The discourses and essays...

Introduction

BY ROBERT BAIRD, D.D

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH

BY CHARLES W. BAIRD.

L

N E W YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

82 CLIFF STREET.

184 6.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by

Harper & Brothers, In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.

INTRODUCTION.

It may not be amiss to give the reader, in a few words, some account of the history and contents of this volume.

For several years the desire has been entertained and expressed by many in this country to have a volume in English of such of the occasional Essays and Discourses of Dr. Merle d'Aubigne as are of a general nature ; aod three years ago the subscriber gave assurances to the public that the task of selection and translation would be undertaken by him, or under his auspices, at no distant day. But circumstances which it is not necessary to state for a long time prevented the accomplishment of this purpose. He is happy, however, to say that the work has at length been executed, and the result the reader will find in this volume, containing seventeen Discourses and Essays.

A few of these productions have at one time or another been translated into English, and published separately in England or this country, and some in both, either in small volumes or in pamphlets. But the greater part are now given to the public for the first time, in an English translation.

One of these Discourses and Essays was translated by a niece of the Author, and appeared in the Biblical Repository for January, 1845. It is entitled Lutheranism and Calvinism. Another, Geneva and Oxford, was translated by another friend, and was first published in this country in the organ* of one of our religious societies, in 1843. A third, The Study op the History op

* Quarterly Paper of the Foreign Evangelical Society.

IV INTRODUCTION".

Christianity, was translated by the late and greatly-lamented Thomas S. Grimke, Esq.. of Charleston, S. C. The permission to use it has been kindly granted by the original publisher, and is here gratefully acknowledged.

The other fourteen have all been translated expressly for the present volume. And although it does not become me to say much about the manner in which the task has been executed, I think that I may safely assure the public that it has been performed with all reasonable fidelity. The meaning of the Author has been conscientiously given, and, it is believed, with proper ease and clearness of expression. Doubtless, a French idiom, or an approach to one, may be occasionally discovered ; but these things, when they do not render the sense obscure, rather excite the attention and interest of the reader than otherwise, by breaking up the monotony of ordinary style.

AH of these Discourses and Essays bear the impress of the same masterly mind which beams forth on every page of the Author's inimitable History of the Great Reformation in the Sixteenth Century. The first six Discourses were delivered to a French church in Hamburg, in Germany. The others were preached at Brussels and Geneva. Of the Essays, all but one were read in the last-named city, at the opening of the sessions of the Theological Seminary, of which the Author is the president.

The same simple, beautiful, and perfectly philosophical analysis runs through each of these productions. The same clear statement, the same rapid and effective mode of reasoning which characterizes the French mind ; and the same resistless driving onward to a conelusion which often strikes and surprises us by the suddenness with which we are brought upon it. The formal and tedious syllogism does not suit the Gallic

INTRODUCTION. V

mind ; it more befits the Anglo-Saxon, the Norman, and the German.

These Discourses are very different from our American sermons. No one can read a page of them without being struck with this fact. There is a vivacity and point in the style, a condensed and penetrating statement of the leading ideas, a rapid discussion of each topic, and an abrupt dismissal of it, which are unknown to our modes of thinking and writing. This very circumstance will render their perusal profitable, in no ordinary degree, to those among us whose office it is to preach the Gospel. At the same time, they are such as can not be read without advantage by the layman.

As to the Essays, it would be hard to find in any language an equal number that can be compared with them. Take, for instance, those on the Study of the History of Christianity, the nature and tendency of Puseyism, # the duty of the Church to confess Christ, Lutheranism and Calvinism, and The Miracles or two Errors. Where shall we find the subjects there treated handled with such ability ?

These Discourses and Essays possess one grand characteristic : that of a glorious baptism, if I may so express myself, into the spirit of the Reformation. This spirit pervades them all ; but it is most manifest in the Essays. Of all men of this age, it may be safely said, Dr. Merle d'Aubigne is the most thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Reformers. In fact, he hardly lives in the present era, though he does move bodily about among the men of our times. Sure I am, his mind, his heart, his whole spiritual man, is, at least, as much conversant with the events and spirit of the age of the Reformers as with those of our day.

As to the Author, I have been importuned to give * Geneva and Oxford.

A2

VI INTRODUCTION.

some notice of him in this Introduction. But it is not the place to say more than a few words.

Dr. Merle d'Aubigne,* though born in Geneva, is, like many of the inhabitants of that " City of Refuge," of French origin. His great-grand-father, John Louis Merle, emigrated, for the sake of his religion, from Nismes to Geneva, about the epoch of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. His son, Francis Merle, in the year 1743, married Elizabeth d'Aubigne, a daughter of Baron George d'Aubigne, a Protestant nobleman who resided in that city, and who was a descendant of the celebrated Chevalier Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne, whose memoirs have been recently published in this country ;f a faithful but poorly-rewarded adherent of Henry IV., a decided Protestant, a brave cavalier, a prolific author; the grand-father of Madame de Maintenon, mistress and w 7 ife of Louis XIV. ; and in his old age was exiled to Geneva for his religion by the ungrateful race for whose elevation to the throne of France he had spent twenty long years and more in the camp. It is from his paternal grand-mother that Dr. Merle derives the addition of D'Aubigne to his name.

The immediate progenitor of our Author was Aime Robert Merle d'Aubigne, born in 1755. He was the father of three sons, the eldest and the youngest of whom are respectable merchants in our country, one in New- York, the other in New-Orleans. The death of this excellent man was most deplorable ; for he was murdered by the Austrians and Russians, near Zurich, in the autumn of 1799, as he was returning from a commercial mission to Constantinople and Vienna. Falling in with these infuriated troops, a day or two after the decisive defeat which the French under Massena had

* He received the degree of Doctor in Divinity from the College of ISew Jersey,, in 1838, t Under the title of The Huguenot Captain.

INTRODUCTION. Vll

given them, he was inhumanly slain. He left a widow, who with faith and courage contended against adversity, brought up well her three sons, gave them all a liberal education in the city of their birth, lived to see them far advanced in their various careers, and died in peace on the 11th of January last, at an age exceeding four score.

Dr. Merle d'Aubigne was born in the year 1794; he is therefore in his 52d year at present. He is a tall, erect, fine-looking man, of dark complexion, black eyes, and commanding mien. His health is by no means good ; but his energy is indomitable. He has just published the fourth volume of his admirable History of the Reformation ; to complete this work will require at least two, if not three or four volumes more.

In the autumn of 1817 or 1818, our Author, having completed his studies at the Academy or University of Geneva, went to Berlin, where he spent some time engaged in theological and historical pursuits under the guidance of the celebrated Neander, and other distinguished professors of the University in that city. On his way thither he visited the Castle of Wartburg, near Eisenach ; and while standing in the room in which Luther spent almost a year, as a sort of prisoner, the thought came into his mind to write the History cf the Reformation. That thought soon became a settled purpose ; it gave direction to all his subsequent feelings, studies, and aims.

From Berlin he went to Hamburg, where he preached for five years and more to a small French Protestant church. It was there he preached and published the first six sermons which are contained in this volume.

From Hamburg he removed to Brussels, where he preached to a Protestant church until the Revolution of September, 1830, which severed Belgium from Holland.

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

As he was a great favorite with the late King of Holland, who heard him with much regularity when he came to the Belgian capital of his kingdom, he was not likely to meet with favor from the revolutionary party. In fact, he narrowly escaped death on that occasion. Returning to his native city soon afterward, he took up his abode there, and was appointed President of the new Theological Seminary which was founded by the Geneva Evangelical Society in the year following. There he has resided ever since.

With these remarks and notices, the volume which they are intended to introduce is commended to the favorable regards of the Christian public.

R. Baird.

New York, April, 1846.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

The preparation of the work here presented to the public was announced about two years ago in the trade lists of the publishers. Various causes have hitherto retarded its appearance, but it is believed that through this delay the translation has been improved, and made more worthy of the circulation to which the name of the author of these Discourses and Essays entitles it.

Within a few days, a volume containing several discourses by Dr. Merle d'Aubigne, and prefaced with a notice of the author by the Rev. Dr. Baird, has been published in this city. As it would naturally be inferred by the public that the book in question was sanctioned by the writer of the foregoing Introduction, the translator thinks proper to state that it has been published without Dr. Baird's knowledge or consent. The notice alluded to is a re-publication of one written by him some years ago, as an introduction to a little book entitled " Puseyism Examined," and containing but one of Dr. Merle d'Aubigne's Discourses.

Beyond removing the misunderstanding which was likely to result from this fact, the translator does not deem it necessary to do more than allude to this publication, which is mainly composed of discourses which have already appeared either in this country or in England. The translation of the work herewith given to the public has been authorized by Dr. Merle d'Aubigne, was undertaken for his express advantage, and embraces, as the reader has been informed in the Introduction, many Discourses and Essays never before published in English.

New York, April, 1846.