numbers, for fear of the grievouth Brethren, on the contrary, originally ous consequences which befell King David on account of the numbering of the people of Israel. Some have even laid upon me the duty of remonstrating with the

religious public of America concerning the too ample space they give to statistical details. They regard this as a very worldly and superficial mode of estimating the progress of the kingdom of God.

springing from the Episcopal Church of England, assert that that ideal is at present the apostasy of the Church from the very completely unattainable, in consequence of time of the apostles. They deny to all denominations the name of churches; they

themselves insist on being looked upon only | of a spiritual conception of Christianity and as fragments (débris) among other remains. of the Church, form only an imperceptible They call themselves Brethren. They are minority within that minority itself. but few in numbers, and are scattered pretty much over the whole continent.

A small religious denomination in the South of France, the Evangelical Church of Cette, also aims, it seems, to realize the ideal of the Apostolic Church. It has 33 congregations and 364 members.

Among the denominations which have risen from a desire for a purer internal organization, one must first point out the Moravian Brethren (Episcopalians, 7364 members); the Church of Kornthal, in Würtemberg, 1200 members; the community of Männedorf, in Zürich.

The Free Church of the Canton de Vaud has issued from an ecclesiastical conflict with the State. This Church feels herself called to proclaim the sovereignty of Jesus Christ over his Church. She is Presbyterian, while allowing within her bounds considerable differences of opinion on dogmatical and ecclesiastical matters. She has 41 congregations, 4068 members, 3500 hearers, and a school of theology. One of the characteristic traits of this Church is that it considers the Lord's Supper as a simple act of worship, in which all the hearers can participate as well as in the other exercises.

Finally, let us mention those Free Churches of the Continent which more especially remind us of the internal constitution of the churches of the United States. These are the Free Churches of Neuchâtel (8 congregations, 250 members); those of Berne (4 churches, 353 members); of Elberfeld and Barmen (140 to 150 members); a few congregations of the French and Vaudois group; and a small church in St. Gall. These congregations only admit to the Lord's Supper such persons as have made a personal profession of their faith.

Nevertheless, what they have done for some thirty years past is not at all in proportion with the smallness of their numbers. It is owing to them that attention has been drawn to the spiritual nature of religion, and to the serious disadvantages of the union of Church and State, to such an extent that, as well for the religious world as for the public in general, the question of the relations of the temporal and spiritual is now one of the most urgent problems of the day in almost every country. The principles of absolute religious liberty proclaimed by Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, the great adversary of theocracy in New England, and the father of the first free American churches, have found in Alexander Vinet a representative of the highest order. Friends and enemies agree in acknowledging that the future belongs to them in Europe as well as in America, although this fact will appear to be less the result of a triumph of the truth than of the force of circumstances.

III. In spite of the defects which in many respects have attended the free and evangelical churches, in their developments they have, nevertheless, attained results of considerable importance. In the midst of the numerous disappointments that were in store for them, prophets of woe announced with confidence that they would never succeed in attaining to self-support; it was hoped that they would surrender by famine. These natural apprehensions were but too strongly justified by the fact that the adherents of these churches, always few in numbers, were seldom drawn from among the wealthier classes; and that the habit of depending on the public treasury for the support of religious worship had been strengthened by This rapid glance will have sufficed to the lapse of centuries. To-day these appreshow that, though not numerous, the Free hensions are no longer to be entertained. Churches of the Continent differ very much Facts have succeeded in dispelling the fears from each other in their doctrine and con- of friends, and in overthrowing the hopes of stitution. Let us add that, for several of adversaries of the new order of things. The them, it is quite in spite of their will that financial status of the free churches is certhey find themselves free; it is from sheer tainly not a brilliant one; but, after all, there inability to realize the national and theo- are found pastors willing to work contentcratic ideal, which they have not yet given edly with the salaries the churches are able up. But this very vanity, which often to offer, however insufficient to meet the amounts to opposition, reveals in the most requirements of our times. So much has manifest manner all that is still defective already been accomplished that the oppoin the religious and ecclesiastical state of nents of the principle, who are certainly Europe. competent judges in the matter, seem to be The churches which date from the six-more impressed with the results already atteenth century seem no longer to be able to meet the new exigencies of the times without undergoing profound modifications which are impracticable. Finally, let us not forget to say that the men who in these free congregations profess in principle the separation of Church and State, as a necessary consequence

tained than with the difficulties that still lie in the way of ultimate success.

A second objection, frequently raised, was this: Once separated from the State, it was predicted the members of the free churches could not fail to go on splitting up endlessly. Facts have equally belied these prophe

cies. A broader theological and ecclesiastic- | civilization is unquestionably more or less al view resulted from the formation of the derived from the Gospel; but personal religfree churches. If in America every religious conviction can boldly set up its standard, certain of finding partisans in a numerous public deeply interested in matters of faith, it is not so in Europe. Consequently, when among the members of the free churches, far from being numerous, some were already found to hold Baptist views while others remained Pædobaptists, no one thought of raising the question of separation, to constitute distinct congregations that would have been painfully small. It was then a necessity to live together in the same flock, and to bear with one another.

ion, and churches founded on free and sincere individual profession of faith, these are still wanting. There lies a capital difference between the Old and the New World. In your happy country religion is, first of all, a private concern; it has no official position; it is entirely left to individual choice. All this does not prevent it from having an incalculable influence on society. In Europe, on the contrary, Christianity reigns officially everywhere-in our constitutions, in our courts of justice, in our schools, in our churches; but, notwithstanding this social position, or perhaps on account of it, the It is not rare to see (I speak especially of Gospel occupies but a small place in indiFrench-speaking countries) churches the vidual preoccupation. Among you, Religgreat majority of whose members are Pædo-ion enjoys a general favor, which she owes baptists, having a Baptist pastor. The mem- to her intrinsic power. In Europe, on the bers of the flock wishing to have their chil- contrary, though apparently deriving great dren baptized call upon a neighboring pas- advantages from an official position which tor to do it for them. The same disposition she owes to the glorious remembrances of to unite has shown itself among other tend- the past, in reality she is but poorly honorencies. As the professions of faith of the ed, and held in small favor. With you, the free churches bear more on religious facts public mind leans rather to the side of rethan on theological principles, as they imply ligion, as it was the case on the continent more or less consciously the fundamental dis- of Europe before the eighteenth century; tinction between religion and theology, the public opinion is rather friendly to vital result is that Lutherans and Zwinglians, Ar- and personal piety, while with us the maminians and Calvinists, may be found in the jority is indifferent or hostile to it. same Church. Persons of the strictest or- are all officially Christians; there are but thodoxy have to put up with the presence few persons who have not been baptized of evangelical men who, in many respects, and received into the Church; but if one widely differ from the historic theology of should undertake to persuade those Christhe sixteenth century. tians to live in earnest the religion which they are supposed to profess, the kind adviser would be in danger of passing for a fanatic, a sectarian, or an enthusiast.

It must be acknowledged that this state of things has been mainly brought about by the force of circumstances. And yet many regard it as constituting an important step toward spiritual liberty and a true Christian catholicity. The same enlarged views (which in this country would very likely be regarded as tending to latitudinarianism) have prevailed also in ecclesiastical questions. The new churches are neither strictly Presbyterian nor rigidly Congregational. It was thought that a central authority could be established sufficiently strong to constitute a bond of union, while at the same time the liberty of particular congregations would be respected.

You perceive, gentlemen, the free churches on the continent of Europe differ widely, in many respects, from yours. Will they succeed in reconquering for Christianity the place which it once occupied in our ancient society? Will Europe again become Christian, as it was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Or is it doomed to founder amidst the overwhelming difficulties of a political and social nature-all resulting from the fact that the religious problem has not yet been solved? I say, gentlemen, is Europe destined to become once more Christian? This is indeed the real question. Our

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This is a state of the public mind which perhaps the many Christian friends from the United States who travel in Europe may not have sufficiently noticed. In all the churches they will doubtless have met truly pious persons, but they do not know what an insignificant fraction of the population those persons represent. A profound indifference, which has often cast off all respect even for the external forms of religion, and which is always ready to assume the attitude of open hostility, constitutes the most characteristic feature of religious Europe. A large majority of our population, whether Catholic or Protestant, sustain scarcely any relation to the Church, except for baptism, marriages, and funerals.

To arouse the nations of Europe from this profound indifference, there are but two strongly organized tendencies: Infidelity and Romanism. Both are in possession of an immense advantage; they have already deduced and are deducing, more and more, the logical consequences of their principles. They present themselves to view with a perfectly frank and positive bearing. For years the populations have fluctuated between