obscure it. Respecting the extent of the
differences between the prelatic and the reformed beliefs, those who
represented them as of insignificant importance, and those who made them
as great as between the creed of Christians and the creed of Jews or
Moslems, were equally mistaken. If in some of the principal articles of
the Christian faith there was full agreement, on others, alas! there was
an opposition between their tenets. The orator here enumerated in
considerable detail the articles of the ancient creeds in which the
Huguenot, not less than the Roman Catholic, professed his concurrence.
What then, some one would say, are not these the terms of our belief? In
what are we at variance? To which inquiry the true answer was, that the
two sides differed not only because they gave some of these articles
divergent interpretations, but because the Church had built upon this
foundation a structure that comported little with it, "as if the
Christian religion were an edifice which was never finished." To speak
with greater detail, the reformed maintained, in opposition to the
Romish theory, that there could be no satisfaction for sin save in
Christ, and that to suppose the blessed Saviour to pay but a part of the
price of man's salvation, would be to rob him of his perfect mercy, and
of his offices of prophet, priest, and king. They agreed with the
Romanists neither in their definition of justifying faith, nor in their
account of its origin and effects. The same might be said respecting
good works. And, again, as to the Holy Scriptures, they received the Old
and New Testaments as the word of God and the complete revelation of all
that is necessary for salvation, and consequently, as the touchstone for
testing the Fathers, the councils, and the traditions of the Church. Two
points remained for consideration: the sacraments and the government of
the Church. "We are agreed, in our opinion," said Beza, "regarding the
meaning of the word sacrament. The sacraments are visible signs by means
of which our union with our Lord Jesus Christ is not merely signified or
set forth, but is truly offered to us on the Lord's side, and therefore
confirmed, sealed, and, as it were, engraved by the Holy Spirit's
efficiency in those who by a true faith apprehend Him who is thus
signified and presented to them. We, consequently, agree that in the
sacraments there must necessarily supervene a heavenly, a supernatural
change. For we do not assert th