THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
m
Burg in Byzantini&che Zeitschrift, vi., 1897, pp. 219-230). G. Kruger.
Bibliography: Krumbacher, Getchichte, pp. 325-334 (contains a very full and adequate list of the earlier literature); E. Patzig, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, vii (1898), 111-128; C. E. Gleye, in the same, viii (1899), 312-327; J. Haury, in the same, ix (1900), 337-356; DCB, iii. 787-788; KL, viii. 544-545.
MALAN, ma"lan', CESAR HENRI ABRAHAM:
Swiss Reformed preacher; b. at Geneva July 7, 1787; d. there May 18, 1864. He descended from a family which settled in the twelfth century at Me>indol in Dauphine\ Expelled from France by the annulment of the edict of Nantes, Peter Malan, grandfather of Cesar, settled in 1722 at Geneva. At an early age C6sar showed a strong inclination for study. The example of his parents fostered this, and he developed a strong feeling for art and a vivid sense of the beautiful in nature. At the age of seventeen he served a short time as apprentice in a business house and the following year returned to Geneva, where he began his theological studies. The theological instruction which he received there was not congenial, since the Bible was almost entirely neglected; however, he passed his examinations successfully. In 1809 he received a position as teacher in the fifth class of the Latin school in Geneva, where he soon proved himself to be an excellent pedagogue. In 1810 he was ordained, and in 1811 he married the daughter of a merchant who had settled in Geneva; his wife became an important aid in the development of his faith. Some genuinely Evangelical sermons which he heard, conversations with genuine believers and the influence of a society called " friends," modeled after the congregation of Brethren, were the means of leading him to the truth. His new faith assumed that decided character and determined form which never left him, by which his standpoint in theology became essentially dogmatic. While it is true that his inability to appreciate fully the ideas of others was in some respects an element of weakness, such a man was needed at a time when the fundamental principles of Christianity were controverted. The conversion of Malan may be dated from 1816. It was strengthened and confirmed in the following year by a visit of the Haldanes (see Haldane, Robert and James Alexander) in Geneva. The fearless promulgation of Christian truth on the part of Malan gave great offense to the clergy of Geneva. In 1817 he was forbidden to preach in town and country. An order had been issued by a union of clergymen in which the preaching of the following themes was prohibited: (1) Union of both natures in the person of Jesus Christ; (2) hereditary sin; (3) the manner in which grace works its effects; (4) predestination. Malan refused at first to submit, but at the close of the year, after some confused explanations and somewhat uncertain promises had been given him, he yielded and was allowed to preach. Malan, however, was not able to suppress his personal convictions and soon was definitely excluded from all pulpits of the canton. He still kept his position as teacher of the Latin school where his instruction was greatly appreciated. But after he tried to introduce here also his own Christian principles, he
was threatened with removal unless he changed his method, and was finally deposed. As he was not willing to stop preaching, he began to hold meetings at his residence, and, as the number of his hearers increased, he built a chapel on his premises at his own expense. The building of the chapel was looked upon as an act of insubordination, and Malan was deprived of the right to exercise his ministerial functions. He wrote to the council of state that he intended to leave the Protestant church of the canton as she then existed, whereupon he was dismissed as preacher on the eighteenth of Sept., 1828. But these violent measures did not induce Malan to cause a split in the church. He ceased to administer the Lord's Supper in his own church and participated in the celebration in the national church, where he also had his children baptized. Similarly, he did not join the newly established Church du Bourg de four because he was averse to its principle of separation. Nevertheless, his spiritual activity increased from day to day. His chapel grew into a church. His doctrinal differences with the Church du Bourg de four became more pronounced in the course of time and led in 1830 to a rupture in consequence of which a third of the members of his congregation left him. But his activity was in no way restricted by this event. He became a missionary. Without leaving Geneva permanently, he frequently undertook extensive travels to different countries where numerous friends awaited him. His fame spread especially in England and Scotland, and he found there an enthusiastic reception in his six visits, 1826-43. He was endowed with peculiar gifts as an itinerant preacher and often preached daily for several weeks. He traveled also through France, Belgium, Holland, some parts of Switzerland and Germany, and through the valleys of the Waldenses in Piedmont, preaching everywhere. In his conversations, as well as in his sermons, he manifested the dogmatic character of his mind. In his method he conceded perhaps too prominent a place to reason; salvation was with him almost a logical conclusion. He clung to the harshest formulas of Calvinism, and yet loved souls so fervently that his benevolence often conquered the people who were at first repelled by his theology. He preached predestination without glossing even the most repulsive features, without shrinking from the consequences, but still with the simplicity of a child and the joy of a conqueror. His severance from the state church caused him great pain, and he was willing to reenter it whenever the free preaching of the Gospel should be permitted. Several attempts were made by him to be received again into fellowship, but without avail. He succeeded, however, in becoming a member of the Scottish Church. It is only just to ascribe to him since 1830 a beneficent and lasting influence upon the religious movement in the countries where French is used and even in Holland. It was chiefly through him that the religious awakening of that period was not lost in mere sentimentality. Of his works may be mentioned a polemical treatise, Jesus Christus ist der ewige in Fleisch geoffenbarte Gott (1831), Malan's reply to a treatise of Professor Cheneviere, who had openly