said, to serve two such dissimilar masters. It was an error to suppose, that those supporting the Interim (Interimists) would tolerate evangelical doctrine, even if their ceremonies were tolerated. They demanded, that the Primacy of the Pope should be recognized, while the Holy Scriptures nowhere gave any precedence to Peter and his successors. He declared himself most decidedly opposed to a detailed account of sins at the confessional, against the mass, and transubstantiation, against supplications for those in purgatory, etc. His resolute rejection of the Interim excited fresh hatred against him, and an order of Granvella that Brenz should be brought to him dead or alive. Now he found cities of refuge in Würtemberg and in the citadel of Hohenwittlingen, at Urach, and when this became unsafe for him, in Basle. Here he wrote to Calvin concerning the disconsolate condition of Germany, and received from him a beautiful letter of consolation and exhortation, with the assurance that he would continually remember him in his prayers. In Basle, where he formed the acquaintance of the Governor of Mömpelgard, Duke Christopher of Würtemberg, he received information of the death of his wife. The orphaned condition of his children gave him no rest, and he hurried toward Stuttgart. In the meantime, the Duke Ulrich learned of new plans of persecution, and advised him to save himself as best he might, without naming to him any place of refuge. Then Brenz went, according to the popular belief, with a loaf of bread under his arm to a house in the upper part of the city, and there concealed himself between a pile of lumber and the roof. A general search of the houses, on his account, was made for fourteen days. During the whole of this time, a hen came up the steps daily and laid an egg near him, on which he sustained life, until the Spaniards withdrew, and he could leave his hiding-place. After this he resided in Hornberg, in the Schwarzwald, as a bailiff (vogt). Once, when he reminded a neighboring preacher that he should not preach such long sermons, the latter replied: "The time spent in church by you bailiffs, is always too long." Yet many said, that such a bailiff had never been seen before, since he neither swore nor drank like the others. When their pastor was sick, and Brenz offered him consolation from the Word of God and his own sermons, the pastor said at last: "O, sir! you are no bailiff, whatever you may be!"

In 1550, he was married a second time, to Catharine, daughter of his friend Isenmann, by whom he had ten children. The Duke Christopher had hardly obtained possession of the government, when he called Brenz to his neighborhood, first to the castle of Ehningen, and then as provost to Stuttgart. The duties of this position were something more than those of a preacher-he was the actual adviser of the Duke in all church affairs. In particular, he prepared the Würtemberg Confession of Faith, which Christopher, in 1552, laid before the ecclesiastical assembly at Trient, and afterwards sent Brenz there to defend it. But, notwithstanding all the courtesy that was shown Brenz, he was not publicly received, since "it was not proper for the assembled fathers to receive instruction from those who owed them obedience." The Würtemberg Church Ritual of 1559, that of the Electorate of Saxony of 1580, and many others, were essentially his productions. After Luther's death, he and Melanchthon were considered as the heads of the German Evangelical Church; and Brenz was frequently called upon to settle the numerous doctrinal quarrels, especially those with reference to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and justification. It

does not astonish us that, amid the many duties of his position, he had to encounter sad experiences and much ingratitude. A strange preacher once coming to Stuttgart, heard Brenz preach; he found the church, to his astonishment, empty, and mentioned his surprise after the service was over. Brenz, on the road to his house, led him to a fountain, and asked him what was the most beautiful property of the fountain? and when the stranger was unable to answer, Brenz replied: "That it always furnished water whether many or few drew from it. A preacher of the Word of God must be like it."

During his last years he was particularly active about the condition of religious matters in France, which were beginning to allow the hope, that the Evangelical doctrine would gain admission in that great kingdom. But the Duke Christopher, whom the king of Navarre had called in as a mediator, soon understood that he was deceived by the French ruler, and that the cause of the gospel in France was most basely betrayed.

The death of his beloved duke, December 28, 1568, admonished the old Reformer of his own approaching end. In 1566, during the prevalence of the pestilence, he made his will, in which he declared his firm conviction of the divine origin of the Books of the Old and New Testaments, and his assent to the doctrines of the Church, in so far as they harmonized with the same. He expressed his thanks to the Divine grace, that it again had brought forth the true light through Luther. He thanked, in particular, the House of Würtemberg, which had taken him up in his poverty, and endowed him and his family with countless gifts from that time to the end of his life, wherefore he prayed God would take the same family in His care and keep them in the true Christian faith.

About the end of 1569, an attack of apoplexy visited him, in the midst of his labors. After this he recovered somewhat, but in August, 1570, a serious attack of fever was experienced. On the 31st of August, he partook, with his family and his Stuttgart colleagues, of the Lord's Supper, admonished those about him to Christian firmness and unity, made special mention of the departure of the Apostle Paul from the Ephesians, and closed with the words of the 133d Psalm. While repeating with fervor the Lord's Prayer, he fell asleep in the Lord, Monday, September 11th, and was deposited in the cathedral, near the chancel, on the 12th. He had selected this place shortly before his death, so that if any one, at any future time, should announce another doctrine from the chancel, he might be able to raise his head from the grave, and say, "Thou liest!"

Brenz's writings were universally prized, and some of them were translated into foreign languages. Luther prized them so highly, that he gave this testimony concerning them: "No theologian had so admirably interpreted the Holy Scriptures as Brenz, and he had often been surprised at his spirit, and made to despair of his own ability." Referring to the fourfold manifestation of the Spirit (2 Kings, xix.), Luther said, that to himself the wind which rent mountains and rocks, had been in part given, while Brenz's spirit was like the still small voice. Twenty years after his death, the Catholic preacher at Oeffingen, during a conversation about the possessions of the monks with the Deacon Wolfort of Cannstatt opened a large chest, containing Brenz's works, with these words: "These are my treasures; I prize them more than gold."

CHRIST THE SAVIOUR FROM SIN.

BY THE EDITOR.

In a former article, we showed that as Christians we belong to Jesus Christ in soul and body, in life and death. We wish now to exhibit the consoling fact, that Jesus Christ, to whom we belong, is our Saviour, having fully satisfied for all our sins.

We are not Christ's merely as property, like the inanimate world. Though even property in this sense is not out of his care; for every particle of matter rests constantly on His sustaining power. We are not His merely as plants in the vegetable kingdom; though for even these also He so cares that grass is clothed with green, and the lilies of the field are painted by his hand. We are not His merely as creatures, like the irrational creation; though He feedeth the fowls of the air, and giveth the ox his meat in season. We are not in his power merely as wicked men and wicked spirits, over whom He also rules, and by whom, in the end, He promotes His glory. But we are His, as His delight and joy. As such He has saved us; and are not we, then, more than all these? This is our

comfort.

Let us look with joy at what He has already done. He has saved our race from destruction, which it has long since deserved. He saved us from falling into perdition, under the penalty due to the first sin we ever committed. He has saved us from hopelessness, by giving us promises. He has saved us from ignorance, by giving us light. He has saved us from many sins, by His restraining grace. In a temporal point of view, He has saved our lives, our health, our faculties, and has kept us from

want.

From what He has done, we have great reason to count on what He will yet do for us. This is a great source of comfort. His past goodness gives us reason to repose in peace upon Him for the future. Especially, as He loved us in our sins, we have greater reason to trust in His love now, as, by His grace, we are escaping from sin. If He loved us when we loved sin and not Him, he will surely love us when we now hate sin and do love Him. This is the argument of the Apostle, so full of comfort: "God commendeth His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were sinners, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom 5: 8-10).

The thought of our relation to Christ as Saviour, becomes still more comforting, when we meditate upon several particulars in reference to Christ as our Saviour.

1. He is a faithful Saviour. The world is full of unfaithfulness and

deceit. And nothing is more apt to deceive us, than those things upon which we rest and depend for comfort. Does not all experience richly prove this? Those that seek comfort in wealth, fame, pleasure, are all disappointed in the end. The fair promises which these make to their votaries, are all false, and ever remain unfulfilled. They forsake us all when the hour of real trial arrives. But Christ is a faithful comforter. He does not flatter us, but probes the evil to the bottom, and lays the foundation of lasting peace deep in the soul. He does not merely apply temporal relief, but effects a lasting cure. He does not lead us to forget our troubles by immersing and diverting us in business or worldly pleasure, but He meets the evil in its basis and removes it. Not only does He begin aright, by laying a good ground for consolation, but he carries it out aright. This He does by leading us into union and communion with God. He unfolds his grace to us in everlasting life; and thus makes the very life of God the perennial freshness and joy of our souls.

2. He has fully satisfied for all our sins. Where there is sin there can be no peace; for sin is the source of all trouble. We have sinned and can only be comforted by having these sins pardoned and removed. This Christ has done. He bore their penalty, and procured their pardon. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity" (Psalm xxxii. 12). This blessedness is ours, if Christ is our Saviour; "for He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. v. 21); and "His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. ii. 24). The consequence is, that "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. ciii. 12).

3. He hath done all this with His precious blood. By his death, as the price of the penalty, and his life as the ground of our holy life. He went down deep as our woes were pressing us- even unto death." Then He

rose, and we are saved by His life." We lost life, in the fall, and nothing short of life can redeem us. He does not save us by His example. What good can mere example do to one naturally averse to following it? He does not save us by His doctrines merely; for how can a dead sinner be taught to live? No; miserable comforters are these all! He saves us, not by a system of truth, but by the power of an endless life. He died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord of the dead and of the living. Not by imitation, not by orthodoxy, not by works, morality, or merit, but by being created anew in Christ Jesus, becoming partakers of his life, by dying, rising and living with Him. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev. xvii. 11). This blood, which was surely shed-and shed for us-is the ground of our comfort. This blood which saves us is precious blood. It is not typical blood, like that of the Old Testament sacrifices, the only virtue of which was, that it pointed to the better blood of the New Testament. It is "the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Pet. i. 19). Ye are bought with a price-a price equal to that which was to be purchased: death for death, and life for life. It is blood that not only procures pardon, but which cleanses: "The blood of Jesus Christ, His son, cleanseth us from all sin." From this benefit

none are excluded; for "He gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. ii. 6). Here, then, our comfort is complete.

"Sweet was the time when first I felt

The Saviour's pardoning blood,
Applied to cleanse my soul from guilt,
And bring me back to God."

THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.*

BY L. H. S.

Two days ago the bells of our town were ringing out their merry tones, and men, women, and children were jubilant, because the signs of the times indicated peace and a return of fraternal relations throughout the length and breadth of our beloved land. It was thought not inappropriate that the Churches of Peace and Good-will should join in this general outbursting of joy and happiness, and their sonorous bells joined, with those appropriated to secular purposes, in ringing forth merry tones.

To-day the solemn knell reminds us how short-lived is human happiness-how soon the brightest glow of joy may be enshrouded with the blackest gloom! The bells no longer pour forth merry tones: the dull, funeral toll is mournfully uttered by their brazen mouths, and the icy of sadness chills the circulation of the blood in veins and arteries, through which it coursed brightly and gayly on Thursday.

grasp

The telegraph-wires bring us news of deeds of dastardly cowardice and brutal murder, that will send a thrill of horror, not only through our own land, but wherever civilization has extended its ameliorating influences over the race. The Chief Magistrate of our nation has been stricken down by the side of the partner of his life, from the fulness of vigor and life has been hurried into the shadow land; the Secretary of State has been made the victim of dangerous, if not mortal wounds, while the son, whose filial affection prompted him to rush to the assistance of a prostrate father, has also been made the victim of the assassin's fury. These are not deeds about which a people should be indifferent, even had they been performed on men in the common walks of life. All that we hold dear to us, whether it be parent, child, wife, or friend, is in some way or other interested in great this monstrous crime. The representative of civil government has always been considered by Christianity as entitled to the respect and obedience of the subject. Her teachings have been, "to render unto Cæsar

this

*President Lincoln was shot Friday evening, April 14th, and died at 7.20 A. M. the next day. When the news of his death reached Frederick City, all places of business were closed, the bells of the Churches, Engine Houses, Court House, and of other public places were tolled, and all the Churches, by request of the municipal authorities, were opened for religious services at 4 o'clock, P. M. They were all draped in black. The remarks, here given, were made at the meeting in the German Reformed Church.

VOL. XVI.-10