74 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. [Aug. 



mation will afford the clergy am- 

 ple materials for edif ving reflections 

 and discourses, calculated to affect 

 the minds of their hearers, without 

 their being tempted to give their 

 sermons a tendency hostile to their 

 Non-Evangelical brethren. The 

 spirit of truth which animated the 

 Reformers, and in whose energy 

 they began and accomplished the 

 great work, is also a spirit of peace 

 andoflove. The fruits of this spirit, 

 according to tlie exhortations of 

 tlie Apostles, should be kindness, 

 justice, and truth. Only on account 

 of the few Clergymen \vho might 

 perhaps forget this, it must be 

 mentioned that in sermons to be 

 delivered on the Festival of the 

 Reformation, every expression of 

 bitterness or contempt towards the 

 adherents of another mode of be- 

 lief, as it would be wholly income 

 patible with the dignity of the 

 Evangelical Churcli, would like- 

 wise be directly opposed to the 

 expressly declared will of his ]Ma- 

 jesty the King, it being his desire 

 that the pure representation of the 

 spirit of the Reformation, w'ithout 

 any mixture of unfriendly expres- 

 sions towards other confessions, 

 be the general theme on which the 

 Clergy in his Majesty's dominions 

 shall uniformly preach, upon the 

 prescribed choice of texts. 



The Ministry farther observes, 

 tliat the name of Protestants, sig- 

 nihcant as it was at the time of 

 its introduction, though it is more 

 adapted to indicate the defence 

 made at tliat time jf the external 

 rights of the Evangelical Princes 

 and States in tlie concerns of reli- 

 gion and church go\crnment, than 

 the peculiar spirit and meaning of 

 the Evangelical Church ; yet even 



in this last sense occasions various 

 misconceptions, and has, in fact, 

 been here and there misemployed 

 in this manner in these latter times. 



It seems therefore advisable, on 

 more accounts than one, to leave 

 these denominations, Protestant, 

 Protestant Church, to history, to 

 which they belong, and hencefoi'- 

 ward universally to employ in their 

 stead, especially in religious writ- 

 ings and discourses, the more pro- 

 per and more generally intelligible 

 terms. Evangelic Church, Evan- 

 gelic Christians. Luther himself 

 disapproved of all party names. 

 He remonstrates in his writings 

 against the professors of the Evan- 

 gelic faith, calling themselvei, 

 after his name, Lutherans, and 

 refers them to the sole foundation 

 of the Christian faith, the doc- 

 trine of Christ the Evangelist. In 

 the celebration of the a|)])roaching 

 high festival of the Church may 

 the Spirit of their Divine Master 

 repose on all faithful labourers in 

 the vineyard of the Lord, and 

 crown their endeavours with suc- 

 cess ! 



The Ministry of the Interior, 



(Signed) 



V. Shuckmans. 



Berlin, June 30, 18 17. 



According to this official decla- 

 ration, the names Protestant and 

 Lutheran will for the future be 

 disused in the Prussian dominions. 



Constantinople. — During the last 

 fortnight the plague has spread in 

 a most disastrous manner in this 

 capital, and at I'era and Bujuk- 

 dera. The affrighted inhabitants 

 precipitately abandon their homes. 

 The Turks themselves begin to 

 feel the attacks of this scourge. 

 Ten persons have died in the suite 

 of the Grand Vizier. The intend- 



ant 



