to have an account of an ordination which took place at La Torre, in the autumn of 1853. The examination of the candidates, five in number, was held in the college, in the presence of the entire body of clergy, presided over by the “Table,” or executive government. The peculiar circumstances of the times, the important field of missionary labour open to the candidates, and the personal interest connected with the history of one in particular, who had come out of the Roman Catholic Church, in which he had held an influential position, deepened the interest, and protracted the examination beyond the customary limits.[1]
The synod sat for many consecutive days, during which each candidate was examined separately and scrupulously—on his belief, on his religious convictions, and on the motives which induced him to desire ordination in the Vaudois Church. The answers were duly registered, and copies of the whole proceedings of the assembly forwarded to the different churches and academies in connection with those of the valleys.
The examination of this year was on the three points—justification by faith, the Divine authority of the Bible, and the constitution and principles of the Vaudois Church, At the end of the examination, the result being satisfactory, a separate text was given to each student, who in turn preached a sermon on it, in the church of La Torre. We were privileged to be present in one of the very large congregations then assembled. They seemed in outward appearance little changed since the days when their forefathers worshipped amid the rocky fastnesses of the Pra del Tor. On one side of the spacious new church were ranged the women, clad uniformly in the simple costume of the country, with their
- ↑ See p. 263.
