Germain, St. See Gerjianus.
Germain, St., en Laye, a place near Paris, noted for a treaty of peace concluded between the king of France and the Huguenots, Aug. 8, 1570, in which it was provided that the Protestants should thereafter be unmolested on account of their religion. This treaty was only made to be broken, as the massacre of St. Bartholomew, only two years later (Aug. 24, 1572), terriblj' demonstrated. See IMosheim, Church Hist, iii, 173 ; Smedle}', Reformed Religion in France, i, 322.
Germain, St., Manuscripts (Codices San- GERMAXENSEs), the name of two very ancient Latin MSS. of the N. T. (usuallj' designated as ^' and g'^, so called from having formerly been in the lilirary of the Benedictine monastery of St. Germain des Pres at Paris, partially examined by I^Iarteanay (whose cita- tions were repeated by Blanchini), and afterwards throughout by Sabatier. — Tregelles, in Home's Introd. iv, 238 ; Scrivener, Introd. p. 257. See Manuscripts, Biblical.
German Baptists. See Dunkers, and Men-
NONISTS.
German Catholics, the name of a sect in Ger- many which sprung up in 1844 in consequence of the exhibition of the holy coat at Treves [see Holy Coat]. This proceeding called forth a vigorous protest from Johannes Ronge, a priest in Silesia, who, having been suspended from his office, was living in retirement. Ronge addressed a ]iublic letter to bishop Arnoldi, of Treves, Oct. 1, 1844, in which he characterized the ex- hibition of the coat as idolatry. Even before the pub^ lication of this letter, another priest, J. Czerski, at Schneidemiihl, in the Prussian province of Posen, had formalh' seceded from the Roman Catholic Church, and was about to form a congregation of "Christian Apostolic Catholics." Czorski and Ronge were nat- urally drawn into confederacy, though their views on doctrine radically differed ; the fofmer sympathizing with evangelical Protestantism, and the latter being an ultra Rationalist. Ronge addressed an appeal to the lower orders of the priesthood, calling upon them to use their influence in the pulpit and everywhere to break the power of the court of Rome, and priestcraft in general throughout Germanj' ; to set up a national German Church independent of Rome, and governed 1)3' councils and synods ; to abolish auricular confes- sion, the Latin mass, and the celibacy of the priests ; and to aim at liberty of conscience for all Christians, and perfect freedom for the religious education of chil-
GERMAN METHODISTS 824 GERMAN REF. CII. IN AIMERICA
dren. Czerski, on the other hand, drew up a confes- sion of faitli differing liut little from that of the Roman Catholic Churcli, though it declared the Holy Scrip- tures and the Nicene Creed as tlie only standards of Christian faith. The new sect quickly increased. At the l)eginning of 1845 more than a hundred congrega- tions were in existence, each adopting its own confes- sion of faith, some agreeing with that of Czerski, and the majority adopting the rationalistic views of Ronge. In the confession of faith adopted by the Congregation of Breslau, of which Ronge was chosen preacher, the essentials of belief were restricted to a few doctrines : belief in God as the Creator and Governor of the world, and the Fatlier of all men ; in Christ as the Saviour, in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the for- giveness of sins, and eternal life. Baptism and the Lord's Supper were held to be the only sacraments. Confirmation was retained, but most of the rites and practices peculiar to the Roman Catholic Church were given up. The first council of German Catholics Avas held at Leipzic, Blarch 22, 1845, and attended bj- depu- ties from many of the leading congregations. The majority declared in favor of the principles expressed in the rationalistic Breslau confessions. The inter- pretation of Scripture, the only source of Christian be- lief, was left to the free exercise of reason, pervaded and actuated by the " Christian idea." Forms of wor- ship were to be adapted to the requirements of time and place. With regard to church government, the council declared in favor of the presbyterial and synod- al constitution. The congregations were to have the free election of their clergy and eldership. The in- crease of the sect continued to be so rapid that by the end of 1845 it numbered nearly 300 congregations. Many prominent Roman Catholics joined it, and even a number of Protestant rationalistic clergymen went over to it. Distinguished historians like Gervinus looked upon the movement as a momentous event in the historj' of German^'. It even exercised a consid- erable influence upon the Protestant Church of Ger- many, 1)}' causing the organization of the Free Con- ■ gregations (q. v.), a similar rationalistic sect, chiefly consisting of seceders from the Protestant state church- es. Several state governments, as those of Saxony, Prussia, Baden, Bavaria, and Austria, took very se- vere measures against them, and either altogetlier sup- pressed them, or at least tried to put as great obstacles as possible in their way. The internal disagreements between the orthodox and the rationalistic sections also discouraged the spread of the movement, which, at the second council, held in Berlin in 1847, appeared to be on the decrease. The revolutionary movements of 1848 gave the German Catholics full liberty, and, consoqucntlv, some additions were made to the number of their congregations, especially in Austria. But the further advance which the majority of the German Catholics now made in their opposition to evangelical Christianity, and the profession of some of their prom- inent men, that on their part the religious movement had been merely a cloak for covering their revolution- ary tendencies in politics, estranged many of their friends. After the political reaction set in, in 1849, strong measures against them were again taken bj' most of the state governments, and in Austria they were again wholly suppressed. In 1850 delegates of the German Cathollb congregations attended the coun- cil of the Free Congregations, and a union of the two organizations was agreed upon. This union was con- solidated at the council held in Gotha in 1857, when the united body assumed the name oi '^ Bund frelreligi- iker Gemeinden." For their further history,"see Free