lightened piety, of an alliance of faith with science, an alliance
which constituted the strength of our illustrious wise men, and to which
we ought to devote whatever greatness there is yet left us. It is only
by the payment of this price that the Netherland Church can reconquer
that place which she once occupied among Christian people. But since she
does not fill this position, since we are afraid of majestic science,
and only employ our resources to treat of questions in detail, since the
stream of our piety runs through a narrow channel, and since science
only moves in the direction of a foolish liberalism, European
Protestantism must suffer from the unhappy vacancy that is now left in
the ranks of the Church of the Netherlands."[97]

The Church of Holland is now passing through the most important crisis
in its history since the Arminian controversy. The orthodox party is
vigorous, and many strong men are attaching themselves to it. But their
foes are vigilant and bold, and the result cannot yet be seen. The
crisis is a necessity created by the evil elements of the eighteenth
century. When the mineral was in a state of fusion in the bowels of the
earth, it became mixed with foreign and gross elements. But we cannot
now disengage the impure accessory by breaking the mass with a hammer.
If it be put into the crucible just as it is, the elements will separate
of themselves. The theology of Holland, like that of every other
Protestant country, is now in the crucible. The heat is intense, but
the intensity guarantees the destruction of the dross which has gathered
about the truth. There are many good men in the Church who cannot see
the connection and bearing of the gigantic efforts now making for the
overthrow of faith in Holland. Looking upon them as abnormal, they
become discouraged. Therefore they have cherished a warm attachment to
the doctrine of the speedy coming of Christ. It is now a more common
expression than ever before in that country, "Christ cometh!"

Next to the philosophical and religious causes of the present momentous
crisis, stands the absence of popular thought and of Christian work.
There had been a reliance on the symbols without proper meditation upon
them, or a disposition to trace them back to their Biblical fountain.
Men believed what their fathers had told them, or, as the French say,
"_Parceque tout le monde le disait._" The teachers of the young thought
in the old routine. But the Rationalis