y, when the American branch of the Alliance declared that he divine-human person of Christ and His atoning work re the heart and soul of Christianity. If this broad, cathoc, Christian thought can once be livingly apprehended he whole Christian Church, the Reformed branch of it can ay, "Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace ccording to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which Thou hast prepared before all people, light to lighten he Gentiles and the glory of Thy people, Israel!"

(3) ITS IRENICAL SPIRIT.

This is bone of its bone and flesh of its flesh and soul of its soul. To possess any other spirit would be to fly in the face of all its past history. This has saved it from many a split, and helped it over many very rough places that sprang up in its path. At the conference of Marburg, when the giants stood face to face and the whole Reformation was threatened with wreck, Zwingli, with a magnificent spirit and with tears in his eyes, offered his hand to Luther. Though they had contended powerfully for what each one considered the truth, yet the Reformer of Switzerland said, with outstretched hand, "Let us be friends!" That same spirit has marked the Reformed Church from the very beginning until now. Her favorite passage of God's word is, "I am for peace, but when I speak they are for war." In 1563 the confusions again became so rampant, that even the most earnest began to question the power of the Reformed spirit to keep itself alive. Brethren began to call each other hard names. One said "I am of Zwingli," and another "I am of Luther," and another "I am of Calvin," and another "I am of Melancthon." Again the Reformed Church stepped in and said: "Do ye not know that ye are brethren?" Frederick the Third, of the Palatinate, saw that Lutheranism, Calvinism and Zwinglianism had each other by the throat and were ready for a conflict which would not cease till all would be strangled, or at least so

whole union movement of Germany, which hopes, with every promise of success, to stay the tide of rationalism and give a new Germany to the theological world.

In our own American Church the conflict during the last fifty years has been very ominous. There were times when the faithful, like Melancthon, began to weep. Brethren had become alienated from each other. Incipient barriers with very wide. foundations began to rise above the surface. Some of those in high places even, were clamoring for a division, and then a scramble for the spoils. The same old spirit began to show itself. The bow of peace began to steal in ever-growing brilliancy across our troubled sky. Then some of the brethren said, Why should there be such an unseemly jar? Why should the seamless robe of the Reformed body be torn to shreds? In a short time the conflict of decades ceased, and there was a great calm. It sometimes looks as though the Reformed Church held the key to much of the confusion of sectarianism. union efforts have thus far been only tentative. the arranging of the troops, but not the real contest. The Heidelberg Catechism is likely to be the catechism of the future union church, which must soon come. The spirit of peace and charity exemplified at Marburg, at Heidelberg, at Berlin, at Lancaster, is still abroad in our borders, and if given sway will level these unsightly barriers, and bring about that good time when the brethren shall see eye to eye together and with the voice together shall they sing.

*

The great

It has been

(4) ITS EFFORT TO CULTIVATE A DEEP PERSONAL PIETY.

Here now is the branch to sweeten the bitter spring. Religion must not float dreamily in mid-air, like a will o' the wisp without any heat or life-giving power. There is something in the gladsome, healthy piety engendered by the Heidelberg Catechism that always moves the spirit of man towards God and heavenly things. If you will bear with me I will illustrate

* The General Synod of 1878, that inaugurated the Peace Movement.

what I mean. Luther's Smaller Catechism opens by recit first Commandment and then asks the child, What do mean? We should fear and love God and trust in Him all things.

The Westminster Catechism opens with, What is the chi of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Hi

ever.

The Catechism of the Episcopal Church-What is your n Now compare this with the first question in our Catechi What is thy only comfort in life and death? Here the ad is personal, thy; the object is comfort, and it has to do wit life and death of the individual. The answer is likewise sup to the answer in the others: "That I, with body and soul, in life and in death, am not my own, but belong unto my fai Saviour Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood hath satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the pow the Devil, and so preserves me that, without the will of Heavenly Father, not a bair can fall from my head; yea, all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore his Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life, and ma me sincerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto hi Here at once we have the very soul of the gospel. We not led up to it through law and sacrifice and shadow, but ar once met by all that the soul requires. Our Catechism in spirit of St. John goes to the root of the whole matter. T eagle-eyed apostle did not need a genealogical ladder to cli up to the mystery of the God-Man. At once he bounds in the mystery by saying: In the beginning was the word an the word was with God and the word was God. Our Catechis meets the inquirer with an immediate offer of comfort. Ha ing found this comfort, he is then ready to go on to th weightier matters of the Christian life. The questions all hav this personal ring-Whence knowest thou thy misery? Why ar thou called a Christian? How art thou righteous before God There is a practical, personal heartsomeness about all this that enlivens the sluggish nature of man stupefied by sin. Sud

denly that hope which we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast, of that which is within the veil, springs up in the soul. Life is no longer lawless. Its end is in Christ. The way has been found out of sin and self into Christ and eternal glory. "The catechism is no cold workmanship merely of the understanding. It is full of feeling and faith. The joyousness of a fresh, simple, childlike trust appears, beautifully, touchingly interwoven with all its divinity.

(5) ITS IDEA OF EDUCATIONAL RELIGION.

First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. We must make room for the first principles; and then wait for the full fruition in the perfections. We have the milk of the word for babes, and after that the strong meat for the heavy armed soldier who is girded with the whole armor for battle. Sainthood is not reached at a single bound. Men must, through much intellectual and moral tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.

The child, according to the conception of the Reformed fathers, must be planted into the kingdom of grace. He is here now as a child, and not as a man. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them. to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo! I am. with you always, even unto the end of the world. The order of this final command is: 1, baptism; 2, teaching; 3, the aid of the ever present Christ.

The children of believing parents are to be introduced into the kingdom of Christ, as the children of the old economy were to be introduced to all its rites and privileges by circumcision. Planted together in Christ; buried with Christ by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. In harmony with this, our Catechism says, We are engrafted into Christ, and receive all His benefits by

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