VIII.
The internal situation of the Protestants under the royalty of July, will one day furnish the historian with abundant subjects of research and reflection.
Two questions in which, if we consider them attentively, all the others concentred, were particularly debated—the question of the confessions of faith, and that of the separation of Church and State.
Ought the churches of the Reformation to have a written and obligatory confession upon the fundamental articles of faith? Or ought they to propound the Bible alone as the rule of faith and teaching? Historically considered, the question would soon be decided, since French Protestantism has existed under the régime of a dogmatic formulary from the year 1559 until 1802. But this fact, however important, could resolve nothing; for the Reformation does not declare itself immutable, and has constantly retained the right of altering its mode of organization, upon the sole condition of respecting the sovereign authority of the Scriptures.
The vehement and often resumed polemical controversy that resulted from this discussion had already begun before 1830; it was renewed under Louis Philippe, and has not yet terminated. Partisans and adversaries of the confessions of faith alike invoke the testimony of the Bible; but the former are above all things anxious for the interest of unity of doctrine, the latter for the right of examination and freedom. The first do not understand how there can be a church in the true acceptation of the term, when the pulpit is open to contradictory teachings; the second are equally ignorant how Protestantism can be subjected to a rule that no longer allows every one to form his belief for himself, Bible in hand.
Perhaps, if we were to probe this debate somewhat more deeply, we should find that these differences of opinion depend still more upon the manner of understanding the Gospel than of confessing it. The defenders of written creeds see essential points where their adversaries distinguish only simple shades, and that which is the whole of Christianity for the one, is for the others nothing more than a particular and fallible interpretation.
Two men, who have wielded a legitimate influence, MM. Stapfer and Samuel Vincent, maintained opposite theses in this controversy.
M. Philippe Albert Stapfer, a native of Berne, had become a Frenchman by long residence in the country, and by his constant sympathies for the Protestants of France. He brought them what they had long wanted since the seventeenth century,—theological learning, drawn from the best sources of Christian antiquity and the Reformation.
A part of his career was employed in important political and diplomatic affairs. Appointed minister of public instruction and worship in his own country, at the period when the Directory had erected Switzerland into a Unitarian republic, M. Stapfer displayed great zeal for the intellectual development of the people, and a generous courage against the pretensions of the foreigner. Afterwards called to fill the post of ambassador to Buonaparte, he defended as long as possible, and with noble firmness, the independence of the Swiss cantons against the growing exactions of the conqueror of Marengo.
These laborious negotiations did not prevent him from devoting long hours to study. He followed with attentive eye the learned theology and the philosophy of Germany in all their scientific evolutions, and he prescribed it to himself as a duty even in his waning years, to keep pace with modern ideas.
Eminent by his learning, M. Stapfer was not less distinguished for his faith. These two great forces of human existence afforded mutual assistance to this elevated person. Unfortunately he has written but little; his weak health did not permit him to remain long at the desk. Some sketches and a few discourses constitute the greater part of his works. They have been collected in two volumes, with a biographical notice by M. Vinet, in the form of an apology, which has been given to the world with the affection of respect, and with an unusual discernment.
M. Stapfer devoted himself most earnestly to the labours of the principal associations of Protestantism. He had great moral influence in these societies. His clear mind, elevated views, benevolent character, firmness on important occasions, nobility of sentiment and intention, all endued his words with an authority to which it was honourable to submit. This faithful servant of the Gospel died on the 27th of March, 1840.
M. Samuel Vincent was born at Nismes in 1787; he was the son and grandson of pastors of the desert, and had derived from his paternal traditions, a profound attachment to the Reformed communion, cemented with the blood of martyrs, and which has withstood so many storms. One may differ from the ideas, which this learned pastor entertained upon some articles of dogma and discipline; but no one can dispute his firm and invariable desire to bring the scattered members of the great body of the French Reformation together, and to instil into it, with the divine blessing, new seeds of life. M. Vincent faithfully reproduced the expression, the tendencies, and the character of the Protestants of the south, who have shown so much steadfastness and heroism in the days of persecution, and who had already, towards the end of the sixteenth century, distinguished themselves from the Protestants of the north.
After completing his studies at Geneva, he was appointed to the ministry of the Reformed church at Nismes, like his father and grandfather. He won distinction by the variety of his acquirements, the urbanity of his private life, and his zeal in exciting a useful activity around him. He was a man of meditation and impulse, ever ready most freely to dispense the valuable thoughts which he had gathered, and willingly surrendered to others the honour of the initiative, which he had given them.
From 1820 to 1824 he published, in the form of a periodical collection, Mélanges de Religion, de Morale, et de Critique, with the particular object of initiating the French pastors in the movement of German theology during the last eighty years. The task was ungrateful. It was in a manner necessary to create his auditory before he could instruct them, and M. Vincent had occasion to convince himself that it is sometimes more difficult to inspire the taste for science, than to communicate science itself.
When M. de Lamennais attacked Protestantism with all the vehemence of his genius, the pastor of Nismes answered him by his Observations sur la Voie d’Autorité appliquée à la Religion. Less skilful as a writer than his illustrious adversary, he maintained a better cause and defended it by more solid arguments. It is to be regretted that M. de Lamennais should have assumed a disdainful superiority in his reply, forgetting that in such a debate, victory is not won by haughtiness of language, but by soundness of reasoning.
We have already had occasion to cite the Views upon Protestantism in France, a work in which M. Vincent has embodied his reflections upon the principal questions of doctrine and ecclesiastical organization. This book bears evidence of a strong and independent mind, and yet the author does not appear to have displayed all the powers which he possesses; it is the first effort of a great intellect and a generous heart.
M. Vincent died on the 10th of July, 1837; (Roman) Catholics and Protestants joined in following to his last resting-place [the remains of] a man, who had reflected honour at once upon Protestantism and his country.
The second question, agitated among the Protestants after 1830, concerned, as we have said, the separation of Church and State. The Revolution of 1789 made a distinction between the temporal and the spiritual [powers]. It confined the priest to his proper domain, the magistrate to his, and it separated the citizen from the believer. But is it right to go to this extent? Ought the State to regard the Church or the churches, as no more than private societies, free institutions, which exist under the common right of protection by conforming to the general laws, and without receiving any salary for their ministers? Or ought the State to treat with these institutions, to confer upon them an official character by its alliance, and to place them, with reference to other associations, in a privileged position? The question is one of vast importance; it involves the entire notions of Church and State, and the manner of resolving it affects the gravest problems of religion and politics. It is not difficult to understand that men of equal enlightenment, sincerity, and piety, may adopt entirely different opinions in this controversy. It has engaged (Roman) Catholicism as well as Protestantism. MM. de Lamennais and de Lamartine have both pronounced for the complete separation of the two powers. The same thesis has been maintained in the Protestant communion by a thinker of the highest order, whose name deserves a place among the greatest—M. Vinet, who, although not belonging to the French Reformation either by birth, or by way of naturalization or domicile, has written for it, and influenced it, and therefore a few lines concerning him will not be out of place.
M. Alexandre Vinet was born in a village of the canton of Vaud. He was educated at Lausanne, and while still young filled the chair of literature in the University of Basle. This was a happy position for a mind like his; for, placed upon the frontier of the two principal civilizations of the continent, he could take from either what was most excellent, stamping it at the same time with the seal of that manly independence which is instinctively acquired in the most ancient republic of Europe. He received learning from Germany, precision of judgment and language from France, the sentiment of liberty from his own country, the faith that purifies and corrects everything from the Gospel; and out of these different elements his eminently original genius composed an harmonious whole, which it is more easy to name than to describe.
As a critic, few writers of the present day have equalled, and none have surpassed him, at least in the essential conditions of the art. He loved to discover and vindicate the beauties of literary works rather than to point out their defects, and one might occasionally wonder at the praises, with which he sometimes dignified mediocre writings, were it not that he naturally delighted in the good and the beautiful, and that wherever he encountered the palest image of these [features], he made it lustrous by the contact of his own intellect. M. Vinet lauded in others, without knowing it, the merits that he had imparted to them.
His style has been appreciated in these terms by M. Sainte Beuve, one of the most competent judges that could be named on such a subject: “He possesses” [says M. Sainte Beuve] “an originality which reproduces and condenses the qualities of French Switzerland in the most happy manner, and at the same time his language is generally excellent, of Attic turn, and redolent with choicest flowers.... If I might venture to express my actual thought, I should say that, after M. Daunou for the ancient school, after M. Villemain for the modern, he is, in my judgment, of all French writers, the one who has best analyzed the models, sifted and deciphered the language, fathomed its limits and its centre, and noted its various and veritable acceptations.”[146]
As a preacher, he broke through the old forms of the sermon, and identified himself with the auditor of the nineteenth century, without quitting by one step the territory of Christianity, or rather by shielding so much the more efficaciously the principle of unity in the Gospel that he made just concessions to that of diversity. “There was in his oratory,” says an author, “something characteristically innate and powerful.... At first he sought to restrain himself, but the tone soon rose; his speech became more rapid; his sonorous voice elicited in every accent the emotion of which it was full, and the care he took to keep himself out of consideration, to disappear behind the truths he announced, only served to render talents so pure, so true, and so original, more prominent.”[147] As a Christian, he belonged to the family of Pascal by the penetration and the profundity of his thought, and to the family of Fénélon by the mild and simple candour of his faith. One thing surpassed even his piety and genius—humility. How could a man be so completely ignorant of the qualities of his own heart, who discerned those of others so well? It is that he judged others by his heart, and himself with his conscience. He had all the complaisance of charity for them, and all the severity of the ideal for himself.
M. Alexandre Vinet rendered his soul to God on the 4th of May, 1847. He left many disciples, but he has not up to the present time had a successor.
The Protestant press was enriched with several works of real merit during the reign of Louis Philippe. The history of the Reformation has been treated with remarkable talent. The pulpit reckoned many excellent models. Periodical literature was not without worth; and if France has given little heed to these labours, it is perhaps less the fault of the Protestant preachers and writers than of hereditary prejudices, that still weigh upon Protestantism itself in France.
Many benevolent institutions were established during this period, and supported by voluntary contributions. Orphans, the aged, the sick, children destitute of instruction, those whom justice has condemned, and other unfortunates besides, became the object of an active and liberal solicitude, and afforded their testimony in behalf of that Protestantism, which is depreciated only by those, who do not understand it.
The religious societies, properly speaking, continued their labours, and received considerable additions to their funds. The Bible, disseminated by the hand of colporteurs, as in the beginning of the French Reformation, spread light and life in every direction. The scattered Protestants were appealed to, gathered together, and instructed. The Evangelical Society increased every year the number of its agents. The Missionary Society sent zealous servants of the Gospel to the south of Africa, who carried to the wild tribes who peopled it, the most useful arts of civilized nations, together with the promises of the Christian faith.
Among those, who exhibited the greatest zeal and devotion for the conversion of the heathen, the name of Admiral Ver-Huell must not be forgotten.
A native of Holland, he had become a Frenchman by his great military services, and by the letters of naturalization which rewarded them. At the camp of Boulogne he was intrusted with the organization of the Batavian fleet, and gave striking proofs of cool intrepidity, intelligence, and bravery, in several encounters. He led a corps-d’armée through the English fleet, that poured upon his squadron the projectiles of nine hundred guns. This heroic act gave entire confidence to the hundred and sixty thousand men collected upon the borders of the ocean.
Napoleon entertained the highest esteem for Admiral Ver-Huell, and it was to his keeping that he desired to intrust his person and his fortunes after the disaster of Waterloo, so that he might escape to America. This was refused to the Admiral for some frivolous reason. “If this charge had been confided to Ver-Huell, as I had been promised,” said the prisoner of St. Helena, “I believe we should have succeeded.”
Admiral Ver-Huell was made a minister of state, an ambassador, and a peer of France; but we will pass over his political career: his religious life alone belongs to this work. The celebrated sailor was one of the most active members of all the religious societies, which he aided with his purse, his example, and the authority of his name. He particularly took a paternal interest in the children of the Missionary House, and watched them with affectionate eye in their distant and perilous apostolate.
He was president of the Missionary Society, and the anniversary of the general meetings was always welcomed by him with pleasure. “What pure and simple joy beamed in his countenance,” says a writer well acquainted with him, “when the deputations from the auxiliary societies, or some friend of missions, assured the committee of their sympathy for the work, and congratulated him with Christian thankfulness. How truly and deeply felt was the speech that he was accustomed to deliver at the opening of the session. Eighteen times in twenty-three years did he fill the chair at the general meeting, and on every occasion he delivered an address, which bore the impress of his pious heart and energetic soul....
“When a friend entered his house, his face, that we had never once seen clouded, suddenly lighted up. His look brightened, his voice assumed a peculiar accent of mildness; in every demonstration of his friendship one felt at the same time the frank heartiness of the sailor, the dignity of the general, the polish of the man of the world, the simplicity and truth of the Christian.... Goodness pervaded all his sentiments, his character, his whole life; it was part and parcel of himself; it was himself; a goodness simple, candid, affectionate, cordial; a goodness inexhaustible in its source and effects; a goodness disinterested in its principle and persevering in its fruits; a goodness that never suspected evil, and would not believe it either in men or things.”[148]
Admiral Ver-Huell was snatched from his friends and the Church the 25th of October, 1845, at the age of sixty-nine.
Some further facts in the internal movement of the Reformed communion might be mentioned, such as the establishment of separate flocks, the Wesleyans, Baptists, and dissenters of several denominations. But they were only local manifestations of no great extent, which, although offering examples of living faith and pious devotion among themselves, did not influence the general condition of French Protestantism.