CHAPTER XVI.

The imperial mandate-Boos during the war of 1812.-Letter of Anna Schlatter.

THE Commissioners made their report to the supreme government. But before the latter had come to a decision, the adversaries of Boos used their utmost efforts to prejudice the court against him, as a dangerous man who taught doctrines that tended to lead the people into error.

The imperial mandate was dated Nov. 19, 1812; though not formally communicated to Boos till the end of the following January. The substance of it is as follows:

"The minister of Gallneukirch, judging from some of his discourses, is a person strongly disposed to mysticism, and imprudent in his expressions, but not a heretic.

"From the documentary evidence it appears that, out of a population of four thousand souls, only two priests and thirty of his parishioners have taken offence at some of his views and statements. Yet his injudicious and partial representation of the doctrine of justification, tending more to enthusiasm than to the practical performance of duty, in the

constant announcement of which he persists, to the neglect of the useful lessons of practical Christianity, cannot be approved.

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Owing to the uncommonly strong attachment of the greater part of the congregation to his person, and the blamelessness of his general conduct, and in the absence of other evidence against him, nothing can be decided as to his immediate removal from his parish; gentler means must first be tried . . . . . The bishop's court will endeavour to correct his mystical views by direct instruction; by the inspection of his sermons before they are delivered; and by appointing him an able coadjutor. The same court will also take care that the neighbouring clergy do nothing that may disturb the peace of his congregation. Should these measures not correct his errors and restore peace to the parish, his removal to another will be indispensable, and even his dismissal from the pastoral office, should he persist in his enthusiastic notions, and in promulgating his one-sided doctrines in spite of all persecution, as he calls it. But as to the charge of uttering disloyal sentiments, it has no better foundation than the idle gossip of a woman, which was not thought worth taking down, and the deposition of a man who seems to have totally misunderstood the drift of his language."

When Boos appeared before the consistory this decision of the supreme court was com

municated to him; but in a very garbled manner, with the omission of those passages that were most in his favour.

The members of the consistory had been directed to point out what they considered injudicious, partial, or enthusiastic, in his statements. But instead of doing so, they satisfied themselves with vaguely enjoining upon him to preach like the other clergy in the diocese, and requiring him to submit his sermons to inspection before they were delivered.

Such were the painful circumstances in which Boos was now placed. His parishioners, amounting to four or five thousand souls, besides many persons from a distance, had been delighted and edified by his discourses; many had been converted to God, and built up in the faith; yet he was now to sit as a scholar at the feet of preachers who often did not believe what they preached, nor preach what they believed. And men destitute of living faith themselves were not likely to instruct him to preach in a manner that would awaken others.

"Although the emperor," said Boos, in one of his letters, "has acquitted me, yet I am not certain for a single day, that I shall not be superseded, or altogether ejected from the clerical office, since hell and the world are incessantly assailing me. But let them go on; so must I; the Almighty can still hold me up. The extraordinary attachment of my

parishioners has, at this time, enabled me to keep my post. Otherwise it would have been all over with such a feeble old man as myself. My enemies would have devoured me, in order to feast on my parish. Gruber said he suspected that envy was secretly at work. He saw and spoke the truth. On the

28th of July I was again cited before the consistory, and signed five propositions, which were laid before me, and which, after some brief explanations, I acknowledged to be true. I scarcely think that I shall live to the end of this contest. . . . . On August 20th, I was struck with paralysis on the whole of my right side, so that I could not write a single letter. But, through God's mercy and medical aid, I am so far recovered, that I am just able to scrawl these lines. I had rest externally, when the Lord was thus pleased to afflict me in my own person, that I might never be without a The result of my process, and the four examinations that so rapidly succeeded each other, is still undecided, and the world therefore cannot tell whether its prince or Christ has gained the victory. Meanwhile, there is a perfect calm, just as if nothing whatever had happened. In these last attacks I have suffered, till I am weary of life. My enemies have taken notes of my sermons, and laid copies of them before the consistory, which I am required to revise, and write the corrections in the margin. They have also sent to the consistory sheets full of what I

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have uttered at the confessional or in my pastoral visits. All these attacks I have had to rebut. The accusations of my adversaries with my answers are now gone to Vienna. "W. calls the few propositions which the consistory laid before me a compendium of the gospel. I never expected any thing so unexceptionable from that quarter.. Christ

crucified forms their basis, so that we are satisfied with them. I have already publicly lectured on them, and given them to my parishioners to copy."

Germany was, at this time, the seat of war. The victories of the French armies had spread universal desolation in that country. At such a crisis, Boos and his friends had an opportunity of exhibiting the practical effect of the truths for holding which they had been so abused and calumniated. He made a public collection for the wounded soldiers, and so liberal were the contributions, that he received the cordial thanks of the very men who had accused him of depreciating good works.

After having been incessantly harassed for about three years, Boos enjoyed a twelvemonth's quiet; but on September 20, 1814, a severe injunction was forwarded to him from Vienna and from Lintz, to the following effect:

"That the doctrine of justification is a speculative subject, and on that account not adapted for popular discourses. That Boos