he action of the state. This is the reason why so
many Rationalistic pastors are now in full possession of prominent
Protestant pulpits in France. No synod, consistory, or presbytery has
power to try them for heresy. In fact, there is no standard of doctrine
by which heresy can be tested. There being no General Assembly, with
power either to establish new standards of doctrine or to give vitality
to the old ones, the pulpits of the Reformed church are open to every
form of teaching that may profess to be Christian.[116]

Coquerel's last renewal expired about the end of 1863, when his
re-appointment became necessary. But his decline into Rationalism had
been so rapid that the Presbyterial Council refused to renew the
mandate, and he lost his position as suffragan by a vote of twelve
against three. He subsequently published a confession of his faith,
addressed to his former catechumens, in which the only point of real
defense which he substantiates is the charge of Pantheism. He strongly
affirms his belief in the personality of God. From M. Coquerel's essays
we can derive a correct view of his Rationalistic principles. He affirms
that his opinions on the trinity, original sin, the atonement,
inspiration of the Scriptures, and other doctrines, called fundamental,
are not a little, but _altogether_ different from the orthodox views. He
does not consider the Bible inspired, and has therefore written a work
in defense of Renan, his "dear and learned friend." As for the Gospels,
he finds in them the sublimest of all histories on the one hand, and
traces of legends on the other; doctrines and precepts of eternal
validity in one place, and stains of the errors of the age in which the
books were written, in another. Reason has the right of judging all the
truths of revelation. The Confession of Faith of the sixteenth century
is a very good monument of the faith of our fathers, but should not now
be imposed. The Apostles and Evangelists never made any claim to
infallibility. There are two groups of views concerning Christ in the
New Testament: _First_, that contained in Paul's epistles, especially in
Hebrews. Paul did not identify Christ with God, nor did he misconceive
the humanity of Christ, and attribute preexistence to him. _Second._ All
the second group, consisting of the epistles of James and Peter, the
Acts, and the Apocalypse, rest on a purely historical view. To the
writers of the latter, Jesus seemed the Messiah; hence we